Mountain Crime: Requital review for PSN, PC

Platform: PSN
Also On: PC
Publisher: Alawar Entertainment
Developer: Alawar Entertainment
Medium: Digital
Players: 1
Online: No
ESRB: T

Hereโ€™s something I never thought Iโ€™d say about a hidden object game: Mountain Crime: Requitalโ€™s biggest problem is that it may be a little too ambitious.

Obviously, thatโ€™s probably putting things in slightly loftier terms than they deserve. But here are the basic facts. Mountain Crime: Requitalโ€™s biggest problems are its cut scenes and its voice acting โ€” or, you know, two of the things you need least in a hidden object game.

Mountain Crime Requital_1

I mean, I get that Alawar Entertainment wanted to create some kind of immersive game world, and good on them for making their PS3 debut something more than a bunch of static locations where you search endlessly for weirdly incongruous items. But after enduring scene after scene of people moving around awkwardly, interacting via strained, stilted dialogue, I truly believe that the static option would have been better. After all, the game does a great job of building mystery and telling a story just through random newspaper clippings and personal notes scattered around each location, while every time an animated cut scene shows up, momentum grinds to a halt. Pages of text and exposition may seem antithetical to the very nature of modern video games, but in this case, thereโ€™s no doubt they wouldโ€™ve been the better option.

Particularly because if you can get past those flaws, youโ€™ll find a pretty fun game underneath. As I said, the game does an excellent job of building a mysterious narrative just through the objects you find hunting around the various locations, and I can honestly say that โ€” terrible cut scenes aside โ€” I was genuinely interested in the gameโ€™s story, and I wanted to know how it all ended.

More importantly, though, the gameโ€™s puzzles are solid โ€” not to mention varied. Mountain Crime: Requital may be advertised as a hidden object game, but it doesnโ€™t limit itself to just searching around pictures for random items. There are a few places where you genuinely need to think things out logically, and Iโ€™m going to come right out and admit that I wouldnโ€™t have finished the game if it hadnโ€™t been for a combination of the PC version walkthrough and the โ€œSkipโ€ option that comes up after several unsuccessful puzzle attempts.

Mountain Crime Requital_2

All that said, the game does come with one other serious flaw: its $15 price tag. Considering the game can be had for $3 on PC, youโ€™ll have to be a truly dedicated trophy hunter to spring for the game on PS3. That, or a big fan of hidden object games, which has always been an underrepresented genre when it comes to the platform.

If you are a hidden object fan, though, and you donโ€™t mind paying a premium to get Mountain Crime: Requital on the PS3, by all means go for it. You might cringe through some bad voice acting, but you should have your searching needs sated for at least a little while.

Grade: B
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