Point and Click

Before I got into WoW I was a point and click junkie. My nerves can't really handle games that move in "real-time", where you daren't take a breather for fear of some bloodthirsty zombie leaping around the corner at you. I like puzzle solving, exploring and getting really immersed in another world.

I've started playing a game that's a couple of years old now, called "Dark Fall: Lost Souls". It's the third in a series, but you don't need to have played the first two as the story stands up perfectly well on its own. You play a police inspector investigating the disappearance of a little girl called Amy, who vanished five years ago, and the inspector's never been able to forgive himself for failing to solve the case the first time around. The story is set in the ficticious town of Dowerton, a decrepit, deserted ghost town filled with eerie symbollism; rusty scissors, satanic markings on the walls and mannequins taking the place of the town's former citizens.

I've loved the game so far. It's played on my mind a lot even away from the screen, which is how you identify a really good point and click mystery in my opinion. There are some disturbingly scary moments, notably one scene where you have a timed puzzle to solve, and a creature called a "Forgotten One" lurches towards you in a frightening stop-frame animation type sequence brought about by a malfunctioning light bulb.

My only criticism of Dark Fall (and it is a biggie, if I'm honest) is an awful bug where if you move your cursor too close to the edge of the screen the cursor disappears, meaning the game is unplayable and the only option is to Ctrl+Alt+Delete. My advice is SAVE OFTEN, although I really should practice what I preach as I lost a whole evening of game play last night thanks to this bug. You'd think they'd have released a patch since it's been out since 2009.

Overall I'd thoroughly recommend Dark Fall if you're looking for an immersive, atmospheric game you can dip in and out of without developing a WoW-style addiction.

Oh, and I've started another blog based around my rediscovered love of reading. There's not much there yet but if you'd like to follow my book reviews and literary meanderings then check out:

http://bookloversboudoir.blogspot.com/

Until next time peeps...be strong, stay logged off ;-)