Infected

I've mentioned Hidden Object games before, and this is the latest one I played. Infected: The Twin Vaccine. Indeed, the Collector's Edition. Although I'm not sure what the collection is.

The storyline is that young (six year old!) twins got the infection first, one died the other didn't but has gone missing. So it is up to you to hunt around various locations and track her down. And do some very stupid puzzles.

Like... seriously stupid. For example, the fire hose is behind a tile puzzle, which is locked behind getting four keys, which is locked behind three fetch quest puzzles, which is... who does that? Who sets all that up? Who decides that a fire hose should be hidden away? That's just ridiculous. There is a point when the plot should provide some basis to continue the game mechanics, but in this case the game mechanics are there first, and the plot bends in inane ways to allow instances of the mechanics.

And there's a lot of backtracking. Like go three or four screens, get one piece, then go four screens back, then repeat... which, while annoying, is made worse by long loading times. This game isn't huge, and computers are advanced these days, the whole thing could probably be loaded into memory and the player should be able to speed through quickly. That's just unforgivable!

And in this collection, there's a bonus chapter of more story, and art and a behind the scenes movie. In all, three hours to get through the game and that. (And I only had to look something up once, and otherwise didn't use any hints at all.)

The stupid logic and repetitive gameplay get in the way of really enjoying it.

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