Customer Reviews

Women's Murder Club: Darker Shade Grey

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

 

 

"Women's Murder Club: A Darker Shade of Grey" isn't particularly challenging, but it is fun while it lasts. You play as various detective-types (a policewoman, a reporter, etc.) investigating the death of a cadet at a military academy. I've never read any of Patterson's books, so I don't know how well the game captures his characters, but they all seem blandly pleasant. Gameplay consists of some hidden object searches mixed in with various puzzles. Unlike the previous game in this series, "Death in Scarlet," there are very few random objects to find here; the object searches are all along the lines of "find 10 pieces of a torn-up note," which you then piece together to find a clue. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but the game is very short and I wouldn't have minded finding the occasional samurai sword or wine glass just to stretch things out a bit.

The other puzzles are varied and include organizing microfiche, running chemical tests, and sneaking around the cadet's dorm after dark. These puzzles are all pretty simple and very forgiving - I got caught by the security guard in the dorm, for example, and just got a "try again" pop-up before the game put me right back at the dorm entrance. Some of the puzzles are insultingly simple, like the chemical tests that require you to...count, but they're all pretty quick and generally fun. The plot is interesting (although it gets a bit silly at the end), and the clues come at a nice pace that really gives you a sense that you're investigating the mystery.

This game is definitely overpriced, considering that it took me less than three hours to complete the whole thing. Still, it's fun for a while, and it's a good entry-level adventure/hidden object game for casual gamers.

I played Death in Scarlet and found it fun and mildly challenging. So I was eager to try Darker Shade of Grey. This game, however, turned out to be quite the disappointment. Beyond the fairly interesting plot and good music, the puzzles were so simple I think a 5-year-old could finish them. There were no seek and finds in this one and they changed the forensics lab from a fun logic puzzle to just finding the right bottle from the moving bottles and counting the drops.

All the clues were either highlighted for you to find or it was a "find the 20 pieces of paper" type of puzzle.

VERY disappointed. I can't figure out if they decided the first game was too easy (hardly) so they made this game even easier. Again, a child could solve these puzzles as the computer pratically does it for you.

This was a really GREAT game......more are needed!! The only thing missing was more sound (voices). They really would be a lot more enjoyable to hear the voices.

I'm perplexed. The box of the game I have--Women's Murder Club: A Darker Shade of Grey--matches the main product image, but the Amazon product description shows screenshots from a different game entirely. I'm assuming this posts to the correct place, and it's merely the description that's in error.

Regardless, I found myself disappointed with the title I played. The art style varies drastically between in-game play and the cinematics--I actually had a difficult time telling who was who until about mid-game, when the characters in the cinematics looked particularly poorly drawn. I don't know if it was simply a failure to coordinate art styles, but one consistent look would have been better than bad cut scenes contrasting higher-quality in-game graphics.

Gameplay itself is hit-or-miss. There are some traditional point-and-click adventure elements, some mini-games [for lack of a better word, but simple, self-contained puzzles], and some hidden object portions. I'm not at all a fan of hidden object games, since they can be solved with brute force by systematically clicking the whole screen, and this game contains TWO instances of recycling the same map, not even bothering to change the locations of the items in question. It also felt a bit patronizing to have all the clues highlighted with twinkling outlines by default--I can always look at hints, but I can't make the game harder.

The puzzles themselves seem contrived at best, as though trying very hard to stretch out the game by adding busiwork. One hidden object portion requires finding all the leaves and seedpods that blew into an attic. Why? ...for absolutely NO reason whatsoever that pertains to the case. One portion wants all of the cups in an unkempt diner filled with coffee, even though one is hiding in the rafters and one is on the floor. Let's not forget one of the first puzzles: recreating a damaged logo at a crime scene by drawing on it with marker. Oh, THAT'S not tampering with evidence or anything.

I tried this game to see if it was worth picking up the other titles in the series as part of a box set. If they're more of the same, I think I'll pass. Yes, I recognize how difficult it is to make a really good, challenging and thought-provoking adventure game like the Monkey Island or Sam & Max games, but even putting a little more effort into it might have made this more worth my while. It was okay for the two and a half hours I played, but I wouldn't play it again, and I certainly wouldn't have put the $10 I did on it. $5, maybe. I think for the subject matter, though, my main complaint has to be the difficulty [close to none]. I'd expect something this easy to be a LOT more G-rated than a murder mystery.

