Mystery P.I.™ - The Lottery Ticket

Great game!

This game really just feels like an inferior version of the Amazing Adventures games, also developed by SpinTop and published by PopCap. You have a certain number of levels, each consisting of a few different hidden object puzzles in different locations that relate to a relatively thin plotline. But this game does it worse. For one thing, the AA games have a timer that is shared across every puzzle within each level. In those games, the timer pauses when you're on the map to choose a hidden object puzzle, but in this game, the timer continues counting down while on the map, which adds unnecessary stress. Second of all, after completing each level of an AA game, you have to do a unique puzzle, such as memory match puzzles, word search puzzles, rotating tile puzzles, and more. I've beaten two levels of this game, and both of them ended with memory match puzzles. Not only that, but both puzzles had 6 x 6 grids, which seems like too much for just the first two levels in my opinion. I don't really want to keep playing and find out if every single level has a 6 x 6 memory match game. Also, the images in this game are grainier and more pixellated than the ones in the AA games, which makes finding the objects just a little bit harder. Finally, I wanna talk about the story of this particular game. How the heck did this old lady lose her lottery ticket? I know that the Amazing Adventures games don't have characters onscreen, but I feel like a series about being a PI should allow for unique character interactions, which this game is sorely lacking so far. There should be some sort of villain or culprit who stole the ticket, and the player has to track them down. There should be witnesses who the player talks to in between levels. This story feels like such a wasted opportunity. If you want to play a fun hidden objects game, I recommend one of the Amazing Adventures games, which you can also find on Steam. They're not exactly the most mindblowing or revolutionary games you'll ever play, but they're still more polished and enjoyable than this,