Cadenza 1: Music, Betrayal and Death

Cadenza: Music, Betrayal and Death
by Mad Head Games - April, 2014

Series links: Cadenza 1: Music, Betrayal and Death, Cadenza 2: The Kiss of Death

Available at:
Big Fish as Collector's Edition / Standard Edition



Listen... for the sound of betrayal! You've returned from school to visit your father at his famous Jazz Pepper Club during Mardi Gras, but everyone is hypnotized. Have they heard the wrong note? Explore the musical mystery in Cadenza: Music, Betrayal and Death!

The Collector's Edition includes:

• Uncover the villain's past in the bonus chapter
  
• Unlockable achievements
  
• Hunt for music notes and special collectibles
  
• Soundtracks, wallpapers, screensavers and concept art
  
• Integrated Strategy Guide
  

For the Standard Edition

• Walkthrough
  
• Strategy Guide (Big Fish)
  

Click images to enlarge
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Edited to replace previous review with one written after completing the game.

Best & Most Innovative!*****

BASED ON COMPLETED GAME

They’re the awards I’d be issuing to this breathtakingly new and original game. Not only are the production values of Cadenza utterly top quality, but the features and action are also new or so cleverly revamped you’ll think it’s new.

BEST CHARACTERS
You are an African American woman (the first of an impressive list of firsts!) come home from school at Mardi Gras. Your cabbie is not only the most helpful in the US of A, (so my American fishie friends tell me – you will find out the reason if you are very, very sharp, about 2/3 into the game), but he is also brought to life by the most amazing animation and lip synching I’ve seen. He’s darn close to real.

The other characters are the same. Every character has his/her own accent, interests and obsessions. His own background and motivations. The band members’ story is made involving with a series of original mini-games that reveal new info in an interactive way. The who-dun-it really does require the collection of information and character analysis before the truth is revealed.

BEST SIGHTS & SOUNDS
The graphics are exceptional, and capture the feel of the era, if not a strictly accurate depiction. There is so much to look at! Particularly for a person such as I, who can only imagine the beat and vitality of such an event as Mardi Gras in New Orleans. And the music supplies that beat perfectly. It is so beautifully done, even I started feeling like a jazz fan. With “Minnie The Moocher” running through my head, I felt as though I was really transported to another time and place. And there are actually songs! Sung well!

MOST UNUSUAL STORY
A true mystery – how are the members of Daddy’s old band being targeted and killed? And why? Is Papa not the saint we always thought he was? What’s with Aunt Adele? HOW are these victims being killed exactly? What is the strange music that has sent our father and so many others into a trance. Some of the answers will shock you!

MOST INNOVATIVE GAMEPLAY
In an environment in which players are demanding more and more that’s ‘new’, this game has more than answers the demands. Within an almost-familiar structure of HOPs, puzzles, mini-games and adventure, this game delivers the most innovative gameplay you could ask for. The HOPs in particular are “outside the box”. The first one you meet with involves a standard word list, delivered in a unique way with a silhouette ‘replace the object’ list and all of it allowing you to move, not “disappear” the items, to reveal the actual ‘hidden objects’. And it all runs so smoothly, and requires but a little head scratching at the beginning.

That is just the start of a delightful visual experience. There are oodles of mini-HOPs that pop up everywhere, that might require, say finding 5 saxophones in a newspaper article. Or the replacing one out-of-place item in a grey-scale sketch, which in turn reveals one more, and all the time we are learning the history to this drama, and of our father’s band.  There is a type of matching pairs game like no other, in which you must move items to reveal the parts of matching pairs, and if the pairs don’t match, the items return to covering the required items till you match them up. You are given no list or set of silhouettes, you must find out what you need by trial and error, and memory.

The map is fun. You can jump from location to location, and you are given indications (at the least difficulty levels, there are 4 plus custom) of where action is required. But you give your preferred location to the cabbie, or other modes of transport as the game progresses. The hint is directional within each cluster of locations, and very useful in the complex HOPs.

