Regardless of what you think about hidden-object games, Unlikely Suspects contains a few surprises. It's a genre bender that combines some puzzle aspects and a continuous narrative far better than most games of its kind. It also looks gorgeous. The time and attention paid to the interface is a staple of MumboJumbo, but they've reached some new highs with Unlikely Suspects. If we were to make a comparison, we'd point to something like the C.S.I. games, and say that what Unlikely Suspects achieves is what we would have wanted (but never quite got) in a C.S.I. game. Instead of trying to do realistic crime-scene analysis and drama, Unlikely Suspects leverages static imagery and set pieces to give aspiring detectives a sandbox for deduction. Actual sleuthing is a relatively small part of the game, as opposed to finding obscure objects in multiple locations around the world. Each set piece is chock full of objects, many of which you won't use, and some that are probably just red herrings. Music or voice acting doesn't play a role, which would be the only way to really tip the scales any further in terms of production values. The focus on visual problem-solving pays off, as the game goes beyond just searching for items and gives you a rogue's gallery where you have to scan, read and interpret clues to solve the mystery at hand.

The cool thing from the standpoint of replay value is that you'll have lots and lots of mysteries to solve before the game's done. MumboJumbo touts "more than 4,000 different outcomes," which we suspect is true given the possible combinations of character attributes. There may not be enough variety in terms of hidden items, so there's the rub. Basically, to get a feel for Unlikely Suspects, you have to picture the typical hidden-object game. You navigate through screen after screen, and follow word clues that match objects hidden in the scene. As these games have become more popular, you've seen variations like phrases instead of words, which shows up in Unlikely Suspects. Instead of "Broom" you'll see a clue like "Cleaning stick" and have to figure out what that means before you can find the object. This becomes a bit like a combination of a crossword puzzle and a hidden-object game, but there are still plenty of easy hints available. Other techniques include objects with which we're not always familiar, such as a dressmaker's form. If you don't know what this is, it becomes pretty hard to find it on-screen. The extra element that is added in Unlikely Suspects is a mystery that you're attempting to solve. After each successful round of hidden-object gameplay, you're presented with another clue, telling you something about the way the crime was committed, or an observation about the perpetrator. Now we're talking about a mash-up of a game like Clue, which is a pretty good comparison to the gameplay in Unlikely Suspects. If you're not sold on playing through the career progression, you can always choose Quickplay to jump right in and start solving puzzles. It sounds simpler than it is, but the complexity is a plus for Unlikely Suspects, not a demerit.

As mentioned, there are a few tricks up the sleeve in Unlikely Suspects that make it harder to find objects, but that's usually the end of the challenge in this type of game. Unlikely Suspects adds another dimension by combining deduction with the hidden-object sequences. Process of elimination is really what you'll be doing, because each clue helps you eliminate one of the many potential suspects. Clues are delivered as brief reports from a coroner or witness to the crime, so reading is a requirement. Each clue tells you something that you can use to cross-reference and eliminate a person or weapon, but it's often subtle. Because there are always multiple suspects and weapons that may match a single clue, you need to collect quite a few clues in order to trim the list down. It's entirely possible to whittle down your choices and still end up wrong, so this element of Unlikely Suspects is really where the game becomes interesting for puzzle veterans and falls out of reach for younger players.

Since there's not a lot of action in the game, the controls as such are almost irrelevant. What we did notice was that things felt responsive to the touch, but there's little chance of selecting an item by mistake. The hidden objects are built right into the background, sometimes disguised to the point that you'll need a hint. If you just stab around the screen, you'll get audio feedback that you're on a cold trail, versus the immediate gratification of touching a critical item and seeing it drift up and dissolve. The other parts of the game are accessed through a simple, tabbed-browser like interface where you can see weapons, suspects, clues gathered, and a map of locations you can visit. Some locations are just a dead end, but you can raise the odds in your favor by matching objects found at the crime scene with their most likely point of origin. We found Unlikely Suspects easy to navigate, never getting in its own way. Like most of the products that have come out of the MumboJumbo stable, this is one that you're going to want to pick up. It's polished beyond what you'll find in the majority of the games out there, and worth every penny of its asking price. In the crowd of similar games, Unlikely Suspects is a standout.