Customer Reviews

Safecracker: The Ultimate Puzzle Adventure

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

Like other reviewers -- I was clueless when I first started playing the game. The instructions didn't tell you where to start or what to do.

So, I went online and found this game has been out already for Wii and other platforms. Many of the walkthroughs and solutions follow this game very closely. The Strategy Guide at [...] is particularly helpful if you get stuck.

Once I had a little help -- I plowed through the puzzles -- not quickly! -- but I did get through the whole game. At the end, you find the missing will and get to decide which potential heir receives the inheritance. You decide which heir you like through notes you discover while exploring the house which contains a first floor, second floor, loft, basement, and secret rooms.

I am 63-years old, so am not as good at games as the people of the younger generations. In fact, the Nintendo DS is the only platform I have ever used -- and I only play puzzle games -- but if I could get to the end -- so can you. And, I ENJOYED it.

This game doesn't have hidden object puzzles and has very few inventory puzzles. What it does have is a lot of brain-teaser, math, and logic puzzles. The presentation is professional. The plot is brief, but provides a nice background to the puzzles.

If you are like me and just want challenging puzzles in your puzzle games without all the added fluff, then this game is for you. My only complaint is sometimes you are missing an important clue to a puzzle and the game doesn't always let you know. For example, I wasted a lot a time on the "colored laser" puzzle before giving up and trying a different puzzle. Lo and Behold, when I solved that puzzle, I got the clue that makes solving the "colored laser" possible. Why couldn't they not activiate the first puzzle until the puzzle with the clue is solved first?

Finally, I think the Snooker puzzle might be one of the best puzzles in a game ever. I strongly recommend not "cheating" on this one. It was rather satisifying for me when I finally solved it on my own!

My father bought me this game for Christmas, and as of last night (the 27th), I made it through the entire thing. It's true that you don't get much if any help in the way of clues, but that's the way it's supposed to be. It's a challenge, and it keeps you busy, and you get a real sense of accomplishment when you solve each of the puzzles. Granted, my boyfriend and I (he's 23, I'm 22) tended to work together, so it may help you if you go through the game with a friend.

So please give this game a chance - it's not impossible. Oh, and it really helps if you keep some scratch paper and a pen nearby. There are things you'll want to write down that can't be saved in your toolbox (which only "opens" when you have things in it, by the way - you collect tools by solving certain puzzles, and those tools can then be used to activate or solve other puzzles). Just play around with it. You'll figure it out.

This was one of the better DS games that I have played. I love solving puzzles, and it was a challenge. There are no instructions with any of the safes - you have to use your powers of observation to figure what to do for each one. This can be a bit frustrating, but usually when you figure it out, it's pretty obvious :) I liked the puzzles without numbers the best, as they were more fun to figure out how to work them. The number safes were just frustrating, minus one or two of them, because you didnt know if you just hadnt opened the right safes before it for the code,or if there is something you are supposed to notice to figure out the code (ie. worn pads, etc.) The only two negative points about the game were not knowing which safes to open when, as even if you could figure them out, some wouldnt open until after the correct previous one had been opened, and that it was so short! But all in all, a good game!

I like games that make me think, and this one fits. Some of the clues a subtle, like worn keys on a key pad that show what numbers have been pushed most. So you need to observe and think, very Sherlock Holmes. I have been stumped on some of the safes, so I move on and come back later. That still failing, I wish there was a good hint sourse. Most clues online are for the PC version, that has some differences. All things considered, it's an great game. I get into it and its hard to stop, "I know I can figure this out. Maybe if I try this, or that, or...." and hours have gone by.

This game reminds me a lot of the PC-game Myst from the mid-90's. It drops you into a world (in this case mansion) with absolutely no instructions or directions. It's entirely up to you to figure out what to do. You have to find the puzzle, figure out what kind of puzzle it is, and solve it. It is extremely challenging, but wow is it rewarding when you have that aha! moment that allows you to solve the puzzle. I enjoyed it tremendously.

I will also say that a couple of puzzles were similar to ones in the Professor Layton games, so having already played those helped me out in a few cases.

Finally, the graphics aren't always that good, the sound effects aren't great, and the mechanics of moving around are somewhat clunky (although you will get used to it). Despite all of that, the sheer challenge the game presented was great fun, and I highly recommend it.

Don't listen to the other people who said they didn't know what to do or couldn't figure out the puzzles. Giving the game a bad review because you couldn't solve the puzzles is dumb. If you don't like difficult or having to think for yourself, go get some crayons and a coloring book.

