Mystery Trackers 4: Four Aces

Mystery Trackers 4: Four Aces
by Elephant Games - October, 2012

Series links: Mystery Trackers 1: The Void, Mystery Trackers 2: Raincliff; Mystery Trackers 3: Black Isle, Mystery Trackers 4: Four Aces, Mystery Trackers 5: Silent Hollow, Mystery Trackers 6: Raincliff's Phantoms, Mystery Trackers 7: Blackrow's Secret, Mystery Trackers 8: Nightsville Horror,  Mystery Trackers 9: Winterpoint Tragedy, Mystery Trackers 10: Paxton Creek Avenger, Mystery Trackers 11: Train to Hellswich, Mystery Trackers 12: Queen of Hearts, Mystery Trackers 13: Memories of Shadowfield

Available at:
Big Fish for PC as Collector's Edition / Standard Edition
Big Fish for Mac as Collector's Edition / Standard Edition
iWin as Collector's Edition / Standard Edition



Stop a devious conspiracy in Mystery Trackers: Four Aces! The entire town of Brightfield was evacuated after a series of bizarre animal attacks. Now, strange creatures roam the streets, danger lurks around every corner and you’ve just landed smack in the middle of it all. As you begin to investigate, you discover that the attacks may have been part of a whole series of crimes committed in town, all tracing back to an organization called the Four Aces. But just who are the Aces and what is their plan? With the help of your trusty canine companion, Elf, you must keep digging to get to the bottom of things. Good luck out there, Detective. You’re going to need it!

The Collector’s Edition includes:

• A bonus chapter that reveals the Four Aces' final plan!
  
• Stunning wallpapers, screensavers and concept art
  
• Downloadable music tracks
  
• Integrated Strategy Guide
  

For the Standard Edition:

• Blog Walkthrough
  
• Strategy Guide (Big Fish)
  

Click images to enlarge

High Intensity Adventure *****

BASED ON COMPLETED GAME

FIRST IMPRESSIONS
This is a high intensity game. From the moment we step off the company jet, the pressure is on not only to solve the case and save the girl, but to do it without getting killed ourselves. Again, our Mystery Tracker detective is in the field with an inexplicable mystery and an unseasonable snow storm! I bet this detective spends his holidays in the Bahamas!

SIGHTS & SOUNDS
The graphics are spectacular. The ice and snow glint into your eyes, and everything has that ethereal sharpness that reminds me so much of Raincliff, the 2nd Mystery Tracker case, and my personal favourite. The artwork is bright and detailed, and very imaginative, when it comes to the odd creatures you are confronted by in the street.

The music is exceptional, showing a real talent, and succeeds in maintaining just the right mood throughout. The voiceover of the narrator portends doom so well! The other voices are also done well, although without lip sync. There are a lot of special effects in this game, and the sound guys have done their bit to make them as realistic and shocking as possible.

There are options and sliders for everything. Music, effects, environment and voice volume, gamma effects, custom cursor, special effects, and widescreen. The one thing it didn't have that it should have was an inventory bar lock.

WHAT’S HAPPENING?
The town of Brightfield is undergoing an out-of-season blizzard, hampering the efforts to stop attacks by the strangely mutant animals that have been terrorising the town. Now practically deserted, the town holds a deadly secret, and someone seems determined to ensure you never get to the bottom of it, even if it means killing you. Your immediate problem, however, is the rescue of a girl who was kidnapped by a huge furry beast that nevertheless walks on two feet.

GAMEPLAY
Though extremely well done, this is a fairly standard HOPA game. There are a lot of HOPs, of the interactive list type. Within them are smaller mini-puzzles, simple and fast, but adding to the complexity of the scene. The puzzles are a bit different and a touch quirky, and require a little bit more effort than usual. There are a lot of safes and niches and drawers to open, and one thing I liked about this game, is if you had scoured the town to scrounge up the pieces of a safe lock, the combination would be right there near you, so you didn’t have to scrape around for that too. There is no journal, so no codes or clues are outside the location of the cache. Otherwise I would not have liked this game.

There is a helpful interactive jump map showing both objectives and immediate tasks, and holding videos to be replayed. The hint system actually gives you a none too subtle hint. There is lots of help at the easiest of the 4 levels of difficulty.

COMBINED IMPACT
I remember being less impressed with this game when I first played it. I often find I enjoy a game the 2nd time more than the first, I think because it is all such a struggle to play one of these extravagant games at first! In any case, I had a wonderful time with it this time round, and it will not be so long before the next time. Solid, high class entertainment.

I recommend this game!

Underwhelming***

BONUS CONTENT REVIEW

BRIEFLY
The game is fabulous, excellent graphics, sound, gameplay, story. So I’ll not go on about them. The story ends logically and satisfyingly at the end of the main game, so there is no need for the bonus chapter, but it’s fun.

STRATEGY GUIDE
I didn’t like it. The pictures were too small even when expanded, and blurry. The explanations were quite reasonable, it just was difficult to find the things you were looking for. For example, I could not see from the picture what the morphing creature I missed looked like, or whether it was in the scene at all.

BONUS CHAPTER – SPOILER ALERT
This chapter is set in the same town of Brightfield, with a new cast of characters. The weather is still freezing, but the town has changed a bit since you were there last. A new baddie, the ‘agent in black’, whose only connection to the previous case is a casual offhand remark made by the bad guy there, has his own diabolical plan. You must track him down, and save his victims without becoming one yourself.

The locations are the same as with the main game, there is only one new scene. But they are somewhat different to before, and were scenes not much used in the main game. The HOPs and puzzles are all new, but there’s only a couple of each. It took me 45 minutes to play, which I consider too short for a bonus chapter. It also contrasts with the quite lengthy main game.

This story ends up in more of a cliff hanger than the main game did, so another sequel some time down the track seems possible. Although the next two games in the series aren’t.

GALLERY
Great Wallpapers (8), Concept Art, Music (6), a making-of video, and an excellent Screensaver.

FREE PLAY
Mini-games (16)

BLING!

DOG SHOP: Agent Elf has his own home-away-from-home at Brightfield (which is more than we have), and the Dog Shop allows us to equip it with everything from food and ball, to 2-way radio and an upmarket kennel. We can visit him there at any time during the game, and use collectible poker chips to buy him goodies.

COLLECTIBLES: (16) Mutant creatures (Morphing), found throughout the game, and shown with tongue in cheek info on their strengths and weaknesses. Innumerable poker chips for spending in the Dog Shop.

COMBINED IMPACT
It’s all a bit ordinary. The short bonus chapter with used locations, the lack of achievements, no replayable HOPs. Even the SG is only so-so. Personally, I’d have preferred the SE.

I don’t recommend the CE game!