Special Enquiry Detail: Engaged to Kill HD
Score: 91% ESRB: 12+ Publisher: G5 Entertainment Developer: Floodlight Games Media: Download/1 Players: 1 Genre: Puzzle (Hidden Object)/ Adventure/ Puzzle
Graphics & Sound: The graphics in Special Enquiry: Engaged to Kill HD are well done and realistic looking. Your case will take place in New York and the areas you’ll visit, such as Central Park and the Statue of Liberty, look good with lots of neat little details here and there. A lot about this game reminded me about two previous iPad games I played, Masters of Mystery: Crime of Fashion and Masters of Mystery: Blood of Betrayal, however Special Enquiry: Engaged to Kill HD is much more polished. Some levels can be a slight bit overwhelming with the amount of stuff scattered around that you must look through to pick off the items listed in your hidden object list, but these scenes were few and far between. Instead, there were items laying about that you could pick up to advance your progress in the story and then there were also hidden object scenes as well, but they weren't overwhelmingly cluttered. The sound effects when you were in a scene are appropriate and not excessive. For example, you might hear leaves blowing and birds chirping in the park or some distant clanking sounds while at the Statue of Liberty. While you are investigating a cabin in the woods, you'll hear quieter sounds, like rustling or animal noises. It all stays quietly in the background, where it needs to be, but fleshes out the experience. The music throughout is very noir and has a jazzy feel at times. Still others, it just sounds dark and foreboding - perfect for this game. The voicework is fine and does its job during cut scenes, but its nothing spectacular. Still, it's better than some (such as Masters of Mystery) and it gets the job done.
Gameplay: In Special Enquiry: Engaged to Kill HD, you play as Detectives Cathy Turino and Brody Lamonte who are investigating a series of murders of soon-to-be-brides. The latest crime involves Marcy Templeton, a model and the sister of a powerful politician who asks that Turino and Lamonte get involved to locate his missing sister. As they investigate scenes and talk to people, their travels will take them to fresh locations, such as Central Park and the Statue of Liberty, but also old crime scenes and the homes of previous victims in the hopes of catching this guy before he does it again. You'll have to keep a keen eye out for anything that can be investigated or moved around to reveal other areas to be investigated. Sometimes, you'll have to peel things away to reveal other areas or open drawers to root through them. You might find yourself crawling around a rank sewer, digging in a junk yard, or even rooting through the trunk of a car. For the most part, it's basic hidden object, although there are some neat puzzles and adventuring along the way. You'll be attempting to solve the case of the murdered almost-brides, so you'll have various tasks including working in the lab, interviewing witnesses, and even putting up all the evidence on a board to piece together the crimes. All in all, it's a good blend of adventure, hidden object and puzzle.
Difficulty: There aren't any difficulty settings to select from when you begin the game, so the difficulty is not adjustable. That being said, Special Enquiry: Engaged to Kill HD is not a painful game to play, by any means. There are Hint and Skip buttons for when you get stuck in an area or on a puzzle you can't get past, so you are never truly unable to progress. The locations are arranged such that you are not often searching through a sea of garbage, so I found it to be more fun and relaxing that way. I think my favorite puzzle was the crime board which contained evidence from every murder in the case they were investigating. There were quite a few unusual items to collect and it offered a nice level of challenge.
Game Mechanics: Special Enquiry: Engaged to Kill HD is a fun adventure/ hidden object/ puzzle blend where you will travel to various locations in search of a killer. You'll pick up clues along the way that will aid you in your search and you'll also have to root through nitty, gritty junk piles to find that one elusive piece of evidence, just like a real cop. There are even a few times where Special Enquiry: Engaged to Kill HD pulls out something I've never seen before in a game of this type. You'll have to chase down a perp' and apprehend him or her. Now, since this isn't an action game, they do it in a very unique way – they basically take a standard adventure game puzzle and modify it to fit the scenario; instead of trying to block a virus from escaping a computer system (which is one variant I've seen), you'll see a top-down view of an area and little characters representing Turino and Lamonte, plus the suspect. By tapping to get Turino and/or Lamonte to run in a certain direction, you cause the suspect to run a different way in the hopes of blocking him in and apprehending him. It's a fun twist on a puzzle I've seen before, but I thought it was clever and unique way to present it. The only downside I found to Special Enquiry: Engaged to Kill HD was the fact that Turino and Lamonte commented via text box continually and you had to tap to move things along to get past those boxes. Sometimes, they'd say inane things that didn't matter, but sometimes they said important stuff and, in my impatience to close yet another text box, I almost missed some things. Normally, I like reading the text boxes, but these came too often and sometimes required a couple of taps to make them proceed, which was annoying. Overall, I found Special Enquiry: Engaged to Kill HD to be a lot of fun, even though the subject matter is pretty dark and violent. I had the killer pegged pretty early on, but they still threw a few curve balls before it all wrapped up. If you enjoy hidden object adventures, especially the ones with a focus on crime-solving, definitely check out Special Enquiry: Engaged to Kill HD today!
-Psibabe, GameVortex Communications AKA Ashley Perkins
Related Links: Special Enquiry Detail: Engaged to Kill HD | iTunes Game Vortex's Review of Masters of Mystery: Crime of Fashion Game Vortex's Review of Masters of Mystery: Blood of Betrayal
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