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Letters From Nowhere HD
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Graphics & Sound:
The graphics in Letters from Nowhere are very pleasant and, for the most part, things are easy to distinguish. Those that are difficult to see are intentionally made to be that way, so I certainly can't fault the game for that. In your journey, you'll visit a number of different locations within a city like a police station, an office, an apartment, a crypt, a slum, a garage, a workshop and so on. You'll even visit the location of your protagonist's honeymoon. Just like a hidden object game should be, there are tons of little objects hidden all around the levels, whether they are items you'll have to collect or not. You might see a rat hiding in the corner, a spider spinning his web or even a little Chihuahua poking his head out of a purse. The touches are nice and help to create a living, breathing world to explore.
Sound is no slouch either. There is actual voicework in the game for your character, Audrey, and she sounds believable, as does the character of the Postman, a mysterious stranger you'll meet. Additionally, the background music is appropriately eerie and engaging, and there are little background sounds in each level that work to either set you on edge or immerse you. In the police station, you can hear the dispatcher in the background, whereas in the crypt, you'll hear a squeaking mouse. My favorite sounds are in the bedroom where you will hear footsteps and shuffling. It's very creepy and really works for the game. |
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Gameplay:
In Letters from Nowhere, you play as Audrey, a young woman whose husband, Patrick has mysteriously disappeared. The cops can't help her because Patrick's casefile has disappeared as mysteriously as he has, so Audrey is on her own. As she searches for Patrick, she begins finding strange old letters that appear to be directed to her. She will have to search Patrick's last known whereabouts to find pertinent items, in the hopes of bringing him home.
Each level begins with Audrey giving a short explanation as to her plans and then the hunt begins. You'll have a written list at the bottom of the screen of the items you must find to complete the area and some items require combining pieces to get the exact item specified. Additionally, there are three stamps hidden somewhere in the location that you can collect as well, for extra points. While they are always shaped like stamps, the colors can be different and the size can also be disproportionate to what you might expect. To help you along your way, there is a magnifying glass symbol in the bottom right that when clicked, will direct you to one of the remaining items on your list. This hint will refill over time, so you may need it when you get down to the last few items. There are also 4 helpful items you can purchase while in the map screen. When you buy one of these pricey items, they will then be applied to all of the areas you have left to do in that level. The thermometer will tell you whether you are hot or cold, in relation to how close you are to an item; the Jack in the Box will give you a large bonus in points if you locate it; the camera will show you the physical location of 6 six items in a brief flash; and finally, the paint palette will change all of the written items in your list to pictures, so you can find them easier. The downside to these items is that they are pretty costly and then you have to locate them within each area. So you may buy them and simply not find them in your level, rendering them a waste. When you do use them, though, they are helpful, but you have to be quick when you use the camera, because the items are only highlighted for a couple of seconds.
As you work your way through the levels, the story will unfold and you will encounter mini-games that will be either memory puzzles, jigsaw type puzzles, or slide puzzles. These can be skipped after a certain length of time, but they are pretty fun, so I don't recommend skipping them. |
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Difficulty:
Letters from Nowhere doesn't have an adjustable difficulty, but the game has a pretty solid level of difficulty, with it ramping up at a nice pace as you progress. In the early levels, the objects seemed very easy to find, but as you advance, they will get more and more difficult. You'll find yourself thankful for the hint button and the extra help items you can purchase. Even if you don't find them in every area, they do the trick when you do use them.
While Letters from Nowhere doesn't harshly penalize you for clicking on too many incorrect items, if you do 6 or so incorrect taps in a row, you will be docked points for that. However, it doesn't seem to have a problem with you skimming your finger over the screen looking for the items which have to be combined.
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Game Mechanics:
Letters from Nowhere uses the finger tap for most things like collecting items on a list. When you tap an item that still needs a missing part, a set of rotating gears will appear above it, indicating it is missing a part. On the other hand, if you find the missing part before you find where it needs to go, it will simply allow you to pick it up and it will move with your finger. Examples are dentures in a glass or a hammer to smash a piggy bank. Some are easy and obvious, whereas others require you to put your thinking cap on and extrapolate a little bit.
In certain mini-games, you will have to take a bunch of pieces of a picture and reconstruct it by sliding the pieces around. In others, you will encounter a mahjong type game where you will flip items over to reveal symbols beneath and try to match them all. The one that is left will be the item you are missing on your list. Still others will show you an array of items in a miniature shadow box type display and you will have a short period of time to determine which two of the hundred or so items are exact matches. While this may seem an impossible task, I would tend to trigger this puzzle when I was down to only a couple of items left on the main list. The trick is remembering the items left on your list to find and one of these will be the answer to this puzzle. In other words, if you know you haven't yet found the postman's cap, look for those in the array and you'll solve the puzzle. Still another puzzle type requires you to match tiles to symbols, either representing elements in one or the zodiac in another. Since I am not a zodiac expert, I didn't think I'd ever get through this puzzle, but to help you along, once you have a tile in the right spot, it becomes locked there so you aren't undoing the correct placement of any tile.
On one of the same tile puzzles, I had some trouble with getting the iPad to recognize the correct placement of a certain tile. It was the last one and I definitely had it in the correct space, but for whatever reason, it wasn't recognizing this. I finally had to skip that puzzle since I never could get it to work and this annoyed me, because it was the last puzzle in the game and cost me an Achievement for not skipping any mini-games, but I had no choice.
Achievements are available for lots of different things like not skipping a mini-game, earning a certain score, finishing an area in a certain time, etc. If you like to post to Facebook, you can easily share the Achievement or simply chose to skip that step.
Overall, I enjoyed Letters from Nowhere, but the story leaves you on a cliffhanger. While you do find out who has been sending you the letters and what happened to him, you don't get to save Patrick in this game, presumably because another adventure is looming just over the horizon. While that is well and good, I do like closure in my games, so I wasn't too crazy about this. There's a free demo where you can try a couple of levels out. If you are wavering, give it a try and if you like what you see, you'll enjoy the entire game.
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-Psibabe, GameVortex Communications AKA Ashley Perkins |
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