The puzzles tend towards the visual. I liked them very much. They were innovations of familiar concepts, for the most part, breathing new life into ideas we’ve come across before, without ever looking or feeling old. The adventure component is very easy because it is broken easily into chapters and the action is generally limited to a few locations at a time. But what a nice change to have things make sense! lol

COMBINED IMPACT
This game is outstanding. Original, involving and with top flight production values. I finished it in one sitting of approximately 3.5 – 4 hours, and the ending was deeply satisfying. The whole swath of CE bonuses, while fun are totally unnecessary to the enjoyment of this game.

I recommend this game!

   and there is a sale!!!  YAY!  Thanks Just.

I just bought this one, untested and unseen. I am such a REBEL!!!

lol not really much of a gamble - its a magical mystery tour through New Orleans and jazz and I am loving it. Just reaching the final stages of the main game...there is even more music, variety and originality than I first anticipated!

I like my danger to be safe. This works for me. LOL

Looks a brilliant game    

I need to win the lottery, so I can get all the games I want!   

I redid the review for this game based on the completed game. And will add a bonus content review when I finish that.

The bonus chapter is really good!

Bonus Content Review! Possible Spoilers!*****

BASED ON COMPLETED GAME

BONUS CHAPTER
Excellent addition to the game, but in no way necessary. It is a prequel set 20 years in the past, and you play a much more amiable Frankie *grin*. The locations HOPs and other puzzles and games are all new. They are a sample of the kind of games we played in the main game. The story is self-contained and ended well. It took me just over an hour to play.

STRATEGY GUIDE
I used this rarely, but it is clear and concise, you can see the screenshots reasonably clearly, and the collectibles and morphing objects are shown. For those left confused by the collectibles pages in the SG, yes, there is another set of collectibles altogether different than the ones we collected in the game.

GALLERY
Quality wallpapers (not just screenshots) x 12, excellent concept art (before and after) x 20, music x 9

COLLECTIBLES 1 (MUSIC BOX PUZZLE)
In order to solve the Music Box Puzzle, you must find all 44 collectible music notes. These are not as easy as I first imagined, I only managed 29! Mostly because I was too involved in the game to remember. Each note in the game is represented in the music box, and you can go back and find the ones you missed one by one. I love doing this.

INVESTIGATION (BRIEFCASE) PUZZLE
Once you have all the missing music notes, you move on to the briefcase and a puzzle where you must make the connections between the characters, based on what you learnt in the game. Not easy, even when you play the games one after the other. On completion, you compose a specially designed ‘handle’ and return to the music box.

COLLECTIBLES 2 (MUSIC BOX PUZZLE)
Once you have the handle, your new puzzle presents itself as a miniature stage. You must find the 2nd set of collectibles, one per location in the main game. These are the collectibles in pink which caused so much confusion early on. They could be anything, from a violin to a harpoon, and a picture is given at the right hand bottom corner of the screen. Once you start on this puzzle, you cannot travel in any order other than the specific order given. If you leave and come back in, you will be exactly where you were. On completion of your search, you return to the stage for a HOP that contains many but not all of the objects you found. Finish that and you can at last restore the music repair shop.

MUSICAL REPAIR SHOP
This is a nicely conceived jigsaw puzzle. The pieces show the workshop in all its repaired glory, while the board shows the repair shop as it is after the fire. Fun, and completion finally gives you access to the replayable HOPs.

REPLAYABLE HOPs
All the HOPs in the game are here, with recorded statistics on how well you did them. A star rating system based on speed, accuracy and no hints measures your performance. Only with perfect scores here can you hope for all the achievements.

ACHIEVEMENTS
You have to play all of these games to get all of the achievements, of which there are 15 performance awards with three rankings each: bronze, silver and gold. The final award is for achieving the gold medal in all 15 achievements. They are nicely displayed in a medal cabinet.

