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I Spy Review by MrLipid Looking for Stuff in All Sorts of Places This may be a Four Fat Chicks first: an en masse review of two different franchises that offer very similar gameplay. The franchises are the I Spy series from Scholastic and the Mystery Case Files series from Big Fish Games. The goal in each series is to find objects cleverly concealed in plain sight. The I Spy series targets kids ages 6–10, while Mystery Case Files is aimed at those 10–adult. I Spy Opening with Scholastic's I Spy games, let's walk through the series starting with 1999's I Spy Spooky Mansion and ending with 2004's I Spy Spooky Mansion Deluxe. Unfortunately, Spooky Mansion Deluxe appears to be the last completely new entry in the series. Both of the Spooky Mansion entries require players to find objects hidden in rooms, in cabinets, and behind mirrors in (what else?) a spooky mansion. A talkative skeleton acts as guide. 2001's Treasure Hunt centers on a small seaside village that has been host to three pirates. Completing the first round of the game leads players to the treasure of one of the pirates, and then the fun begins again with a round of new clues for the next pirate and then another round for the next. 2003's Fantasy allows players to explore a fairy tale of knights and maidens, an escape from an alien planet, and a deep sea quest for a mermaid's treasure. Again, solve all of the puzzles and the adventure begins again with different clues. The appeal of the series, much like the appeal of the Nancy Drew games, is that players know exactly what they are in for when they load up I Spy. There will be a rhyme under a complex image, and the mission is to identify the objects named in the rhyme with the objects scattered through the image. A typical rhyme is:
It's tougher than it sounds, and even though the I Spy series is designed for kids ages 6 to 10, I, an old coot, have spent more than a few hours looking for the elusive last item remaining in a rhyme. And then, upon finding it and checking my watch, deciding that there is time for finding the hidden items in just one more screen. Once a rhyme is solved, it yields an item that, when combined with other items acquired by solving other rhymes, enables players to solve a final puzzle. The item can be a piece of a paper from a torn-up rebus, a piece of a treasure map, or even a jewel. Once all of the pieces have been found in a round of play in Treasure Hunt, Fantasy, or Spooky Mansion Deluxe, a new level is opened with new rhymes, and the fun begins again. And the fun moves a bit faster because the new rhymes return players to the images they pondered earlier. After a few rounds, most of the items can be found fairly quickly. My grandchildren have gone quite mad for the I Spy games and insist on playing them every time they come over. The games are challenging but fair. Items are hidden in plain sight. The trick is knowing which plane of focus the item is hiding in. A velvet-lined museum display box may have an item, or the silhouette of an item, hiding in the velvet background rather than in the item-strewn foreground. A item may be represented by its shadow, its outline, itself, or its name. It might even be represented by a homonym. And it is not uncommon to have all possibilities show up in one clue. I Spy does not have a time limit per rhyme. Young detectives can pore over a given image as long as they please. And, at least in this house, they can wander over and ask the old coot where to find the last of the three smiling faces or where the final bee or the other bat is hiding. In terms of richness of gameplay, Spooky Mansion Deluxe and Treasure Hunt take top honors, with Fantasy and Spooky Mansion trailing just slightly behind. For those wondering if this sort of diversion might be of interest, there are some browser-based samples at the I Spy website. Mystery Case Files Following the apprenticeship of the I Spy games, players can graduate to the more serious challenge of the Mystery Case Files offerings from Big Fish Games. There are now three entries in this hugely successful series, as well as three additional spin-off wannabe franchises: Hidden Expedition, Travelogue 360, and Paparazzi. MCF: Huntsville pulled in over 2.4 million dollars in its first four months of release, making it one of the most successful games ever offered by Big Fish Games. Nor did Big Fish Games rest on its laurels. The difference between the first entry in the series and the second is substantial, and the refinements in the third entry make it the best yet. Not Fair, and Old to Boot Mystery Case Files games differ from I Spy games in two critical respects: the first two Mystery Case Files games (Huntsville and Prime Suspects) pit the player against the clock (Ravenhearst has a "relaxed" option that gives players twice as long with each level), and the Mystery Case Files games aren't as concerned with playing fair in terms of hiding things in plain sight. A bowling ball, for example, may be hidden behind something so completely that only one of its holes is visible. Mystery Case Files is also not above making objects tiny, hiding them in shadows, concealing big chunks of them beyond the edge of the screen, manipulating their scale so as to make them nearly unrecognizable, or making them the same color as something they are sitting upon or in front of. There is another element to the MCF games that may—may—put off younger players, at least at first. The objects one is asked to find frequently come from a time that was old when I was young, and I was young when Eisenhower was serving his first term. 16mm film reels, candlestick phones, crank-operated coffee grinders, manual typewriters, toys from the 1930s: all find a comfortable home in the MCF game world. I suspect the folks at Big Fish Games are aiming squarely at older casual gamers, to whom all these objects will be both familiar and nostalgic. While the pressure