Treasure Seekers 3: Follow the Ghosts
Score: 75% ESRB: 4+ Publisher: G5 Entertainment Developer: Big Fish Games Media: Download/1 Players: 1 Genre: Puzzle (Hidden Object)/ Adventure
Graphics & Sound: Treasure Seekers 3: Follow the Ghosts is a hidden object/adventure title that has you trying to help ghosts find what they need in order to move on to the other side. Treasure Seekers 3 presents itself well, with large locations filled with tons of potential inventory items or hidden objects you will need to tap on in order to progress in the game. The game actually does a pretty good job of making the scenes cluttered, but without too many items feeling like they simply don't belong in the scene, something many hidden object games fail to do. The game's sound is okay, but nothing amazing. The background music feels like something you might hear at a haunted house, but not nearly as dark and forboding as you might think. As a result, you definitely get a ghostly feel from the game, but not in a malevolent way. In Treasure Seekers 3, ghosts aren't typically something to be scared of, just someone to help.
Gameplay: Treasure Seekers 3: Follow the Ghosts follows Nelly, and Tom, who apparently hasn't joined Nelly on her earlier adventures. The two of them will start to investigate a pair of cases that, at first glance, seem to have nothing to do with each other. But as they look deeper into what's going on, it becomes apparent that they are, in fact, connected. The game is broken into five chapters, and the basic idea of each one involves one or both of the characters learning about a ghost's presence and trying to find out some information from it. In the process, they will have to find certain objects that will help that ghost. While there is a small amount of inventory-based puzzles in Treasure Seekers 3, a vast majority is hidden object. Sometimes those hidden object scenarios follow the familiar style of presenting you with a cluttered mess and a list of items to find, and sometimes you will be in one of the game's locations and you will have to put something together, or find all of the parts of something. When this latter style comes around, you will tap on the item in question and pictures of the things you need will appear around it. Finding, tapping and dragging those items into the circle will help complete that task. Of course, there are times when the item you need is in another room and you have to pick it up and bring it to the desired location. This really is the closest Treasure Seekers 3 comes to adventure-style puzzles.
Difficulty: You should be able to make it through Treasure Seekers 3: Follow the Ghosts at a fairly steady pace. I found myself only getting frustrated when the items I was looking for turned out not to be at the scene I was in. When I came across these points, I found myself mostly frustrated because I wouldn't really have any idea which of the available areas might have the object. Of course, if I had happened to see something fitting the description during a previous hidden object challenge at those locations, it was a bit easier to figure out where I might need to go, but in general, I had to use the game's built-in hint system to let it direct me to the proper locations where I might find my missing pieces and parts.
Game Mechanics: Treasure Seekers 3: Follow the Ghosts is a fairly standard hidden object/adventure blend. There have been a lot of these games that have come out recently, especially for the iOS devices. While Follow the Ghosts doesn't really do anything to stand out, it is still a fun series of challenges to play through. I did find one, somewhat technical detail more annoying than helpful. The game allows you to zoom in and out of scenes in order to better see and find the objects you are looking for. This is a great idea, but you really don't get a lot of zoom in Treasure Seekers 3, thus making that feature almost pointless. Other games I've seen do this give you a bit more wiggle room, and they have a tendency to hide the objects in some really interesting ways that you truly need the zoom capabilities to find. Here though, the little bit of zoom doesn't help much, and the picture quality degrades a bit when you do so, so instead of getting a bit more detail, you actually feel like you are losing some. Treasure Seekers 3 is a fun title, and a bit longer than other games in this category. As a result, it is definitely worth the free trial for hidden object fans. By the time your trial period is over, you should have a good idea if the gameplay is up your alley or not.
-J.R. Nip, GameVortex Communications AKA Chris Meyer
Related Links: Treasure Seekers 3: Follow the Ghosts || iTunes Page
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