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Casual Collection - February 2011 releases page 2

Casual Collection 6
Casual Collection 6

Curses!

No, we're not swearing at the latest collection of casual adventures, but just about all of them involve curses of one form or another: vampires, deadly music, living dolls and hellish towns, ancient mystical artifacts, telepathic links to serial killers, witches and evil mirrors... Even the fairy tales are cursed, as many will discover in their pursuit of the Frog Prince. But what to play and what to avoid? Avoid the curse of poor decision-making by reading through our latest round-up of hidden object hybrids and make your choices wise ones.
 



Dying for Daylight

Merlina McGovern

With Dying For Daylight, Charlaine Harris, author of the Sookie Stackhouse novels that are the inspiration behind the True Blood HBO television series, has placed her stake in the casual gaming arena. While a stake is just what the game’s main character, Dahlia Rhodes, wants to avoid at all costs, you’ll want to sink your fangs… that is, teeth, into this fun hybrid adventure set in a vampire-haunted American south. Designed by Nikitova Games under the guidance of I-Play and Creative Director Jane Jensen, you’ll play through four distinct episodes as you try to help the vampire Dahlia search for an elusive sunlight potion, which promises to give vampires the freedom to walk in daylight. The game throws several twists your way right from the start, as you’ll not only have to conduct your search amidst a vampire war raging from Louisiana to Tennessee to South Carolina, you’ll also have to deal with a pesky human who seems to be stalking you, as well as find various members of a vampire carnival troupe who can aid you in your quest.

Image #1Most of your time will be spent searching for inventory items necessary to proceed, as well as interacting with the environment to gather information, such as reading through newspapers and operating city tourism guides. When you need to detect items that are not visible to the human eye, you’ll get to use your vampire sense, which allows you to see through objects to find things like throbbing hearts and human scents. Unfortunately the game gives you no control of this special ability; it would have been a nice challenge to determine when to use this sense to find what you need. You’ll also play through a few hidden object scenes in each episode to gather items. These scenes are somewhat integrated and sufficiently spooky for a vampire story: You’ll search for pigs’ feet and roaches in a French restaurant and tickets and coins at a theater box office. You’ll also have to put objects together, like filling a jar with eyeballs or populating a miniature circus, to fulfill certain requirements. It’s too bad you’ll revisit many of the same scenes several times – a poor route for a game with so many colorful places to visit and explore, from a vampire carnival in a dark and sultry New Orleans to hog farm in Memphis and a pirate port in Charleston, South Carolina.

In addition to the inventory puzzles, Dying for Daylight throws some, but not many, logic puzzles your way, such as moving books around in a book dispenser to find the one you want (only after identifying it through cryptic clues first) or turning pipes around in a Buddha statue's stomach to complete its digestive system. Most of the puzzles are very, very easy, except for one difficult musical puzzle, which in this world’s crazy set-up involves making pigs sing tunes like “Auld Lang Syne”; not only do you have to get the correct notes as you follow sheet music, you also have to play it with correct timing. Luckily, there is a handy button that lets you skip most puzzles after waiting a certain amount of time. Elsewhere, a hint button highlights hidden objects or gives you layered hints to where and what you should be doing next. A journal also records any relevant clues and information you discover in your travels. Via the quick travel map, you can transport back-and-forth instantly between even distant locations, each of which has a few different screens to explore.

If making pigs sing sounds ludicrous on its own, it fits wonderfully into the spirit of the off-kilter vampire world that Harris has created. It’s a dark place chock full of vampires, pirates, condos for the undead, and carnie vamps. You’ll encounter a large cast of characters all fully voiced, such as Tinderbell, the seemingly innocent childlike vamp that likes to set things on fire; The Glutton, a monstrously large vamp who's doomed to crave human food that will never nourish him; and Melvis, the ghostly Elvis impersonator, among many others. The strong voice acting for Dahlia nicely complements a well-rounded character: She’s a vamp with a flair for fashion (which she’ll get to satisfy through several costume-creation scenarios) but who also won’t hesitate to threaten to rip a character’s head off rather than go on yet another fetch trip. As well told as the story is, however, the game ends without resolving the main storyline, setting itself up for a direct continuation. But if a fun and macabre story with great writing and voice acting set amidst a background of modern Southern gothic is your cup of blood… uh, tea, you’ll welcome the prospect of another installment of Dying For Daylight when you’re done.