Pros:
The story is -great-. It was engaging and suspenseful, and I really wanted to know what happened next. It had a solid pace, and I was never stuck sitting there going, 'now what?'

The 2D graphics really are pretty. ^^

All the locations are immersive, and artfully done.

There really was a sense of danger, which added to the suspense. Woot!

It is basically impossible to get stuck. Your notebook tells you exactly what to do, and if you can't find that last hiding bit of paper, the hint button gives you its exact location. Depending on how you like your games, this could also be a con.

For once, at the end of the game, they don't tell you -everything- you need to know -- so you -do- actually have to bend your brain to figure out how all the pieces fit together. That was fun. ^^

Cons:
The game was too easy. It took me all of... four hours, while I'm used to 20-30 hour mystery games. Which really bummed me out. X)

It's -extremely- linear. There's basically one way of doing things, and you're along for the ride. A good introductory level game, but not much of a challenge.

The cut-scenes are really more like comics, and could have used a bit more sound to liven them up.

I get the feeling that the game was relatively low-budget, though I will say that if it was, they did a good job with what they had.


Quirks: If you were paying attention, you could totally tell that different 'cutscenes' were drawn by different artists. X) bothered me at first, but I got used to it.

Comments: On the one hand, A Darker Shade of Grey was a fun romp around a suspenseful plot. On the other hand, said plot made for a better novel than a video game... heh, surprise surprise! Still very enjoyable.

Though the game is rated T, I'd say it's easy enough for most youngin's to complete. Thus being said, respect the T warning -- One of the characters does stumble across a murdered animal, and a message written in blood, along with several instances of mild violence/peril.

If you're a seasoned mystery game player, this game will go by in a depressingly short amount of time. I'd say it's certainly over-priced.

Then again, if you're a teen or adult wanting to wet your toes in the mystery game arena, then this is definitely the one for you. Just try to rent it, or something. It's still over-priced. X)

Loved the first game so I was happy to see this one come out so quickly. Follows the same pattern as the first one. Except as I got into the game it froze on this one screen and wouldn't let me advance beyond that section. I uninstalled the game from the computer and reinstalled it and the same thing happened. Just a warning because it may not happen to everyone.

I purchased this game thinking it was similar to Murder She Wrote. Not. This game is not what I wanted. I try to play it often because I love hidden object games. But this one is not one of my personal picks. So I don't play it as often as I play my other hidden objects games. I wish I would have gotten Murder She Wrote, but that's what happens when I want to be cheap. OOPS on me.

I play hidden object games on a regular basis and for the most part, the games I play are not heavily grounded in rationality. How often are you required to locate a paperclip along with other household items hidden in a coastal murder scene? Hopefully, not often. Although these games don't offer much reality based gameplay they do serve their purpose. Escapism. The problem that I had with this particular game was that in it's struggle to be more realistic, the fun was lost. For example, most levels you were required to find only multiples of one item such as trying to find 29 tokens to run numerous washing machines at once. To make matters worse, they tried to offer realistic explanations like why your character, who is a revered police detective mind you, needs to fill 9 cups of coffee for a small town waittress who is in the weeds. Furthermore, the side challenges were very rudimentary and weren't much of a challenge at all. I understand that these are meant to take a backseat to the hidden object levels but since there really weren't any hidden objects levels to begin with, the gameplay really suffers.

All of this has been said, don't give up on the series. I found the first and the third installments to be perfect relaxation fodder.

This game had many words that were spelled incorrectly as well as grammatical errors. It also was much shorter than the first one and noway near as much fun. The third game is more like the first game, but not as good. I definitely thought this game was a waste of time.

I loved, loved, LOVED the other two entries in the Women's Murder Club software franchise, so you can imagine my extreme disappointment with this one. There is absolutely no challenge to this AT ALL. For instance, you may be asked to find five things in a room...but ALL FIVE OBJECTS are highlighted so all you have to do is click on them! Clues are presented right in front of your face, and there is no thinking required whatsoever. In addition, the in-between scene dialog runs extremely slowly and there is no way to advance it by clicking without skipping the scene entirely.

It's a shame that this game is so poorly designed, because the storyline itself is actually quite interesting. One would assume this game is for a child due to the extreme ease, although the subject matter is hardly child-friendly. Skip your money and buy the other entries in this series. This one is a total dud.