Customer Reviews

Mystery Case Files: Ravenhearst

5 star:		(38)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I honestly have nothing bad to say about the full series of MCF games (Prime Suspects, Huntsville, etc.) but Ravenhearst is by far the best one. Beautiful graphics, fun in between games and a spooky storyline really sets this apart from the other seek and find games on the market.

If you aren't familiar with seek and find games, in a nutshell there is a picture (often a scene of a room) and you are given a list of specific items to find within that picture. Although that might sound easy, the illustrators can be very tricky in their placement of the item, so that it almost blends into the picture. It is very addictive and very fun, if you find the right game, and trust me, this is the right game.

So even if it's not Halloween and you are just in the mood for something a little spooky, try it out. You'll be amazed when you look up at the clock and realize how long you have been playing for, and how you still don't want to stop.

Although Ravenhearst is like many other scavenger hunt games (think "eye spy," but with the interactivity of a computer), in that you must search crowded rooms for hidden objects to complete the list of mystery items, it also has an intriguing back story and some interesting and more challenging puzzles to unlock doors. Jigsaw type puzzles at critical points allow you to read each new page of the diary that will reveal the Mystery of Ravenhearst. It also has some very creepy music and realistic sound effects, so play it at night for the most fun! But don't click too much on one spot.

This is a great game for Adults, children over 10 or to play as a family. The ESRB Content Descriptors: Alcohol and Tobacco Reference, Mild Blood, Mild Violence; but I'll add really creepy, especially for young kids. Of the half dozen games I've played in this genre, this is definitely my favorite.

This game is amazing! My younger brother brother (16) gave it to me for Christmas since we both enjoy playing creepy mystery games together. From the graphics on the box, we both thought it would be fun to try, but weren't sure what to expect from the game. Turns out it was awesome! Each room had freaky graphics in it - things you wouldn't expect from a "kid's" game! Not only were there creepy graphics & music, but we started noticing how the rooms were interconnected (objects in the window that you also saw from the view in the yard), and we also noticed as the game progressed that the rooms had graphics relating to the storyline. By far we enjoyed the challenge of the puzzles & the intrigue of the story and graphics! We solved the mystery in 4 1/2 hours because it was so fun we couldn't stop playing! Looking to buy some more games like this!

If anything could be described as "endlessly entertaining", Ravenhearst is it. My husband and I have played this game dozens of times and will play it dozens of more times. It changes each time we play it, so it's never boring. Also, it's bound to be good for us - searching for (partially) hidden items is supposed to help the aging brain.

I own and have played many hidden object pc games but this is the best one by far. There's hidden objects, jigsaw puzzles and logical thinking puzzles. Don't use all your hints, you'll need them to get through the door to each level. Great game, better than the other Mystery Case Files, and can be replayed with different lists. Looking forward to another.

I purchased this game on CD to play on a Dell Inspiron running Windows Vista, with 4 GB ram, and 640 GB hard drive, Directx 10, and a 20 inch widescreen monitor. Regardless of where I set the resolution on my monitor, this game will not run with the entire game screen visible. I am able to run the game on my old 15 inch monitor, but am unable to get any answers from either Activision or Big Fish Games.

Even though the system requirements listed on the CD cover were met, the game is no good to me.

I really enjoyed playing this game. It was so much fun trying to find certain objects under a certain amount of time. I loved the creepy atmosphere, the spooky sound effects and locating more of Emma's diary entries. The plot was very interesting. Overall, this game had a dark and chilling air about it, at times reading the entries and putting the puzzle pieces together in the crime computer made my skin crawl. Another fun thing I found was that this game could have you looking for several different objects but of the same name. Such as an egg. You could be looking for a fried egg, a jeweled egg or just a normal, white shelled egg. Also, a bat could mean the creature that hangs around in caves or a baseball bat. Some objects can be inside one another and others may be hidden practically off screen, meaning they are placed right at the edge of the room. So you have to keep an open mind in playing this game. There are one or two door puzzles that are easy to figure out and are pretty much self explanatory, but others are not. There is a hint option but be careful you don't use all your hints on the doors or in the rooms. You can also skip the door puzzles but if you do, you lose every single hint you have left. You won't get any more until you find another diary entry.
The last door puzzle is fairly easy but the most time consuming out of all the doors.
An interesting thing at the end is a short list of popular names. I found it cool they had Mulder and Scully on there.

