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I was less than pleased, though, by both the cost and the conditions of my moviegoing experience. Between the ticket, some popcorn, a drink, and downtown parking, I forked over $18 for the privilege of sitting in a plush seat behind two women who whispered to each other through half the movie and some guy who laughed – I kid you not – like a braying donkey at inappropriate moments. Considering the state of the economy these days, it’s hard enough to rationalize spending nearly twenty bucks on a couple of hours or so of escapist entertainment; harder still to justify it when so many people brazenly ignore the rules of courtesy in a public theater. At that point, it’s not really entertainment any more. It’s an exercise in frustration.
The next time I have a twenty-dollar bill in my pocket and the urge to treat myself, I’m going to be a bit smarter about what I do with it. Twenty bucks could be two or three good mystery paperbacks: hours of whodunit fun on my own comfy couch with nobody around to prattle audibly during the dramatic parts. Or better still, I’ll just check books out from the library and save my $20 for a good match-three or resource-management game. Again, hours of enjoyment and no one bothering me except my cat. If I want to watch a movie, I’ll rent it. I may have to wait a few months that way, but you know, it’s worth it to really watch the movie instead of spending nearly three hours wishing that theaters still had ushers. Or that most people still had an ounce of common sense…
Decisions, decisions
Enough of my griping; let’s talk cool games! And there are plenty to choose from. In fact, there have been… let me count… egads, no less than six new hidden-object games in the last month alone! Even if that’s your favorite genre, it’s still a lot to sort through. Luckily, I’m a total hidden-object junkie, and I’ve previewed every last one of ‘em for you. So, here’s a quick run-down to help you choose!
Mystery P.I.: The NY Fortune
Difficulty: 2/5
Another excellent installment in the Mystery P.I. series, and a “textbook” hidden-object game, if such a thing exists. The locations are bright and marvelously cluttered, and some of the clues are fairly devious, but all in all it’s an easy game to play and genre veterans may just make it all the way through without needing a single click of the hint button. Every location also features three bonus items (often harder to find than the listed ones), and the between-level minigames are simple and a nice break.
Nightshift Legacy: The Jaguar’s Eye
Difficulty: 3/5
Another great example of the genre, with standard hidden-object gameplay and a compelling story. The art in this one is more realistic than Mystery P.I., and the difficulty is commensurately higher, but it’s still possible to get through without much use of the hint button if you’ve played a few of these games before. This series always gets extra kudos from me for the graphic-novel-style pages in between each level. If the designers ever do their own comic book, I’m buying it!
Mortimer Beckett and the Time Paradox
Difficulty: 5/5
I need to say it up front: this game kicked my butt. It’s undoubtedly the toughest hidden-object game I’ve ever encountered, so if you’re looking for a serious challenge, this is definitely the game for you. Each item is helpfully pictured on the clue bar, but as in other Mortimer Beckett games, the items aren’t intact. They’re broken up and hidden as pieces across multiple locations, which makes them a lot harder to spot. Add to that the fact that many of them are partially concealed by scene items, and that many of the locations are heavily shadowed… if you can clear an entire level without using hints, you deserve that smug feeling of accomplishment!
Fabulous Finds
Difficulty: 3/5
Oddly, this one turned out to be only 1/3 hidden-object game. In it, you’ve inherited a house, but you need to raise money for the back taxes. So you run a series of garage sales. The hidden-object portion of the game includes neither outlines nor clues for the items you need to find, just a theme. You need to gather all the items in a room that fit that theme. Once you have enough, there’s a customer-matching game to sell the items, and then an interior-decorating game to spend the proceeds. All in all, a rather interesting hybrid.
Forgotten Riddles: The Moonlight Sonatas
Difficulty: 2/5
Like Mortimer Beckett and Fabulous Finds, this game features a twist on the traditional hidden-object format. Rather than giving outlines or descriptive clues for each item, Forgotten Riddles lives up to its name: each clue is in the form of a riddle. Additionally, some items must be found before certain areas of a room are visible for searching. The riddles are quite easy and the items fairly obvious to find, so of all the games in this round-up, this would be the best one for playing along with your kids!
Interpol 2: Most Wanted
Difficulty: 3/5
And let’s end this list with another classic-style game: just you and your hidden-object-finding wits against a trio of wanted fugitives. Interpol gets a thumbs-up from me on two fronts. First, there were several occasions while playing that I realized I had looked at a particular object multiple times without realizing what I was seeing (d’oh!). And second, the between-level minigames all fit nicely into the context of the story, rather than seeming tacked on just for the sake of having a minigame. As with Nightshift Legacy, the graphics are fairly realistic, so get ready for some difficult hunting!
Whew! I’m going to stay away from hidden-object games for a while after this batch, or I may develop a permanent squint.
Three for free
Aside from my hidden-object marathon, I’ve mostly been playing free web games lately. It’s been out a while, I know, but I’m still really enjoying Bubble Town. It’s kind of like AstroPop, only about a dozen times cuter. Mainly because the bricks in Astro Pop don’t have goofy expressions or trendy little hairstyles. My inner 12-year-old loves this game.
I’ve also been fished into Burger Shop, which is another one of those titles that seems soooo easy when you first start playing. But then they add a fry dispenser here, a drinks machine there, lettuce for the chicken sandwich, and by the time you’re trying desperately to find a tiny cherry somewhere on the conveyer belt because some picky customer wants fruit on their chocolate ice cream, you realize the game is actually harder than working at a real burger place during the lunch rush. I love it, and I’m determined to get past “Assistant Manager”.
Finally, we are practically neck-deep in trivia at the moment, including Love Songs, Romantic Movies, Chinese New Year, Chick Flicks… even Inauguration Trivia, which I patriotically attempted on inauguration day, only to discover that my knowledge of U.S. presidential history is, shall we say, rather tragically lacking. Ouch.
Coming soon
I’m still not allowed to talk about it, but there are a couple of big, juicy new titles on the way and I’m very excited. Keep your eyes on the front page of MSN Games! In other news, one of my best buddies just finished writing Westward III (wooo, I love those games!), and I intend to collar him and ask the one burning question on the minds of all Westward fans: is there a pop culture reference too outrageous or too obscure to appear in those games? I’ve gotta know.
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| Tech Talk
Just wanted to call out a big “D’OH!” and apology to everyone who was affected by the site outage last week. I know, outages are rare, and they happen to every website, but that doesn’t make us feel any better about the fact that it happened to our players. We value your playtime just as much as you do.
I’d also love to say that this will never, ever, ever happen again in the future, but of course that’s not true. We work very hard to make sure that our site is reliable and available 24/7, and I like to think we do a darn good job of it, but sometimes, as my British friend says, “things just go all pear-shaped.” The world is an unpredictable place.
However, in any case of site outage or other technical problem, we’re also dedicated to communicating our status and other information to you. Please note that our forums are not directly connected to our site, so there is a good chance that they will still be working if we experience another site outage. So if you ever have trouble accessing the site, please check our forums to see what’s up.
I’ll see you next time!
Ask Moxie!
Do you have a question or comment? I’d love to hear from you. Just email me at zmaster@microsoft.com and I’ll do my best to answer in one of these Coffee Breaks! Oh, please make sure to include your MSN Games nickname, so I know who to list here if I quote you!
(And if you have technical questions or problems with a game, we’ll cheerfully answer those as well. Just submit them through the support section of this site!)
More Moxie!
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