by Timothy Blankenhorn

Created on: December 10, 2008   Last Updated: December 14, 2008

3/5 Return to Ravenhearst, a Mystery Case Files game, is a sequel. In the previous game, the player released from bondage the soul of Emma, a young woman who mysteriously died soon after beginning her residence in the now-decrepit mansion named in the game's title.

Emma appears at the beginning of this game, a ghost pleading with the player to revisit Ravenhearst and to bring to light the mysteries that remain there. This is, she admits, dangerous work.

The willing player finds himself at the gate of Ravenhearst. This entranced is locked, rusty, and strewn with clues. Aided by a hint box and a notebook, the player examines this environment with a magnifying glass and tries to figure out a way to get through. Every once in a while, the player is subjected to the challenge of having to find listed objects in a crowded screen, and on succeeding, receives an object or tool that will prove useful later on.

When the player opens the gate, he approaches the mansion, investigates the garden and porch, and finds a way inside.

Time flies by when you are playing this game. It maintains the player's interest in a number of ways.

- The graphics are very good, and it's a pleasure to run one's eye over the scenes that appear. It is all dark and spooky, of course, but detailed and intricate. There is a lot going on.

- Film footage is used here and there effectively and seamlessly. Emma, the heroine, for example, presents a plausible appearance.

- The music is a special treat. It is lush and spooky, and manages to affect the player's mood without driving him to distraction. Indeed, an MP3 collection of the spooky tunes is available separately, 16 tracks recorded in Berlin by the Deutsche Film Orchestra.

- The treasure hunt phases of the game, which could be a simpleminded "Where's Waldo" exercise, are challenging because the objects being sought are embedded in different ways into the scene and are sort of riddles. A "spade," for example, could be a shovel or, as in this case, a playing card symbol etched subtly but clearly on the side of a chest.

- When you get frustrated and start clicking idly around, text messages appear which are witty and direct, all to the effect of "Why are you wasting time with this foolishness?

- The game is easy to navigate and runs smoothly enough. The reviewer stumbled a few times in ways that devotees of this game genre never would. It took me a while, for example, to pay attention to the subtle "stardust" that prompts the player to action when he's stumped.

There are better examples of this find-the-clue sort of game, but Return to Ravenhearst will provide hours to pleasure to players who will decide quickly, based on the title and genre, that it is of interest to them. It is a PC game, and demands a fairly advanced computer specification, because of the elaborate graphics.

Learn more about this author, Timothy Blankenhorn.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.