“Women’s Murder Club- Death in scarlet” is a hidden object/light adventure/crime solving puzzle game based on the novels of James Patterson (author of “Along came a Spider” and “Kiss the Girls”). The game itself is obviously aimed at the female audience with three women at the core of the investigation. Lindsay Boxer is the homicide detective, Claire Washburn the medical examiner and Cindy Thomas the journalist.
Hidden object casual games are extremely popular right now and while this is the basis of Death in Scarlet, what sets it aside is the introduction of ideas from the point and click genre. Usually when I’m playing hidden objects my brain tends to turn off and I hit the skip button to avoid the dialogue/ story but because of the interactivity in “Death in Scarlet” , I did get hooked on the story.
Revolving around the large Oriental community in San Francisco, the story begins when the body of a murdered woman washes up underneath the Golden Gate Bridge. As the game progresses there are more murders(sometimes of people connected only by investigation), a secret society, people smuggling and hints of prostitution.
Gamers must choose one of the three main characters to play as; homicide detective Lindsay Boxer; medical examiner Claire Washburn; or crime reporter Cindy Thomas. In the main search scenes there are a number of hidden objects and sometimes inventory items to be found.Some of these inventory items have to be assembled on screen and others dragged and dropped on on screen objects maybe a technique that hasn’t been to familiar with hidden object gamers up until now. There are also bodies to be checked for forensic clues – taking blood samples, fingerprints, photographs etc., all which has to be analysed in the medical examiners lab. The puzzles at the end of each investigation offer a bit more variety to the standard hidden object games. While there are the more familiar puzzles such as collecting and assembling scraps of paper into a readable letter there are also a variety of puzzles were you have to align medical labels in the correct order according to their labels, catching somebody in a maze, find your way through darkened tunnels etc. None of the puzzles are overly difficult but they are a bit fresher than maybe some other franchises who have maybe got stuck in their ways.
Production values are high, with a good visual presentation underscored by a good soundtrack. The story scenes are depicted in comic book style – It’s all presented very well and my only grievance would be that I would’ve liked something different in the lab on each visit.
But all in all it was highly enjoyable and good to see a game breaking out of one genre and adding elements of another.
