I think I must’ve played every hidden objects game that came out after the first Mystery Case Files. So I must admit that I’m a little jaded: I’ve played some truly good ones, and some really, really bad ones. The score has generally been in the green, however, so I wasn’t too worried about whether Oberon Games (who also created Dream Day Wedding) was going to have a good game. I knew it was going to be a good game – I was just worried how Dream Day Wedding’s flaws would march on.

What flaws are these, you may ask? Dream Day Wedding has its quirks – the glowy dreamy graphics were lovely, but I had a heck of time finding certain things. Mostly there were expectations that you’d be able to find something that 5×5 pixels. Sure, I enjoy a challenge, but there’s a limit. In Death on the Nile, after hunting the sharks for a while and not being able to find them for the 4th time the timer ran out, I resorted to making a screenshot and posting it in an image editor.

Death on the Nile borrows heavily from traditional point and click adventure games for its mini-games. From the questioning of the suspects (which is optional) to the mini-games which are actually puzzles, death on the Nile feels a lot like a 1st person adventure game. These puzzles are completely optional, and they add to the game and gives the game a storyline – this is actually the only hidden objects game I’ve come across with a real storyline, not just one hammered together for the sake of finding stuff. (Which I don’t mind either, but this is icing on the cake, yeah?)

Some of the puzzles that are mandatory is hard enough to have some people scratching their heads (the one I received the most questions about was the one in Allerton’s Room – Complete the Rainbow) but logical enough to be solved without resorting to a walkthrough. I really enjoyed this element of the game – it’s new and adds to the genre instead of just being “gimmicky.” I’m sure this will be picked up by other developers soon enough and we’ll see it in other games. I especially liked the fact that some objects are “clues” that actually has something to do with the storyline.

Graphics in Death on the Nile is smooth and responsive and everything is very well-drawn.. The music is lovely albeit VERY repetitive. The cut scenes are really no more than slideshows of character portraits and text. It would’ve been nice to see dialog being read alond by actors, but I guess that might be asking for too much. Overall, though it has adult themes, you CAN play the game with children given that you skip the cutscenes entirely. It does save anywhere, so it’s technically a minute game. BUT -and it’s a big but – the load screen for the main menu as well as the profile loading takes up to a minute and a half; that drops it down to the five minute break category. Overall, a worthy addition to the hidden objects genre.