Detective Stories: Hollywood - A Gamer's Review

Yes, you read that heading right - story line. There actually is a story line to this puzzler - you are a budding detective who is searching for a missing actor and you have to follow the clues through the different people in the game to find him. At each different person (who you will find resembles and is named similar to a real-life actor or director), you will have 3-5 different puzzles to solve that range from finding objects to replacing them where they go in the picture. Each different person will hold a different piece to the puzzle of finding the missing person and help you on your way to becoming a true detective.

In the game play itself, you will find aspects like most of the other "find it" puzzlers that are out there on the market today. But, in this one, not only will you have tons of items to find in a picture, you will also have several different types of puzzles that you won't find in other games of this type, such as: replacing items where they were, finding a certain number of small items (such as rings) in the picture, finding an object in the picture by it's shape, and finding parts of an object in the puzzle to complete one thing (such as an air pump) that will then be placed somewhere in the picture itself to help you solve it. Since the puzzles change up with how you solve them, it makes this puzzler more interesting than most of them out there on the market today. This is why I give Detective Stories: Hollywood a 5 out of 5 when it comes to the story line and game play.

While the story line might be corny to you and even some of the clichéd puzzles may be as well, you will have to admit that the graphics in the puzzles and the story areas are pretty impressive. These are actually real items and real backgrounds that have been spliced together almost seamlessly to create some super puzzles. While you will find some objects that are blatantly out of place, the vast majority seem to just blend in and melt with all of the other items around them, which makes your puzzle solving skills even better as you search through every little area of the game to find what you need. The graphics in the puzzles make the game great to me, as I really had a tough time finding some of the items on my list, and this is why I give the graphics here another solid 5 out of 5.

So, what is my gamer's opinion overall of Detective Stories: Hollywood? Well, I'd have to say that I was impressed. Big Fish Games really hit the jackpot with this one and it is obvious that the developers put in some time here. While the game itself is almost $20 alone, you can join the Big Fish Games site and get great discounts on the games offered there, including this one. And, if you simply want to try this game out before you take the plunge and purchase it - there is a free 60 minute trial for all of you skeptic gamers out there. But, this is one game that I would definitely recommend to anyone, as kids and adults alike will love trying to solve the mystery of the missing actor in this great puzzler.