[code][h3][b][url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/45030479/]🧩Undecided & Puzzled Reviews🧩[/url][/b]Visit and follow my curator page if you enjoyed this review💜[/h3][/code]
[h2][b]Unsolved Case: Above the Law Collector's Edition[/b][/h2]
Going in now to the 4th game in the series. Aesthetically it continuous the comic book style in cut scenes implemented in the previous game.
Immediately starting with a nitpicky item: The subtitles changed. The new look felt a little cheap compared to previous games. Nothing that affects the game, thus nitpicky but it affects the aesthetic of the game. Later on there will also be grammatical errors and some translation errors as well making some sentence make absolutely no sense.
In the last game a new character was added [spoiler] to replace the chief since they kill him off at the end [/spoiler]. I'm not a fan. His storyline for this game felt disorganized and as if they ran out of ideas. [spoiler] Plus it takes a drastic turn that makes you wonder why they even added him in the first place.[/spoiler] Making matters worse, the voice acting for this character is terrible. I'm sorry for saying this about the voice actor but it just felt empty and devoid of emotion. I even thought it might be AI and stayed through the credits to verify it was an actual person
This game also adds a new character too. Right off the bat so it's no spoiler. [spoiler] Now what's really a spoiler is that this character is replacing Scott, your partner for the previous games.[/spoiler] I did not find this new character likeable. I tried. It did get tolerable as chapters passed but still, no. I don't think this addition was a good move. [spoiler] It still doesn't make sense why get rid of Scott and add a newbie as your partner with a too bubbly personality too that doesn't quite fit in. I know Scott got hurt in the last game's ending but just as the game is about to end he comes back in through the door with a " you can't get rid of me that easy" attitude, implying he's back. [i] Edit-"Glad to be working with you again partner. Job well done." are actually the words he says when he comes back- I replayed the game just to be 100% sure I didn't get that wrong-End Edit [/i] Yet his departure was not even mentioned on this one. The only glimpse we get at something is in Chapter 3 where the player collects a picture with Scott in it and the subtitle reads "Good memories" [/spoiler]
Now to the Hidden Object Scenes. Something they hadn't done before- re-use a full area. I was in shock that they went that low so far into the series. Yes they had different and sometimes random decorations but it was the exact same - for example- outside of a building we might've seen in the second game. This type of thing is repeated at least 2 more times where they re-use the whole area and dress it up from its previous use. Some of the assets in these areas didn't even make sense. I remember seeing a burger, just plain burger sitting on a fountain border and going " what in the…", it was that bad.
Within the areas they sometimes reused the same scene a few times, changing the style of hidden object play from my least favorite, to find the pattern or silhouette. I wasn't thrilled they re-used them so much but I wasn't surprised either. The level of difficulty for these I'd place as mostly balanced, but it did get to a point where I finished them way too fast. If the game had Steam achievements, I probably would've gotten quite a few for speed and no misses.
Now to the puzzles. I had an issue in chapter 3 were one of the puzzles was simply broken. I even exited the game to see if that would fix it but no luck. I even went to the guide to get the correct answer and it still wouldn't work. The only way I was able to proceed was by skipping the puzzle/mini-game altogether. I don't know if this was a big for my game or for every game installation but obviously this was not a good experience. [spoiler] The puzzle I had trouble with in Chapter 3 was the one where you have to climb a wall and select the correct rocks to climb it.[/spoiler]
In my honest opinion, all the puzzles have been terrible in some way. I can't say one of the puzzles was enjoyable (with the exception of one in the bonus chapter). I do like the map puzzles but those are not new to the series. There were a handful I thought were okay and many puzzle styles we've seen before as well. The creativity in the puzzle front was almost none in this one and the difficulty could be very easy (even in hard) or just ,no pun intended, puzzling.
In this game, they got rid of the Colleague Status mechanic (which I never really understood nor did I see it affect the story) and instead replaced it with the star system that most Domini games have adopted. As with other Domini games, the star system gives the player a the choice of a bad ending, an okay ending and a good ending, depending on how many stars you have collected through decision scenes. The good ending only being available if you purchase the DLC since it gives access to the full game. The DLC being something I highly disapprove of.
The bonus chapter wasn't impressive either. One of the first few puzzles even has an error in the given clue to solve it. This clue being necessary to solve the puzzle. Luckily it's easy to figure out even with the error, but it isn't something that should've been dismissed, it should've been addressed and fixed. Also in the bonus chapter, as far as the stars go, I had more than enough to get the ok ending, yet when the time came it immediately gave me the bad ending. Thinking I might've mis-clicked at some point I replayed the chapter and saw how the trajectory star map changed once the final step was taken. Again, don't know if this was a big in my game or for all games. I wasn't very happy about this one. The bonus chapter to me had the best story in the whole game so it made it extremely disappointing to not be able to see the "okay" ending.
In all honesty, this game was really hard to get through. The only reason I did it was to be able to give a proper review and because I'm a completionist. If it's a game series, I like to finish it, but i had to drag myself to do it.
This is one of the few games in all of my reviews (200+ full reviews and over 500 curators ones) that I will not recommend. The only reason I would say "get it" is if you are like me- a completionist or a reviewer (or both!). I would also say wait until its dirt cheap. Full price is completely out of the question.
I haven't played the next one in the series yet and sadly I'm not so hopeful seeing the overall reviews it already has, but completionist I say. Let's hope for the best!
These are my reviews for the previous games in the series in release order:
1.[url=https://steamcommunity.com/id/UndecidednPuzzled/recommended/2228400?snr=1_5_9__402] Unsolved Case: Fatal Clue CE [/url]
2.[url=https://steamcommunity.com/id/UndecidednPuzzled/recommended/2353870?snr=1_5_9__402] Unsolved Case: Murderous Script CE [/url]
3.[url=https://steamcommunity.com/id/UndecidednPuzzled/recommended/2487160?snr=1_5_9__402] Unsolved Case: The Scarlet Hyacinth CE [/url]
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