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Crime Stories 2: In the Shadows:
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Your name is John Doyle, an ex-cop who is seeking revenge for the death of his family. The trail leads you to New York City. On the same evening that you are investigating one of your leads, you hear a loud female voice shouting “Freeze. . . drop your guns” coming from an alley close by. Without any hesitation, you rush to the alley and find two young men pointing a gun at each other. The female officer is positioned further back, moving her gun from one gunman to the other. Within a second, all hell comes loose, and shots are fired from both gangsters. One bullet hits the officer in the leg. You run towards the officer to assist her as one of the gunmen is down, and the other slowly makes his escape. Right at that moment, you know you are going to be involved in a case with the New York Police department. Would this case help you to find additional leads on your family killer? You’ll have to find out in Crime Stories 2: In the Shadows.
Crime Stories 2: In the Shadows is a casual match 3 game developed by e-FunSoft Games and published by HH-Games on the 6th of February 2021 on the Steam platform.
The game consists of 5 chapters each with 4 episodes (worlds in the game) with multiple levels to complete. After creating your name and playing the first level, you arrive on the New York City map. You can scroll the map from right to left and vice-versa. The first glance at the map will not be the best as all the buildings are pretty much in ruins.
Each episode can be unlocked with golden stars, which you earn by completing levels. When you have enough stars, you can unlock the next episode and trigger the next part of the voice narrative.
Most of the levels will have a few tasks to complete. You might need to collect a specific number of golden stars with a gem in the middle, destroy tiles, or collect many specific icons on the board. Some tiles will have an obstacle to get rid of, such as wooden crates, spider webs, coloured tiles or chains, before you can connect 3 of the same icons on these tiles. There are 12 tools that you can purchase to help you clear the tiles faster; you’ll need the golden stars with the gems and have collected plenty of coloured tiles to acquire the tools. Once acquired, you can use them straight away. You collect energy each time you match 3 of the same icon. Match 4, and you’ll receive an energy bonus, match 5 and it will double the bonus or match 6 or more and it will triple it. It’s easy to miss the energy gauge as it is displayed on the bottom left of your screen. Also, you can only have 3 tools to use on any given level. At first, the tools will be grey and as you collect energy, they’ll become colourful, and you’ll be able to use them. Personally, I like the grenades, but it takes plenty match 3 before you can use it.
There is a good mix in terms of the levels, and some will take you quite a while to complete. The good news is you don’t have to worry about a specific time to finish a level. And if there are no more moves available on the grid, it will automatically reshuffle the entire board.
I enjoyed the story and the voice narration, and on top of that, each time you finish a chapter, you’ll have a small hidden object stage to break the sequence a little bit, which is a nice addition.
Pretty good graphics with an excellent jazzy soundtrack. If you don’t like jazz, you can turn the music off in the settings. I must say, it is very well put together, and if you like this genre of game, Crime Stories 2: In the Shadows should find its way to your game library.
Positives:
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+ Nice graphics
+ Jazzy soundtrack
+ Fun story with good voice narration
+ Plenty of levels, including a few hidden object stages
Negatives:
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- I love Jazz, but I had to turn it off after a while
- No achievements or trading cards
Help John Doyle to find his family’s killer through the street of New York. A well put-together match 3 game!
8/10
Key provided by the developer/publisher for review purposes. Any opinions expressed are entirely my own!
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