Adventure game protagonists sure have been busy lately. From Hercule Poirot to Sherlock Holmes, from Mata Hari to Leonardo Da Vinci and even Nostradamus, wherever you turn, you can’t help but find their latest exploits in games like Death on the Nile, The Mystery of the Persian Carpet, or Secret Missions…
Oh, these weren’t the games you were expecting?
I can’t blame you if you were expecting such titles as Evil Under the Sun, The Awakened, and Mata Hari. If you tend to follow only adventure game news, you may not realize that these prominent characters have been moonlighting lately in casual games. We’ve seen it once from Sherlock already, and recently the CSI New York crew and Nancy Drew have followed suit. It’s all part of the ongoing casual invasion that’s happening right before our eyes. Or perhaps happening while we’re not looking.
Rest assured, however, that Adventure Gamers has got your backs. In order to avoid further confusion between standard adventures and casual games among popular franchises, it’s time to take a closer look at the various "lite" games that might at first appear to be full-fledged new adventures but really aren’t, perhaps appropriately for the “hidden object” games that some of them actually are.
If you'd like to skip ahead, the following are included in this feature:
Page 1: Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot
Page 2: Sherlock Holmes
Page 3: Mata Hari
Page 4: Leonardo Da Vinci
Page 5: Nostradamus
Agatha Christie
And There There Were None: 2005 Adventure
Murder on the Orient Express: 2006 Adventure
Evil Under the Sun: 2007 Adventure
Death on the Nile: 2007 Casual
Peril at End House: 2007 Casual
Last year was the first since 2005 that we haven’t had a new Agatha Christie adventure whodunit. That void was quickly filled by Death on the Nile, the first of two Hercule Poirot hidden object games developed by Floodlight Games and published by Oberon. Originally released for download in 2007 and followed by Peril at End House, the subsequent boxed version of Death on the Nile can easily be mistaken for a new full-fledged adventure. It’s not.
Of course, those clues are mixed in among an abundance of other junk. As a hidden object game, you’ll not only be looking for incriminating evidence, but lots of stuff with no use at all. It’s a completely traditional seek-and-find exercise: you’re given a timed period to sift through numerous cluttered screens to find every item on a pre-defined list, most of which are entirely arbitrary. The artwork is pleasant, the object concealment generally fair, and the activity fairly straightforward, although the game tends to rely a little too much on finding multiple items of the same type. Your list may look manageable enough until you realize you need to find six ducks or twelve ripped pieces of paper.
There are also a handful of other puzzles to round out each chapter. Most are either small jigsaws or match-clues-with-characters exercises, though there is the odd combination to crack and object to assemble, along with a few other standalone types. I found several of these poorly clued, but as a last resort, you can opt to skip any of these entirely with no penalty.
Naturally the murder mystery is a central component of the overall game, but only a peripheral element of the gameplay itself. A few comic-style, sepia-toned cutscenes move the story forward occasionally, and key plot points are fleshed out in random notes and articles conveniently left for you to discover. There is a “clue room” where you can review important items you’ve found (which the game determines for you), and a “salon” where you can ask questions of the ship’s guests. The latter makes for a nice change of pace, but it’s a little too sporadic to make the narrative very coherent. Even though the whole game only took several hours to complete, I was already forgetting who did what and why by the end. Luckily, the final reveal excused my confusion with a rather anti-climactic process of elimination task (which seemed a bit beneath Poirot but suited me fine).
Peril at End House is virtually identical to Death on the Nile, with only the details changed to suit the plot. This time around, Poirot is joined by his friend Captain Hastings, not to solve a murder (at least at first), but to prevent one if possible. The owner of the modest “End House” on the Cornish coast has been the near-victim of several suspicious incidents, and although her acquaintances all have skeletons in their closets, there seems little reason to wish harm on the likeable young lady, so the vacationing Belgian detective determines to take up her cause.
Gone from the previous game are the clue room and suspect questioning, replaced here by periodic “clue cards” which pop up whenever you discover an important item or piece of information. These can be reviewed at any time, but I missed the direct character interaction of Death on the Nile, however limited, as here I felt even less connection to the characters or the storyline. As a result, with so much revealed in so short a time, it proved even more difficult to follow the details unfolding.
