by Sarah Guy

Created on: December 18, 2008   Last Updated: December 22, 2008

As young Mortimer Beckett, you've already banished all the ghosts from Spooky Manor, but your work isn't done yet! Turns out the ghosts came to the mansion through time portals, and it's up to you to keep them out for good. You have to collect the pieces of a Time Bomb, scattered through 8 different eras, in order to seal up the portals and banish the baddies forever. Luckily, this task is all in a day's work for bright eyed, sweater vest-clad Mortimer!

Mortimer Beckett & the Time Paradox is a Seek and Find game, but with a few major twists that set it apart from other games in the same category. The biggest twist is that, rather than being given a list of objects to find, you are instead given pictures of objects that have been split into several different pieces and scattered throughout the scene. This method gives you a visual reference for the hidden objects. Each item, once completely found, enters your inventory as either a puzzle item or an item to be placed elsewhere in a scene. Puzzle items can be used to interact with characters and scenes to unlock hidden items.

Within each era that you visit, there are multiple scenes to explore, and most scenes have at least two areas to access. To further challenge you, you need to switch between scenes to place all your found objects, and between areas in a scene to find all the pieces. For an adult player, this adds to the fun, but it could be frustrating to a young child. This is balanced out, however, by the fact that there is no timer, no penalty for guessing, and the hint timer takes mere seconds to reload.

The music and sound effects in this game are fantastic. Each era is brought alive by the creator's sound choices, such as the patriotic lilt of flute music and the yelling of a mob in 1789 (French Revolution). The graphics are also commendable: realistic enough to appeal to an adult, but with a cartoon-like quality that make them very kid friendly. The colors are rich and each scene is intricately detailed.

When I first started playing Mortimer Beckett I thought that I'd be recommending this as a great game for kids. Before long, however, I found myself sucked in by the game's creative twists and interesting gameplay, and I was dreading the end of my free trial. This is a great game which appeals to all ages, and it would be a fun one for parents to play along with their younger children as well. This is definitely a game I would purchase for myself or as a gift for another, and I give it 5/5.

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