By John Walker on February 22nd, 2010 at 11:47 am.
You may be wondering why someone as handsome and clever as me is playing yet another demo of yet another hidden object game. I’ll tell you why. It’s because it’s described like this on GamersHell:
“Nothing can prepare you for the experience of playing Mind’s Eye: Secrets of the Forgotten, a hidden object adventure that will challenge, thrill and disturb you.”
NOTHING!
So we should have a disclaimer here: Rock, Paper, Shotgun is not responsible for any long-term trauma, psychological damage or nervous breakdowns resulting from playing the demo of this hidden object game. In issuing this warning we absolve ourselves of all legal responsibility.
What?
What makes this all the more amusing is quite how banal the demo’s themes prove to be. I’ve only played the first hour, after which the demo dropkicks you back to the order screen, and either I’m forged from the steeliest resolve or there’s not an enormous number of thrills or disturbing moments. What there is, in fact, is a perfectly decent hidden-object-meets-murder-mystery, along with a few other clumsy puzzles.
However, to be fair, it seems the real shocks are still to come. According to the game’s description:
“As Gabrielle delves deeper into the mystery, participating in scientific experiments that allow her to enter the minds of other people to search for clues, she will uncover a shocking secret about her past that will surprise even jaded gamers.”
Eek.
One thing that makes Mind’s Eye stand out is where the objects are hidden. Usually in this genre the trick is to change the size of objects, or cunningly disguise them against background details. Mind’s Eye twists this format by hiding objects exactly where you’d expect to find them. Looking for a stapler? Oh, that’ll probably be on the desk. A hat? Have you checked the hat stand?
Despite mocking it for a silly description, this is as good as you could hope. It gobbles up time, offers the entertainment of trying to make the hunting for objects make narrative sense, and includes a few interesting twists. Some objects cannot be found immediately. You might have to zoom in on a specific area, open a drawer, look in a cupboard, etc. Other items require you to have already found something else necessary for collecting it. It’s not exactly groundbreaking, but it mixes things up a little.
It’s a hidden object game. You know whether you want to waste an hour having guilty fun that you’ll never admit to.
22/02/2010 at 11:58 Brumisator says:
I have quite enough of these games on DS, thank you.
22/02/2010 at 12:04 Heliocentric says:
Wait, crap you can’t find until you have found other crap. So… The game gives you objectives you can’t complete and right away some you can but doesn’t make and distinction between them.
Stupid hidden object games.
22/02/2010 at 14:46 John Walker says:
It totally makes a distinction. I never said it didn’t make a distinction!
22/02/2010 at 16:50 Heliocentric says:
Oh, okay. But i stand by the second part of my post.
22/02/2010 at 12:05 Zealot says:
Why are those games so popular? I don’t get it.
22/02/2010 at 12:21 Mike says:
John, sometimes you choose the job, and sometimes the job chooses you.
22/02/2010 at 12:26 Clovis says:
Do you have to find a purloined letter?
(Spoiler: check the card-rack)
22/02/2010 at 13:03 Nick says:
It could be possible that it was so disturbing your mind blocked whatever happened and made you think everything was quite normal and slightly dull.
22/02/2010 at 13:20 Tei says:
I have see the future.
In the future, most games will be created in controled cities with a termination date. The “Console Vault Cities”.
Only a few group of renegades will survive in the wild wastelands, playing casual games and AA titles.
[insert here youtube video of Logan's Run]
22/02/2010 at 13:39 Rich says:
I’ve always regarded gaming as something of an escapist hobby. Never in a million years will I be able to transcend this flabby frame and become supreme disembodied commander of a glorious army as it puts boot to face in the name of the Immortal Emperor, or build a metropolis of legendary scale, or captain a massive space cruiser as it delivers a devastating broadside to one of the hundreds of ships battling above my capitol world. Why then would I instead choose to play a genre of game that seems to revolve around finding one’s car keys.
22/02/2010 at 13:50 terry says:
Erg…. hidden object games. It’s one of the big downsides of Steam gifting that I recently received “The Edgar Allen Poe Mysteries” and still have only a vague idea who did the nefarious deed . Suffice to say I will be applying hot spoons to very tender areas when I can confirm it. There’s about seven hundred levels, all of which have a ghostly Poe tasking you with finding banal items that he has inexplicably placed around scenes of horrific murders. The plot is arguably one of the strong points of the game, with so many twists and turns and bizarre leaps of logic that within a couple of screens the wretched thing becomes an entire shitheap of mistranslated supernatural Tom Clancy-grade nonsense. Every so often there are a few redundant puzzle sequences which are either baffling in their vague instructions or irritatingly time-consuming. Oh boy, another “transport the wolf across the river” sequence! What next? The towers of fucking Hanoi?
