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Mystery Stories DS

Format:
DS

Genre:
Minigames

Style:
Turnbased

Further reading:
Mystery Case Files: Millionheir

Buy/Support:
Support Josie, click to buy via us...

A fun way to pass the time and great if you enjoy the intense concentration of hidden object games, not as good as others on the market though.

This game is similar to Mystery Case Files: Millionheir, which I played a few months ago. It has a similar concept of searching for clues in various locations which are loaded with different objects to find.

Here though, some of the search scenes are mind boggling; searching for a frog, piece of jewellery, or mobile phone, all cleverly hidden the highly detailed picture. Sometimes the objects could be anywhere; sometimes you can be staring right at them without even realising it! Thank goodness you get a few hints for each screen to help you along. Not being a very patient person I was surprised at my ability to keep searching the picture. In this game you don’t just get a list of objects but you also get clues instead, from which you have to work out the object - which makes it all the more difficult.

I was surprised when the game started that I was thrown straight into the game play so quickly. Having read the background blurb on the website I thought there would be a long story introduction setting the scene. I think where this game falls down is the back story is very weak compared with Mystery Case Files: Millionheir. The opening scene used real-life photos (woman on beach) which made it look like a cheesy holiday brochure rather than the exotic Caribbean mystery island it is supposed to be.

Maybe if I had picked up this game before Mystery Case Files: Millionheir I would have enjoyed it more, but the novelty of the game concept has worn off somehow and I doubt I will get round to playing this in the same way. I think that’s where Mystery Case Files: Millionheir was quite clever, because of it’s strong detective back-story it felt that there was real content and progression to the game (even if in reality this wasn’t true), but picking this up I realise it is more of the same and unlikely to have much to it, apart from the obvious picture searches.

You can play in Adventure mode which means you have to race against the clock to find all the clues. Or if you want a more relaxed approach there is free play, where you can revisit any of the locations you have already unlocked and play again. The hidden object scenes seem very small and fiddly to navigate, which again doesn’t make me want to come back to it much. As with all these types of games they do get pretty repetitive after a while and I found there was even less variety in this game than in similar ones I’ve played.

If this was my first foray into Hidden Object games I think I would quite enjoy it, but there are other games out there that are doing the same thing much better, so I would go for one of those instead of this one.

Written by Josie Campbell

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Josie Campbell writes the Domestic Gamer column.

"As quite a domesticated mum of three I love the thought that Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, DS lite and PSP games can have a practical role around the home and enriching everyday life but also fun to chill out and unwind with too. Here are my Domestic Gamer review, join me to read about all sorts of games, from cooking, health, and family ones too."

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