Review Date: December 13, 2010
Developer: ERS Game Studios
Publisher: Big Fish Games
Platform: PC
Genre: Hidden Object Game
Stop me if you've heard this before: a number of people have mysteriously disappeared in a haunted mansion, and it's your job to investigate. That's the basic premise of Haunted Legends: The Queen of Spades and, unfortunately, it's about the most cliche story around, especially when it comes to hidden object games. And the same goes for the rest of the game. It's well made and enjoyable, but almost entirely unoriginal.
52 Card Pick-Up
There's more to the story than just that basic premise, however. Because it's not just any old haunted mansion, it's the former home of a mysterious countess who possessed a set of magical playing cards. And many have gone off in search of those cards, only to never escape the mansion. After a fellow detective goes missing as well, you're called in to investigate the case. The story is told mainly through your character's internal dialog as well as various notes you'll find scattered about, though there is the occasional cut-scene as well. Unfortunately, because the story features so many common video game tropes, it ends up being pretty forgettable. There's little here you haven't seen before.
The gameplay, too, will feel very familiar. It's a straightforward HOG with some adventure game elements as well. You'll go from scene to scene, collecting items and solving puzzles. Some items will be out in the open, just waiting to be picked up, while others will be hidden behind HOG scenes. Here you'll be presented with a list of items and a giant mess in which to find them. In most cases one of these items will be added to your inventory. You'll use these items to solve puzzles, and in many instances you won't be able to move forward until you find the right item. Your inventory will actually be quite large and, when coupled with the rather large game world, this makes it easy to forget what needs to be used and where. It also results in a lot of back tracking. You'll also have to find the entire deck of missing cards, which is about as fun as it sounds.
It Is A Haunted Mansion, After All
There are also more mini-game style puzzles, that will task you with figuring out the various pieces of strange machinery located around the mansion. So you'll be doing plenty of sorting out gears and playing with wires. None of these puzzles are particularly difficult, but they are skippable if you ever find yourself stuck.
While the gameplay and story are a touch generic, Haunted Legends does manage to present a very spooky atmosphere. The dark, gritty visuals are a mix of lush 2D art and well animated 3D characters that works quite well. You're constantly hounded by the countess' tiny and terrifying assistant, who provides plenty of jump-in-your-seat moments. The game does get slightly gruesome at times, with several body parts that are no longer attached to their bodies. However, this really just adds to the dark and scary tone.
The Bottom Line
Haunted Legends: The Queen of Spades isn't a bad game by any stretch of the imagination. It's just severely lacking in, well, imagination. Everything from the setting and story to the actual gameplay feels slightly generic. It's well crafted and it looks great, but it's hard to shake the feeling that you've seen this all before.