I feel like the distance between very good hidden object games and very bad ones is fairly short. While it?s entirely possible there are some mind-blowingly innovative ones out there, in general, they all play pretty much the same: lots of hidden object scenes, some static cutscenes, and maybe the odd puzzle thrown in to mix things up a little.
WIthin that narrow band of quality, I?d say that Eastville Chronicles: The Drama Queen Murder falls ever-so-slightly towards the lesser end of the spectrum. While it?s got pretty much all of the usual ingredients, they all feel a little lacklustre. The story, for example, is about as dull as a murder mystery can get, and it?s done no favours by the bland voiceovers and animation through which it?s told. In the same vein, the puzzles are either so easy they can be finished in a couple of seconds, or based in logic so impenetrable that you?re better off waiting for the Hint button to fill up, at which point you can skip ahead.
As for the hidden object puzzles — the very core of the game — they really don?t do anything to distinguish themselves. If anything, they?re noteworthy for mostly being absurdly easy, made more difficult only by the fact that some of the items you need to find seem to be almost unclickable. You need to touch some objects at just the right angle, or else the game will count it as a miss; get enough misses in a row, and the on-screen cursor will vibrate around for a second or two. It doesn?t make a huge difference ultimately, since there?s no timer, but that doesn?t make those moments any less frustrating.
All in all, it adds up to a middling experience even by the relatively low standards of the genre. Eastville Chronicles: The Drama Queen Murder has all the component parts of a hidden object game but nothing to make it stand out. If you really, really want to hunt around for guns hidden in dark corners and incongruously-placed telephones, you?ll be able to do that, but if you want anything more, you?re not going to find it here.
Wired Productions provided us with an Eastville Chronicles: The Drama Queen Murder Switch code for review purposes.
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