October 24th, 2006A Gorey Post
Since purchasing a new PC game, Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None and not being able to install it, I’ve searched online for a few cool mystery games.
One, or three rather, that I’ve had a little fun with is Mystery! Games. Yeah, they’re a little cheese ball, and kind of silly, but entertaining nonetheless. And yes, the Mystery! here refers to the PBS series. I grew up with that familiar Edward Gorey opening, and although I hated Mystery! as a child, I now love it. And I have a particular liking for Gorey, in general as an artist. The games are simple, a flash animation fair-play minute mystery, and you get to be the Chief Inspector.
Another one I’ve enjoyed is the M&M’s Fifty Dark Movies, hidden in a Painting. I found this on Leesa’s site, and had way too much fun. Between Dan and I, we got all 50 films. With Halloween coming up, this was a much needed refresh-my-Halloween-spirit game. This, too, is simple. There is one image, the painting, and within it are visual references to movies. You can move around the painting, zoom in and out, and when you think you know what one of the clues is, you click on the clue and type the movie title. They’re not necessarily horror movies being referenced, but they are ‘dark.’
The downside to these games is that once you’ve completed them, there’s no need to return for a more detailed attempt at a higher score. I tend to find this notion applicable to mystery books in general. I love to reread a great book, but when it comes to a mystery, even if it’s the most well-written, enjoyable read, there’s just not much point in rereading it. However, I suppose, if one gets to the end of a fair-play mystery and did not figure out whodunit, they may want to reread the book to look for the clues that should have given it away. Sort of an, “oh, that’s why ________ happened/was placed there/did this. I should have caught that!”
By the way, for those not familiar with Edward Gorey, check out Edward Gorey House dot org. Also, I tried all of the troubleshooting steps on Adventure Games, and the !$#@%$ game still ‘hangs’ when it gets to a certain point in installation, before I email the company — any tips or ideas?
I don’t know if the error message can be read in this shot…
October 25th, 2006 at 10:01 pm
No clue at all Courtney, but I did send my son a link to your blog. He and his friends are big time gamers, hopefully they will have some ideas for you.
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October 26th, 2006 at 12:06 pm
Okay, here’s the update. I emailed the company with all of the info about my computer and the troubleshooting steps I’ve taken, and they’re having me send in the discs. There is apparently a batch of this game that doesn’t work. So we’ll see how the third set of discs go when they arrive.
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