If you like one of these games, it’s a no-brainer to suggest you’ll like the other as well, and as far as hidden object casual games, they’re pleasantly diverting fun. But if you haven’t tried either, bear in mind that neither should ever be confused with the Agatha Christie adventure series. There is no exploration, story integration, inventory puzzles, or personal freedom, and no matter how hard you look, these are just about the only things you’ll never find.
Up next: Sherlock Holmes...
Sherlock Holmes
Mystery of the Mummy: 2003 Adventure (soon to be ported to DS)
The Case of the Silver Earring: 2004 Adventure
Sherlock Holmes: The Case of the Time Machine: 2006 Educational children’s game
The Awakened: 2006 Adventure (re-released in Remastered Version in 2008)
Nemesis: 2007 Adventure (also known as Sherlock Holmes versus Arsène Lupin)
The Lost Cases of Sherlock Holmes: 2008 Casual
Sherlock Holmes: The Mystery of the Persian Carpet: 2008 Casual
Sherlock Holmes vs. Jack the Ripper: 2009 Adventure (not yet released)
The Mystery of the Persian Carpet isn’t the great detective’s only foray into the casual realm, but it’s far more likely to cause genre confusion than The Lost Cases of Sherlock Holmes. The reason for that is simple: it’s by Frogwares, the driving force behind all the new full-fledged Sherlock Holmes adventures. As a result, not only does the game look like its adventure game counterparts in most screenshots, it’s probably the least “casual” title of those examined here. That’s not to suggest it’s best considered an adventure after all, but rather than being developed from the ground up as a hidden object game with adventuring elements added in, Persian Carpet feels more like a would-be adventure that’s been stripped down to suit the casual market. Unfortunately, it stripped out a lot of the fun in the process.
The story centers around a murdered young artist who’s found wrapped up in the eponymous Persian carpet, but with no people to deal with directly and only text documents filling in the many blanks, the unfolding plot presentation is too sparse and too rushed to create any real cohesive focus. At no point did I feel I had a grasp of the events playing out, and with each new independent revelation from Holmes, I echoed Watson’s sentiment of “for my part, I am no further ahead.”
Of course, getting to the deduction board isn’t easy to begin with. Each level sends you to several different locations to find a bunch of pre-determined “evidence” first. Rather than adopt the standard hidden object formula from other casual games, though, here the gameplay comes straight out of the adventure game pixel hunting manual. Yes, pixel hunting, exactly as it’s come to be known and despised. It starts off promisingly: the screens are beautifully rendered in high resolution, they’re uncluttered by excess objects, and the items you seek are shown as silhouettes, so you’d think the task would be simple… but no. Many objects are so concealed that you’ll be hard pressed to find them all. Good luck locating a small sprinkling of ash, tiny scratch marks, or a single strand of hair. The cursor doesn’t even throw you a bone by changing over collectible hotspots, removing even that advantage from adventures. You can use your hints here as well, but the more you use, the fewer you’ll have for the rest of the chapter. And while sometimes a hint will clearly highlight an item itself, other times the only help you’ll get is a highlight of where to click for a new close-up screen. Gee, thanks Sherlock.
There are three levels to choose from at the start of the game, including Casual, Detective, and Adventure, the differences being the degree of puzzle difficulty and number of hints and puzzle solutions available. The game also displays a timer, though any of the three options can be played in untimed mode, and I can’t imagine anyone willingly choosing the timed version, as the game is punishing enough without such limitations. The Adventure mode promises a “freedom of investigation” option, but really this just lets you move between the occasional screen if you’re stuck, as the game remains entirely linear and progress on one front has no bearing on another.
Whatever the mode chosen, The Mystery of the Persian Carpet can’t be considered Sherlock Holmes’ finest hour on PC, and it’s anything but “elementary” overall, taking a good six hours to complete the first time through (hint use varying mileage, of course). While qualifying as a casual title, it’s far more demanding and less rewarding than most hidden object games, while far more streamlined and less substantial than most adventures, so its appeal will be limited. Ultimately, perhaps its value is more as a light puzzle game – a deduction supported by the option to replay the main puzzles on their own after completing them.
