Strange Cases: The Tarot Card Mystery

OS: Windows XP/Vista
CPU: 800 Mhz or faster Processor
RAM: 256 MB
Hard Drive: 120 MB

Strange Cases: The Tarot Card Mystery review

The story line of the game is that as a FBI agent Claire Ellery, you have been informed and called to a distant town to find three kidnapped girls. But the local police are not so happy to have you as a part of the investigation. Meanwhile, someone has started leaving you a series of tarot cards in which a trio was missing. You have already found the kidnapped girls. The local police are trying to close the file and send you back to your home. Now the game begins!

Although the local constabulary was very eager to get rid of you when your investigation started but you were guided by the mysterious tarot cards. It will not be correct to name these as tarot cards because the cards have only red, green and blue backs and these are left at every scene for your help. One or more cards are left that have different colors and these colors will guide you in your search. Blue cards provide a typical hidden object list of items for you to find; to clear a red card, you must reassemble an object by finding all the individual pieces; and green cards offer silhouettes of items hidden in the area. Some cards are unreachable when you first enter a location, requiring you to complete an action like unlocking a chest or using a tool to obtain them.

During your search, you will find items to clear out the puzzles. Your cursor will turn into gears when you take your mouse over an area that needs an action and the solution is usually fairly obvious. When confronted with a locked door or broken wires, you will very soon realize that you will have to track down the keys and the insulated tape. There are few occasions where your mission isn’t clear, but the game will eventually help you what you need to locate in order to surge ahead in the game. Replete environmental puzzles, The Tarot Card Mystery offer a series of engaging mini-games as well. These are a wide array of games, such as sliding tiles to free a key, rearranging wires to connect power sources, and assembling jigsaw puzzles. All of them are neatly arranged and additional games like lock picking are by and large pretty worth while and engaging.

Conclusion: The Tarot Card Mystery is an interesting hidden object game, primarily because your play is not timed, and you have an unlimited supply of recharging hints. Though a few of the puzzles can be challenging – one particularly clever one late in the game may stump more than one player – that of keen-eyed players should have no trouble finishing it in just two or three hours. Your time with Strange Cases: the Tarot Card Mystery, brief though it may be, is a worthwhile engagement. The locations are all quite beautifully drawn, and though the hidden object sequences aren’t terribly difficult, solving the numerous environmental puzzles is a stimulating experience. The graphics and the background score too stand out.