Adrenaline-free zone, 2008-12-28The game is divided into numerous chapters, each involving searching a random selection of six (out of 16) rooms in the mansion. Five of the searches are for objects from a list of the multitude of arbitrary objects littering each room; the sixth search is a "spot the difference" puzzle. Each chapter also involves the discovery of a torn page from a diary or somesuch which has to be pieced together (a simple jigsaw), plus a piece of the Margrave family crest which constructs a key to unlocking a door to the solution of the game, and the allocation of an object to the Collection Room. The first 16 chapters of the game also unlock each room in turn to make them available for the Freeplay mode.
Each room search is allocated 15 minutes, the difficulty of the object searches varying depending on the size and quantity of the objects contained therein. Some rooms are unlit, so only the small area illuminated by torchlight can be seen clearly. Failing to complete the search in the allocated time results in the room being redisplayed with a new selection of objects. Each room search is allocated a number of hints (initially two) which increment every three minutes, so if you're prepared to use the occasional hint it's practically impossible not to complete an object search within the allotted time; most can be completed in five minutes or so, although some are quite tricky. The "spot the difference" puzzles can generally be completed in a couple of minutes. The jigsaws are very easy, and have no time limit anyway. There's no advantage to completing a room quickly or without hints, and no disadvantage to the contrary situation.
There's a separate section where the various assembled diary pages, news articles, etc. can be viewed to summarise the story, but these are presented in the order of discovery rather than chronologically, which is a bit daft. The "weird & wonderful" objects accumulated in the Collection Room are mostly very mundane items; eg. mouse trap, step ladder, rubber duck, etc. This room doesn't have any influence on the game and its only use seems to be to indicate the percentage of object searches completed. (Completing the main game comprises about 60% of the object searches; the remainder can be played in Freeplay mode.)
The game's graphics, presentation and interface are well designed, but there's nothing to particularly engage the player. I found the game dull and uninteresting, as there's so very little to it - just the three game elements repeated ... errm ... repeatedly. It's perhaps a simple way of occupying the odd half hour of a rainy day when there's nothing better to do, but other than that I can find little in the game to recommend it.
Reviewed By AR87H1NJRQ9S6Each room search is allocated 15 minutes, the difficulty of the object searches varying depending on the size and quantity of the objects contained therein. Some rooms are unlit, so only the small area illuminated by torchlight can be seen clearly. Failing to complete the search in the allocated time results in the room being redisplayed with a new selection of objects. Each room search is allocated a number of hints (initially two) which increment every three minutes, so if you're prepared to use the occasional hint it's practically impossible not to complete an object search within the allotted time; most can be completed in five minutes or so, although some are quite tricky. The "spot the difference" puzzles can generally be completed in a couple of minutes. The jigsaws are very easy, and have no time limit anyway. There's no advantage to completing a room quickly or without hints, and no disadvantage to the contrary situation.
There's a separate section where the various assembled diary pages, news articles, etc. can be viewed to summarise the story, but these are presented in the order of discovery rather than chronologically, which is a bit daft. The "weird & wonderful" objects accumulated in the Collection Room are mostly very mundane items; eg. mouse trap, step ladder, rubber duck, etc. This room doesn't have any influence on the game and its only use seems to be to indicate the percentage of object searches completed. (Completing the main game comprises about 60% of the object searches; the remainder can be played in Freeplay mode.)
The game's graphics, presentation and interface are well designed, but there's nothing to particularly engage the player. I found the game dull and uninteresting, as there's so very little to it - just the three game elements repeated ... errm ... repeatedly. It's perhaps a simple way of occupying the odd half hour of a rainy day when there's nothing better to do, but other than that I can find little in the game to recommend it.
This review was cited from Amazon.co.uk.
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