Game Links: Bubbling Under

In this feature I’ll introduce a couple of games that would not merit a feature on their own just yet on my count. But here’s a few words on PlayDetective: HeartBreakers ja Storked!.

The Banal Life of a Detective

In PlayDetective: HeartBreakers the player has to take the role of a detective snooping around and peeping in people’s private life as he takes on infidelity suspect cases. You read that right, no glamorous murder or heist cases but instead the gritty stuff of tailing ordinary people while being paid by their significant others. A brave subject for a game and if treated right and combined with good mechanics, potentially something very interesting. Sadly, this particular game failed me on both counts.

The gameplay is unique and slightly like an adventure game. Instead of moving your avatar in the screen you watch as the game events pass by and collect clues by using three tools that the detective has: eavesdropping, listening phone calls and taking photographs. Additionally there are mini-games; by completing them the player gets money to buy the equipment needed to use the detective tools (what, doesn’t the client pay anything?). The gameplay is linear, meaning that if you miss a clue or more you’ll have to start the episode over at some point as you do not have enough clues to solve the case.

This combined with the Cheaters -like treatment of the subject make the game a peculiar combination, to me a bit unnerving too.

But here’s the trailer so youse all can decide for yourselves:

Penguins, Storks and Animal Babies = Super-Cute Casual Megahit?

Storked is a Windows puzzle game by Graduate Games. In Storked, you control penguins (awww!) who help the stork (owwwwww! how cute!) to deliver an egg to the bird family that is waiting for it (owwww! … ewww! Cuteness overload.) The game is basically a side-scrolling platform game wih falling instead of jumping. The basic idea is that the penguin, thumbless and armless as he is, has to kick the egg around instead of carrying it. In addition to that the penguin has to throw snowballs at triggers to open doors etc.

The basic controls work okay, but what makes the game boring is it’s slow pace and that it is simply too easy. The few starting levels did not produce any kind of challenge in the normal difficulty mode. Everything just went as supposed. And there are plenty of easier difficulty levels. So, the penguins will probably manage without my help too.

I could say that this is probably a good game for the younger children in the family; the problem is that I’ve just heard about this 3-year old of my friends that has played thorugh Samorost in a single session so I’ll have to scratch that. Maybe for the serene ones in the family who aren’t that much acquinted with the computer? A good solid game for senior citizens?

But, once again, you decide yourselves, as here’s the trailer of the game: