If you’re into hidden object titles, then it’s worth your while to give Vampire Saga: Pandora’s Box, the latest hidden object adventure game from Focus Multimedia, a go. Licensed from Russia’s Alawar entertainment, the game joins Focus’ range of best-selling casual games.
The game opens with a phone call in 1950s Boston. The young man who answers is Tyler Ward; the person on the other end is Matthew, his Grandfather . Tyler is shocked when the old man claims to have killed a woman and leaves for his grandfather’s house at once. When he arrives, though , he finds the house locked. After Tyler figures out how to get inside, he demands an explanation from his traumatized grandfather. The old man tells Tyler the body is in a boarded-up room, but refuses to let him in before he listens to a story about a cursed ship appropriately named Pandora.
As Tyler is transported back in time, he’ll learn how his grandfather stole aboard a cargo ship to escape the violence of the Spanish-American War, passed out and then woke up to find himself alone with several Sinister-looking coffins.
What happened when Matthew was unconscious and where are the crew?
Primarily Pandora’s box is a classic hidden object game with slight tendencies to the point and click genre. A search area is highlighted by a blue sparkly light and there are often key items to be found which will be held in your inventory to be used throughout the environment. These key items are found and used pretty locally and will drop out of the inventory when they are no longer useful.
There is also a limitless and friendly hint system (thankfully as you will need it but more of that later) displayed as a stop watch. On clicking the hint button you will be told if there’s nothing more you can do in this scene, or indicating an object. The hint system will then take a short time to recharge before you can use it again.
There is really no way to sugar coat the fact that Pandora’s box’ production values are not as high as the likes of MCF or Hidden Expedition. Localisation, or English translation, is poor at times and I found I had no option but to use the hint system. For instance one of the tasks was to find a number of brushes, I had found all but one and there were still a couple of paint brushes on the screen but after using a hint the “correct” choice was a comb, or there was a scene where what looked like a honey dripper was classed as a spoon and who’d have thought three rolled up towels (or napkins) was a “dolly”? The background graphics on the whole are good although I found some of the search areas to be a bit grainy and I felt some of the main character renders let the look of the game down. There are some nice effects such as some of the cut scenes and dust in a beam of sunlight but these were few and far between. The audio, too, equally unimpressive for instance in the opening sequence the phone rings and when Tyler answers it the ringing continues for a while after Tyler begins speaking. However that being said the background music and ambient sounds on the whole are good but alas there didn’t seem to be any vocals at all and any conversations are displayed along the bottom of the screen.
Ok so that’s all the negatives out of the way Vampire Saga: Pandora’s Box has one major saving grace and that is the story and the method in which the story I delivered. I have to say halfway through the game I was beginning to think they had even got the title wrong as there had been no mention of or appearance of Vampires at all however there are more twists and turns in this tale than the road to Transylvania itself! Playing first as Tyler you go to Matthew’s house and then relive Matthew’s memories aboard the Pandora and then back again to present day playing as Tyler.
Ultimately despite the obvious flaws, Vampire Saga: Pandora’s Box is still worth playing the storyline is absorbing and it does contain some nice effects – I cant wait to find out what happens to Tyler in the next episode.
Marks out of 10
Gameplay: 7 straightforward enough with nice use of key objects
Presentation : 6 plenty of issues to be addressed before the next release
Storyline : 8 most definitely the game’s strongpoint be prepared for a couple of surprises
Longevity: 7 nice to revisit from time to time
