Review Date: Feb 22, 2010
Publisher: Alawar Entertainment
Developer: Anino Games
Price: $9.95 (Publisher's Site)
Platform: Windows
Genre: Hidden object
Score: 3/5
Mind's Eye: Secrets of the Forgotten starts out traditionally enough, as you take on the role of a Gabrielle, an investigative journalist who's looking into the murder of the town's mayor. Pretty standard hidden-object game fare so far. But soon things take a turn for the weird, and Gabrielle is eventually thrust into a world of bizarre psychological experiments that gives the game a somewhat dark and creepy vibe. Unfortunately, while the story holds a lot of promise, it moves along at too brisk a pace and ends too abruptly to be truly satisfying.
Nothing You Haven't Seen Before
The game is a very standard HOG, with few twists on the well-worn formula. You're given a list of objects to find at each scene and you can make use of a hint system if you get stuck. The hint meter refills over time -- ensuring that you'll have to at least try and find objects before resorting to it -- and you can also find rolls of film that give you additional hints. Some of the objects you'll pick up along the way are necessary for finding other objects, such as a pair of tweezers needed to collect shards of glass or a fork needed to set off a mouse trap. Again, it's pretty standard stuff.
There are a few interesting ideas though. You can zoom in on some areas, which almost always leads you to a necessary object. And the game also uses a scrolling effect, where you can look around the scene by moving from left to right. This not only lets you see more of the scene, but it also shifts your perspective, as the foreground and background move independently. This perspective shift is a useful tool, as a number of objects can only be found by doing so. Mind's Eye also uses this feature in a clever way as certain objects are actually split in half, and can only be seen when you shift your perspective just right, joining them together.
There's also the occasional mini-game thrown in to spice things up and, again, they're all very standard. There are the obligatory "putting back together the torn shreds of an important note" games, as well as several memory and spot-the-differences style diversions. What's disappointing though, is that even though there are only a few different mini-games in the first place, some are actually re-used more than once, so you'll be playing the same thing again. Luckily, all the mini-games can be skipped after a time, so you aren't actually forced to do this.
Pretty But Shallow
In terms of story, while the premise is initially interesting, things just move along much too fast for it to be engaging. You learn next to nothing about the characters themselves, and when the story makes the shift from a traditional mystery to a strange, supernatural affair, it leaves a lot of questions unanswered. And this is most likely due to the length of the game, which clocks in at a very brisk three hours. It's very difficult to tell an interesting tale in such a short time frame and, while the narrative holds some potential, it's ultimately too bare bones. The game even ends on a (very cliche) cliffhanger that suggests we might see a sequel, which will hopefully fill in some of the gaps left by Mind's Eye.
Where the game does shine though, is with its visuals. Mind's Eye sports a stylized, almost comic-book style look that helps separate it from the glut of HOGs out there. The character portraits, especially, look wonderful and the various scenes are all unique and well detailed, thanks in large part to the multiple layers of depth. There are also some interesting lighting effects -- like a whirling police light or flickering light bulb -- that not only look cool, but also make the object finding a little more difficult. The only real problem with the art style is that some objects are simply too small or not clear enough that it can be tough to pick them out.
At certain points the game will have you investigating someone's mind, and this is where the art design really steps up. Normal locations are given a creepy makeover, each based on a particular character's state of mind; from rooms filled with slimy, crawling bugs to a submerged subway station now inhabited by a giant sea monster. Throw in some unsettling sound effects like a child's laughter or disembodied whispers, and the game does a good job of setting an unnerving tone.
The Bottom Line
It's just too bad that it doesn't last very long. Because while Mind's Eye may not be all that innovative, it has the potential to be a very good HOG with solid gameplay mechanics and a refreshing visual style. It would've been nice to see the story fleshed out quite a bit more, and to have more variety in terms of the mini-games; hopefully something we'll see in a sequel. As it stands, Mind's Eye makes for a great afternoon diversion. Just don't expect to be satisfied when you're finished.