Mystery Case Files: Ravenhearst

I know this game is over three years old, but it's timeless and addictive. Ravenhearst is one of several games in the Mystery Case Files series. It's a highly addictive hidden object game with an awesome creepy storyline. The mystery revolves around a young gal who lived there over a century ago. She kept a diary which is still there, but only halfway intact. As you go through the rooms and find all the objects, you will find the pieces of those torn-up missing pages and put them back together like a jigsaw puzzle. Each newly reassembled page reveals more and more of the mystery. When you successfully finish the game, you will solve the mystery.

My only gripe with this game is that some of the rooms are locked by means of crazy, complex contraptions, and the only way to unlock these rooms is by playing uber-hard minigames. Lucky for me, there's an option to "call for backup" and skip the minigame. However, if you do this, you will lose all your hints and some time, which is well worth it for me. I never could figure out those crazy locking mechanisms without cheating (that is, consulting a walkthrough), which I hate doing. Other than that, Ravenhearst is a great game.

MCF: Ravenhearst has a sequel called Return to Ravenhearst which I don't particularly care for. It's WAY harder than the first one, and you can not skip the highly frustrating minigames. The one-hour demo was enough for me. The only way I would be able to play this game all the way through is to follow a strategy guide or walkthrough. To me, a game is not fun if you have to read a manual as you play. Neither is struggling through the game on your own fun, but rather very frustrating.

Both MCF: Ravenhearst and MCF: Return to Ravenhearst are available at the Calling All Game Addicts storefront.