Maestro: Music of Death

Robin Parker

The music-based Maestro: Music of Death from ERS Game Studios is certainly not for the faint at heart. More eerie than most hidden object hybrid adventures (which comes as no surprise given the pedigree of its developer), the high-quality opening cinematic sets the tone for what is a frequently spooky affair. On the eve of a first concert by a talented young violinist, a mysterious epidemic began to spread through a town in Victorian-era Paris, causing residents to age rapidly and then suddenly die. With the town now quarantined, the presence of a macabre tune still drifting through the air as the herald of the next wave of the accursed plague makes a visit very unsettling. Players take on the role of an Inspector called in to investigate this unusual occurrence, and soon you too become entangled in these dark and mysterious events.

Image #2Your investigations take the form of hidden object tasks, inventory-based puzzles and more traditional brainteasers. Hidden object scenes are where you’ll usually acquire the most useful objects and clues as your reward for completing them, though you’ll have to revisit most of them a second time for new objects later on. As is the case in most HOG adventures, one of the objects you need to track down in each scene will be the key item required to solve your next conundrum. These scenes are very traditional and for the most part fairly straightforward, though some items need to be interacted with before you can uncover the objects listed, such as opening a toolbox or removing a cloth. But on the easier difficulty setting, these are always marked by an intermittent sparkle, which ends up making the task simpler than finding the standard items. Hints are given freely in these scenes, although they take some time to recharge, and players are barely punished for incorrect clicks, with the cursor merely disappearing for a few seconds.

Many of the brainteaser-style puzzles are related to locked doors, where the successful completion of a mechanical puzzle will open a gate, for example. These take the form of memory games, sliding blocks and sequencing puzzles that demand restoring mixed up items in their correct order. Few of these are likely to keep you stumped for long, and simple trial and error will almost always suffice when you get stuck, but before long the option to skip the puzzle completely becomes available. As you’d expect, there are several music-related puzzles to solve but none require a good ear. The inventory-based puzzles are slightly more complex than many HOG adventures, sometimes requiring a combination of several items in specific locations to build a more useful object. The items you collect as you go are all quite logical, though, whether it's useful tools or missing pieces of incomplete puzzles, and your lateral thinking is unlikely to be tasked greatly. To help you further, a journal keeps track of all relevant clues and information, and the Collector’s Edition even provides a built-in strategy guide for those who need it.

If this all sounds very run-of-the-mill, what really sets the game apart is its disturbing tone and atmosphere. As you explore the deserted town, its cemetery, and the catacombs beneath it, Maestro’s art, sound effects and music blend effectively to put players on the edge of their seats. The graphics are hand-drawn and attractive, and many haunting animations occur as you explore, from spectral visions to crackling lightning in the stormy night sky. Voices are used for the few supporting characters, which keeps you immersed in their stories, like a mother begging for your help to find her lost daughter. Music is key to both the game’s mystery and its sinister feel, as traditional string and woodwind-based tunes portray both melancholy and tension, violins straining as the action becomes even more intense. The main game ends with a satisfying (if not altogether resolved) conclusion, and the Collector’s Edition offers an extra chapter that picks up immediately afterwards, providing nearly an hour of additional gameplay. This introduces a few new locations to explore and another layer of closure, though it also leaves the door wide open for a sequel. Perhaps the Music of Death hasn’t claimed its last victim after all.


Stray Souls: Dollhouse Story

Shuva Raha

Danielle Hunt, a young newlywed, is trapped in a honeymoon from hell. Her husband Sam went mysteriously missing the moment he opened the door to receive a strange box left on their porch. Now its content – a bizarre thread doll with mismatched buttons for eyes – is talking to her. As if that isn’t bad enough, Danielle must drive in the pouring rain to Sam’s old neighbourhood to save him from a fate possibly worse than death, but she loses control and crashes the car, coming to in a vicious alternate reality. Alawar’s Stray Souls: Dollhouse Story follows Danielle as she attempts to uncover the dreadful secrets long-hidden within the abandoned community, which has now morphed into a dark, distorted version of itself, groaning and rotting under the shackles of the all-permeating evil. Exploring the town, which includes a toy store, amusement park, an orphanage, and of course a cemetery (the last being the least grotesque location in this macabre tale of kids, dolls and clowns) is no easy task, however, as the evil presence has locked every door, cupboard and drawer to thwart her progress. Even Sam’s home is guarded by two mutilated mannequins brandishing a saw above the lock on the door.

 

Image #3Stray Souls excels with its art and attention to detail – each scene, whether idyllic or warped by malevolence, is skillfully illustrated and effectively communicates destruction and doom both underlying and overt. These screens are animated with inclement weather, glowing lights and eyes, awful moving toys, and a seriously disconcerting guillotine. The dingy, abused buildings and tunnels are oppressive and disturbing, and often it’s a great relief to exit to relatively cleaner open spaces. Places that are cleansed of evil return to their original state, and provide a nice before-and-after visual comparison, especially when areas still cursed are visible on the same screen. Unfortunately, essential elements for a truly spooky atmosphere – sound effects and music – are woefully sparse: there are only a few short piano-led pieces that loop interminably, there’s no voice acting, and sound effects are merely adequate.

