February 13, 2008
The Count of Monte Cristo - new hidden object game
I played The Count of Monte Cristo last night. I have to say that it was, overall, a disappointing experience. Based on the classic Alexander Dumas novel of the same name, the game follows his story by requiring the player to help Edmond Dantes track down the betrayers who had him wrongfully imprisoned. There is no “skip” feature for the opening pages which set the scene. They fan by so quickly that you may not be able to finish reading each one before it’s gone, but there are so many of them that you’ll probably begin to wonder if you’re ever going to get to play the game.
While lovely to look at, the artwork does not serve the purpose of the game. Many of the images are rendered in a dark and muddy fashion with inadequate attention to detail. See those amorphous blobs on the steps above and below the skull near the lower right corner? What are those things? I’ve even tried expanding my screenshots to full size in my photo viewer and still can’t tell, though it’s obvious that each is supposed to be “something.” It’s all good and well to be clever with placement of the hidden objects and to use color, light and shadow to make them difficult to find, but making them completely unidentifiable is just wrong. There are a multitude of such indistinct blobs throughout the game.
The game creators also break another cardinal rule of fair play. The above screenshot is the first search page you’ll be presented with. On the steps at the left is a bottle (seen in full size, it bears a skull and crossbones emblem - a bottle of poison.) Clicking on it will not strike a bottle from your search list. Perhaps the creators consider it a flagon or a flask or something else. Sure looks like a bottle to me. Such confusion occurs throughout the game as you try to select the specific items you’re searching for amongst other items that fit the same description.
The first minigame was equally frustrating. The task is to assemble the pieces into a map. Pieces can be turned to the proper orientation by using your space bar. Well, that’s the theory. I wasted a lot of time before that function finally worked for me. Notice that, once again, there’s no opt out or skip button. You must complete the minigame before you can move on, so the malfunction sucked a good chunk of time out of my hour of free play.
Hints are available to highlight items you’re having trouble locating. Unfortunately, they get used up pretty quickly due to the inadequacies described above. You’ll eventually be taken to a dark screen where you can use a spotlight to search for gems with which to buy more hints. I had just opened that screen when my time ran out, so I can’t give you a screenshot. Oh, yeah - another thing. The clock does not stop if you minimize the game screen to open another - say your photo editor so you can save screenshots for a review. All of the games I’ve previously played automatically paused when another page was opened. I was about three quarters of the way through my hour before a pop-up appeared telling me to click on the clock to pause this game.
The Count of Monte Cristo is currently an exclusive from SpinTop Gamesnow in wide distribution. You can get it from Big Fish Games for just $6.99 if you’re a Game Club member. I won’t be doing a directbuy of this one anytime soon. If you play games to relax you won’t either. If you’re into anxiety and frustration - go for it. Download it for a free one-hour demo and decide for yourself.
You can read all of my hidden object game reviews by clicking on games in the drop-down category menu in my left sidebar.
[tags]Big Fish Games, games, hidden object games, SpinTop Games, The Count of Monte Cristo[/tags]
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February 14th, 2008 at 1:00 am, skeet’s stuff » The Nightshift Code - hidden object game Says:
[…] can be found. It’s what we expect from these games and a huge relief after my experience with The Count of Monte Cristo. Scenes are used repeatedly, so you’ll already know where some items are when a scene […]
March 3rd, 2008 at 3:17 am, rosalina Says:
i tried to play this game,i even bought it but i never get to play.they had problems downloading and i lost my time,my temper and money.i wrote to bigfish games and had no results.in a way i am glad it was not only me.thanks.rosalina.
March 3rd, 2008 at 11:16 am, skeet Says:
Rosalina, I had problems downloading a new hidden object game from Big Fish over the weekend. Turned out my firewall was blocking the process. Try closing your firewall while downloading and see if that helps. You can turn it back on when the download is complete.
Hope this helps! Mahalo for commenting on my blog!
May 30th, 2008 at 12:52 am, spintopgames Says:
[…] of the same name, the game follows his story by requiring the player to help Edmond Dantes trackhttp://skeetsstuff.skeeterbess.com/2008/02/13/the-count-of-monte-cristo-new-hidden-object-game/spintopgames gamesspintopgames games. … Jocuri: spintopgames. Mystery PI - The Lottery Ticket. […]
August 11th, 2008 at 12:30 pm, janet Says:
cant play ur hidden objects please respond to y i cant play them.
August 11th, 2008 at 1:03 pm, skeet Says:
Janet I’m sorry to hear that you couldn’t play the game. It’s not my game and I can’t help you with a technical problem. You might try asking for help from the site where you downloaded it, though. Good luck!
April 28th, 2009 at 10:38 am, April Says:
I found this game disappointing also! The “chinese checkers”-type minigame is confusing and poorly explained. No help button to be found. :/