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Cate West - The Vanishing Files User Reviews

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andsch's picture
andsch

Feb 17, 2012, 12:54pm

User review by andsch

2

on the plus side: the game was lengthy! And the story was interesting (the only thing why I played it to the end). Also, the music was quite nice and I didn´t need to switch it off after some time.

Now to the bad things: The graphics of the HO-scenes were terrible. I know that the game is a bit older but sometimes it simply hurt how bad the graphics were. Very often I was not able to identify an object due to the low quality. The HO-scenes were in a heavy contrast to the other ingame graphics which were drawn quite nicely.
There was way too much repition taskwise. Every single chapter you have to do the exact same thing. At first to clear all the HO-scenes. Next to solve a "Find the differences"-scene. Then some kind of FROG with two to four scenes and at last you have to find (with the help of some written clues) the bad guy.

I was not sure to give the game 2 or 3 stars but I felt that the core point of the game layed in the HO-scenes and they were definetely the biggest problem of the game imho. So.....2.

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MissCrystalix's picture
MissCrystalix

Jan 15, 2012, 3:17pm

User review by MissCrystalix

3

I agree that those who love pure-HOGs will love the setup of this game -- 15 levels of nonstop HOG mania! However, I kind of disagree that the quality of the HOGs was as stellar as some of the reviews are suggesting.

As a quick disclaimer, I'm more of an Adventure-HOG lover than pure-HOGs. So for me, the non-stop HOGs and spot-the-differences games became a grueling and tedious endevor to reach the end of a mystery story that seemed to crawl along at an agonizing snail's pace. BUT, even from a HOG-lover's perspective, I felt this game was a little lacking.

First was the time-delay between found objects, which frustrated me almost to insanity. Then, the poor contrast/lighting made some of the HOGs objects nearly impossible to find without a hint or a lot of luck (despite the lighting option). Next, the fact that you were penalized heavily for hints (or at least this was implied, as it would change the ending if you used too many) made the increasing number of objects to find feel more unfair than fun; toward the end, you would have to find nearly 50 objects, and hints were tallied by level, not by HO scene. Lastly, the labling of some objects in the HOGs was confusing or misleading, and on one level in particular, one of the objects simply wasn't in the scene (the hint encircled a completely empty space, and clicking every pixel within that area simply gave me a penalty).

If you enjoy the HO part of HOGs more than anything else, then you may like this game. Despite the gameplay issues, it definitely delivers many, MANY HOGs. However, I felt that this game went for quantity over quality, and while it starts off strong, the story and ballooning gameplay quickly become tedious and unfun.

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Gardensafari's picture
Gardensafari

Jul 7, 2011, 2:30pm

User review by Gardensafari

4

This is a Hidden Object Game with no mercy: it is hidden objects all the way. Each chapter has 5 levels, 4 of which are hog's. Only the last level is a kind of exception, for you are given a few suspects and a few clues and you have to name the guilty one. This is the weakest part of this game. Others have mentioned it before: it simply doesn't make any sense with some of the suspects.

But the HOG's are great indeed. Good graphics and well hidden objects. The only thing that bothered me is the fact that after finding an object and clicking on it you had to wait for the object to leave the scene, before you can click the next object. It slows things down sometimes. All other things, including the hint system work just fine.

When you like HOG's, you will be fond of this one. It is almost on the same level as the Big City Adventures. If you like your game to contain a real adventure, some strategy, some minigames and hog's, then avoid this game. It is for HOG fans only.

Because of the fact you can not quickly click on the next object and because of the weird suspect identification game I rate this one 4. Pity, it could have made 5 stars.

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dnj51's picture
dnj51

Jul 29, 2009, 5:05pm

User review by dnj51

3

This was a fun game. Your basic mystery hidden object game. At the end of each chapter you have to find the villain using clues Cate gives you. The frustration is the clues do not always match the villain. For example, the clues may be, brunette, mustache, feathers, chips. Each suspect has a bio that will reveal if he/she has any of the clues associated with him/her. Out of the 8 suspects there is one who is a brunette, has a mustache, works in a pet store (feathers) and plays poker (chips). He has all the clues associated with him. But is he the villain? Nope, it's a brunette with a mustache, who is a lumberjack and likes potato chips. Where do the feathers fit in with this guy? I just scratched my head and went on.

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ashomac's picture
ashomac

May 20, 2009, 1:48am

User review by ashomac

4

Yes, once again, I've waited forever to try a game that created such buzz. lol I don't usually play HOG, they play second to my TMG addiction but I've been craving them lately and going back to try some that seemed to hit it big or that at least interested me. This one really did. Normally I really enjoy a good ghostly setting but this one was awesome! I loved the settings and they were challenging too. Although, sometimes the clicker was too sensitive and even though I clicked on a correct item dozens of time, it wouldn't accept it til much later. A little odd but workable. I loved the storyline and I loved that instead of just collecting 'evidence' you had to pay attention and use that information to make arrests. It let you be involved in the game in another way, creating a puzzle within itself. I enjoyed the graphics, the plot, and the music as well. Not my all time fave, but it's on the list!

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Miranda22's picture
Miranda22

Apr 4, 2009, 5:30pm

User review by Miranda22

3

I'm about 3/4 of the way through this one, and not really motivated to finish. The "plot" is not engaging enough for me to care about the ending, and the "find the differences" stage of the investigation is really detracting from enjoyment of playing the rest of the hunt/solve stages which I think are well drawn. I am really dreading trying to see the invisible (to me) differences, but no way to skip over. Also, wish there were some way (maybe at the end of each chapter) to explain WHY a wrong guess was wrong and the actual suspect was a better fit. Some of them I thought my suspect was more likely, and would have appreciated knowing why it was the wrong choice. Anyway, I love HOGs, but this one is just so-so IMO. Have yet to find the 100% ideal game of this sort, but they keep getting better (mostly).

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful
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littleone2008's picture
littleone2008

Mar 3, 2009, 6:02am

User review by littleone2008

4

I had forgotten all about this HOG game. After I downloaded the demo from BF, brain cells started activating and i was able to remember where everything was. So it was pretty easy for me. Good game to have come back again and hopefully the news of #2 comes out. But this time, without the delay between clicking the items.

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mkinyon's picture
mkinyon

Mar 1, 2009, 3:01pm

User review by mkinyon

4

I have very little to add to Erin Bell's review. I was also somewhat put off by the slight delay that is forced between successful clicks, and I was getting a bit tired of the format by the end. The same objects were starting to show up on the lists. Also, I prefer games that give the player of the option of being "completist", that is, finding all the objects in a particular level/chapter; this game stops the search. A couple of objects are mislabeled, e.g. a pine cone was listed as an acorn. Once I was asked to find Asian Zodiac symbols, and there was a horse there, but that wasn't considered correct. The summary exposition at the end of the game is a bit overblown. But these are quibbles. Overall, the game is very well constructed.

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teykah's picture
teykah

Feb 22, 2009, 4:09pm

User review by teykah

5

very interesting game - loved it

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful
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gnashif's picture
gnashif

Feb 18, 2009, 9:46am

User review by gnashif

5

An excellent and innovative game when it was first released over a year ago, and now is offered on BFG. There are 15 full chapters with 5 parts too each one, Cate West is a novelist commissioned by the police to use her intuitive skills to solve cases in a crime wave. There are 2 modes, timed and relaxed,(BFG version only). A great point system which rewards good play, I particularly liked how you go about finding the clues and matching them to each suspect, the game makes the player find the suspect, and believe me it is not easy, as most suspect cards, are very closely related, you will have to think this one out. A great game, the point system and different modes allows for better replay value. At least that is one man's opinion.

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