Three Musketeers Secrets: Constance’s Mission lets you experience the story of the Three Musketeers through a different viewpoint. You play as Constance, a secret agent to the queen. It is up to you to protect the queen using various disguises and searching for clues regarding the conspiracy against the queen’s life.
Three Musketeers Secrets: Constance’s Mission lets you experience the story of the Three Musketeers through a different viewpoint. You play as Constance, a secret agent to the queen. It is up to you to protect the queen using various disguises and searching for clues regarding the conspiracy against the queen’s life.
The game is presented in chapters. At the beginning of each chapter Constance will have to come up with a disguise so that she can sneak into whatever situation she is heading into. This will take you to a dress-up mini-game where you will choose the best items for Constance’s costume. It’s a fun diversion, but if dress-up games aren’t your thing, you are given the option to skip over it. Interestingly, the clothes Constance wears in the cut scenes never seem to match the costume she wore.
Constance’s Mission is a hidden object game that relies heavily on inventory based puzzles. For the most part, objects are hidden within the actual game scenes. Some of the hidden object scenes will provide you with a list, but other times you are left with very little guidance other than to click on everything and hope you can pick it up. Also, you won’t know what you are looking for until you find it.
The game is an odd combination of holding your hand too much and leaving you groping in the dark for what to do next. The puzzles in the game are extremely easy, mostly being jigsaws with the pieces already rotated for you. There are only one or two puzzles that might stump you. On the other hand, you are left in the scenes with very little idea of what you are looking for or where to go.
Unfortunately, the hint system doesn’t provide a lot of help unless you are in the right spot or you are in an actual hidden object scene. If you use a hint in a room where you can’t do anything, you will be told to look elsewhere, the hint will be used, and you will need to wait for the hint bar to recharge. Considering how miniscule some items are, this can become quite frustrating.
There is also no journal in the game. If you click past any dialogue too quickly, you will find yourself confused regarding the plot. And while most of the puzzles are quite easy, there is one near the end that will require you take notes because you won’t have access to the clues once you are in the puzzle.
The graphics in the game are rendered in 3D and are very detailed. The images are bright and cheerful and it’s fun to explore the scenes. The characters, however, are not as well done. The 3D models move in jerky motions, and I have never seen hair quite so shiny before. There is no voice acting, which seems odd considering the characters move their mouths when talking. Also, during cut scenes, when a character finishes speaking the music will stop as well until you click to continue.
Three Musketeer Secrets: Constance’s Mission is a nice distraction from all the creepy asylums and haunted mansions of late, but it feels like it should have been released several years ago. Also, the amount of hand holding in the game will likely turn off seasoned adventurers and the lack of direction may turn off those who are new to the genre. Still, it’s worth giving it a look.
