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7.3 excellent
You're just in time for a mystery!
210 years ago, a sneaky British soldier "liberated" the famous Moonstone diamond from Seringapatam, India. In 1849, that same sneaky soldier made it an 18th birthday present for his niece, Rachel Verinder. However it was immediately stolen from the young woman's room! As Seargeant Cuff, you've been called to Verinder Manor to search for clues and interview the household. Someone stole the priceless Moonstone diamond. But who? And how?
Mystery Masterpiece: The Moonstone, from Freeze Tag, Inc., is a hidden object game based on The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins. Written in 1868, this was one of the first detective novels. The game adaptation follows the typical 2008 hidden object game style. That is to say, as the player you search for a wide variety of useless junk (AKA "clues") at each scene, and one of them turns out to be germane to the mystery at hand. Furthermore, some items you find may be added to your inventory to solve puzzles and reveal evidence in later scenes.
There are nine suspects to investigate - all of them having been present in the manor on the night of the theft. Each suspect has four hidden-object-filled rooms to search through, for a total of 36 hidden object scenes. In their rooms you're given a list of "clues" at the left side of the screen. Finding and clicking on an object in the room causes it to be removed from the tableau and your list. But some objects require further manipulation before they can be removed from the lineup. For example, a locket must be unlocked. Or a torn up letter must be reassembled. These small puzzles require the use of "tools" in your inventory. Tools are special hidden objects that, as a Bow Street Runner, you instinctively know to pocket because you'll need them later in your investigation. Once a room has been completely eyeballed and nosed over, it's on to the next room.
When you've finished the four rooms attached to a suspect, you're given a chance to interview that person about the crime. Your notes are collected for later, and at the end of the game you will be given a chance to accuse who you believe to be guilty. Watch out for red herrings!
The hidden object scenes which make up the core of The Moonstone gameplay should be very appealing to traditional hidden object game fans. Edges are sharp and there is just a bit of a clipartish feel to the game. Scenes are well put together, however, and if you stare at a screen long enough you'll find most items. (But there are exceptions. That stupid rose petal, for example! You'll know it when you (don't) see it!) An endless amount of hints are available; the hint button takes about a minute to recharge between uses.
One slight annoyance is that objects must be clicked upon in exacting precision - you can't click on the center of a ring or between each blade in an open pair of scissors. This is occasionally frustrating as you could have sworn you clicked on that pair of tongs but I guess that wasn't the tongs the game wanted you to find, oh wait... yes it was, you just didn't click in the right spot!
There is no penalty for random clicking, however an annoying message pops up at the top of the screen for each and every wrong click. It's distracting, but after a while you learn to ignore it. I almost think I'd rather have a penalty, for the message obscures any objects at the very top of the scene. A few times I miss-clicked on an object and had to wait for the message to disappear before trying again.
The classical looping background music gets repetitive quite quickly. It comes straight from Tchaikovsky's brain to your computer speakers via 140 years of celebration and arrangement.
Download Mystery Masterpiece: The Moonstone