You can download Mystery Case Files: A Crime in Reflection Collector's Edition here.



As always, please remember to come back and tell us what you think.

Happy gaming!

Thank you, Marian!

Just downloaded the annual feast. Looking forward to this new MCF!

I hope you enjoy it, smitty!

Thanks Marian.

Thank-you Marian, Queen of BFG Announcements, First Minister of Casual Game Alerts & Royal Keeper of Pixelated Monsters.

You are all most welcome!

8dognight.

Can't wait to hear some opinions!

Thanks Marian!

Bought it first thing. The style is a bit different, but Grandma has her hand in it, no doubt. Enjoying it so far.

I'm about 30 minutes into the game and rolling with the action a lot more happily than I expected to.

EDIT from farther along the road: In addition, the voiceovers are pleasant and the graphics are a big improvement over what I recall from the last few MCFs.

I normally recoil from surreal mirror world overdose. This one is brilliantly achieved corny mirror fluidity and all. The bizarro world doesn't last too long...yet although I may change my opinion about that later.

The put-things-together puzzles have those annoying silhouettes. I'm okay with that today because the rest of the game is intriguing enough to keep me engaged despite its haughty disregard for player intelligence.

Personally, I was disappointed the dog was a Jack Russell, not a Border Collie, and a tad confused when my horse didn't throw me before I remembered that the master detective in Dark Parables is the one who is always falling off when her mount is spooked or crashing to earth from a disintegrating one-horse wagon, not the MCF master detective.

Another point: The queen has stopped writing to me. Was it something I said?

Yes, the actual queen died. The MCF queen, however, was part of the fantasy and her voiceovers were a treat. In MCF I don't wish to buy into a trope of fiction, as for example in The Talisman, that chains the fates of doppelgangers. I want the MCF queen back. Barring that, remove the bland dispatcher who is a nonentity and replace her with a livelier character.

Thanks so much for your thoughts on the game, 8dognight and Tally Ho. Much appreciated!

I finished the game and have not yet started the bonus chapter. This game is fairly short, especially for MCF. The graphics fell off in quality at a couple of points then picked back up again; some of them in HOs are remarkably lovely. I do like the game but it is not anywhere near on a par with 13th Skull or Dire Grove Sacred Grove to name but two.

I agree; total time comes to four or five hours, as opposed to ten or twelve (For the main game that is; I also have not started the bonus chapter.) The developers seem to have put their energy into quality instead of quantity. But y'know, I appreciate the higher quality first of all; so - I'll take it. And they maintain the story thread, which I appreciate.

Many previous MCF games recycled the music; using the same composer, I assume. That contributed a feeling of continuity. Not this time. The music has no particular connection to previous games, which gives it a welcome freshness. It may sound contradictory to say that; but both effects are desirable.

About the shortness - be careful how loudly you say that. I once wrote a walkthrough for a (terrible) game, stating right in the WT how short it was. The developers were furious, and actually contacted me and said I was out of line. My reply was, although I had spent hours creating a walkthrough, once I had played the game a few times, I could finish the entire thing in twenty minutes. Short enough for ya? That game, by the way, was the only one produced by those developers. Little wonder.

But I digress. Bottom line: I like this game and look forward to more in the same style.

________________

A note about the collectibles: Each location has two similar objects to find, one just sits there, and the other one morphs. Boy, they can be hard to see. The morphing one changes into something that fits perfectly into the scene, causing it to 'disappear'. Each location also provides a puzzle piece, always found in a zoom closeup. They are also blended in and hard to see. I know a lot of players just ignore the collectibles, but my OCD kicks in and I stubbornly insist on finding them. Better do it first, or my short-term memory kicks out, and it may not possible to return to a location once you travel down the road.

Thanks to all of you for your information and thoughts about the game.

Tally Ho, I don't like collectibles but like you, I am stubborn and try to find them all anyway. I, too, try to get that out of the way first each time I enter a new scene. It's no wonder I lose track of the story. I often end up missing one and that really irritates me (because it is just one and especially if it's a puzzle piece and then I can't complete the puzzle at the end). Sometimes in a close up screen there is one there that you cannot take until you do whatever you're supposed to do there first. I don't like that. If I can see the thing, then let me pick it up.

Oldbroad, you sound like me with the collectibles! I was hesitating getting this MCF as the last ones have not gotten very good reviews. I think I might take the plunge on this one based on the thoughts expressed here - when the price drops. Thank you, everyone!

BOGO sale on right now Drac. If you haven't yet got that Dracula game you wanted you can get them both today for the price of one.

Thanks, oldbroad! I will check it out! I hope it's not just for members as I gave up my membership a long time ago.

EDIT: All I could find was 65% off for members and 35% off for non-members with recent releases not included. I think I'll wait.

Drac, the BOGO sale was for members and nonmembers alike. Today, however, a new sale has gone up, with a lesser discount for non-members.

I would wait for the next BOGO sale if you wish to minimize your expenditure.

Yup, that's what I found. I'll wait for another BOGO.

Yes, the BOGO was Friday through Sunday. Sorry you missed it.