In this game, you are rescuing fairies from a pirate. It sounds light enough, but some of the content is scary stuff! This is NOT one to play with the kids. The objects are really tough to find, and many are very tiny. The puzzles are pretty good, and challenging, and you can skip them. I struggled to beat this game, so I'm not sure if that's good or bad...
- Julia68
I was lucky enough to be chosen to produce the game based on the classic TV series "Muder, She Wrote" because I'm from a town just like Jessica Fletcher's. Like Jessica, I know what it's like to live in a lovely, sleepy little town in New England: to be part of a close knit community that cares for each other; to feel so safe that you never need to lock your doors at night; to constantly keep finding murder victim after murder victim in every garden, behind each white picket fence and at each ice cream social you attend.
Those of you who are fans of Jessica Fletcher's exploits have a good grasp of what life in a small town New England is like. Yes, I come from the mean streets of New England, and as a survivor I feel I have the proper perspective on how to convey the quaint pastimes New Englanders enjoy, such as trying to avoid a violent end.
My
name's Donald E. Marshall, Sr. Producer here at Legacy Interactive and
one of the mad little elves in Santa's workshop busily putting together
one of our upcoming games "Murder, She Wrote" (affectionately known as
"MSW" around here). While most gamers raise their eyebrows when I
mention MSW, it's not hard to see how this property can be very
successfully adapted into over a casual game.
The name is still highly recognizable among just about anyone 30 and up and is one of the most successful television murder mysteries series of all time. Its stories are compact, memorable, well written and thrilling without being horrifying. The heroine (Jessica Fletcher, played by the amazing Angela Lansbury) is female, older, clever and very, very attractive - a good descriptor of most of the people who purchase the games I design. Or people who read articles I write, I should mention. Well, not OLDER, of course. Just...mature. By the way...did I mention those pants look great on you?
I've just been informed by Gamezebo that I'm no longer allowed to blatantly suck up to their readers. I've promised to be good.
When translating a movie or television series into a game you have to be very careful to try capture and maintain the original feel of the licensed property. MSW had a very unique blend of comfort and murder, a quality that set it apart from most of the other murder mystery shows that came before it. This will translate into lush hidden object scenes rich with clues and New England charm as well as dozens of fun puzzles with a homespun feel.
Our stories had to cover a variety of subjects that kept the feel of the case somewhat "homey" and small town. We wanted to avoid evidence that needs high-tech equipment to analyze it - Jessica Fletcher isn't part of the CSI team, and doesn't generally have access to microscopes, blood splatter analysts or that sort of thing. Evidence will need to be observational, noticeable to the naked eye and something that tells a story to someone who is clever enough to put it all together.
Most important to the mood of the game, though, was the story and tone of each mystery. If it didn't feel like a MSW story, if Jessica didn't speak in her signature folksy-yet-straightforward tone, then there was no hope that the game would feel like a natural evolution of a show that just about everyone I know watched when they were younger.
Luckily we quickly met up with Anne De Borgo, one of the best Murder She Wrote fiction writers around. Not only did she manage to capture the voice of Jessica but the supporting cast of characters who found their way into our game at her urging: Sheriff Mort Metzger, the local law enforcement officer that often enlisted her help, Seth Hazlitt, the town doctor, and even Emma McGill, Jessica's nearly identical looking British cousin.
Even better, Anne has created a collection of five all-new fantastic mysteries that capture the feel of this amazing series, written just for our game. Three of the cases bring us to Cabot Cove, the murder-prone Maine township where world-renowned mystery novelist Jessica called home. Here we get to dig in to some great mysteries in homey, small-town Americana that were the trademark of the show: a garden competition that turns neighbors into bitter rivals, a lobster fishing industry that's fallen on hard times and a missing person case involving star-crossed lovers.
The other two cases take us outside of Jessica's home town: to Vermont where a surprising death at a maple syrup factory reveals a struggle to control the maple syrup industry and to England for a Shakespearean murder on the London stage complete with espionage and international intrigue.
