After playing through Parker & Lane: Criminal Justice, I was quite disappointed. However, with the second entry, Twisted Minds, I ended up being more positive about the series and I have to admit, I enjoyed this game a lot more than its predecessor. It's no secret that I am utterly interested in a crime plot fueled with addictive gameplay, which both got fulfilled with the Parker & Lane series. Given that most time management games are about serving food, I felt even more grateful for a crime entry, which bummed me even more after Criminal Justice let me down. Luckily, Parker & Lane: Twisted Minds happened to fix all my complaints about the first game and finally became a great game like I am used to by the publisher GameHouse.
Even though Twisted Minds takes place after Criminal Justice, it's not necessarily required to play the predecessor beforehand as both cases are not related at all. However, it might be confusing at times as this game hints a lot at the happenings and reveals from the previous entry.
[url=https://steamcommunity.com/id/xTentacleBunny/recommended/761790]Feel free to check out my review for Parker & Lane: Criminal Justice.[/url]
[h2]Partners in Crime… Solving. Once Again.[/h2]
Parker & Lane: Twisted Minds takes place after Criminal Justice where Lily and Victor managed to solve a case together, despite all odds. When both finally have some peace, a new case suddenly comes up and they end up working together once again. You see, the special thing here is that this case is related to Lily's past which she, unfortunately, isn't completely over yet. With this case, she has to face her demons and hopefully, overcome all the hurdles on her way. However, everything gets even messier when the evidence doesn't add up and Lily ends up missing as well.
[h2]The Plot and its Execution[/h2]
With this entry, there is finally some connection to the story of the main character, Lily Park. The issue I had with the previous game was that the happenings felt out of nowhere and even random at times, so I couldn't warm up with Lily nor Victor. Luckily, the plot gets much more personal this time and a lot of reveals in Criminal Justice eventually made more sense now, such as the reason Lily is taking medications or her being claustrophobic. All in all, it felt like I finally got to know Lily better and along with this game, I started to get attached to her. Although the player doesn't know a lot about the other protagonist, Victor, yet, it's a step in the right way.
Although the love triangle in Criminal Justice was rather subtle, I was worried it would be more present here. However, the romance is not noticeable here at all, which I am utterly grateful for. This entry focuses more on the plot and happenings than dramatic romance scenes and I found it just fitting for a crime series. Although I think Lily and Victor are indeed compatible, I prefer it when romantic feelings develop slowly, over time. Even though this aspect was not overdone in the previous entry, I still found it off and way too fast which even delights me more that this game takes it a bit slower so the player can actually understand their relationship.
[h2]Satisfying the Clients[/h2]
So, gameplay-wise Parker & Lane: Twisted Minds works like a typical GameHouse game where the clients have various different requests the player has to fulfill. There are sixty main story levels available, with thirty challenge levels, which makes ninety levels in total. Each story level, the player can gain up to three stars, although only one is required to successfully complete it. The more stars are reached, the more coins will get rewarded to the player. With the help of the coins, there are abilities that can get upgraded to get certain benefits during the playthrough such as the character walking faster or the clients being more patient.
But that's not all, there is a challenge available for each story level that is optional to complete for receiving a diamond, although they're required for the challenge levels. In challenge levels, the player can earn up to three diamonds in total. With this currency, the player can unlock pictures in a photo album that briefly summarizes the past of Lily and her family.
As always, there are mini-games available throughout Parker & Lane: Twisted Minds and some of them already appeared in the previous game. However, overall there are a lot of new mini-games available in this entry and luckily, the issues I had with Criminal Justice got resolved in this game: The balance of the difficulty. You see, in the predecessor, the mini-games and levels were not well-balanced which made some of them way too easy while others were too hard to complete. But luckily, this wasn't very noticeable in Twisted Minds anymore.
There are four playable characters in total, although the player cannot freely choose with whom they want to play but it's settled with each level. Usually, I always feel that playable characters besides the main character don't really are fitting in these types of games, however, I loved that thing about Twisted Minds as it's not randomly implemented for refreshing gameplay, but actually makes sense as Lily goes missing quite early in the game. Although not all of them are the protagonists, they still play a critical role in this game and I was delighted to see their point of view as well.
[h2]Graphics and its Immersion[/h2]
Graphic-wise, Parker & Lane: Twisted Minds is beautiful. I love the design of all GameHouse games and this one is no exception. Something that stood out immediately to me here is that, although some areas of the previous games got used again, they got slightly altered so I never felt like I was going through the very same part again. But that's not all, for some locations, the items varied for each level which made each of them more challenging for me. When I think I got used to the objects, the game just replaced them with new ones, which didn't only give a lot of detailed visual changes but also kept the whole game much more entertaining to me.
[h2]So, what do we have in the end?[/h2]
I enjoyed Parker & Lane: Twisted Minds more than its predecessor in every way. The story finally had a direct connection to the protagonist, Lily Parker, and with this entry, I felt like I could sympathize much more with her. To my delight, even the design of the game was kept refreshing while still implementing the same locations from Criminal Justice, although they are not the very same but are altered. Overall, I am glad to see the improvement of this series, and the issues getting fixed, and can highly recommend Parker & Lane: Twisted Minds to fans of the series, as well as to those who didn't manage to enjoy it previously as this entry is much more enjoyable and polished.
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