Mortimer Beckett and the Time Paradox

OS: Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista
Memory: 512 MB
DirectX: 9.0 or later
CPU: P800
Video: 16mb 3D Video Card

Mortimer Beckett and the Time Paradox review

Time portal, opened in Mortimer Beckett and the Secrets of Spooky Manor, the previous game of the series, has moved some objects from the present into the past. You have to travel to 8 ages to find these objects and take them away. As if not hard enough, the objects have been broken into several pieces, and you will have to find all pieces to get the complete item. Locating the objects involves a normal hidden object gameplay – nothing too new here.

At each time period, you have several locations to discover the pieces. Besides hidden object levels, you also have to solve different puzzles. You can travel between scenes within each time period without finishing anything – so once you get stuck at one scene, you can move on to the other one, to return some time later with a fresh eye. When you solve all the puzzles and found all the pieces, the time period is fixed, you get a piece of Time Bomb and can move on to the next area.

The items you put together are added to your inventory, and you can use them either to solve the puzzles, or to put them back where they belong. For instance, you should put eggs into the nest to fix the time paradox, but a ladder will be used to climb the building and read the inscriptions at the roof.

The hints system is pretty simple – you have unlimited hints with timed refill. It’s rather fast though, and since there is no time limit on the levels, you can use hints again and again without any penalty. Sometimes hints will be your only escape, since it’s pretty hard to find something when you don’t even know what you’re looking for.

Conclusions: Mortimer Beckett and the Time Paradox is pretty enjoyable game, with a great theme and nice time paradoxes to solve. It goes beyound a simple hidden objects genre with added adventure elements and different puzzles. The storyline is good, the presentation is solid, the hidden objects gameplay is easy enough for non-hidden-object fans to enjoy the game as well. Definetely recommended to at least try it out.