Monday 28 Sep 2009

The ‘hidden object’ class of interactive entertainment isn’t exactly the kind of game that self-proclaimed ‘hardcore’ gamers would yet have encountered, or, if these stallions of the videogame world have spent more than a few cursory hours clicking away at such a game, they would never admit to such a thing.

No, the ‘hidden object’ class of game is traditionally the domain of the ‘casual’ gamer; those individuals who profess to only have a few moments to spare on Match-3 games and their ilk, but, similar to the ‘hardcore’ animal, are hopelessly swept up in the fervour of their game of choice, spending aimless hours clicking on coloured gems and concealed virtual objects in an attempt to while away their ‘precious’ spare time.

Hidden object games are particularly adept at keeping players clicking (both with a mouse and a console controller) by providing an endless stream of abstract objectives, wrapped up in an overarching narrative that you need to ‘solve’ or ‘complete,’ although you don’t ‘solve’ or ‘complete’ these narratives by actively shooting guns or exploring 3D environments. You ‘solve’ and ‘complete’ these narratives by simply… clicking.

Hidden object games, to the novice, could be seen as a genre of game within which one narrative could be swapped out with another, vastly different storyline, without making any noticeable differences to the gameplay itself. To a connoisseur of hidden object games, this sentiment may hold just as true. The narrative, as in other classes of games, simply exists to act as context for your actions and a reason to progress other than scoring more points.

What is a hidden object game? Traditionally, such a game provides you with a static scene, and a laundry list of objects. The objective here is to find these objects in the provided scene by clicking on those objects. Simple enough, but sometimes (Read: All the Time) these objects are cunningly (Read: Cruelly) hidden in the scene so as to obfuscate your search, making it impossible to find all of the objects with a quick scan. Click the object, though, and the name is scratched off of the laundry list, and you move on to the next item to find.

To complicate matters, hidden object games usually give you a time limit in which to find these objects, and clicking too many times in a short period will remove some of this valuable time (some games also remove points). You can, if the need arises, use one of a number of ‘hints’ to help you find these objects – click the hint button and the name of the object in the laundry list, and that object will magically reveal itself, yours for the clicking.

Now, don’t expect these hidden objects in the static scenes to have any relation to the narrative you’re currently trying to ‘solve’ – you may just find yourself looking for orange crabs, hidden stickers and a mini-submarine. Once you’ve found all of the objects, it’s off to the next location, and in some hidden object games, you get to play a little Match-3 game to complete that portion of the game.

Interpol: The Trail of Dr. Chaos, however, does not employ this method to break up the ‘pace,’ but instead places you in separate screen-searching mini-games, requiring you to spot the differences between two photos, highlight objects that don’t belong in the given scene, or search for a number of objects of the same type, offering a bit of a respite from the ‘normal’ object searching duties.

And so we finally get to the premise of this particular hidden object game: Interpol: The Trail of Dr. Chaos, a downloadable game on both the PlayStation Network and Xbox LIVE Marketplace.

As an Interpol criminal investigator, you’ve been tasked with tracking down and catching one Dr. Vladimir Chaosky, better known as the titular Dr. Chaos, and his cronies. To do this, you’ll need to travel to areas linked to Dr. Chaos’ operations, as well as his last known locations, which just so happen to be exotic capital cities situated around the world.

You’ll then need to find ‘clues’ (the aforementioned hidden objects) scattered around the static screens (which range from papers and laptops, to pens and musical instruments) and then move on to the next area once all of the required items have been found.

Interpol’s narrative, like other hidden object games, hardly has anything to do with the kinds of objects you’re asked to find, as your eyes scan over the screen a number of times in order to find the next ‘clue,’ and complete ‘missions’ by finding all of the clues in locations ‘around the world.’

The problem with this particular hidden object game on a console, and while using a standard definition (SD) screen, is that it’s near impossible to read the text (telling you which objects to look for) and see the very objects you’re supposed to discover - these being the two most vitally important pieces of instructional data necessary to progress and complete the game.

On a high definition (HD) TV, the situation is sure to improve, but as it stands, on an SD TV (on which Interpol: The Trail of Dr. Chaos was played), the only way to see what’s going on on-screen is with much squinting, head-turning, and chair scooting, trying to get closer to the screen… which doesn’t help.

This is a huge oversight by the developers. Interpol is primarily targeted towards less hardcore-inclined gamers who wouldn’t ordinarily be the type of person to shell out their hard-earned for an expensive TV, just to play hidden object games. These are the types of gamers who make due with what they have – what they have being a standard definition television set.

Even using the provided in-game ‘magnifying glass’ tool (an admission that pixel-hunting on a TV isn’t the easiest of activities) doesn’t help things.

Interpol: The Trail of Dr. Chaos contains the same elements that make hidden object games intriguing and addictive, such as constantly drip-feeding objectives and rewards, and is probably one of the better examples of this class of game, but unfortunately for owners of SD TVs, it’s near impossible to play, unless you want to end up with a severe eye-strain headache.

If you have an HD TV, however, and you want something to do while you’re downloading other content, or if you genuinely enjoy hidden object games, or even if you want to introduce your non-gaming friends and family to the world of interactive entertainment, Interpol: The Trail of Dr. Chaos is worth a look-in as a merely casual activity to keep you occupied, and while away your ‘precious’ ‘spare time.’

Pros: Contains a multiplayer mode; can be addictive; nice atmospheric music and sound effects; slick presentation

Cons: Can’t be played on a standard definition TV; too shallow in the gameplay department to get too involved; narrative and gameplay are disconnected

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Contributor:	Oliver

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