Customer Reviews

Mystery of the Mummy

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

It's one thing to have timed puzzles, it's another thing to have entire sequences timed. The thing I like about adventure games is being able to explore locations and items in a deliberate manner. I don't want to have to race around clicking on every item or using all my inventory items randomly in hopes that I can get a sequence done before time runs out and Holmes is killed off. The game doesn't even let you know how much time you're being alloted to finish before time runs out. Add all that to the poor graphics and lousy interface.

This may be an interesting game, but the screens are so dark that detail is impossible to see. I have run this on 2 XP machines, one with a flat-panel display and one with a CRT. Both screens are much too dark at even the correspponding maximum brightness settings. That, coupled with a very hyperactive mouse speed [also not controllable] render the game virtually [really] unplayable. I recommend "SAVE YOUR MONEY!"

As a lover of the classic, inventory-based adventure games (such as the King's Quest series), I jumped at MotM, simply for its puzzle-based qualities. 99% of the games on the shelves these days are fighting, racing, or war strategy-based games, and I hoped MotM would be a return to the old days. However, I found that it definitely lacked in originality and plot, and dismally failed in ease of play and interface. Namely, I felt I completely wasted my money.

PLOT:
Without giving anything anyway (for those of you who may still want to buy it), the plot is driven primarily by Sherlock Holmes finding letters, photos, and newspaper clippings. The mystery is solved at the end with Sherlock giving a lengthy monologue in which all the pieces come together. However, the solution is contrived at best, and feels very disconnected from the game play.

INTERFACE:
This aspect is definitely where the game really fails. I can handle a mediocre plot and flat characters for the love of some tasty puzzles, but it's a bit difficult when you feel frustrated enough to toss your monitor out the window. Here's why:
1) The inventory items are IMPOSSIBLE to find! Not all grant you, but you basically have to run your cursor over every inch of your 360-degree view in EVERY SINGLE SCREEN. Even then, I often missed things.
2)The neutral cursor is a hand with a Holmes-like pipe, which changes to a pointer hand if you can move forward, or if there is something of interest, OR if there is a puzzle. The hand changes to a grabbing hand to pick up an inventory item, which is only marginally different from the pointer (i.e. you move when you think you are about to pick up something). Furthermore, game play is picky and difficult to get it the correct cursor to cooperate.
3) There is no way to put an item back into the inventory, making it very time-consuming to experiment with different items.
4) Puzzles are poorly designed - even if you figure out the solution, the hassle of entering the answer negates the fun completely. Examples: a text-based puzzle in which you click on a letter, click on the square, click on the letter, click on the square, etc.

All-in-all, disappointing and a waste of money.

Although I did enjoy this somewhat, it was only with the help of an online hint site. I consider myself a fairly good mystery & puzzle solver but the clues in this and the way items were located, if not for those hints... I'd be pulling my hair out. Games are supposed to be fun not frustrating.
With the hints I'd give this a 3.... without I'd give it a 1... hence my 2. Try Black Mirror instead!!

If I could give this review 0 stars, I would. This game was not enjoyable at all. It was so complicated that I couldn't finish it without using on-line help. There weren't any clues given; and many solutions were illogical and didn't follow the game plot. Even an avid strategy-game player, like myself, would be unable to solve the mystery alone. The game wasn't fun because you needed help every step of the way. Don't waste your time or money on this game. It's not worth it.

I own more than 20 adventure games and I've seen them all the good the bad and the ugly. Dreamcatcher games often fall in the latter category but this one is actually good. I am haflway through it but I am enjoying it. The puzzles are especially good, they make sense and are well thought compared with recent releases that are helping to kill the adventure genre through poor execution (mystery of the druids anyone)?
The graphics are so-so and I don't care too much about the sound either as long as the atmosphere is good, and this game does provide that.This should be enough for real adventure gamers (ever played Ripper? great atmosphere despite poor grpahics). So give it a try, don't worry this has little in common with tomb of the pharaoh or other mediocre adventure fare. Sherlock fans will likely enjoy this even more.

I am an avid adventure gamer--this one stinks. I got very tired of hunting for clues pixel by pixel for tools needed, trying to solve puzzles with no clear clues, and the puzzles are mindless. Save you money and go play Grim Fandago again.

When i bought this game, i ignored the reviews, thinking that it would turn out to be a good game. I was horribly wrong. This was one of the worst games ever made.
For example, about 5 minuites into the game, you have to solve a puzzle before you can do anything else. I dont like puzzles a lot. Well, this game was full of them. Half of the things you were required to do turned out to have no point later in the game. To make my day of gaming even worse, I have come across 2 slider puzzles in the game so far, and i havent finished it yet. {im not anywhere near to finsihing it yet.}
The cursor in the game is very confusing. I just kept clicking around the screen because i didnt understand any of the cursor symbuls. I have counted throughtout my half gaming experience, and noticed the cursor changes 6 times!

If you are going to buy this game, get a walkthrough first, because i couldnt do half the stuff on my own without one.

Dreamcatcher usually puts out very cool games, but this one looks like it was made in 1992 (and that's being nice). The graphics were poor compared to other adventure games, and a lot of the puzzles had nothing to do with the game. I could not tackle a puzzle sometimes because the clues had really nothing to do with the game, so it was hard to know what to look for. And one puzzle near the end required the player to LITERALLY find a pin in a completely destroyed room (like a needle in a haystack!). There was NO WAY of being able to see this piece, let alone find it, unless you carefully followed the directions of a walkthrough. I think they could have done better. Thank goodness I sold it and got some money back....

I found this game to be somewhat more interesting than the other reviewers gave it credit for. I agree that finding some of those teeny inventory items is next to impossible. Luckily, it was easy to find a walkthrough. However, I did find that this was relatively mindless entertainment. The only puzzle that required some thought was the Japanese puzzle, but not that difficult once you figure out the concept.