Up next: Mata Hari...
Mata Hari
Secret Missions: Mata Hari and the Kaiser's Submarines: 2008 Casual
Mata Hari: 2009 Adventure (not yet released)
While the first full-fledged adventure starring the exotic Dutch dancer still awaits, the double-crossing spy has quietly been working the casual game scene already in Secret Missions: Mata Hari and the Kaiser's Submarines. Sneaking a new protagonist in between Holmes mysteries, this game is also a Frogwares creation, released several months after Persian Carpet. Fortunately, they were clearly months well spent, as the new title is a significant improvement over the great detective’s not-so-great endeavour, though a few of the same weaknesses still linger at times.
Avoiding any reference to those pesky "German spy" allegations against the real Mata Hari, the game's story centers around Mata's attempt to find plans of a German sub attack in 1916, as such proof will draw the Americans into the fray and turn the tide in favour of the Allies. To do so, she’ll need to patch together loose pieces of a map conveniently scattered around Europe that display the location of hidden U-boats. It’s a very lightweight premise, and the storyline is almost a non-factor, serving mainly as an excuse to traipse around the globe from France to Spain to Switzerland to Germany (all in the blink of an eye), scour each new location, and get all dressed up.
The other key change from Sherlock comes between most of Mata Hari’s fourteen missions. From her hotel room, she’ll need to stay in touch with spy central by sending and receiving encoded messages. Receiving messages means solving a three-part, somewhat-Mastermind-like colour-coding sequence, while sending messages requires a complex wire-connection puzzle, always done twice. Each task ramps up in difficulty the farther you go, and though the higher difficulty setting doesn’t seem to make the hardest ones harder, it does ensure they get more challenging more quickly.
The rest of the game follows much the same pattern as Persian Carpet, but enhanced here in small but important ways. Static locations are filled not with lots of random junk, but only the few extra things you’re required to find in each. Your search list again shows silhouetted items, and some can only be found by switching to a close-up view or solving a self-contained inventory puzzle first. Fortunately, this time any item that can’t be found immediately is indicated, preventing you from wasting your time fruitlessly. Less fortunately, the game still imposes some frustrating pixel hunts, sometimes for items and sometimes only for “action” cursors. Back on the plus side, this time hotspots become highlighted when you pass the cursor over them, and sometimes you can get lucky. (I’d tell you to get your mind out of the gutter, but Mata does get plenty of offscreen action, so it’s probably right where it needs to be.)
Unlike Frogwares’ earlier title, there are no limits to item location hints, either, only a short recharge period for the hint function. This is a much better idea, discouraging over-dependence but not punishing players who need more help than they thought they would at the start of the game. There is no timer running throughout Secret Missions, even during one simulated bomb-defusing sequence, so players can take as much time as they’d like. A score for each mission is tabulated, taking time and the number of hints used into account, but this seems to have no bearing on the game itself.
Production values remain typical Frogwares, with nicely designed period locations (although repeated a few times too often) and wonderful orchestration supporting the experience. There are no voiceovers at all, a few too many typos made the cut, Mata's dancing is only ever alluded to between scenes, and the story takes some rather absurd leaps near the end in its haste to seem more substantial than it is, but it’s clear that Frogwares felt more comfortable with the “casual” nature of this game, and the result is a definite step forward. The entire game took me only three hours to complete, but the Kaiser’s Submarines managed to deliver twice the enjoyment in half the time of its Holmesian predecessor, so it may just be worth a look if you’re up for something "lite" to tide you over until the main Mata Hari adventure still to come.
Up next: Leonardo Da Vinci...
Da Vinci
The Da Vinci Code: 2006 Adventure (or Action/Adventure hybrid)
The Secrets of Da Vinci: The Forbidden Manuscript: 2006 Adventure
Great Secrets: Da Vinci: 2008 Casual
Both the action-tinged take on Dan Brown’s conspiracy thriller and Kheops Studio’s historical puzzler sent players following in the footsteps of the enigmatic Leonardo Da Vinci, but DayTerium’s casual approach puts gamers right in the shoes of the Renaissance man himself. Only in the most superficial way, mind you, and ironically for a game based on such a progressive thinker and inventor, Great Secrets: Da Vinci makes no attempt to experiment with the standard hidden object formula. Fortunately, Leonardo’s influence as a brilliant artist plays a more significant role in what still manages to be a mild but pleasant, thoroughly traditional seek-and-find experience.