TLDR – No hidden object games are worth playing.
22/02/2010 at 13:51 PiP says:
seriously guys, what were you thinking? What a waste of time..
22/02/2010 at 14:04 Clovis says:
Ya, RPS should only cover games that are a productive use of our time, like Manshoot 5, Peggle, RTSs (which are totally not just moving around hundreds of toy soliders), Progress Quest 3, and “sandbox” games.
Also, more stories on feeding the poor, saving old ladies from fires, and achieving world peace, please.
22/02/2010 at 14:48 John Walker says:
I LIKE PLAYING HIDDEN OBJECT GAMES.
There. I just fucking said it.
WHO WANTS TO FIGHT ME?
22/02/2010 at 15:06 Sarble says:
I would, but I can’t find my duelling pistols. I’ve tried clicking _everywhere_…
22/02/2010 at 15:13 Pseudonym says:
John, did you try Three Cards to Midnight? It’s a twist on a hidden object game, and it’s by Aaron Connors and Chris Jones (of the Tex Murphy games).
I tried the demo and am undecided about getting it. I would appreciate you telling me what to think (we seem to have similar tasted generally).
22/02/2010 at 15:48 Clovis says:
This will end in tears. John’s tears.
22/02/2010 at 18:58 Wulf says:
I LIKE SOME OF THEM, TOO.
There are a few hidden object games out there with appreciably bizarre settings. I’m not talking Myst bizarre here, or that wonderful sort of bizarre that’s usually found in first-person point & clickers, that’s a special kind of WTF-borne bizarre that’s rarely replicated elsewhere, it’s also full of wonder and beauty… but anyway! It might not be that kind of bizarre, but bizarre enough, appreciably bizarre. Sort of like when children’s books and shows (hello, Doctor Who!) try to go a little outside the lines.
…where did the first-person point & click adventures go?
D: [Insert VVVVV sadface sound here.]*
* Yes, I’m going to turn that into a meme. That or I’m going to have that sound playing in the heads of everyone whenever they see that emote, because that’s been happening to me for days, now.
22/02/2010 at 21:13 Tei says:
I think the genre is overrepresented.
22/02/2010 at 22:48 Nick says:
“…where did the first-person point & click adventures go?”
John killed them.
(they had it coming)
22/02/2010 at 23:10 Wulf says:
LIES!
22/02/2010 at 15:01 bill says:
what the hell is a “Hidden Object Game”? Is it some kind of adventure game? Hunt the pixel? Minesweeper?
How did a whole genre appear and i totally failed to notice?
Have I played them and not known it?
22/02/2010 at 15:31 JuJuCam says:
It’s the pixelhunt portion of the worst excesses of 90′s point’n'click adventure gaming distilled to the purest essence of that gameplay. You have a scene before you and a list of random objects within that scene to click on. Job done, next scene ad infinitum.
As Walker says, a significant innovation for this particular game is for the objects to be placed in a logical location. What will they think of next?
22/02/2010 at 15:06 AdrianWerner says:
Some HOGs are actually pretty fun. 3Cards series, last two Mystery Case Files or Women’s Murder Club 1-3 are games that pretty much every adventure gaming fan will enjoy.
22/02/2010 at 15:15 TwistyMcNoggins says:
Gawwwwwd dangit.
I managed to get on to the “third portrait” before the timer cut me off.
22/02/2010 at 15:29 Taillefer says:
Have you tried “Drawn: The Painted Tower”?
It’s a sort of hidden object game with some easy puzzles. I thought the presentation was lovely, and it has some nice music. My, uh, niece enjoyed it.
Didn’t even realise “3 Cards to Midnight” had been released. Checking it out, thanks Pseudonym.
22/02/2010 at 20:42 JB says:
Ah yes, Drawn was lovely. I’m pretty sure I only found it due to RPS.
22/02/2010 at 15:34 PiP says:
did you have fun with “Mind’s Eye”? I didn’t, even though adventure games are among my favourite ones. Where did you get that bitter spite from?
22/02/2010 at 15:35 PiP says:
that was @ Clovis
22/02/2010 at 15:47 Clovis says:
I’m just saying that some people, like John Walker, do find these games fun. It’s not very nice to call something they might enjoy a “waste of time”. Also it seems silly, since all games are a waste of time. Why is the way you waste your time so much better than someone else’s?
I also think bitter spite is funny, I guess.
