Developer: SpinTop Games
Publisher: PopCap Games Inc
Rrp: £4.25 (Steam)
Released: 15th April 2009
Available on: Steam
Played Using: Mouse
Approximate game length: 10 Hours
The first puzzle of this game was how to make it run and not only show a quarter of the screen. Turns out the fix is quite simple, find the executable file, go into it’s properties, select the compatibility tab and turn on the override DPI scaling. From there it all should work without an issue. The sad thing is this is actually the most difficult puzzle this game has, and its not even part of it.
Hidden object games aren’t typically a game genre I tend to bother with, if I’m going to play a game for taxing my brain I tend to go for point and click adventures in the style of Monkey Island. However over the years I have played one or two hidden object games, and with my admittedly very limited experience I have to say I think this might be one of the poorest examples of the genre I’ve come across.
In some ways hidden object games are like visual novels, the core concept of the game is very easy almost anyone could create one. What makes or breaks both genres (more so than any other genre in my opinion) is the story, no one wants to play a boring visual novel and the same goes for hidden object games. I need a reason to keep looking for these random items, you have to make me care!
In this game you’ll go to multiple locations where there are absolutely loads of objects scattered and hidden. You’re task is to find a specific set of objects that are told to you at the bottom of the screen, sometimes the description can be a bit vague such as ‘stirs the fire’ meaning a fire poker. Once you find all the objects you get to go to the next location. There are also two hidden locks within each location that if you find enough will unlock two new game modes. After all the locations are cleared in a level you get to complete a mini game which gives you an ‘escape item’. That’s it, that’s the whole game, there are no cutscene’s, dialogue, nothing that even vaguely hints at a story.
The thing that makes this all worse is that the same few locations get reused over and over again. The game advertises that there are two thousand one hundred objects to find, but its across maybe eight locations.
If I’m honest I never finished this game, it was just way too repetitive. My advise with this is to give it a miss.
If this appeals to you perhaps try;
Tiny Bang Story
The Room
Agent A – A Puzzle in Disguise
