Neue Rezensionen von Luci

The second installment to the Art of Murder series following FBI investigator Nicole Bonnet.

Although the summary implies following the trace of a serial killer, the plot itself gravitates towards a different direction. For someone like me who enjoys a darker sort of mystery, it did leave me disappointed. That's not to say that the story is by any means terrible, it just wasn't what I hoped for.

Gameplay-wise, it works much like the first game. Definitely less confusing although you would find yourself stuck sometimes thanks to the lack of prompts/hints from Nicole. The hint button helps immensely and I encourage people to use it when they can. Don't bother with the phone unless you just want to hear extra fluff pieces.

You're still not allowed to pick anything up that's not yet relevant to the case, which makes the typical point-and-click player a little frustrated having to move back and forth maps to check if the items can finally be picked up.

The backgrounds are still gorgeous as ever, I always love stopping and just taking in the scenery. I feel like most of the space is underutilized, only having a single purpose but I can't say I don't appreciate all the lovely visuals.

Overall, a good sequel to a really fun game. I can't say I prefer any over the other, each have their pros and cons. If you enjoyed the first game and find yourself wanting, then I can safely recommend continuing Nicole's story with Hunt for the Puppeteer.

This was honestly a surprise, but in a good way! The story is really funny and is meant to be campy, there were really hilarious moments and lines. It's shorter than your average HOG, about an hour of gameplay if you're really good at finding things.

I don't recommend playing on advanced unless you want the achievement. The lack of sparkles really slowed down my progress since I didn't know which spots had HOs and extra close-up scenes. I was basically clicking all over the place.

The HO scenes had pretty decent graphics but again, the items were kinda messy. Feels like a garbage dump in some of them with random fruits and stuff inside places where they shouldn't be there.

It's super cheap, but for how short it is, for once it's priced just right. JetDogs' other HOGs are a lot longer for the same price so I recommend playing those more if you're just after gameplay, they were a lot more polished and navigating was a lot easier. If you just want a hearty laugh, I'd say you should give this game a go!

That being said, it is kind of glitchy so be warned. If you think you're trapped or your mouse clicks are doing things it's not supposed to, I recommend closing the game and opening it back up again, it hasn't failed me yet.

A short pleasant experience. :) If you're not one to do multiple endings, I'm not sure this'd be the game for you since it ends in 15 minutes per route (without counting using fast forward).

Wishing there'd be a sequel. I'm absolutely curious about the hidden 'mystery' in the game. Would love to know what that's about, even if the protag and the girl don't turn out to be the main characters in the developer's next project. Totally feel like there could be more to this story!

I love the art style and the dialogue so I'd love to see what else dev comes up with.

This was pretty okay! I think JetDogs is a pretty decent company when making HOGs. And can you believe that price? It's really bang for buck, it takes about as much time as any typical HOG (4 hours) but for 1/4 the price. I almost feel bad because the quality of their game is actually notches higher than other developers but for questionably low prices.

I wouldn't recommend choosing Advanced for your first gameplay. I found myself often being unable to spot things on the locations, I got frustrated at times. There's also the issue that not only is their HO scenes visually subpar (photostock images and messy arrangement), the items themselves are well... maybe a little *too* well hidden. It doesn't help that some of them are really small, it drove me crazy.

I think their puzzles shine most thanks to the 3D setup. The last one is a doozy though, and since it's randomized, you might find yourself losing an hour trying to figure it out lol.

My favorite feature has to be their map. It has an action notifier and fast travel, so thank god I didn't have to backtrack. It does get a little bit tedious having to spin around the room slowly to travel without the map. Overall though, it made things easier to figure out whether or not I missed something since I didn't have the sparkles to guide me.

Definitely a suitable stocking stuffer for any HOG lover. The price can't be beat!

I'm pretty surprised this game got mixed reviews, I found it loads more tolerable than most HOGs I've played. Its winning element is probably the visuals, it was definitely well made, the lighting and background were wonderful. Overall, the graphics definitely rival Artifex Mundi games.

The biggest flaw, I have to agree, is the game's functionality. The hit boxes were pretty tight which made tiny objects unclickable, and I found myself accidentally clicking out of the hidden object scene repeatedly. There's also the issue of having difficulty navigating, sometimes you can fail to recognize if a spot can be zoomed in/walked towards, and some inventory items were pretty hard to miss. I also think there was a lot of backtracking towards the end, which a map with fast travel could have helped ease the time consuming trips.

I don't have much issue with the story. It's a fairly standard HOG theme and I didn't find it particularly boring nor interesting. The demons were a nice touch but I wish they could have been utilized a little more to the story.

The puzzles were fun, there were some unique ones I've never played in other games before. It's pretty much a mixed bag of ridiculously easy, amusing, or downright tedious (anything with rotating jumbled pieces using buttons would drive me up the wall though).

There are a couple glitches in the game as well, sometimes I would experience black screens between two locations and would be forced to restart the game. Restarting always fixes it. There's also the issue of the number in logic matching to be askew with the rest of the sentence.

Overall, it's okay, it's playable (even if I got lost some of the time). It's about 4 hours long and it's time well spent for me. I would definitely recommend this game to anyone who likes HOGs and isn't too fussy about glitches.

