The year of Titanic-inspired games continues with the release of Inspector Magnusson: Murder on the Titanic, a murder-mystery hidden object game that takes place aboard the Titanic before it met its tragic end. A coal tender has been found bludgeoned to death, and it's up to you and Professor Magnusson to solve this "whodunit" case surrounding more than just murder, but the sinking of the ship itself.
For fans of Hidden Object games (and let's be honest, there are a lot of us here on Gamezebo!), KlickTock's 2010 App Store-featured hit Little Things was something special. A game that scratched many of the same hunt-and-find itches as the darker, moodier titles with which the genre is packed, while focusing instead on vibrant, iconic items packed densely inside larger canvases. The I Spy novel for the digital generation. iSpy.
If I had a nickel for every hidden object game that game out in a year, well… I'd probably have really heavy pockets. But despite the overabundance of titles available, a few developers have managed to stand out as the masters of the genre. And Blue Tea Games? That's one of them.
Snark Busters: High Society is a letdown. It cleaves closely to the mechanics of the Snark Busters franchise but the qualities that made the first game great, and the second game near-great, turn out to be almost as elusive as the Snark itself.
Blue Tea Games is known for making strong hidden object adventures, and that's what makes Fabled Legends: The Dark Piper so disappointing. From its ho-hum story concept to its shop-worn gameplay, The Dark Piper marches staidly along, offering little in the way of wonder, mystery, innovation or suspense. With little for veteran gamers to latch onto, The Dark Piper becomes an exercise in mediocrity meant for either the utterly inexperienced or the painfully undiscerning.
Few things in this world are as deeply satisfying - especially to a Gamezebo reader - as a good hidden object game. But with more than a few years of casual search'n'find behind us, which HOG experiences have really managed to stand out? Gamezebo wants to know: which hidden object games are your favorites?
Stop me if you've heard this one before: a family member has gone missing and you'll need to travel to a location from your past to find them while being tracked by an evil entity. In the world of hidden object games, that setup should sound incredibly familiar due to its overuse, and in Malice: Two Sisters, it's the exact storyline we're once again presented with.
The Orneon development team has not one, but three successful franchises going for them: Agency of Anomalies, Echoes of the Past and Secrets of the Dark. At this point, they could well be considered experts of the hidden object genre. But just in case some doubters remain, this month Orneon brings us yet another excellent title—the second in the globe-trotting Secrets of the Dark series—a toothsome, Thai-spiced adventure called Eclipse Mountain.