Gameplay is both linear and quite easy. Each individual location has a hidden object screen tucked into it, which yields one or two useful items. Objects are cleverly concealed rather than buried in clutter, and several items are included as children’s sketches, graffiti and appropriate labels. Only three or four of the twenty-odd screens are repeated. The inventory puzzles are basic, as the solutions are usually practical and believable, and Danielle generally has a maximum of three or four items. The few standalone puzzles are all locks on various doors and gates. Most are traditional types like ring rotators and sliders, but there is one genuinely creative puzzle, an elaborate piece involving a chain-reaction of various smaller puzzles falling into place. None of the puzzles are difficult, though a couple are poorly-clued, making them seem harder than they really are. There are two difficulty modes, the only differences being hint recharge time and highlighting of interactive items and objects. The hint feature displays one item in hidden object screens, and the currently-most-useful hotspot in regular environments. A journal records Danielle’s key discoveries and important plot points, and contains a map of the town, which notes any areas where there’s work to be done. While this eliminates clueless backtracking, it doesn’t allow for quick travel between locations.

The story retains a sense of suspense at all times despite some gobbledygook about wizards and demons, and keeps the player engaged until the end. Upon arriving in town, Danielle receives a dollhouse and a doll – a replica of young Sam – which reveals that Sam has paranormal powers. Guided by her thread doll companion, Danielle must discover the remaining seven dolls, each representing a key member of the story, to piece together the mystery of the town, her husband’s role in its destruction, and most importantly, his current fate. There are a few other characters in the game, including a clown, a girl and Police Chief Torres, but interactions are limited and expository, and Danielle herself is insufferably bland. She trudges mechanically through the bizarre events unfolding around her, never intrigued, never excited. The game ends with a conclusive epilogue, and the Collector’s Edition bonus chapter is a prequel set decades earlier, in which Chief Torres investigates the unexplained murders and disappearances of the rapidly-dwindling population. Unlike Danielle, Torres is acerbic and vocal, which adds a bit of spice the main game lacks. Regrettably, this segment wallows in pointless hidden object searches of screens you’ve seen already, feeling like little more than a tacked-on extra. While disturbing in parts, the game is never scary, but if you like dark, surreal mysteries, Stray Souls: Dollhouse Story delivers with an unusual premise, a unique core object (the dollhouse), and a complex plot that twists and turns rapidly, leaving no one above suspicion right up until the dramatic finale.


Dark Parables: The Exiled Prince

Merlina McGovern

Kiss a frog, get a prince. That’s the typical formula in fairy tales. In Blue Tea Games’ Dark Parables: The Exiled Prince, the newest princess isn’t so happy about her amphibious run in. You play as a detective trying to find out what the tale of the princess and the frog has to do with the missing chancellor’s daughter, Marie. As you make your way through the Black Forest in Germany, you’ll encounter an abnormally large number of toads and a series of fairy tale princesses, from Snow White to the Ivy and Mermaid Princesses, among others. Each of these princesses gives you a piece of the bizarre tale that has you ultimately searching for the cursed Frog Prince. While the story may be a bit too strange for its own good at times, this casual adventure is nevertheless a gorgeous jaunt through an imaginative fantasy world.

 

Image #4Like its predecessor, Curse of the Briar Rose, this game mixes traditional inventory collection with hidden fragmented object scenes set amidst beautiful scenery. For reasons unknown, the Frog Prince has built an enchanted kingdom underground, so most of the sets have cool indigo backgrounds setting off softly glowing grottos, gardens, underground lakes, cottages, and opulent mansions. Every image is packed full of detail: When you enter the swan princess’ golden room, you’ll find a diaphanous white ballet dress hanging above a sumptuous rug with two swans, one white and the other black, staring lovingly at each other. Even the items you assemble in your fragment searches are rendered in gorgeous detail. When you complete a jar, it’s not a simple glass jar, but a vessel encrusted in jewels and metal scrollwork, while elsewhere you’ll find keys dripping in pearls and apples wrapped in swirling silver.

