Sinister City
Score: 68% ESRB: 4+ Publisher: G5 Entertainment Developer: Jet Dogs Media: Download/1 Players: 1 Genre: Adventure/ Puzzle (Hidden Object)
Graphics & Sound: Sinister City is a hidden object/adventure game that leaves a lot to be desired. While the overall execution seems to have all the right elements, there is something missing that makes it a truly fun and engaging experience. The various locations the game puts you into range from a drab old hotel to dark forests, ancient castles and even the surreal astral plane. As for the overall look of the game, there are definitely plenty of backdrops that look great on the iPad's screen, but you will find yourself backtracking a lot, so expect to see those same locations over and over again, especially that aforementioned hotel. Sinister City's audio is a major element that tends to bring down the overall package. While the sound effects add to the mood of the game, the wooden voice-acting and clunky dialogue just don't feel right. It wasn't long before I felt the need to simply turn the sound off and read the subtitles.
Gameplay: On the surface, Sinister City fits the standard mold for a hidden object/point and click adventure game. Although, when you start looking at some of the details, there are numerous and odd ways it breaks away from those standards. Scattered throughout the world are screens that contain various items you need to find, but unlike other games like Sinister City, you don't get an inventory item as your reward. As a result, the hidden object screens feel extra and often forced. Instead, you are told by the game what inventory items you need to find, and while these may be on a hidden object screen, they don't count towards your hidden object list. As for that list of hidden objects, Sinister City breaks away from the mold here too. The game only gives you a partial list of items to look for, but where other games like this will keep feeding you new items until you've exhausted the entire list, Sinister City requires you to find all of the items listed before giving you new ones. As a result, I found myself regularly having trouble finding one item in the list before I could get the next batch. If the game were to feed me the list one at a time as I found other items, this aspect would be less annoying. As for the game's story, you play John, a man looking for his kidnapped girlfriend. Turns out, she has been taken to the dark and dangerous Sinister City, a place filled with vampires. Your search quickly reveals that she has been captured by the city's oldest vampire, Count Orlak. Naturally, you must find and save her, no matter what obstacles and strange puzzles stand between you and the girl.
Difficulty: Sinister City isn't hard, at least not in the sense that it poses any real challenge or intriguing puzzles that are novel or hard to work out. Instead, the difficulty in the game comes in two ways. One is the fact that you are often left wondering what you are supposed to do next, only to realize that there is some part of the screen that you need to tap on or examine closer, making the game a terrible pixel-hunting exercise. The other difficulty comes in frustrating hidden object screens and poor descriptions of what to look for. Sometimes, the item you need to find is hidden behind something on the screen that can move, but unlike most hidden object games, there is nothing to indicate that a particular item can be completely obscured. Sinister City does offer a hint button that will show you what you need to do next, and it's a good thing that the button refills quickly, because you will find yourself tapping it frequently just to keep the game going.
Game Mechanics: On the surface, Sinister City tries to fit the hidden object/adventure mold, but there are too many places where it doesn't follow what has become standard practices to throw the player into the game without any kind of guidance or direction. I have no problem with a game trying to stretch the limits, or even break the boundaries, of a genre, trying out new ideas is what makes that genre grow, or even new genres develop. The problem I have is breaking away from those predefined methods and not helping the player learn the new ways that the game is trying out. Sure little things like displaying partial lists and not giving out the next part until the previous one is finished is a fairly simple change that doesn't require explanation, and just because I feel that it doesn't work as well as other styles doesn't mean it shouldn't have been tried, but there are other changes that need more direction from the game in order for it to be enjoyed. Part of me feels that the developers of Sinister City had a lot of ideas of ways to break out of the standard gameplay style that follows this genre, and they wanted to see what would work. What resulted is a game that tries to work out too many different ideas and it makes each one of those changes feel more frustrating than the last. Had Sinister City just used the partial-hidden object list, it might not have been as prominent. From there, the developers could see how players like that change and then release another game, with or without that change, plus the blending of the inventory items with the hidden object screens. It just seems like the overall package wouldn't have been as difficult to deal with if these changes were piecemealed out instead of coming together all in one game. As a result, Sinister City isn't really something I can recommend. It's not very intuitive and overall not all that engaging of a game.
-J.R. Nip, GameVortex Communications AKA Chris Meyer
Related Links: Sinister City | iTunes Sinister City Home Page
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