Review Date: April 30, 2010
Developer: Vendel Games
Platform: PC
Genre: Hidden Object
What is it with fairytale towns? For some reason, they always seem to be placed under some sort of evil spell. In Love Chronicles: The Spell, it's your job to save an entire kingdom that's been put to sleep by an evil old witch. And while the game does a good job of creating a world that's fun to explore, it may be a bit too easy for veterans of the genre.
Under A Spell
The game stars an unnamed prince who, for some reason, has traveled to the aforementioned cursed kingdom. After learning about the misfortune that has befallen the kingdom from a mysterious old man, the prince decides to reverse the magical spell. This involves travelling to each different area of the kingdom and disenchanting everyone who lives there.
The world you'll explore consists of a number of different areas -- such as the castle, blacksmith, and garden -- all of which are held together by a world map. From here, you can choose to travel to any destination you've already unlocked. Once you're actually exploring an area, the game feels very familiar to most hidden object games, albeit with one important difference: everything you are searching for is something you'll actually need in the game. Whether it's ingredients for a magical potion or pieces to build a ladder, you're never searching for random objects.
You will have to do quite a bit of backtracking though, as many of the pieces you'll need to make one object are scattered across numerous areas. Or, you might find an object in one area that needs to be used elsewhere. Thankfully, the game features a very handy quick travel feature that allows you to get wherever you need to be as fast as possible.
Simply Relaxing
The game also features another neat feature: a magnifying glass. This works just as you'd expect, magnifying the game's still screens, making it easier to find some of the trickier objects. It definitely comes in handy when it comes to finding some of the smaller pieces, and towards the end of the game you'll have no choice but to make use of it. Throughout the game you'll also have to collect 65 maple leaves, which are littered across each of the different locations. You don't need to find any of them until the very end, but it definitely makes things easier to collect them along your way.
But while the quick travel and magnifying glass are nifty additions, they also do little to help with the game's biggest problem: it's simply too easy. Most objects are incredibly easy to find, and if you have trouble, the magnifying glass is always there to help. And since the quick travel feature means you don't have to remember where anything is, there really is little in the way of challenge in Love Chronicles.
The relative ease of difficulty does have the side effect of making Love Chronicles a very relaxing game to play. This is further enhanced by both the visuals and soundtrack. With detailed, hand painted graphics, the game is a joy to look at. While all of the scenes consist of still images, you'll occasionally glimpse running mice or falling leaves that help make the world feel more alive. And the soothing soundtrack fits the rest of the experience perfectly, making Love Chronicles an excellent game to play if you need to unwind.
The Bottom Line
Love Chronicles is a brief experience, lasting just a few hours, and presents little in the way of a challenge. Still, with some gorgeous production values, an engaging story, a few unique features, it's a solid HOG. If you're looking for a relaxing experience, let Love Chronicles put you under its spell.