The game begins when Leonardo is simply a young master, not a grand one, listening to his favourite uncle’s tales. The story then follows the main travels and exploits of his life, ostensibly in pursuit of the Philosopher’s Stone, which seems an odd choice as a premise. Some events are historically accurate, while creative liberty seems to have been taken with others. Nevertheless, it all adequately provides a loose framework for visits to such places as Florence, Milan, Rome, Athens, the Far East, and France. The narrative is revealed only through journal entries between each stage of the game’s fourteen chapters, and while these serve their basic purpose, suffice it to say that no one will be confusing these writings for anything from Leonardo’s own hand.
It’s unlikely anyone will require much more than that, as Great Secrets is definitely not a difficult game. It is timed, and the number of items increases throughout the game from ten to as many as thirty, but the consistent ten minutes per level are usually far more than you’ll need. The more the items, the easier they often are to find, after all. The only potential challenge will come from the random object stage, which lists only five objects at a time and won’t let you scroll ahead manually. Clicking randomly will cost you a time penalty if you do it often enough, and you can’t “find” unknown items accidentally, as only the items visible on the list are active on the game screen. Even so, I routinely finished these stages without ever feeling remotely pressured for time.
When you do inevitably hit those one or two stubborn items that are too well concealed (or just eluding your attention, no matter how obvious they are), there are unlimited hints available to show the location of a missing list item. The hint system needs to recharge over time, so you can’t rely on multiple uses in a crunch, but it’s more than sufficient for what you’ll need. Object concealment is generally fair, with only a few instances of undue vagueness or imprecise item description (helpful hint: a “sandwatch” is an hourglass, not something you eat).
The orchestral music in Great Secrets is cheerfully upbeat, offering a pleasing background environment. At least, for the first hour. As with the game’s other elements, the soundtrack begins to get repetitive, and would have benefited greatly from a bit more variety, but the volume can be adjusted if it does begin to wear, and there’s certainly no complaint about the quality of the tunes offered.
Overall, Great Secrets: Da Vinci plays the hidden object game about as safely as it can, and does so decently. There are no innovations here, no bursts of genius befitting its brilliant protagonist, but it does a solid job with the traditional seek-and-find elements. Given its relative ease and lack of tougher logic puzzles found in many casual offerings, this title is perhaps best suited to hidden object novices, or simply those looking for a peaceful, unassuming afternoon with Leonardo. And hey, it’s a lot cheaper than a trip to the Louvre.
Up next: Nostradamus...
Nostradamus
Nostradamus: The Last Prophecy: 2007 Adventure
The Hidden Prophecies of Nostradamus: 2008 Casual
Cassandra's Journey: The Legacy of Nostradamus: 2008 Casual
The final adventure game protagonist to make his presence felt in the casual market comes as something of a surprise… at least, to everyone but himself, presumably. It’s Nostradamus, noted 16th century astrologer and prophet who was first featured in another Kheops historical adventure, The Last Prophecy. Although only a peripheral figure in that game, he’s actually even less relevant in the two casual games to bear his name, cited mainly as a hook for popular attention. The two games in question are both solid enough little hidden object titles, but be forewarned that they bear little resemblance to the life and times of their namesake.
Aside from the inexplicable Nostradamus references, what we’re left with is another extremely traditional seek-and-find game. Each level has you visit three different locations on a map, which begin with 12 or 13 hidden items per screen before ramping up to 20 or so by game’s end. You can switch between them if you’re stuck, but you need to find every item in every location, so you’ll have to return to any that aren’t yet finished. The allotted time in “Sorcerer mode” (because, you know, Nostradamus was renowned for his witchcraft – argh!) gives you 45 minutes to complete a level, while a relaxed mode gives you double that. Either should give you more than enough, however, as the hint system works the same as Da Vinci, in which the hint bar refills after use, giving you lots of help if you really need it, just never in rapid fire sequence.
