Besides being a danseuse, Mata Hari is also a spy who must travel across Europe a lot to obtain vital information, and every time she steps on a train a new minigame begins. In this one, she must avoid other agents while moving from station to station on a detailed European map toward her destination. If she gets caught, the minigame simply restores from the beginning and the player is allowed to try as often as necessary, though each attempt lowers the final Ability score (more on this later). This task is similar to the old boardgame Scotland Yard, in which the goal is to reach your destination in a turn-based travel simulation. Here, during each turn Mata and the agents move one station and the player has to carefully plan Mata’s movements in order to be always one station ahead of her chasers. I found this activity engaging and challenging, especially in the later acts when the difficulty is really high. I can perfectly understand, though, that some players will be utterly bored by these segments since they’re repeated so often. Thankfully, some friendly spies cleverly placed around the various locations can teach Mata the names of safe trains that can’t be tracked by the enemy. So if you want to avoid this minigame, you simply have to ask the ticket office for these particular express trains to be immediately transported to the selected destination (again at the cost of Ability points). There are also environmental puzzles which require rearranging electrical circuits and phone lines, and some of them, especially near the end of the game, can be very difficult to solve.

The Ability score is actually just one of three different scores in Mata Hari, and these reminded me of the old Sierra titles Conquests of Camelot and Conquests of the Longbow, because your final points in each category will influence the outcome of the adventure. The Ability score is influenced by how many tries were required to beat the various minigames, and the Money Score depends on how many successful dances Mata performs during the game. However, the Espionage Score is without a doubt the most interesting of the three. The whole adventure is filled with optional activities, such as eavesdropping on conversations, picking up secret projects, and obtaining additional information from the other characters, and not all of them are available in a single game. Even after my second playthrough, I had still only found some of them. While not a necessary addition, I found these tasks furthered the depth of the setting, adding a lot of little details that made the whole experience more rewarding and believable. Before the ending, Mata will comment on her results in each category, giving hints on how to enhance her future performances, thus providing good incentive to replay the game.

Despite some of the weaker gameplay issues, I surely did feel the urge to replay the game right after my first time through. One of the reasons is that Mata Hari is visually splendid. Each city has its own particular atmosphere and all of them are colorful and vividly animated: the clouds move through the sky behind planes and balloons; leafy green branches waver in the wind and the streets are full of passers-by, workers and street performers. Even the lighting feels real and vivid: in Berlin, a dim sun beams through the dusty windows of the Spandau station; in Madrid, a plaza glows under a bright noonday sun, and in Paris a balcony facing the illuminated Eiffel Tower is an awe-inspiring view. And then there are the dresses, so meticulously detailed and historically accurate, the stylish hairdos, and the fashion accessories like fans and umbrellas, parasols and crinolines. The graphic design is really a feast for the eyes, and even if Mata’s dancing moves are a bit stiff, I was mesmerized by the rich drapes of the theater, the sparkling, colored footlights, the baroque outfits and the incredible music.

Indeed, Mata Hari’s orchestration is wonderful. At the beginning of the game, the music resembles the light, cheerful motif of a vaudeville, but as the game progresses and the war draws nearer, it becomes more looming and dark. Emotionally involving when the piano accompanies Mata’s travels, eerie and menacing when the drums underline her spy activities, the theme heard when Mata is with her love interest (I can’t give away who he is) is simply magnetic, with quivering harps and passionate violins. Sound effects are equally top-notch: from footsteps to theater applause, from the gently flowing fountain to the subtle bubbling of the alembics, they all help set an incredible mood in each location. The voices are the perfect icing on the cake. Each character is strikingly portrayed and every tone is believable, every inflection properly balanced. At the beginning of the game, I had some doubts about Mata’s voice, which sounded too mature for the character, but as the game progressed through the years and the character herself grew more confident, I eventually had to admit that the voice was perfectly cast.

I still haven’t mentioned anything about the story. That’s been a conscious choice, because the plot of the game is unquestionably its strongest point, but also the one I can reveal the least about. The real Mata Hari’s fate is public knowledge, as is the tragic destiny that awaited the whole world in 1914. Yet Barwood and Falstein have managed to craft a story that’s both surprising in its developments (all the way to a thrilling conclusion) and emotionally enthralling. Without spoiling important details, it’s enough to say that Mata Hari finds herself entangled in a vast conspiracy and plays a pivotal role on Europe’s political chessboards. The Germans are looking forward to World War I and the British are afraid of the technology they are developing, while the French are desperately looking for allies. Everyone has a secret agenda: one intends to hasten the war’s onset, another person is trying to take personal advantage of the situation, and someone else is simply working to avoid the tragedy altogether. Each character has favors to ask of Mata, and as the game’s four chapters develop, we get a chance to see an idealistic, even naïve woman harden, become stronger and disenchanted. After a succession of mild, uninteresting protagonists in the genre of late, the multi-faceted, struggling Mata is a welcomed breath of fresh air. Better yet, Barwood and Falstein have provided an amazing script, full of wit and pathos, light moments and tragic twists, extremely detailed from a historical perspective and absolutely brilliant when dealing with characters’ development.

To be sure, Mata Hari won’t appeal to everyone: fans of puzzle-driven adventures won’t find much of anything in this title to appease their tastes, and the reliance on minigames might drive away some old-school adventurers. Many will find themselves bewildered by the lack of logic in certain puzzles and others will find the dialogues too long and the inventory system overly cumbersome. Nevertheless, while I won’t pretend these flaws are non-existent, I can’t help but recommend this title to any fan of story-driven adventures. If you like mysteries with just a bit of conspiracy in a thoroughly detailed historical setting, Mata Hari is the right adventure for you. It will take you back to one of Europe’s most splendid periods, and then catapult you toward the dark times of World War I, all the while tightly gripping your attention thanks to one of the most beautiful, compelling atmospheres I’ve had the pleasure to experience in a very long time.