It isn’t difficult to find inventory items while you explore, as hotspots will sparkle. What won’t highlight are the various “cursed” objects scattered about. These are objects that transform in front of you (a sign swinging in the wind, for example); if you can find and click on them, they will upgrade your hidden object hint meter so that it fills up faster. Outside of the straightforward inventory puzzles, such as finding keys to unlock doors, you’ll also need to find several objects of a similar kind, like a series of potion jars or tiaras, and then use them to complete a fairly simple (for the most part) matching puzzle. You will also encounter typical logic puzzles (sliders and tile puzzles), but these are layered at times. You may have to solve as many as three logic puzzles in one cabinet, for example, to unlock it to find an object. In an unusual departure from the norm, although you can skip puzzles or use hints to identify objectives as you explore, using these features locks your hidden object hint meter for 3 to 5 minutes before you can access it again.

As you move through the vast underground kingdom, you’ll refer to your map quite often, though it doesn’t allow you to quickly travel between locations. The map not only shows where you are, it also indicates the locations of remaining hidden object scenes in that chapter, along with areas you’ll need to explore to find further clues to the Frog Prince mystery. This tale of a cursed frog, serviceably voiced in cutscenes ending each chapter, is a rather bizarre one that seems contrived to have you meet as many different princesses in their beautiful homes as possible. I found myself playing not for the plot but to see yet another wonderfully rendered scene or find yet another gorgeous, intricate object. The Collector’s Edition provides an additional half-hour adventure, in which you discover a mysterious portal and hints of a frozen kingdom beyond that you attempt to gain entrance to. This bonus chapter doesn’t add anything to the original storyline, which is suitably wrapped up in the main game, but it does set up quite nicely for the next game in the Dark Parables series. Even in the extended version, I never really found my one true prince of a good story, but if you’re looking for a few hours’ worth of beautiful art and puzzling, then you’ll want to bestow a kiss on Dark Parables: The Exiled Prince.


The Serpent of Isis: Your Journey Continues

Jack Allin

His name may be Robert Higgens, but you’d be forgiven for confusing the star of The Serpent of Isis: Your Journey Continues with Robert Langdon, as the new release from Gamgo Games has a decidedly Da Vinci Code-like feel. The three fabled “Capsules of Caruj” are said to be the key to finding the lost Tomb of the Egyptian goddess Isis, but to find them, players must first collect clues, solve a series of cryptic puzzles, and overcome the many physical obstacles barring the way, outsmarting a few devious opponents as you go. As its subtitle suggest, this game is a sequel to 2009’s The Serpent of Isis, though apart from the protagonist and general theme, there really isn’t a whole lot in common between the two. Not only does this game mark a fairly significant departure from the straightforward hidden object gameplay of its predecessor, it also glosses over the unresolved ending last time and immediately branches off into a whole new storyline. Fortunately, the result is a richer, more fulfilling experience, with additional exploration and inventory puzzle-solving giving the game a welcome sense of “adventure” (in both senses of the word).

 

Image #5The story is divided into seven chapters, each taking place in a distinct location, though Robert’s sister Sophie pitches in with two repeat visits to their grandfather’s Parisian home, each return uncovering new secret-laden areas. The destinations are pleasantly diverse, from the rain-drenched Central Park in New York at night to snowy Tuscany, Italy on a bright chilly day. Fortunately, the weather is a lot nicer in Venice, as you’ll need to take boat trips through the city’s famed canals to various libraries, churches, and palazzos. In a nod to the original game’s setting, you’ll also find yourself aboard a continental luxury train – at least, when you aren’t attempting a daring feat of courage on top of it. The hand drawn scenery is nicely designed with a fairly muted palette and a subtle soft-lens effect, occasionally displaying certain scenes from different angles to mix up the standard eye-level, first-person view. The realistic background art style is in sharp contrast to the blatantly comic-like character portraits, which appear during automated conversations from time to time. It’s a fairly jarring discrepancy, but a minor issue given how infrequently they appear. The music also changes from place to place, often adapting tone and tempo to suit the situation, like introducing tense pieces when stealthily sneaking into stores and cabins.

You can freely explore quite a few screens in each spot, though usually you’ll have to overcome a number of obstacles to unlock the full range. Whether it’s restoring power to brighten darkened areas, scaling heights, or bypassing a bevy of locked doors, there is always something to keep you busy. There is no objectives list or journal, but while you can theoretically have a few goals on the go at once, the game generally steers you along a very linear progress path. If you’ve carefully examined all accessible areas and no immediate solution presents itself, usually that means there’s a hidden object scene awaiting somewhere. A handy map shows you any locations with work left to be done, and you can easily warp to that point directly or manually click through a few screens to get there. Hidden object screens consist of a traditional list of items to find, posing no real surprises, though once in a while you’ll need to have an item already in inventory to complete an interaction, so you may need to leave one unfinished and return later. Unfortunately, some screens are repeated, and even some of the items are the same the second time around. These hunts are always fair, though they have a tendency to include multiples of the same objects, some of which are quite small, like dice and matchsticks, which may have you clicking the hint button occasionally. You can’t do so indiscriminately, however, as additional hints are only earned by finding unique sets of items in each location. That may sound restrictive, but I finished the game with far more hints than I needed, so it’s a fairly charitable system.

