In Victorian London an unidentified serial killer terrorised prostitutes in the impoverished Whitechapel area . Because the culprit was never identified , legends surrounding the murders have become a combination of genuine historical research and folklore giving novelists, screen writers and now game developers plenty of artistic licence.
Big Fish games’ Mystery in London on the trail of Jack the Ripper which has now been published on hard copy by Focus multimedia brings its own twist to the notorious mystery.
The game story goes that as a collector of old books and curiosities you stumble across a copy of the novel Jekyll and Hyde while on a visit to London. Tucked inside the pages is a cryptic note signed “JR”. With a bit more investigation you discover that you are on the trail of Jack the Ripper and that there are forces who don’t want Jack’s identity to be revealed.
Following the trail around London allows us to visit around 30 iconic locations. As well as the likes of Buckingham Palace, Piccadilly Circus, the Savoy Hotel and Theatre, Westminster Abby, Tower Bridge and the Tower of London there are also numerous fictional shops and pubs etc. It is within these locations that you can appreciate the depth of research that has gone into the game – the shelves etc. are stacked with products you might only find in England and as yet I haven’t come across an Americanism. Also after completing a location you unlock a fun fact that will give you some insight into the history of the area.
In total there are 16 chapters or levels divided by mini games to complete.
Gameplay
As with all hidden object games you have to search a set of locations and find a list of secreted items.
Mystery in London on the trail of Jack the Ripper gives you two screen settings in which to search. A
360-degree panoramic view is the first option whereby you operate a compass to scroll around the page very like the Travelogue games or the other choice, which I preferred was a screen divided into panels. This panel concept is used now in hidden object games that have been ported to the Nintendo DS. Each scene is a good bit larger than the usual hidden object games and you may find you’re a tad slower locating items but trust me it has nothing to do with your spotting ability rather you have a vast area to scan.
Among the random items you pick up there will also be vital clues such as old photographs, newspaper clippings and letters to recover. To spice things up a bit in some scenes you will be asked to find silhouettes or a collection of objects eg. The clue is “food and drink” and you would have to locate maybe 20 items relating to food and drink. Another variation was to find all the moving items at a location – the items in question were pulsating but only one at a time which meant continuously scouring the screen and revisiting areas until all were located.
Also included in your tool bar is a magnifying glass which isn’t provided to prevent you squinting at the screen you will need this to locate some of the objects.
I did enjoy the mini games not least because they were relevant to the story. Word searches, spot the difference, Reversi (or Othello, which incidentally was created at the same time of the murders !), breaking the code on lock mechanisms etc. , the mini games do offer a lot of variety and can be challenging . Although I would discourage it there is a skip button to avoid the puzzles.
As far as audio and visual go, Mystery in London on the trail of Jack the Ripper would be up there with the likes of the MCF titles. The story was well narrated and the background music gave a real sense of the London scene. The graphics were excellent crisp and clear and with the option of searching 360 panoramic , by panels , and by magnifier gave the game an edge on others of the same genre.
Summary
There’s no doubt that Mystery in London on the trail of Jack the Ripper is more story driven than a lot of casual games. Everything just came together beautifully – the research into each location is commendable as were the audio and visual components.
Marks out of 10
Sound:8.5 – excellent atmospheric background music and good acting voiceovers
Graphics:9 – crisp clean graphics with brilliant tools
Gameplay: 8 – good variety and difficulty ratings in mini games
Lifespan: 9 – worthy of revisiting regularly
Top Star goes to excellent writing of storyline and background research.
