Case closed! (Mystery Case Files: Millionheir (DS))

Member Name: abbadabbado

Product:	Mystery Case Files: Millionheir (DS)
Date:	01/03/09 (299 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: concept is good

Disadvantages: repetitive

I like hidden object games so my partner knew he would be onto a winner if he bought me the new Million heir Case files when it was released last month. I have played plenty of hidden object games on the PC but never on a hand held console, and I was a bit worried about peering at the screen too much and hurting my eyes in the process.

** What is Million heir? **

The storyline behind the game is that Mr Phil T. Rich has disappeared from his mansion and is presumed dead. The objective of the Master Detective otherwise known as you the player is to search his mansion and places of the suspects you come across to find the mystery behind the disappearance.

** How to play **

If you have never played a hidden object game before, then you may be fooled by reading the above description that this game could be a point and click mystery, but it is in fact a jumble of items and objects placed together, over one another and distorted, hidden to make appear different. Your job is to seek the selected items out and remove them from your list.

When you start each level, the basic storyline is displayed to you along with the current suspect. A short conversation happens and then you are presented with a list of objects to find.
An example would be a garden scene, and there will be plenty of vegetables and garden tools included in this scene, some larger than life and some small. Your list of items will probably not include garden items or vegetables at all and you may be finding a mouse or a lampshade.

All the items are jumbled in together with basic scenery set around it. Some items are very obvious to the eye and some take a lot of searching to be able to cross them off your list. Occasionally a certain item may not be found until you find a different item and remove it from the scenery.

The number of items you need to find increases with each level. Along side this there are a certain amount of hints you can opt to use. The console will then find a random object from your list for you.

Each level is only completed when you have found the required number of items needed for the level. At the end of this the computer analyses the items you have found and this helps the detective determine some more clues.

There is no actual working out from the player as to who has done it; it purely is a game of finding objects, and placing puzzles together to ensure the console works out the suspect.

As you progress in the game there are added extras in the form of a torch for when you come across dark rooms and underwater goggles for scenes that contains water areas, and also an x-ray torch so you can see items that won't be available to you as you look at the scene in daylight.


** Controls **

The controls are mainly done with the stylus in this game, as each item must be tapped with the stylus, and you can also look around the scenery this way as well. The directional pad can be used to look around but it gets fiddly to use both sets of controls at the same time so I just use the stylus.

** My opinion **

Having played the PC versions, I was a bit disappointed with this version. The main reasons for this are because the game doesn't provide any more of a challenge than finding hidden objects. There are no timed levels in the story mode, and it's only when and if you choose to go into multi player mode that you will have to compete against anyone else. For me I wasn't going to be playing against any one else so it felt mundane searching for items after a few levels.
I also found the storyline to be mundane and I soon realised I could play the game whether I concentrated on the conversations or not, hence a few levels in I skipped all the dialogue and still managed to play the game adequately.

If you're very quick at finding items this game won't have a very long lifespan as there are only 12 suspects to examine and each suspect requires about 30 items to be found. I have picked this game up for one level at a time and then left it alone for a few days or even longer before going back to it.

I like the fact I can save my game even mid level in this game. I don't like to have to feel that I have to finish finding a certain number of items if my brain is tired and I want to go to bed.

The game costs £29.99, but I really don't feel that it's worth paying more than £15 for it due to the repetitiveness of the game.

Summary: an average game for the DS