Part of the reason for stockpiling hints is that they’re pretty useless during normal exploration. Hints will highlight any inventory you’ve missed, but as these sparkle on the “casual” difficulty setting anyway, that isn’t likely to happen. Otherwise, all the hints do is point the way to any active puzzle on screen. In some games that might be helpful, but apart from the odd tile jigsaw, here the logic puzzles almost always consist of matching symbols and colours, riddles, or numbers in ways that require two sets of clues to solve. Robert (or Sophie) will conveniently take photos of any relevant details, but until you find the associated clues to go with them, they won’t do you any good. You can skip these puzzles at any time, but if you can’t figure one out, chances are you just don’t have the full information you need. There were a few that baffled me anyway, and the puzzles provide no additional instructions or tips to understanding them, but for the most part I was thrilled to find a game that didn’t rely on an excess of twiddleware puzzles. The puzzles here are still clearly contrived, but at least the deduction of clues is a more organic challenge than stumbling from slider to slider that anyone could solve with a bit of trial-and-error. The added complexity adds up to a fairly substantial adventure that even comes with a satisfying ending. You may not be up against a rogue religious sect or exposing the secret of the Holy Grail, but there’s mystery, there’s intrigue, and a whole lot of gameplay to keep you fully engaged in the second pursuit of Isis. Whether continuing from the first installment or starting fresh here, for casual game fans this is one journey you won’t regret taking.


Ancient Secrets – Mystery of the Vanishing Bride

Jack Allin

While many casual games are forced mash-ups of lite adventuring and hidden object hunts, Gestalt Games’ Ancient Secrets – Mystery of the Vanishing Bride blends the two in a subtle but fundamentally different way. There are no distinct screens full of random junk, no lists of useless objects to scavenge, just natural environments to explore and inventory to collect – lots and LOTS of inventory. Like its predecessor, Quest for the Golden Key, the sequel once again sends Dr. Kate Miller on an exotic excursion to ancient lands. This time, a former beau named Stephen calls Kate with an appeal for help in finding his assistant, who recently went missing in search of legendary treasure. Hopping in her private plane after a few preparations, Kate makes her way to the tropical Kunha Islands, which the local tribesmen believe are haunted by the ghost of a man determined to be reunited with his missing bride even beyond the grave. What’s worse, now Stephen is nowhere to be found either. Seems there’s quite a few people vanishing around here!

 

Image #6As it turns out, Kate’s ex (a blatant Indiana Jones wannabe) isn’t far away, but people aren’t the only things you’ll be searching for in your travels. Each and every objective you encounter, from repairing radios and generators to building rope bridges and canoes, require numerous items to achieve. These objects are displayed pictorially at the bottom of the screen, then moved to the inventory along the side once collected and ready to be used. It may sound easy to find items when you know exactly what they look like, but the game compensates by ramping up the difficulty in other ways. For one thing, it forsakes the usual hand-holding of most casual games, offering no sparkling hotspots. Objects are spread over quite a few screens that you can roam freely, and you’ll need to scour each location carefully, often more than once as objects don’t become active until you need them. Although there’s no unnecessary clutter, the backgrounds are very detailed, so it’s often quite hard to make out small items like flowers in a jungle clearing or tools and dials in an airplane cockpit, and sometimes you’ll need to move one object to find another behind it. The hint system is far more restrictive than most hidden object games, too. Instead of free rechargeable hints, here each hint costs a coin, which are randomly scattered around the environments. The coins regenerate after a while (though appearing in different places), so you’ll never be hopelessly stuck, but you may soon find yourself searching for coins instead of stubbornly hidden inventory items.