CONCLUSIONS
So, like, wow! There are hours of play just in the extras, and I have been fluttering around them for the better part of 3 hours, taking them at my own pace. Certainly good value, with or without the sale, and a definite must buy as a Collector’s Edition!

Thanks, JTF, appreciate your reviews of the game and the bonus.  Looking forward to playing this as soon as I finish The Others.  Heaven forbid I try to play two games at once, I'd surely have to replay them both, lol.

You're welcome! I had a terrible time actually closing this game up. Had been immersed in the story so long it felt like I was leaving home!   

Now can't settle down and choose one to play!

I played and bought Credenza and the new Davy Jones CE.   No hesitation!    Good to
find a game I can immerse myself in.

The music in the Credenza was very familiar to me and I realized why.

Have any of you ever watched  The Aristocats?    

They have cool Jazz playing cats and that is the music they play.

OH! That's probably why I knew it too! Never listened to much jazz.

Yep, I got this one, too! I like jazz, but I like blues more, even though I don't much of either.  

Love it!!!!

(The vids, luvtoread!)

Cadenza 1: Music, Betrayal and Death (IHOG)

Options include separate sliders for Music, Ambients, SFX and Voices, plus Full-screen, Widescreen and Custom Cursor.  Choice of four difficulties, or you can go with Custom Mode.  The task bar can be locked.

Story:

After being away at college for a long time, you've returned to New Orleans to see your father at his famous jazz club - just in time for Mardi Gras!  Your excitement turns to alarm when you arrive to find your dad - and his patrons - all frozen in what seems to be a hypnotic trance.


Our Journal contains a basic outline, as well as any clues that we find.  There is also a tab for Objectives.

Interactive movie-type sequences help move the story along by having you find an item and move it to where it belongs in the scene.

Gameplay:

Be on the lookout for collectible musical notes (one at each location) and morphing items (one on each HOS).  There is an indicator on each scene that shows whether you've found the item or not.

The MAP can be interactive, and although we usually have a cab out our disposal, we can insta-transport if we wish.  Directional HINTS are available.

Inventory items can be interactive.

There are multiple types of Hidden Object Scenes, with some interesting variations such as listing one item at a time and every other object will be something to place back in the scene.  There are some really interesting HOS in this one!


The Mini-games weren't just your standard IHOG fare - there are some fun deduction puzzles thrown in, including an evidence board.

Sights and Sounds:

Between the gorgeous graphics and the wonderful soundtrack, the devs expertly transport us to different time, in a city rich with local history.  This is an environment I've never seen in an IHOG before, and that made it all the more enjoyable.



CE Content:

• Integrated Strategy Guide
  
• Bonus Chapter
  
• 42 Collectible Music Notes
  
• Morphing Items - One on each HOS
  
• In-game Achievements
  
• 12 Wallpapers
  
• 20 Concept Art
  
• 9 saveable Music Tracks, plus two movie cutscenes that are sung (same area)
  
• 24 Replayable HOS with scoring.  Can find any morphing items you missed here
  
• Collectables Hunt - Find any musical notes you missed during the game, then you can go on the hunt for the collectible item that has been hidden on each scene.  At the end of the hunt, you'll have a hidden object scene featuring the items that you found!
  
• Jigsaw Puzzle - This ties in to the storyline and give you just a teeny bit of extra closure
  
• Connections - Kind of an evidence board where you are given a clue, and you have to match two people from the story that fit the description (Loved this!)
  

Bonus Chapter:

The extra chapter takes place 20 years before the events of the main story, and shows you what kind of relationship a couple of the main characters had, as well as what kind of people they were at the time.  It's interesting and well worth playing, but is by no means necessary to have a satisfying ending.

Verdict:

I really loved having such a different-than-the-norm story and setting, and would highly recommend this to anyone who's tired of the same-old, same-old in IHOG's.