Ever since Nintendo launched their Touch Generations campaign, aimed at a more casual audience of gamers, and consisting largely of puzzle and mind working games, other companies have flocked to make their own renditions of these titles. Nintendo released Nintendogs, now we have Petz, Horsez, Hamsterz, Dolphinz, and even Babyz. Nintendo releases Brain Age & Big Brain Academy titles and now we have Brain Boost and Brain Challenge. Simply put, Nintendo’s strategy at reaching out to a broader audience is doing wonders for their sales and these game-mimics are proof in the pudding.
Thus, amongst a whole slew of similar looking titles on the DS, it’s difficult to find ones that truly shine. If you had asked me before I played the game, I wouldn’t know what to say about Professor Layton and the Curious Village. Now, after completing the game and loving every minute of it, I can claim that the game is one of my favorite games in years. There are gems lying amongst these casual looking games and I find it important to be able to distinguish between masterpiece and mimicry.
When I received Mystery Case Files: MillionHeir, I hadn’t really heard of the game before and wasn’t really expecting it to be any different than the large number of mystery games out there. I’ve played the genre before and besides a couple of titles here or there (Professor Layton being one of them), there is a large amount of repetition across the board. Was M.C.F. any different?
Gamut of Gameplay
Remember those old Eye Spy magazines you used to read when you were a kid? Each page consisted of a scene with a random list of items hidden throughout the page. Though it could get monotonous after long periods of time, searching for these items was always fun and interesting. And this is precisely the mystery behind M.C.F.: Though it sells itself as a mystery game, most of the game is spent searching for these random items (with a major emphasis on the random part).
The game begins by showing off a couple of the DS’s specialties such as blowing dust off of a badge, and dragging the stylus across the touch screen to search around the room. After finding 3 items, the game fast forwards to the time after Phil T. Rich, a multi-million dollar renaissance man, gets kidnapped in his mansion. Your first job as detective is to go around to different places where suspects are located and to find clues about the kidnapping. So, after searching the mansion’s study and finding a picture of the first suspect to interrogate, you begin your search for clues at a different location. The game then tells you to find some items around your new location in order to gain evidence of the person’s relationship with Mr Rich.
The main part of the gameplay consists of searching these areas for arbitrary items such as flags, scissors, ice cream sundaes, you name it, this game has it. The only problem is that these items have absolutely nothing to do with the story. After finding the necessary items, you then solve one more special puzzle which can either be a jigsaw puzzle, a moving tile puzzle, a matching puzzle or a puzzle that involves finding the difference between two pictures. At this point, you can finally get the questions you need from your suspect and they will give you a small piece of information that will help you further in the case.
Searching for Story
So, the game actually advertises itself as a mystery game but in reality, it’s more of an eye spy/puzzle game than a mystery. Sure, the game tries to make you feel like the story in the background is interesting but in reality, it’s more of a side note than anything. Searching is really the emphasis of the game and you will do a lot of it. As you progress through the story, you will encounter more and more suspects, each requiring an increasing number of items to be found (some of the later suspects require 18 or so items, in fact).
And though searching for arbitrary things can and will become monotonous to the gamer, there is a little deviation in the searching gameplay that is brought about by special items you acquire through your journey. For instance, once you acquire the X-Ray goggles and the regular goggles, you can see items you wouldn’t have been able to see before (X-Ray allows you to see items behind other ones, the regular goggles allow you to see through water). Other items include the flashlight (which you’ll occasionally have to find batteries for), and the super straw (allows you to blow on the environment to change something, such as blow out a fire).
Other gameplay variance involves stylus interactions with your environment. By holding down R or L, players can manipulate some parts of their surroundings. For instance, instead of just listing Light Bulb as an item to find, the game may list “break the bulb”, which requires you to hold R and touch the bulb to break it. Or, you may have to flip items by drawing a circle or slice items with the stylus. These are all interesting ideas but there are only a few that are remotely difficult to solve and overall, the motions are far too similar to one another.
As you progress further into the game and are searching for the heir to the fortune, you will encounter some new games along the way. One of these, a DNA matching game, is more like a traditional puzzle game where blocks gradually approach the ceiling and you have to burst blocks of alike colors whenever a circle of that color passes over it. Still, the gameplay continues in its repetitious nature by continuing the limitless and seemingly unimportant search for arbitrary items.
One of the best decisions in gameplay design that this game employs is the inclusion of co-op multiplayer and head to head competition; a little competition can make anything enjoyable. However, the game can only be played in these modes via multi-pak gameplay, which is a bummer. DS download play is included but it's only a dumbed down version of the actual game. Sure, these aren’t full-fledged multiplayer experiences but they at least allow you to share the game with your friends and make the game all the more interesting.
Atypical Aesthetics
The presentation of the game is fairly polished overall and has its own unique interpretation of the mystery genre. First of all, the game doesn’t take itself seriously. When you begin, you are forced to sign a satirical legal document that forces you to “agree that the terms and conditions, set hereinafter and thereinbefore, are subject to considerable and deserved mockery, and are bound together solely by a redundancy of fabricated prepositions.” Also, you have to sign a document each time you find a meaty piece of evidence, possibly poking fun at the legal aspects of society.
In addition to the legalism of the game, its aesthetics have some silliness about them as well. Characters have silly names that depict their occupation and personality such as Manny Cotti the chef, Cole Minor the prospector, Justine Time the clock maker, and Sherry Blossom the botanist. The game’s visuals also introduce an interesting mix of cartoon and realistic graphics where characters in the game are drawn very cartoony and unrealistic while the backgrounds look more realistic overall. Though the game’s overall demeanor is lighthearted, the music is still quite atmospheric. The list of eerie, lengthy songs does just enough to pull you back into the mystery feel of the title despite the game’s consistent silliness.
Case Closed
Overall, Mystery Case Files: MillionHeir is most certainly a unique addition to the puzzle/mystery genre on the DS. It succeeds in bringing a new outlook on the genre in its silly stature and involves gameplay that is fairly unique in itself. The only issue is that the story is pushed aside too much for its own good and the amount of time spent playing the abovementioned gameplay elements can leave gamers in a state of Eye Spy ennui that could prevent them from continuing through the game.
