Puzzled Over the Mystery

By Jamie Wiersma

Our family tried out “Mystery Case Files: The Malgrave Incident” without knowing anything about what we were getting into. After doing a little research, I found out that “Mystery Case Files” are quite popular with PC gamers and that this is the first of the “Mystery Case Files” for Wii. I hope that they make more of these – it is a great adventure!
 

“I Spy” Game

The game is broken up into two different segments. There is the “Multi-player” mode that is basically an “I Spy” game. You enter a room that is filled with objects. You need to find all the listed objects as quickly as you can – attempting to find more than the person/people that you are playing against. As long as you read the words to them, even kids as young as my almost 5 year old can easily play this mode. It WOULD be hard for a child that is unable to read to be able to play by himself.

The Adventure

The other segment is the “Adventure” mode. This is the mode that really gets to the heart of things. There is one main player that controls the remote. At certain times throughout the game, additional players can join in and help. The basic premise of the adventure mode is a mystery that you need to solve. As you navigate the twists and turns, you will come upon some “I Spy” rooms (once you find all the hidden objects you will earn objects that will help you as you continue in your journey), pick up clues that will help you solve things and you will run across challenging puzzles that will allow you to move forward in the adventure once you solve them. We found that working as a family was extremely helpful. Different people saw things in different ways and through the help of everyone, we were able to solve all of the puzzles.
This is a game that takes many, many hours. We spent about 2 weeks tackling the game, playing a couple of hours most evenings. The game is VERY addicting. We would look at the clock, say “Ok, once we solve this puzzle, we’ll be done for the night.” But, after we solved the puzzle, something new opened up , we would get excited and want to keep playing. We also found that if you get super stuck, you can Google “Malgrave Incident Cheats” and there is a website where people ask questions and other people give helps. I don’t think we would have finished the game without the website! While the first time through will definitely be the most challenging, because this game is filled with so many elements, you can easily enjoy the game time and time again.

As a side note, as you move forward in “Adventure” mode, you open up additional rooms in the “Multi-player” mode. This is great – when we first started playing, I was worried that the “I Spy” portion would get boring because you would know where everything is. Once we solved the mystery, there were a ton more options as far as the rooms that you could find objects in. If you like brain-teasers, puzzles, mind games and mysteries, this challenge is for you. Big Fish Games hit a home run. I hope they do it again for Wii. Our family is now a big fan! Have fun and good luck!

Mystery Case Files: The Malgrave Incident is available for the Wii.  It is available through Amazon.com for $28.99 and is eligible for free super saver shipping.

*  I was given a copy of Mystery Case Files: The Malgrave Incident in exchange for my honest review.  All opinions are my own.