by Michael Carver

Created on: July 25, 2008   Last Updated: August 30, 2011

Forgotten Riddles is a point-and-click, riddle-solving mystery game that puts you in the position of an inspector who is commissioned to investigate a haunted house formerly occupied by Francis von Amadeus, a 19th Century composer. As the game progresses, you learn more about the story of Amadeus. Along the way, you solve riddles in order to pick up clues that help you solve the mystery as to what exactly occurred in the haunted mansion.

The main type of puzzle involves finding various items in one of the many rooms of the mansion. Each room has its own distinct feel and is filled with various items that go along with the theme of the room. At the bottom of the screen are a series of notes which, when clicked on, each show a fairly simple riddle involving an item you're supposed to look for. For the most part, finding each item is not at all difficult, though I expect the difficulty level to be ramped up as the game progresses. A couple other types of puzzles serve to break up the monotony of the main puzzles, and they do a decent job.

The graphics are what's to be expected when dealing with a downloadable point-and-click game. The backgrounds are mostly still pictures used as a surface for the various mouse clicks that the game requires. Being pre-rendered images, they have no visible defects to note. They do their job and look good enough doing it. There's a bar at the bottom that contains anything essential to gameplay, such as the various riddles, a menu button, and a summary of the story thus far. It's sufficient and, like the background images, does its job well enough. There's nothing special to note here.

The most immersive part of the sound in this game was its opening piano piece, which, as already mentioned, captures the essence of the story well. At the same time, it serves to give the game a much-needed eerie feel. The sounds during the actual game are another story. They consist of fairly generic group of sounds, such as the basic creaks and cracks of an old mansion. There's nothing too spectacular here either.

While not the most original idea for a game, Forgotten Riddles was an enjoyable experience, as long as you keep in mind that it's a relatively small downloadable game. Mediocre graphics and sound aside, the gameplay is what matters, especially when dealing with smaller games such as this, and here it passed the test. During the one hour trial period, my mind didn't wander at all. On that basis, Forgotten Riddles deserves more than a perfunctory glance when thinking about an internet game to buy.

Rating: 3 / 5

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