The item list also works exactly the same as Great Secrets, revealing only five objects at a time, and progressing only as you find each of those. There’s a time penalty for random clicking, and occasionally you’ll be required to find multiples of the same object, but never any more than two. The artwork is fairly clear, however, so it’s unlikely you’ll ever find yourself pressed for time, or even tempted to overuse the hint feature.
There is no voice acting throughout the game, not because it’s a casual downloadable game (though it is), but because there aren’t even any people in the game. The quiet is relieved only by the game’s soundtrack, which is pleasant enough when it plays, though there are periods of silence between scores. What’s truly bizarre, however, is that between songs, you’ll occasionally hear a throat being cleared or a page being turned, as if you’re listening to a live concert. That’s not written into the game in any way, so it’s a curious choice. Either that or someone just forgot to hit the “off” button in the sound studio.
All told, the gameplay in The Hidden Prophecies of Nostradamus is diverting enough for the 3-4 hours it’ll take to finish. It adheres faithfully to the tried-and-true, so the experience is utterly predictable, even without Nostradamus’ soothsaying talents. It’s a shame that so little effort was made to prop up the story framework, but anyone looking for a little more narrative oomph mixed in with their fortunetelling does have another option available to them…
Cassandra's Journey: The Legacy of Nostradamus, by JoyBits, takes just as many liberties with its historical subject matter as Hidden Prophecies, but at least the famous seer is actually in this one. At least, his spirit is. Set in modern day, players follow Cassandra, an aspiring mystic who’s visited by a woman whose brother has mysteriously disappeared. Inexperienced as she is, help comes unexpectedly in the form of Nostradamus, who guides her in finding a magic family ring to increase her powers. Her travels take players to rather unexotic locations like her office, a park, a pawn shop, and the depths of her own purse, though she does take a couple time-baffling trips to Nostradamus’ back yard. Not much of a journey, really.
As with all hidden object games, of course the story is just an excuse to set up the gameplay, so narrative gaffes aside, Cassandra’s Journey is another traditional hidden object game. Theoretically it’s broken down into forty different “levels”, but it treats each individual scenario and even standalone puzzle as a level in its own right, so the entire game can be finished in under three hours quite easily. Naturally, searching for concealed items is required, but this task is fairly evenly split between finding randomly listed items, collecting large sets of the same object, spotting items displayed as silhouettes, locating differences between two and even three similar scenes, and spotting the answers to riddles you’ll first need to solve. Not surprisingly, the latter provides the hardest challenge, as some riddles can be a bit too vaguely clued, but you’ll also be hard pressed to find the smaller differences in the comparative scenes as you split your attention three ways.
Fortunately, help is plentiful, providing you work for it. Each hidden object scene contains jewels that you can then use to “shop” for different types of hints. The best (and costliest) hints specifically highlight an item, while the lower-priced hints show either a general (but large) vicinity of an object or a glowing cursor. You can also buy extra time in one-minute increments, though these apply only to the current scene, and for the most part your allotted ten minutes will be plenty. A “relaxed mode” is also available if you really like to play at your own leisure.
Really the only evident purpose of these tricks from Nostradamus is to unlock different means of fortunetelling from the main menu. Whether by cards, stars, or crystal ball, Cassandra will tell your fortune, but her revelations are little more than fortune cookie-type platitudes. The current date is recorded, and you’re only allowed to visit once per day, but if the developers wanted repeat visitors, they probably should have made a longer game.
In fact, even a complete game would have been nice. In focusing on Cassandra’s pursuit of the magic ring, the story ridiculously forgets all about the missing brother until the end, at which point it’s suddenly reintroduced and then punctuated with… “to be continued”! Now, flimsy storytelling like this won’t be leaving anyone anxiously awaiting the outcome, but it’s still a bit of a slap in the face to be deprived of the actual mystery the game seemed to promise. So, despite the presence of Nostradamus, you won’t be leaving any wiser than you begin, but you should have a fairly enjoyable journey for as long as it lasts.