My goal for MSW is a game that will bring back the warm memories of the television show while being strong enough to be enjoyed by those without any prior knowledge of the series. While we'll add to an American classic for those who fondly remember the show the game will stand on its own as a new classic casual game. We have some large shoes to fill, as the TV series has won dozens of awards, but we're certainly up to the task.
Well, maybe not. I just found my production assistant dead under my desk. This'll set my schedule back. Gotta find my magnifying glass....
Think Build-a-Lot, but under the sea. It's an underwater city building game, where you make houses (which are built by sharks). There are a lot of different goals, like keeping the place clean and earning enough clams and coral. It's different. My daughter is very into mermaids (thank you Disney), so she likes watching me play this.
You can download a patch from Big Fish if you encounter any bugs. I found a few, but they are gone now. The patch fixes most problems and makes the game better.
- JennyBean
Another missing person story in a hidden object game. They probably get lost in all the crap that's laying around.
In this game, you are helping a magician find his missing brother. While it's mostly hidden object, there are logic puzzles too. My favorite is the maze, where you use a magnet to guide a led ball. The objects are well blended in, so you can expect a challenge. It's only 2-3 hours long, which is a minus... Otherwise, it's a decent HOG.
- JennyBean
The story is very, very interesting, and the hint system is good. I enjoyed playing it, just like the first one, but it is very repetitive over time (that's also how they make it so long). You find the same objects a lot. It's also a straight HOG that doesn't have adventure bits. The graphics are better than the first, though. If you really like hidden object games, it's good.
Hmmm. I haven't had any technical problemson XP, but some people are having trouble running it on Vista.
-Beauty
The story is similar to Mystery Case Files: Madame Fate. Tarot cards, an elderly gypsy, a crystal ball, etc. The graphics include too much clipart, imo... You play collection of simple minigames, such as one where you select which item is different than the others. That one had flaws, since there can be multiple differences, but only the one they are looking for counts. There is also a simple spot the difference game, and some riddles. I like the theme, but the content is too slow and simple.
It's a lot like Mystery Case Files: Madame Fate, but not precisely. In this case you are freeing spirits, not seeing murders.
- Beauty
I've been really looking forward to this. It's a people sim, like the first one, where your goal is to manage little island dwellers and solve the mysteries of their existence. It's pretty challenging. You can pause the game, and your villagers won't die if you abandon them without resources – they just slump over and look pathetic. There are a lot of minigames, and some are annoying, like the HOG minigame which is impossible with no hints. Otherwise, it's a great game.
Escape From Paradise is good, but Virtual Villagers is still the king.
- RedBlob
This is a fishing game, where you lower the line trying to catch fish. If you remember the old Gold Rush games, the idea is similar. It's all about timing, and judging distances. Playing the trial is fun, but the game gets repetitive fast. There are changes made along the way, but the core game play stays the same.
A fishing game from Big Fish, lol.
- RedBlob
When playing this game, I kept thinking of the movie “He's Just Not That Into You.” You are asked dating related questions, like “When would a guy suck in his stomach around a girl” or “What would you see that stops you from reading a dating profile.” It's not strictly gender related – more dating related. It's okay, but not really different from other feud games.
The free trial is only 15 minutes at the time I played. Hmph!
- Lisa79
HERE'S WHAT'S WORKING FOR ME ...
1. Enlightenus. If you like Return to Ravenhearst, this is similar. It's a HOG adventure that has you solving inventory puzzles and collecting pages from a novel. Then the pages turn into hidden object scenes, where you have to find objects from the list and then put them where they belong using different clues. Clever.
2. Escape From Paradise 2: A Kingdom's Quest. More tropical mischief, island exploration, and quirky minigames... While it's more or less Virtual Villagers repackaged, fans of island survival games should enjoy it. The villagers don't die, btw. Is that a plus or minus?
... AND WHAT'S NOT
1. Family Feud: Battle of the Sexes. Dating trivia? I was expecting more drama. It's basically a collection of trivia questions about what turns people on and off on a date, along with funny (and scary) things that happen when people break up. Great topic, but it would be more fun to play with other people.
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