Department 42: The Mystery of the Nine

Department 42: The Mystery of the Nine



Available at:

Big Fish for PC and Mac
GameHouse

Join Department 42, a secret
organization devoted to the paranormal, and protect the world! Help
Agent Alice Wright track down nine mysterious and evil artifacts that
have gone missing. Use your Hidden Object skills to protect the planet
from the nightmare that has been unleashed and restore order! Travel
across the country and piece together the enigma that is Department 42: The Mystery of the Nine!


Click images to enlarge

Department 42: The Mystery of the Nine (IHOG)

Options: I am so impressed. I thought that Witch's Prison was the first game to offer brightness control... Not so! Options for Dept. 42 include sliders for: Gamma (brightness), Music and Sound Effects. There is also a Resolution control where you can choose your desktop size (800x600, 1024x768, 1280x1024, etc). VERY COOL!

There are multiple extra options on the main menu, too: Puzzles (replay puzzles you have unlocked), Credits, Help, Map.

Mini-games and Cut-scenes are SKIPPABLE; HINTS are refillable.

The premise of the game is that ancient, evil artifacts with the power to corrupt have been stolen and scattered throughout the country. It is the job of the trackers of the supernatural to regain these artifacts before they taint others' lives.

Oh, what fun!

All this time I've thought that Mystery of the Nine was a FROG - again, not so! This is an IHOG, a hidden object game with light interaction, adventure-esque play (using inventory items, etc) and mini-games.

Case #1 - "Fang of the Packleader" (Werewolf)
Case #2 - "Dreamcatcher" (Native American theme)
Case #3 - "Sleepsand" (Voodoo theme)
Case #4 - "Stopwatch" (Time-space anomalies)
Case #5 - "Rabbit's Paw" (Casino/luck theme)
Case #6 - "Sphere of Life" (Kabbalah/golem)
Case #7 - "Flaming Rose" (Ghost bound to burned-out house)
Case #8 - "Mirror of Dreams" (Fortuneteller)
Case #9 - "Eye of Evil" (Dreamworld)

Navigation between scenes is done through the map (no arrows). Each case has multiple locations to explore, but once you finish a case, you won't be able to return to those case-specific locations.

The graphics are very nice, and the hidden object scenes have a bit of clutter, but aren't simply junk piles. The scenes are challenging without being frustrating. Something I really like is that the interaction is not the same-old,
same-old. You actually use items in inventive ways, not just "screwdriver to unscrew", "heavy stones as a weight".

Very good game!