of playing against the clock can be unnerving the first few times through, players will soon realize that the Mystery Case Files games recycle their puzzle images the same way the I Spy games do. The more one plays, the easier it becomes to find most of the items in the first few minutes, leaving ample time to find the rest. Plus the Mystery Case Files games give players hint buttons that can be used to reveal those items that have remained stubbornly hidden. And if you don't find everything in time, no problem. MCF games save automatically at your last completed mission. Welcome Improvements Mystery Case Files: Huntsville, the first entry in the series, ends each mission with a jumbled image of the guilty party against the backdrop of one of the puzzle images. Players solve the puzzle with the clock still running. Mystery Case Files: Prime Suspects offers one of three different minigames at the end of each mission, adding some welcome variety to the gameplay. The photo jumble is joined by a "find ten words" puzzle and a slick variation of Concentration. Mystery Case Files: Ravenhearst locks some of its rooms with bizarre and intriguing puzzles that feel like mini adventure games and finishes each chapter with a torn-up diary page that must be reassembled to reveal the story. Huntsville and Prime Suspects focus on apprehending criminals, while Ravenhearst offers a classic gothic tale of madness and haunting. Where Huntsville presents a series of puzzle images where the player is required to "just find things," Prime Suspects mixes it up by offering three different ways to explore a puzzle image. In addition to the usual "just find things" mode, there is also a "find things in the dark with a flashlight" mode and a "find things behind doors or walls with x-ray glasses" mode. Working against the clock while dragging a small pool of light across a complex image can be deliciously stressful. Oh, and did I mention you have to find the battery in one of the other puzzle images during the mission before you can use either the flashlight or the x-ray glasses? While Ravenhearst does not have the variety of search modes found in Prime Suspects, it does offer a number of clever puzzle locks that must be cracked before certain areas can be accessed. (While one can skip those locks that require quick reflexes, skipping a lock shaves five minutes off one's allotted time and removes any available hints. Rather than risk the loss of both time and hints, I recommend going here for a walkthrough of the puzzle locks.) Players are encouraged to click everything on a puzzle lock screen to see what happens. Then the solving begins. Perhaps items need to be clicked in a certain order or dials set to number hiding elsewhere on the screen. The puzzle locks can be so engaging that it's a shame Ravenhearst only allows one to play them in the course of the game. It would have been great if each solved puzzle lock could have been placed in a gallery where they could be enjoyed aside from the main game. Huntsville offers players more than 15 crimes to solve in more than 20 locations. Prime Suspects offers players more than 22 levels to explore in 29 locations. Ravenhearst offers players 21 levels in 32 locations. And, since the clues are randomized, there is a lot of replay value in all three titles. Wannabes Hidden Expedition, Travelogue 360, and Paparazzi As much as I enjoy the I Spy and Mystery Case Files games, I have not been able to work up any enthusiasm for the Hidden Expedition, Travelogue 360, or Paparazzi franchises from Big Fish Games. Hidden Expedition: Titanic offers so much less than any of the MCF games that it feels more like a sketch than a fully realized title: same play mechanics, no charm. Travelogue 360 Paris is simply tacky. The Travelogue 360 gimmick is that the locations are all incredibly sharp nodal photographs from famous sites ... sites that have been obscured with hidden objects. I lost interest when I found myself in Saint-Sulpice, a church second only to Notre Dame in terms of grandeur, which had been despoiled with superimposed images of alarm clocks, parking meters, chocolate cakes, barber chairs, and yo-yos. Ack! And then there's Paparazzi, a title that combines three distinct game modes (find the hidden objects, find the differences between two images, take pictures of an elusive celebrity) in a dog's breakfast of cartoony primary color awfulness. Fortunately, for the curious, there are demos of all three available. Verdict An enthusiastic Thumb Up for the I Spy and Mystery Case Files games. No rating for Hidden Expedition, Travelogue 360, or Paparazzi. More Hidden Stuff Scholastic has released a sort of "Greatest Hides" version of the I Spy series entitled I Spy Mystery. I Spy Mystery recycles screens from the previous I Spy games to support a "solve 13 cases" format. CD or Download? Big Fish Games, which began as a download-only operation, is now offering the Mystery Case Files titles in boxed retail form. And Scholastic, which started with retail boxes, is offering the I Spy games as downloads. Anyone else feel a blur in here? Technical Note Big Fish Games made some refinements in Prime Suspects. Players are advised to make sure they have the most recent version (1.3b) in order to play the final puzzle. Bonus Hint Find a certain hidden mascot in Ravenhearst, send an email
to Big Fish Games at the address the mascot reveals, and you may
win the chance to have your face in the next MCF game. No,
I can't tell you which screen conceals the mascot or who the mascot
is, but considering that Ravenhearst is a Big Fish Games
title, which mascot seems most likely to be hiding out in one of
the overstuffed screens? |
The Verdict
The Lowdown I Spy Mystery Case Files/Hidden Expedition Available for: Four Fat Chicks Links Player
Feedback—I Spy Screenshots I Spy
Mystery Case Files
System Requirements Windows 98/ME/2000/XP Where to Find It
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