Personally, I’m not a fan of these games, but I do like adventure games. I did play one once and found it mildly amusing though. Better than Ludo …
22/02/2010 at 16:06 Simon says:
My most anticipated demo download since Limbo of the Lost!
22/02/2010 at 16:37 dingo says:
I’m a hardcore PC player but sometimes I need to unwind and play some hidden objects games.
Most are crap but there is one series that shines above them all:
“Mystery Case Files”
They are by far the best ones I ever played. Superb graphics and sound + good writing (on the newer ones).
Start by giving “Ravenhearst” a go (“Return to Ravenhearst” is even better but I think you should play the first before to understand the cross-referencing in the 2nd game).
“Dire Grove” the newest one is also good. “Madame Fate” isn’t too shaby either.
All of them besides “Madame Fate” use adventure elements (you get items solving the hidden object scenes that you need to use somehwere else to progress) and are carried by a solid story unfolding the more you progress.
Can’t wait to play the next installment of Ravenhearst!
22/02/2010 at 18:29 V. Tchitcherine. says:
Like genital-silicone injecting and testicular-ceiling hanging, I am puzzled and rendered speechless at this (non?)expressive medium.
Hidden Object Game? {With best Cary Grant impersonation}; I mean really!
22/02/2010 at 18:38 PiP says:
sorry if I hurt your feelings by being too conversational; I should have written “in my personal perspective it’s a waste of my private time.”
[/irony]
I thought things like “people have different opinions’ can be taken for granted? Surely you don’t believe I imagined speaking for the whole humanity.
Chill out.
BTW, I don’t consider some games a waste of time at all.
22/02/2010 at 20:48 Clovis says:
You hurt my feelings by not being able to use the reply system, hurr hurr. As I said, I think this is funny, I’m not wound up or something.
Oh, I see what I’ve done. I thought you were saying I was bitterly spiteful, but you meant that I was incorrectly assuming you were spiteful. Is that it? Where did I get that from? I don’t know, I guess the “seriously” and “waste of time” bit. I guess I just took that a bit too seriously. Oh, and the ellipses just seem so angsty, as if you were so disgusted you couldn’t continue typing. I’m glad you’re not spiteful though. I’m glad you used that irony tag. I’m from the US and we don’t understand irony. One of the Spice Girls cleared that up for us during an episode of the Daily Show.
Seriously though, adventure games are the biggest waste of time ever. There’s nothing wrong with wasting time. It’s better than dwelling on one’s existential crisis or whatever.
22/02/2010 at 18:51 Gwarg says:
If you’re looking for a crazy hidden object game you should look up the game Mishap.
22/02/2010 at 19:09 LionsPhil says:
I liked hidden object games better when they were a tiny constituent part of games that required you to think.
Actually, no, hunt-the-bloody-pixel-puzzles were one of the multitudinous cancers that killed off adventure games.
Does this mean the hot new minimalist game trend is going to be “try every possible combination of this set of objects with eachother and everything in the room”? Ooh, what about Command Line Thesaurus Fun, in which you have to try to phrase “take the medicinal ethanol out of the left cupboard” such that the computer can understand it?
22/02/2010 at 19:49 phuzz says:
I don’t think I’ve played one of these before, but I quite enjoyed it. It was relaxing after an annoying day at work (they made me do stuff! Like, work!).
So, suggestions for more like this?
23/02/2010 at 04:16 Cheespuffs says:
I hate hidden objects games but this demo had me hooked for an hour. The story which was half-interesting helped. I wouldn’t consider paying for it, though, unless it was $5 or less and more independently sold, not sold by some site like alawar.com
I was not creeped out enough by the game to consider spending more time on it anyway.
23/02/2010 at 10:11 PiP says:
“not being able to use the reply system, hurr hurr”
I did, it got screwed (I think when I forgot to type in the “captcha”) :)
“I guess I just took that a bit too seriously.”
your guess is right :)
23/02/2010 at 14:30 terry says:
Evidently, you need better spam software :-)
23/02/2010 at 10:58 Rich says:
Oh please tell me more.
23/02/2010 at 14:30 terry says:
What does this even mean? Seriously, you’ve nailed the target demographic (because god knows I always visit RPS for shady testimonials for “flat irons”), why not proofread? And negative ions are so passé these days. Don’t you people ever do research?
25/02/2010 at 18:15 disperse says:
I play a hidden-object game every night. It’s called “Where did I leave the !#%* remote.”
25/02/2010 at 21:20 Joe says:
So when are you guys going to write something about MYST?
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