You’ll have more coins available if you don’t skip any of the standalone puzzles. There are many brainteasers awaiting, from map-based sliders to packing puzzles to gear connections, plus some minigames such as removing the last stick and following the cup-and-ball with a game-loving chieftain. Any of these can be bypassed, but doing so costs three coins. If you don’t have three coins, a free option is available when its meter is fully charged, but if you’ve been dutifully hoarding coins it’s easy to blow through your hard-sought earnings. None of the puzzles seem particularly original, but there’s a decent variety and they occur fairly frequently. So frequently, in fact, that integration is often fairly suspect. Tuning a radio frequency feels natural; hunting down a shaman’s pet chameleon does not. With all the fetch quests you’re assigned, you’ll soon feel less like an adventurer and more like a gopher, though at least you get some help. Occasionally you’ll call your pal Sam back at the office to do a little research for you, though the gameplay is the same regardless of who you control. Surprisingly, there isn’t really much thought required to solve the inventory challenges; once you have what you need, it’s just a matter of placing them where they belong, which is usually fairly obvious. It’s easy to miss a hotspot with an item in hand, however, which is a pain since opening and closing the inventory manually every time you want something is needlessly cumbersome.

Your stay may feel like work at times, but the Kunha Islands sure are a lovely locale to visit. The hand-drawn artwork is attractive and the scenery impressive, from the idol-laden tribal village to palm-lined beaches to a lighthouse overlooking lush valleys and an inviting blue ocean. The islands sound appropriately tropical, as your journey is serenaded by wildlife, including birds, insects, and other ambient jungle noises. The soundtrack is only marginally cultural, but it makes for a pleasant enough musical backdrop. There are no voiceovers at all, which isn’t a big issue since Kate offers little commentary about her surroundings, but it would have injected a bit of useful flavour into her conversations with Stephen, Sam, and the various locals she meets. If only the game were as entertaining as it is aesthetically pleasing, this would have been an easy title to recommend. As it is, the overly-contrived, often repetitive nature of the gameplay wears out its welcome over time, compounded by the restrictive help features and lack of difficulty settings. It’s a nice change from the usual hidden object hybrids these days, though ultimately it’s still a glorified scavenger hunt, only this time across many screens instead of one. No one said finding a vanishing bride would be easy, but you may just find that the reward for following her trail isn’t always worth the cost.


Reading the Dead

Jack Allin

German developer Deck13 is best known in these parts for its lighthearted comic adventures like Ankh and Jack Keane, but the studio’s initial forays into the casual realm have been decidedly serious mysteries – a change that's not necessarily been for the better. The latest is Reading the Dead, which casts players in the role of homicide detective (and former FBI profiler) Sarah Carter, who discovers she has the psychic ability to see a dead person’s final moments through their eyes. Everyone thinks she’s nuts, of course, but she gets plenty of opportunity to test out her newfound gift, as a serial killer is on the loose and only Sarah is able to follow the trail. In fact, the murderer is counting it, as the crimes seem somehow connected to Sarah’s past in a way she doesn’t yet understand. While certainly not original, this premise is solid enough and the attempt to integrate its hidden object gameplay directly into the storyline more fully than most games is admirable. Unfortunately, the game is let down by some atrocious writing, poor translation, woefully insufficient sound design, and questionable design decisions that make the game feel more like work than fun.

 

Image #7While story is often the least important element of casual games, if you’re going to include one, you have to do it right, and this game gets just about everything wrong. As is so often the case, there is no attempt to properly characterize police procedures or even basic common sense. Sarah is a sarcastic malcontent with her blouse unbuttoned halfway down the front, her boss does nothing but bark threats of suspension if she doesn’t pass psychological evaluation (and not in that amusing ‘70s cop show way), the coroner can’t tell if a bullet entered a body before or after death, and you’ll merrily tamper with and remove items from crime scenes willy-nilly. Elsewhere, Sarah’s psychologist is a horoscope devotee who gives her patient a clean bill of health after a single Rorschach test, while Sarah snips at her father for not caring about her mother’s death, a tragedy clearly consuming her given how often it’s repeated. This is a uniformly unprofessional, entirely unlikeable cast of characters who are horrible to be around and lousy at their jobs. There’s a fair bit of dialogue, as well, as you’ll frequently enter conversations – make that, arguments – about your hunches and your sanity. In one nice move, these dialogues include optional answers to select from. Usually differing only in their degree of snarkiness, your choices don’t seem to have any bearing on the outcome, but it’s a welcome bit of freedom nonetheless. If only the text wasn’t so badly translated, full of awkward grammar and stilted language that make these exchanges even more cringe-worthy.