I had high hopes for this game, but as it turns out, its nothing more than different rooms with hidden objects that you have to find. From a picture, there are lots of items hidden on the wall, floor etc and you must find each thats on the list to the right, and yes some are pretty well hidden. After you've done that (for a couple times) you assemble a puzzle together (put together peices) and then you start again doing the same thing over and over again. If you like to waste precious time doing this nonsense, then just go right ahead. Life is too short for this. There's no free roaming, just hidden objects that you have to find from a picture again and again

My nine year old daughter and I had a great time playing this game, particularly the Rube Goldberg style door lock puzzles, a feature I haven't found in any other hidden picture game. The storyline does actually become a bit intense for children, not nightmare intense, but not something you would want them seeing shortly before bedtime. As a lifelong fan of spooky old house mystery stories I have to say this game really lived up to its promise.

The "Mystery Case Files" series of computer games has made a name for itself by being some of the best hidden object games around, and in the case of some of the more recent games, they're starting to branch out into the adventure game world, as well. However, "Ravenhearst," the 3rd installment in the series, is a hidden object game with a few logic puzzles mixed in for fun. It is, without a doubt, one of the best hidden object games around, but it does have a few very minute issues to keep it from being perfect. Let's break the game down and look at it piece by piece.

Story - Surprisingly, the story is pretty fantastic considering that it's a hidden object game. You play a detective, asked by the Queen of England to investigate a mansion. A journal has been found with one intact page, and it is assumed to have belonged to a now-dead resident of the manor. At the end of each level, you get a new journal entry and learn of the very in-depth story that took place at the manor years before. It's a very interesting plot, and you will probably find yourself anticipating the next chapter. The only possible critique that I could say would be that there isn't really enough explanation for the end. The second-to-last chapter seems to jump to the last chapter very quickly, and leaves somewhat of a gap as to what really happened at the very end. It's not TOO big of a deal, but it didn't give me as much closure as I would have liked in the game.

Gameplay - Each level has you going through various rooms of the house finding hidden items in a still screen; the items are written on a list, for you to find in any order. You are timed, and if you click too many wrong items too quickly, the time limit will diminish. The items aren't usually extraordinarily hard to find, although a few times they were a little different looking. For instance, an ashtray looked more like a football once. Also, sometimes there will be multiple items in the scene that met the criteria of an item on the list. For instance, one item on a list was bird, and there was a parrot and canary in the picture, but the game only recognized the canary as a bird. However, if you get stuck, there are 5 hints per level that you can use; these hints circle the area where one of the items will be found, without giving away the exact location. After you have found the items (minus one or two; the game gives a little bit of freedom) you will have a torn up picture that you will have to arrange like a puzzle. Once you complete that, you get a new diary entry and move onto the next level. A final aspect of the game is the door puzzles. These are logic puzzles that are very unique and hard-to-describe; you'll just have to experience them yourself. They can be skipped, at the expense of losing the remainder of your hints.

Graphics/Sound - The still images and the items hidden in each puzzle are beautifully designed. The artists did a fantastic job! Now, they aren't realistic necessarily, but the artwork is nonetheless gorgeous. The music is also very nicely done, although there really aren't enough songs, and they will get old after a while. There are many creepy background sounds to add atmosphere to the game without adding horror. These sounds are fantastic and weren't too over the top at all. The music and sounds can be turned off, by the way.

Overall - The game took me 5 hours and 30 minutes to complete. The one major complaint that I have about the game is that there was a lot of revisiting previous scenes. There obviously wasn't the same list at each recurring room, but there were a lot of items that I was finding scene after scene, and, to be honest, near the end I was pretty sick of some of the locations. All in all, though, this is a pretty amazing hidden object game that was a fun distraction, and I would recommend it to all people who like find-it games with a slightly creepy twist.