Mystery Case Files has been around for a long time. This may be the first DS installment, but the series has enjoyed success on the PC for quite some time. Seriously, though, how many times do you think it would be fun to find a needle in a haystack? That's basically all that's happening here. Do you want to do that for hours, with several different haystacks and several different needles?
Admittedly, the visual landscape is a lot more pleasing to the eyes in Millionheir than a bunch of boring old haystacks. The locales you'll see are all basically really nice paintings. So, from a visual standpoint, the game keeps things fresh, but the gameplay is really where it starts to lose its luster.Basically, as said, you're hunting down objects that don't belong in each of these painted environments. In the beginning, doing the scavenger hunt is fun and exciting, as you feel the tension of trying to find that one last hidden item while combing through any given large environment. But, doing it again and again and again becomes tiring, which will make you take a break and step away from the game.
It should be said that the controls make the game a breeze. Essentially, all you'll need is the stylus and the touch-screen, as you use the stylus to move around the large painting and tap the screen to locate out-of-place items. It's an incredibly intuitive scheme that anyone can utilize effectively right from the offset.
In the end, Mystery Case Files: Millionheir is a very fair game that only falls flat from monotony. The game fails to keep things fresh and exciting, so it's probably best to pick up and play for short periods of time, then toss to the side until the next time you need to scratch that itch. The younger audience would be more forgiving of the game's tedium, so this one is probably best for them (and the mentioned pick-up-and-play gamer). For us older gamers, the repeating gameplay and sameness is a bit of a put-off.
Final score: 6.5/10
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
9-13-2008 @ 2:48AM
Sally said...
I can't help but wonder how much of the game you've actually played.
I've only been playing the game for half an hour or so (probably less - hadn't been timing myself) and I've already ran across 4 different mini-games, there was a slider puzzle, a jigsaw, a logic / adventure type puzzle - and this interpret-the-hints one where you're asked to find a "filled cup" (as well as a few other hints) so you have to find an empty cup and fill it in with your stylus.
The basic game play is still the casual genre's "hidden object" and it's definitely closer in context to their older MCF games, but they've definitely tried to break up the "monotony." After seeing loads of mediocre hidden object clones (in casual games, hidden object game = license to print money) I have to appreciate the well drawn, anti-aliased, well-composed scenes in MCF.
The series is immensely successful on the PC, btw. The first MCF grossed over $1mil in 3 months.
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