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With so many popular casual PC games migrating over to the Nintendo DS, it was only a matter of time before mega-popular seek-and-find series Mystery Case Files followed suit. You might well ask, "How on earth could anyone cram scenes full of hidden objects onto that tiny little screen?" Read on to find out how Mystery Case Files: MillionHeir adapts itself to the DS's unique layout.
On the PC, searching for hidden objects to click on is usually easy enough provided you have a decently-sized computer monitor. The developers of MillionHeir (Big Fish Games and Griptonite Games) get around the restrictions of the Nintendo DS's 3-inch dual screens by zooming on one section of the screen at a time, and letting players scroll seamlessly from one section to the next by either dragging the Nintendo DS stylus on the screen or pressing the directional-pad buttons.
In MillionHeir, you'll don your detective's badge once more and try to find out who has kidnapped millionaire Phil T. Rich by interviewing a dozen eccentric suspects (like fireman Jim Ferno, country singer Dusty Graves and aspiring actress Emmy Daynow) and searching their hang-outs for clues.
Armed with a list of objects to find in each location, you'll pour over the scene until you find one of the items and then tap it with the DS stylus. If you get stuck, you can use a hint to reveal an item's location. There are a handful of gadgets at your disposal as well, including a flashlight (for finding your way around when the lights go out), an X-Ray for locating concealed items, and a Super Straw for blowing away objects that are blocking your view – which actually requires you to physically blow into the DS's microphone. Finally, in addition to seek-and-find levels there are mini-games like jigsaw and slider puzzles.
Another fun feature that the DS introduces to the MCF series is multiplayer. In Scavenger Hunt, you can challenge up to three of your friends to see who can find the most objects in a set time limit, which can be anywhere from 5 to 45 minutes. There's also Hot Seat, a Hot Potato-style game using a single Nintendo DS where players find one object each and then pass the DS on to the next person. The player holding the DS when the timer reaches zero loses.
Based on your skill level and preferences, you can opt to play in Rookie mode, which gives you an unlimited amount of time to find the items in and more hints to use, or the harder Detective mode, which introduces time limits and less hints. In addition to story mode, a quick play mode lets you dive right in and start hunting for objects in a randomly-chosen location.
Mystery Case Files: MillionHeir isn't as sophisticated as the newest Mystery Case Files PC games like Madame Fate, and feels instead like a bit of a throwback to the earlier games in the series. All the same, it's not a bad debut for the series on a brand new platform, and proves that it is possible to have a playable and fun hidden object game experience on the Nintendo DS.
