Adam Wolfe Episode 1: The Ancient Flame
Mad Hat
Games
In my first look I noted that
the makers were known for Hidden Object games, but that that Adam Wolfe
leant towards a broader albeit casual adventure. Having gotten to the
end of Episode 1, that description remains apt.
I prefer my adventuring on the
less casual side, but I did quite enjoy the 90 minutes I spent with
Adam. There were some hidden object puzzles, and nothing at all hard or
challenging among the rest, but there was much to like. It did feel a
little tricked up occasionally (conundrums appearing more than they
actually were) but I look forward to the next three episodes.
Adam is an investigator of the
paranormal, convinced that each investigation will lead him towards
finding out what happened to his missing sister. Mulder like, he is
driven to know, and by the end of the episode he might just be on the
right track.
First things first though, which
involves the investigation of mysterious fires throughout San Francisco.
An ancient dagger, a pact for immortality, and a fire demon thingy all
play a role in the outcome.
I haven’t played a lot of casual
games but consistent with those that I have, each screen is generally
static and you don’t walk around in any sense of the word. Rather, you
explore what you can see in front of you with the mouse, zooming in on
particular locations here and there (a desk, a set of drawers a safe
etc). Find things, use them in the right way, and move on.
Puzzling involves putting events
in sequence, turning back time to observe events, intense focussing to
see what is otherwise unseen, pattern recognition and so on. None are
hard, and the hint system (which is really a “what to do next system”)
means you will never ever be stuck. A detective buddy can and does help,
and you will know when to interact with him. The challenge isn’t the
thing; Adam’s experience is.
Which was a tad clichéd but in a
good way. I liked Mulder, right to the end and the rebooted series, and
Adam seemed like an ok substitute.
I did like that you could tweak
the difficulty setting. Choose a predetermined arrangement, or pick the
elements you want to utilise. More games should do this.
There is a comic book feel to
things, accentuated by the “24” panel system of cutscene presentations.
Sight and sounds, including voice, were fine. It saved on exit, and
played on Steam gives you a range of achievments, including for doing
puzzles within a certain time or without erroneous clicks. I wasn’t
aware of those, but got quite a few.
Adam Wolfe is what it is – be
aware and you may very well enjoy.
I played on:
OS: Windows 10, 64 Bit
Processor: Intel i7-6700 4GHz
RAM: 32GB GDDR5
Video card: AMD Radeon
RX 470 8192MB
GameBoomers Review Guidelines
February 2017
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