Casual games: Mystery Stories
OK, I promised regular reviews of casual games, so I thought I’d kick off with one that I’m playing at the moment: Mystery Stories.
Mystery Stories comprises two games, making it a good value proposition. Each of the games is, as the name suggests, a mystery that you need to solve by finding objects hidden in a picture. Sounds easy? Well, not so much.
Each game consists of many dozens of levels, so don’t think you’ll knock them over in one session — unless you’re not planning on sleeping for a week!
Objects are strategically placed so that they blend into the scenery and you’ll need to be really observant to locate many of them. Even the more obvious ones tend to be tricky to find, as you’re so busy looking for them in the finer details that you don’t see them — literally a case of not seeing the forest for the trees.
Each location in a level is timed, so if you can’t find all the objects listed or perform set tasks within that time, you have to start again.
One of the games' locations.
In each location, you’ll also find icons placed within the picture that let’s you get a clue, but they are seriously rationed, so you can’t rely on them to get you through unless there are just one or two objects that you can’t find. And don’t count on clicking around randomly within a location, hoping that you’ll stumble across an object, as it will run your time down quicker.
Mystery Games is suitable for the whole family and sells for $19.95.
Gail Lipscombe has worked for some of Australia's hottest tech magazines for over 10 years. In her blog, she focuses on demystifying technology, gadgets and the web for average consumers.