Very, very short experience lasting about 30 minutes. Feels to me like a small practice project (learning how to code and make puzzles) than an actual game that should be sold. I played this game with very bottom barrel expectations so I'm mildly relieved it's somewhat playable. The puzzles are very easy. The inventory works as needed.

My main issue is there's a lack of guidance on what you can pick up. I guess that's the hidden object part??? lol not sure it should be that. Nevertheless, while I wouldn't advise anyone to shell out big expense for such little gameplay-- it's not a broken game.

:) Keep up the good work, developer, hopefully something longer and more polished. I know building games from scratch must be difficult but I see potential HOG material in your work.

Pretty middle ground as a HOG, I sort of get the premise of the story but I wasn't fully invested in it (maybe because I'm not a middle-aged workaholic mother haha). I felt like the climax was extremely rushed, and sort of ended in a cliffhanger of sorts. I suppose it was intended to be the first of a trilogy.

There isn't much to say about the visuals or the puzzles either. I wasn't exactly bored but I don't think I found anything new about this game either. Given, this is an older Artifex game, so I shouldn't judge it too much in current standards. Overall, pretty okay. The quality still stands, and if you need a 2 and a half hour game, this should suffice.

I don't know how else to explain it other than the game frustrated me so much that I have absolutely no mood to even write a longer review about it. It made me so exhausted.

It all boils down to an extremely inconvenient item interface, lack of directions, and flawed gameplay. Navigation was also a struggle. The backgrounds don't always imply which places you can go to and just, ugh. I've wasted time. It's not worth all the effort to get through the game, the plot isn't worth it.

What upsets me the most is that this technically isn't a broken game, it's a poorly designed game. Even without the bugs, the game doesn't make it easy to be enjoyable. Who tested this and thought this was good?

The only shining light about this game was the occassional 3D that made some puzzles interesting and the hidden object scenes are okay visually. Nothing can save this other than a complete rehaul.

EDIT: Changing one point-- Hint system isn't broken, just limited. Apparently the 5 orbs represent 5 chances to use hint consecutively followed by a slow refresh to regain orbs at a time. That's why it suddenly uses hint even if you've exhausted it.

A pretty good point and click game with an interesting plot. It plays very much more like a tv detective drama than a movie one and that's okay. Both are entertaining in their own way. The story is linear, which I appreciated. This game is about 6-8 hours depending on how fast you catch on to the objectives you need to do.

The game strongly encourages just following the plot instead of going your own way. It prevents you from collecting every item you can click on, stating you don't know what to use it for just yet. There's a very handy dandy hint system I recommend you using. It dictates what can be examined/picked up.

There definitely should be a museum dedicated to the lost art of pre-rendered backgrounds. The locations are really aesthetically pleasing to look at. I don't think there's really 200 of them though haha. The puzzles are of easy to medium difficulty. You can fail some and trigger a game over so watch out.

I honestly wish that the game gave more direction some times (like thought bubbles to know what to do next). I got stuck in some parts because there was a lack of guidance on the next step. There is a notebook system but it's not that useful, it only dictates what you already know. I recommend exhausting all dialogue bubbles and closely inspecting your inventory, and occassionally rubbing two items together A->B and B<-A because it's a little specific in some cases. It gets easier later on though. The frustration mostly pooled in Day 2 and 3.

Overall, I liked it. The story was intriguing enough, and I was sold on the artwork and simple gameplay. And 6-8 hours for its retail price is bang for buck these days. I definitely recommend it to any point and click afficionado, especially those who have a penchant for murder mysteries in particular.

I initially found this game frustrating, but I had to retract my statement since it was partially my fault for why it was irritating. When I skipped the tutorial, I wasn't aware that there would be a map with a notifier, so I spent a good chunk of my first time constantly struggling to see where I had things to do in. Play this game with grains of salt.

PROS:
> Window mode!
> Cohesive looking hidden object scenes
> Pretty lengthy, nothing was rushed. For its retail price, you get bang for buck with your time
> Fast-travel map with action notifiers, and a diary
> Unique feature using elements to solve puzzles

CONS:
> No voiceacting (which would have helped since there was a lot of dialogue)
> Item hunting is too simple, solutions are placed within the same location as the puzzle
> Hidden object scenes happen twice in a row in the same place
> A lack of direction on what to do next/what to use on an item
> No sparkles even on casual mode, you have to click around since you might miss an inventory item
> The unique feature was heavily underutilized, I wish they allowed the use of elements a bit more in terms of solving map puzzles

I also ran into the demo issue everyone experienced on my second run. I wasn't able to click anything in Chapter 2. The solution is to close the game and open it back up. The game also counts hints used in your previous playthrough if you use the same Player account. To avoid this, make a new name for every new playthrough if you'd like to earn the achievements.

Overall, I'm still a little sore from my first playthrough so my opinion is still greatly somewhat in the negative. With the map available, I'm sure people might have an easier time playing this game. There's still an issue with no sparkles on inventory items, so be wary that you have to look really hard in some places. Puzzles are difficult in expert mode, towards the end, so I don't recommend it unless you like to suffer. It's still a playable game despite the two bugs, I'm a patient person though. If you don't like the idea of paying for a potentially buggy game, then I'd say it's safe to skip this one, you aren't going to miss anything.