Thankfully, the gameplay fares better, though not without some problems of its own. Reading the Dead is totally linear, but each crime scene includes several layers of hidden object-related tasks, and includes a flashback to another area sometime before the time of death. Locations include a forest, a half-renovated Turkish bath, a diner, and various secluded rooms in a run-down building, all of which are cluttered with junk. Occasionally you’re given a list of random items to collect, but other times you’ll be looking specifically for items related to the case, like blood stains, bullet holes, and footprints. That’s a good thing, but the game stretches its meagre resources by having you perform multiple task for the same items. After identifying key items, you may then need to photograph them, and then later remove them entirely. Back at the office, you’ll even need to sift through the same evidence all over again, though this at least feels different from the initial searches. You’ll also engage in find-the-difference tasks to find out how the crime scenes have been altered. Some of these items hunts are compelling, like identifying partial footprints from photos and examining a corpse for scars and wounds, while others are clearly contrived, like cleaning Sarah’s messy desk or packing a tool case from the supply closet. Unlike most casual games, there are only three hints per search, and while that will likely be enough, it’s often quite hard to find items, as some can be extremely tiny, barely visible, or just plain too far away to make out clearly.

Occasionally you’ll use forensic tools like Luminol and fingerprint brushes, but this involves nothing more than sweeping the cursor across the screen until the game auto-targets the hidden evidence. You’ll also encounter a simple tile jigsaw each time you flashback, highlight destinations from simple instructions on a GPS, drag-and-drop files on a computer, and brute-force your way through one trial-and-error lock combination. A single photo-based riddle is a bit more creative, but otherwise there is really nothing in the way of puzzles to solve, apart from the odd inventory application that is no challenge at all. Perhaps that’s best, as it would draw attention to the almost complete lack of music, as this game is eerily silent apart from its nondescript ambient sounds. Nor are there any voices at all, leaving you to read through subtitles over top of character portraits that vary only subtly in their expressions. There’s no great payoff at the end, either. In fact, there is no end, as the game abruptly stops with nothing resolved and a “to be continued” message splashed across the screen. It’s doubtful that anyone will care much about a sequel unless the developer addresses the many problems evident here, so let’s hope they too can read the dead when doing their post mortem of this game.


Other Games of Interest


Behind the Reflection

Jack Allin

Never trust a mirror. When it comes to casual games, no matter how harmless a mirror appears, all too often nothing good comes from looking into one. Certainly that’s true of Veles Studio’s Behind the Reflection, and in this case, “nothing good” has more than one meaning. It isn’t a bad game per se, but it does show all the signs of a budget game on rushed production: short length, recycled hidden object screens, lack of voice acting, pleasant but achingly repetitive soundtrack, and a completely disjointed, unintelligible storyline. When a young boy is magically trapped in a mirror and whisked away in a truck, his mother is left to frantically track him down on a chase that leads her to a witch’s home (whose owner is literally hunched over a cauldron despite the modern-day “realistic” setting) and then into a dreamlike parallel world with floating islands, talking trees, and prisoners trapped in stone. It’s an interesting enough backdrop, but it doesn’t make a lick of sense. The task list lays out your current objective, and the goals are usually straightforward, like collecting map pieces, potion ingredients, and airship parts, but the means of achieving them feel completely random. One newly-torn-up map piece pinpointing your son’s location has conveniently found itself locked in a safe, while another you’ll acquire only by building a bird feeder from scratch. Then there’s a couple non-sequitur dream sequences spent collecting shells on the beach and cooking in the kitchen. It’s nonsense.

 

Image #8Despite the absurdity of the story, there’s some light entertainment in the journey itself, at least. You’ll spend the bulk of your time looking for inventory objects, though there’s no thinking required, as each necessary item is displayed around the puzzle objective. There are traditional hidden object close-up screens sprinkled in periodically, which are easy to complete and would make for a nice change of pace if not for the need to repeat each one in quick succession. There are also a ton o’ puzzles and minigames of all sorts, including packing tasks, Mahjong, pair-matching, Simon, and ring-alignment, to name just a few. None of them are at all original, though credit must be given to the sheer volume offered here. Most are very easy, though a few can only be solved by trial-and-error guesswork, and a skip option will help out in a pinch. You’ll have a bit of freedom to wander, but there are generally only three screens per location, so you’ll never have to go very far. Interactive items only sparkle when you hover the cursor over them, but a rechargeable hint feature will point out anything you miss. If you do overlook something, it’ll be because of the murky, lo-res graphics. The artwork is nice enough, but the frequent blandness of the scenery and a lack of crispness and detail make the game one of the less attractive hidden object adventures of late. This is one reflection you won’t want (or need) to stare too long at, and it’s hard to recommend looking into it at all unless you’ve exhausted all the other lite adventures already.


