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Twisted Lands: Shadow Town
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Graphics & Sound:
There has been a growing trend in the casual games market lately, and that is an increase in hidden object games. It seems I have reviewed more titles that can fall into this genre over the past six months or so, than I have ever played before in my life. On top of that, there seems to be a trend within hidden object games to make them more and more like classic adventure titles. Twisted Lands: Shadow Town goes a long way to blending the two genres together.
As you would expect with most hidden object games, most of the locations are static images with some motion elements added on top. These moving parts can be anything from fire to fog to water, but for the most part, the scene is fairly static. This includes both locations where you have to find hidden objects, and the places in between that have various puzzles in them.
There is no dialogue in Shadow Town, but the other sounds, mostly the quiet background music and low-toned bug noises, go a long way to conveying the desolate and deserted feeling of the small island your character has washed up ashore on. |
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Gameplay:
Twisted Lands: Shadow Town follows a man whose boat has crashed onto a strange, formerly inhabited island town. His fiancee has gone missing, and it is the search for her that leads him to uncovering the strange events and people that haunt this island, literally.
As you explore the island, you will find various locations where you have to hunt through piles of items in order to find the specific ones given to you in a list. Once you have completed the list, you will find out that one of the items you grabbed has some importance, and this item actually appears in your inventory. Actually, this is how most of your inventory items are found. Later, you will have to use the found item in the world in order to open up new areas or uncover new clues about the island.
For instance, at one point, you find a small fire blocking one of your paths. As you explore the available locations, one of the hidden object scenes will grant you a hose. Meanwhile, through another series of puzzles, you will get a monkey wrench. While the wrench isn't obtained within a hidden object screen, you will have to go through a couple in order to get what you need to get to the wrench. Once you have your hose and wrench, you use them on a nearby fire hydrant and put the fire out exactly as you would expect any other adventure game to behave.
Unfortunately, Twisted Lands has quite a lot of backtracking and a lot of times when you simply won't know where to go next. I found that these points inevitably lead to me walking through all of the scenes until I found a previously-visited hidden object screen with a new list to collect. As a result, a lot of the game feels repetitive, even though the parts between the hidden object screens did a lot to advance the plot and get me sucked into the game.
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Difficulty:
Because of both the backtracking and unclear destinations, Twisted Lands: Shadow Town has a problem in the difficulty area. For the most part, the puzzles are challenging and quite a few are unique and original. Unfortunately, these areas got bogged down when I found myself staring way to long at a hidden object screen or simply wandering about, not only unaware of where I needed to go, but also not knowing what I needed to do to advance the story. This is a big problem in adventure titles, and most followers of the genre don't like not having at least an inkling of the next step.
Shadow Town does have a built-in hint system in the form of a button to the right of the screen. This button will show you where you need to click, either directing you to go somewhere or showing you a hidden object, but it takes time to refill. I did find this to be a useful tool when I simply didn't know where to go, because you can use it to tell you which direction along the overall map to move in order to advance, and when used here, the button refills immediately, so you can have it direct you to the next piece of the puzzle without wasting too much time.
On top of the hint system, the game also has a built-in walk-through that will guide you every step of the way. Obviously, that makes the game super easy, but if you want the challenge that Twisted Lands offers, you will have to show some self-restraint. |
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Game Mechanics:
My gut reaction when first starting Twisted Lands: Shadow Town was that it was a hidden object game that tries to be an adventure title, but after serious thought, I realize it is an adventure title that simply uses the hidden object mechanic to fill up your inventory.
That being said, as a hidden object game, it does a great job. The screens are full of detail, and I never feel tricked on the placement of items in the list; they are pretty much always easily viewable, just hidden in plain sight by the clutter. As an adventure game, Twisted Lands offers a lot of unique puzzles that I haven't seen elsewhere, as well as an interesting story that is compelling. Overall though, it still feels like the merging of the two genres is a bit forced. Since this hidden object game offers only 14 locations, granted, 14 well done locations, the items you need to find for the current puzzle never seem to be close enough to the puzzle to make much sense. For the most part, where Twisted Lands breaks down is in the transitions between the two gameplay modes, and that could very well kill the experience for most gamers looking to be entertained in either genre.
I will say that I did have a lot of fun playing through the game, and even the slightly curious should at least download the demo and try it out for the free hour. |
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-J.R. Nip, GameVortex Communications AKA Chris Meyer |
Minimum System Requirements:
Windows XP, Vista or 7, 1 GHz processor, 512 MB RAM, DirectX 9.0 compatible, Video card with 3D acceleration, DirectX 9.0 compatible sound card, DirectX 9.0 or later |
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Test System:
Windows 7 Ultimate, Intel i7 X980 3.33GHz, 12 GB RAM, Radeon HD 5870 Graphics Card, DirectX 9.0c |
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Related Links:
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