3D Escape Room: Detective Story Reviews

Fun game, It will probably take a few hours unless you use hints.

I hate not to recommend this game because the graphics were great and the movement was easy and most of the puzzles were just fine. That said: Some of the puzzles were just off the hook....um.....too obscure. When you have to go to a "walkthrough", See the solution, and STILL can't solve a puzzle, then there is a major problem with the developers design (the ship puzzle comes to mind). Also, there is a lot of "memory" involved because there are many 'locations' that you have to go back and forth from (so memory is Very important). This game had a TON of potential because you get a LOT of playing time for the price, but if the flow is bad, and some of the puzzles are just so obscure, then it just takes away from a fluid enjoyable game. Also, some parts of the game or "puzzle pieces collected" need to be changed in order to work. Most of the time this is obvious (they give you a + sign to let you know), but some times they don't and you have no way to know (just another small hiccup that distracts from game enjoyment. When I first started this game it reminded me of 'THE ROOM' series (which was Fantastic). But then it sort of lost it's way...

Creative puzzles. Very much like the Room series, but less expensive. Well worth the price.

After having played [i]Chinese Room[/i] as well as the demo for this game I was surprised by the negative reviews. But after playing the game I have to agree with the disapproval. I have 2 main criticisms with this game: [list] [*]The story: Sure, in this kind of game the story doesn't matter all that much (for example, the story of [i]The Inheritance of Crimson Manor[/i] was rather forgettable, yet the puzzles were still quite enjoyable). But when you're going for a detective kind of story without having the puzzles reflect the supposed investigation that creates a severe disconnect, at least for me. Plus, the ending was rather unsatisfying. [*]The puzzles: They were fine in the first 2 chapters, but after that each chapter had one puzzle chain that you had to re-do several times (with slight variations). Very annoying, since it feels like needless padding. The constant back-and-forth between "pocket rooms" in the final chapter didn't help either. [/list] Bottom line: not a terrible game, but can't really recommend. The first game as well as the [i]The Room[/i] series do a far better job. Rating: ★★★☆☆