Relics of Fate: A Penny Macey Mystery

Jack Allin

Image #9If there’s such a thing as a casual casual game, Fuzzy Bug Interactive’s Relics of Fate: A Penny Macey Mystery would be one of those games. While most hidden object hybrids cram in as many scavenger hunts and puzzles as possible, often to the point of repetition and overkill, this game is a breezy, fast-paced romp through a variety of urban environments in pursuit of eight different relics, rarely ever providing much challenge even on the harder of two difficulty settings, though it does ramp up the farther you proceed. When Penny Macey, daughter of a P.I. who’s recently gone missing, picks up her father’s trail, she quickly learns that someone else is after the artifacts he sought, and the villain happens to be one step ahead of her. In order to find them first and discover her father’s whereabouts, Penny must visit nearby offices and homes that have recently been burglarized, with a quick stop at the local library for clues along the way. It’s a simple premise that never probes too deeply, offering only cursory interactions with the various guards, house-owners, and counter clerks each place she goes in order to push the story along.

 

The lightweight plot keeps the focus on the gameplay, which includes of a fairly consistent mix of standard hidden object screens and inventory puzzles. Each location consists of only a single screen with several close-ups, so you never have far to look to find all the items you need. This makes the game very easy, but it generously sprinkles in enough other tasks to keep things interesting. You’ll pull out your detective kit to dust for fingerprints, knock down walls with hammers, prune bushes, and physically rummage through drawers for evidence. There are more traditional puzzles as well, from assembling ripped maps to completing word searches to solving math-based lock codes. Some are nicely integrated into the story, like matching partial footprints to a photo or comparing fingerprints under a microscope. These puzzles are also fairly basic, so you shouldn’t need to rely on the available skip function, at least until you near the end. The hidden object hint feature (courtesy of Penny’s cute dog Hamish) will largely go unused as well, as the object searches generally aren’t difficult given the game’s simple but clear graphic style. There is no voice acting at all, but the soundtrack provides a pleasant, subtle backdrop throughout. As you whip through one location after another, at no point will you stop and think of how impressed you are, but then, there’s really no reason to stop and think long anyway. Since it puts up so little resistance, you’ll just contentedly keep on plowing right ahead until the end of the adventure.


Mystery Agency: A Vampire’s Kiss

Jack Allin

Adventurers are used to seeing the names Cranberry Production on games, but usually it’s on titles like Mata Hari and the Black Mirror sequels. Like many other developers, however, the German studio has turned to the casual realm for its latest effort, Mystery Agency: A Vampire’s Kiss. Unfortunately, most will wish they hadn’t – not just because we’d rather they be working on full-fledged adventures, but because even by modern day casual standards, this is a poor game in just about every respect. Surprisingly, it doesn’t even make much effort to blend adventure elements into its standard hidden object gameplay. There’s a very thin plot about a college student who was bitten and abducted by a vampire, leaving her friend Sarah to seek her out with the aid of friendly, peaceful vampires. But this cheesy Twilight-inspired premise does little more than send Sarah jumping around from place to place (often revisiting the same ones), seeking out random objects for mundane reasons rather than pursuing her kidnapped friend. There’s no exploration, no inventory, no real sleuthing to do or mystery to solve, resulting in a game that feels about two years behind the lite adventuring curve, which is all the more surprising given the developer’s pedigree.

 

Image #10An “old school” (is it too early for that term yet?) hidden object game isn’t inherently a bad thing, but sadly, this game isn’t even good at doing that. Throughout its mix of standard item lists, find-the-difference tasks, and fragment collections, objects can be very small and difficult to see amidst the clutter, almost ensuring you’ll need the hint feature regularly, which recharges at two speeds for the game’s difficulty levels: really slow and freaking slow. The harder setting even has a timer and penalizes you for misplaced clicks, making it a choice for masochists only. There are a few standalone puzzles to break up the mix, but these are even more repetitive and infuriating. There are a couple different sliders to solve that increase in challenge each time, one of which you need to solve three times in row each and every time you encounter it. There’s also a tile rotation puzzle, a couple Simon sequences, and a pair of speed-based memory tests. A few of these could be considered fun the first time, but that feeling is long gone by the time you reach the hair-pulling harder variations of the same puzzle later on. It’s all the more galling because there’s never a decent reason to bother. The titular Mystery Agency consists of one P.I. who never helps you in the slightest, but delights in challenging your intelligence for the privilege of doing everything yourself anyway. Even the production values are given short-shrift here. The college/office/house environments are adequately designed but forgettably bland, and there’s no voice acting at all. The piano- and string-heavy music is decent enough, with some chimes adding eerily to the atmosphere once or twice, but ambient sound effects like traffic are out of place and badly edited, with noticeable gaps between loops. In fact, there are really no redeeming features in this game at all, so unless you’re a diehard vampire fanatic, move right along, as all the fun has been sucked dry already.


Note: Adventure Gamers is a Big Fish Games affiliate.

 

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