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6.1 extra fun
Imagine you're a stamp collector. You spend all your free time looking at stamps, researching stamps, putting stamps in little plastic bags, and going to Taco Bell. Suddenly a master detective shows up at your door and recruits you as an investigator! Okay, you can stop imagining now, because in fact this isn't some imaginary scenario, this is Private Eye: Greatest Unsolved Mysteries.
It seems a super secret and super conspiratory organization of criminals, the Enigma Society, is stealing various unique and not-so-unique valuables around the world. Some sort of nefarious scheme is afoot, but the world's police are baffled. As a stamp collector with a good eye, you're asked to turn investigator and solve the mystery. You meet your undercover contact, high school student Kimmy Jenkins, and it's off to Venice for your first investigation, the "Mystery of the Misplaced Mouthwash."
Private Eye: Greatest Unsolved Mysteries, distributed by Gogii Games and Big Fish Games, is yet another "find the item" slash "seek and find" slash "hidden object" detective game. Each investigation starts with a dossier of the criminal suspected of the theft, followed by several scenes of clue-hunting, and finally a tense confrontation with the criminal in question. As usual in these types of games, scenes are littered with a random assortment of objects. (Including apples and spiders.) Kimmy gives you a list of clues that you must photograph (your mouse pointer becomes a camera viewfinder), and you have to search for these objects onscreen. Take pictures of all of them, and Kimmy will tell you where to go next. She's read every private eye handbook ever written, so she's good at analyzing your photographs and finding which of the objects will lead you further on the trail of your suspect.
Why were you, a humble stamp collector, recruited for this dangerous job? Because inside every scene are a few hidden bonus stamps, that's why. Click on them for extra points.
If you can't find an object, Kimmy will step in to give you a hint. She's there to help. That blows her cover, however, so it takes her a while to get up the nerve to help you again. I can safely say that you will need her hints, because unfortunately every scene in Private Eye is a bit fuzzy and some objects are very unfairly hidden. Sometimes items are too small, and other times they're too obscured. They aren't removed from the scene after being photographed, so you get some time to reflect on a museum warehouse in wonder and exclaim, "That's a clothespin?!?" A health tip: clean and disinfect your monitor before you rub your eyeballs up against it. Special combos are available if you find all the items in a particular order. When it comes to random clicking, don't even try it. Every false click results in a blurry photograph and a time penalty. This is the strictest game yet when it comes to random clicking.
Like Magic Academy, sometimes you'll play a minigame where you have to spot the differences between two similar scenes. Some objects will be in one scene, but not another. Some will be a different size, color, or orientation. You'll only have a few minutes to spot all the differences and circle them with a marker.
Another minigame takes place at the end of each investigation, during your confrontation with the criminal. Kimmy will give you a list of words representing a secret message or evidence against the suspect. Then a torrent of words will appear onscreen, and you have to click on those matching the words on your target list... before they disappear. To make the challenge even harder, words must match in capitalization, color, etc. And Kimmy won't help you, either!
Private Eye: Greatest Unsolved Mysteries has a good sense of humor. You'll be pitted against wacky criminals in wacky cases. Sometimes your snapshots will have funny labels. These might make you laugh, or they might make you blink. Overall the game is presented well, except for the graphics. Everything is just slightly blurry and you'll feel like you're playing the game with your glasses fogged up. If you don't wear glasses, you'll just be confused. And to be honest, I'd rather that found items were removed from the scenes after being photographed, even though it makes no sense. Obviously a lot of work went into the game, but I didn't enjoy playing it as much as other games in this genre. For my money, the top three hidden object games are still Agatha Christie: Death on the Nile, Magic Academy, and Mystery Case Files: Ravenhearst. Once you've completed them, give Private Eye: Greatest Unsolved Mysteries a spin.
If you like the sleuthy music to Secret Squirrel, you'll love the looping background mystery score.
Download Private Eye: Greatest Unsolved Mysteries