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Mystery Case Files Fate's Carnival
Dec. 10th, 2013 07:45 amThe past couple of years have been too busy for me to indulge in hidden object games, but I didn't hesitate to buy the latest Mystery Case Files. They are the creme de la creme of hidden object games...or at least they were.
Proving that people love sequels, the game revisits the demented world of Madame Fate's cursed carnival. Of course the villain is someone who would rather build elaborate traps instead of just getting on with his evil plan already. The first half of the game was great, then a twist was thrown in, and then the last quarter was simply matching random things to find what triggered the next action. The plot was totally gone by then. Weak storytelling is not a hallmark of this series :/ I would rather have a smartly written game than trying to extend the game play with puzzles around every corner. No one likes going on FedEx quests :/
The game did contain a good amount of "super puzzles" found in previous MCF games, but the HOG puzzles were weak. The artwork was poor in comparison to Return to Ravenhearst and Dire Grove, and the style made it look just like any other Russian or Chinese produced game (in fact it was produced by a Russian studio). Gone are the chilling atmospheric sound effects. I'm guessing Big Fish no longer has their own design studio, and they did have layoffs this past summer.
I bought the collector's edition, which comes with the walk through built in. The bonus content was pretty good, which included solitaire (based on cards found in the game) that earned money to buy things for the helper pet, Madame Fate's cat Isis. Isis can be used to fetch things in the game. Helper pets are common in other games, and as delightful as it was, it's not something I would like to see in future MCF games. What really made MCF different was the humour and continuity between games, as well as that little extra on the graphics.
Proving that people love sequels, the game revisits the demented world of Madame Fate's cursed carnival. Of course the villain is someone who would rather build elaborate traps instead of just getting on with his evil plan already. The first half of the game was great, then a twist was thrown in, and then the last quarter was simply matching random things to find what triggered the next action. The plot was totally gone by then. Weak storytelling is not a hallmark of this series :/ I would rather have a smartly written game than trying to extend the game play with puzzles around every corner. No one likes going on FedEx quests :/
The game did contain a good amount of "super puzzles" found in previous MCF games, but the HOG puzzles were weak. The artwork was poor in comparison to Return to Ravenhearst and Dire Grove, and the style made it look just like any other Russian or Chinese produced game (in fact it was produced by a Russian studio). Gone are the chilling atmospheric sound effects. I'm guessing Big Fish no longer has their own design studio, and they did have layoffs this past summer.
I bought the collector's edition, which comes with the walk through built in. The bonus content was pretty good, which included solitaire (based on cards found in the game) that earned money to buy things for the helper pet, Madame Fate's cat Isis. Isis can be used to fetch things in the game. Helper pets are common in other games, and as delightful as it was, it's not something I would like to see in future MCF games. What really made MCF different was the humour and continuity between games, as well as that little extra on the graphics.
