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Victorian Mysteries: The Yellow Room

Score: 78%
ESRB: Not Rated
Publisher: Big Fish Games
Developer: Freezetag Games
Media: Download/1
Players: 1
Genre: Adventure/ Puzzle (Hidden Object)

Graphics & Sound:

Victorian Mysteries: The Yellow Room is a whodunit mystery taken from classic literature. In this case, the story is taken from Gaston Leroux's novel "The Mystery of the Yellow Room" and the game goes through the twist-filled plot in the form of an adventure/hidden object game.

In general, The Yellow Room looks good and it feels right for a story that takes place in the early 1900's. Locations are colorful and the characters fit the part. In fact, the only place I found myself not completely enjoying the game's visual presentation was during the hidden object screens. I couldn't quite place my finger on what exactly was wrong, but it seemed to me that the clickable objects, the ones that you are looking for, stood out just a tiny bit. As a result, the hidden object screens were a bit easier than expected.

The Yellow Room's audio gets the job done and does so without impressing or annoying the listener. So, while there isn't anything too spectacular about its music and dialogue is more or less forgettable, you won't have the need to turn down your speakers while playing. All-in-all, the game's presentation is very middle of the road and the same can be said about its gameplay.


Gameplay:

Victorian Mysteries: The Yellow Room is another entry in what is becoming a really common blend of classic adventure and hidden object games. While some lean one way or the other, most tend to hit the middle ground and do both gameplay styles as evenly as possible. The Yellow Room is no different, and like many of those other games, I feel like it only does okay as far as each gameplay style is concerned, instead of focusing on one or the other and making something that really stands out.

The plot is something most mystery novel aficionados are likely to have come across at some point (although a quick bout of Wikipedia-research tells me "The Mystery of the Yellow Room" was the first of this kind). Put simply, The Yellow Room is a "locked room" mystery. That is to say, the attack occurred while the victim was locked in a room and the assailant had no way of leaving without being seen.

While the book's main character is journalist/detective Joseph Rouletabille, you play as his photographer. You will see your partner often throughout the game, but you are more or less given free reign and you explore Sainte-Genevieve and Chateau du Glandier on your own. As you explore, you will find an unusually high number of puzzle-locked boxes, crazy clocks, statues missing pieces and contraptions with pieces missing. Basically, you can expect a lot of standard adventure game puzzles to be thrown your way.

Like a lot of similar games, not every item that goes into your inventory list will just be laying around the ground. As you explore, you will find hidden object screens that will have you hunting down the most unusual items and one of those will end up in your collection of oddball necessities that you will somehow use.

I do have to say one more thing about the hidden object areas in Victorian Mysteries: The Yellow Room. While most of the items cluttering up the screen fit pretty well with the screen you are looking at, there are often items that just don't work right, and they feel out of place more because they have been scaled up or down so they are not proportionally correct. I've played quite a few hidden object games at this point, and I've always found that the games that snuck in items in a way that doesn't make them feel right just felt a little dirtier than the others. It just feels like cheating in a way and it feels like there needed to be a better designer behind those particular scenes.


Difficulty:

Victorian Mysteries: The Yellow Room is a relatively easy game for those players who are experienced in adventure titles. While the game as a whole sits firmly in the middle of the adventure and hidden object genres, the puzzles it does present could prove to be a challenge for anyone not really into the logic-problems the adventure genre typically throws at gamers.

These puzzles include everything from tricky games of checkers to putting gears in the right locations to piecing together puzzle pieces. While none of the tasks it presents are insurmountable, gamers looking more for the hidden object side of things might take longer to get through them. Thankfully, the game does offer a skip button if you've taken a sufficient amount of time to solve the problem on your own.

As for the hidden object portion of The Yellow Room, as I mentioned earlier, there seemed to be something just a bit off between the background image and the ones you can click on. There were a couple of times that I decided not to read the list first and see if I could find the required items just from looking at the screen. While I never got even half of the list, there were always five or six items that I seemed to be able to pick out and select without even knowing they were in the list. Needless to say, this doesn't make for too challenging of a hidden object game.


Game Mechanics:

Victorian Mysteries: The Yellow Room does pretty much everything it needs to in order to stand out as a fun game. The only real issue is the fact that the market is already very flooded with similar games. The blending of hidden object and adventure genres has been very prevalent over the past couple of years and even those that seem to really make you take notice are getting lost in the noise.

The Yellow Room has a good story behind it and there are quite a few interesting puzzles, even if a lot of them feel forced and out-of-place. There are enough hidden object screens throughout the game to keep gamers who are looking for them specifically interested, but with the issues stated above, they don't pose too much of a challenge.

Basically, while nothing about the game really posed any kind of real challenge, it was still a fun experience and something that gamers who like the blend of the genres should check out. Just don't go in expecting something radically new if you've been playing this type of genre-crossing game for a while.


-J.R. Nip, GameVortex Communications
AKA Chris Meyer

Minimum System Requirements:



Windows XP/Vista/Win7, 1.0 GHz CPU, 1024 MB RAM, DirectX 8.0, 543 MB HD Space
 

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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