Sadly, It’s Just Not Good Enough
BASED ON DEMO FIRST IMPRESSIONS
Well, the first thing to get straight, is, yes, this is obviously designed for young kids. Which is not the same as saying ‘childish’. So I will be evaluating the game with that in mind.
This game is professionally put together, but harks back to a style of HO game we rarely see now. It is a valid choice though, and one I think suits ‘family entertainment’. It doesn’t strike me as the sort of game kids of tween years would play on their own. It is not fast, furious and loud enough (*cheeky grin*). And it does require a fairly sophisticated understanding of the world whilst keeping the gameplay simple. So I can imagine Gran and the preteen kids come the next school holidays...
SIGHTS & SOUNDS
The graphics style is light, cartoon drawn, very ‘washed out watercolour’. Pretty without being cute. It is of a good quality, but not popular at the moment, and does make the game seem fairly flat. The music is, I swear, the same 3 or 4 bars throughout! The dialogues are written, there is no voice, and only rare special effects.
WHAT’S HAPPENING
I personally hate the way this story is told, but I think it would work for the younger crowd. Two children, aged 8 and 10, discover a diary in the attic, which suggests there is pirate treasure nearby. They, of course, set out to find it. The tale is told by the kids having a few lines of dialogue between and sometimes within HO scenes. Sometimes information is found in the location. Literally half the game time (approx.) is taken up with these asides.
GAMEPLAY
The game is formulaic. First, the kids find an envelope, have a conversation about it and decide their next moves to a different location, where a list will be discovered of items they must find. Having done so, they may get an inventory item and/or a puzzle to complete before another discovery, another decision, etc.
The HO scenes look nice, but are inanimate, and pale and washed out. There are 3 types – an non-interactive list, silhouettes, and fragmented objects. Many of the items are almost impossible to click on, let alone see, they are so tiny. And some of the items have (valid but obscure) names even I have never heard of, let alone a child.
The puzzles are nice. Easy, but interesting and not time consuming. Also, of course, not original. This game is like a trip down memory lane in its adoption of classic gameplay. One weird thing, in order to use an item from inventory, you must click on it and then confirm that you wish to use it. I suppose that might be relevant later on.
There is no independent movement, so no maps, journals etc, and only a rudimentary hint & skip system that take forever to refill.
FAMOUS LAST WORDS
I admit I couldn’t stick this one through to the end of the demo. It was stultifyingly boring to me. And, sadly, I think it will bore its intended audience as well. Too much ‘nothing much happening’, too much talking, too much filling in the background at the expense of momentum. There is nothing of excitement in this game for a kid (or grownup kid!). The pace is very slow, the locked-in gameplay is repetitious, and I just can’t see anyone finding it interesting, in light of the alternative games on offer.
I Don't Recommend This Game! 
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