It's not an easy game. The puzzles are unique and will keep you occupied for a while...how long depends on how much work you put into it and how much you use your intuition and common sense. There are math puzzles, slider puzzles and a bunch of others which defy categorization. There was one involving a grid of light bulbs which I "solved" after about an hour. I put solved in quotes because I did it by accident...the concept was clear; connect all the electrical switches so that the bulbs at the end light up but doing that was not easy. There were a few others like that...well, actually quite a few like that. Also be aware that some of the puzzles are sequential...you can't solve them unless you have opened previous doors. I tried one puzzle (actually going through all 999 combinations) and was only able to solve it after I had gotten a clue from a previous puzzle I had not seen.

Great game. Buy it.

It's interesting to see that some reviewers were frustrated with this game because there were no instructions to tell them how to proceed. For me, that is what I liked best about it. In some ways, it reminded me of Myst, which was a game that I loved on the computer (I've heard there is a DS version of Myst too but that it is too tiny to be really workable on the DS). But at any rate, I liked the fact that there weren't characters around Safecracker telling you what to do and where to go next -- that you had to figure it all out yourself. That to me is the fun part!

My one complaint is that it seems that you HAVE to have the "clue" item(s) in your bag in order to open the safe that it's a clue for. I spent many frustrating minutes on the "decoder ring" safe -- I was able to easily use pattern recognition to figure out where it should be set and figured out the correct combination to the safe without any clues. However, when I set the correct combination, the safe did not open. I couldn't figure out why -- kept trying it over and over but it wouldn't work, so eventually I left it in frustration and went to find other safes instead. Eventually I opened the safe that had the "clue" scrap for the "decoder ring" safe. It was exactly what I had already figured out to solve the combination and had tried umpteen times. But on a whim, I went back anyway and tried the combination one more time, and this time, voila! It opened right up! So because the safe does not open unless you have the "clue" in hand, even if you correctly solve it without the clue, I am subtracting a star. Other suggestions for improvement: I found the navigation to be a little clunky -- I would have liked it better if at least once you had found and opened a room, that you could easily "shortcut" back to it via the map instead of having to "walk" there again -- that would have been handy. And scratch paper was definitely a must for some of the safes, so it would have been nice if they incorporated a "scratch pad" on the DS... But otherwise, I found the game HIGHLY enjoyable -- the navigation and lack of scratch pad did not diminish my enjoyment of the game at all -- they just would have been nice to have. But overall, I liked the difficulty of the puzzles and the lack of instruction! It felt like you were wandering around a deserted mansion alone, trying to figure it all out!

I notice that others prefer the Professor Layton games instead -- I like those games too, but to me they are too easy, since they pretty much tell you where you need to go next. I like that this game does NOT do that! I recommend it for those who like that kind of challenge!

This game is not for the newbie at puzzle cracking. The game plays with no instructions, just intuition.

The game starts with you inside a mansion. Only the rooms you've gained access to are visible on a map but as you open more puzzles and safes and therefore open more doors and more rooms show on the map.

There are three levels to the mansion: the first floor, the cellar, the upper floor and the loft. There are quite a few puzzles per floor and most of them only become accessible as you solve other puzzles. In other words, not only can't you get to many of them until you progress, but even if you can access them, they are not ready to be solved.

There are very few clues but they show up in the form of keys, parts, letters, and scraps of paper. The safes and puzzles come with no directions at all but with some basic puzzle knowledge and trial and error, they are all solvable. Some are very tricky, others are a lot like the logic puzzles that require you to look at very basic information and discard all the fluff stuff.

I found the puzzles mostly challenging but accessible. There were one or two that caused me to do a little internet hunting (where clues are plentiful) but I would advise against this at all costs because it really takes away from the fun of the game.

There are no characters to interact with but the graphics are pretty good and the concept is fun. There are a total of 34 puzzles to solve as well as all the hunting for clues and switches.

Recommended if you like logic and puzzler games.

Having read the other reviews, I hesitated in my purchase of this game. However, I am very pleasantly surprised. True, there are no directions but it's been a long time since I've had the satisfaction of truly solving a puzzle -- figuring out what to do and then how to do it. A couple of them were somewhat annoying in that I eventually reverted to just pushing buttons until I stumbled on the right combination. I took off one star for the awkward controls for maneuvering through the mansion. I found I was always needing to check the floor plan to see which room I as in and which way I was facing.

If you like challenging puzzles and don't need to have a detailed guide, give this game a try.