Aaron Crane: Paintings Come Alive

Aaron Crane: Paintings Come Alive is a new adventure game from Match Gems that has you playing as a son who tries desperately to find his missing father and reveal the meaning behind his father’s odd paintings.

Your prime object is to explore each chapter and to find a code to get through the portal to the next chapter, and this is achieved quite logically as you start to collect hidden items. Lots of back and forth as you remember where to use something. Honestly, there is a lot to figure out and some puzzles to solve along the way. Clever hidden objects and intricate tasks make the gameplay just more compelling.

Visually, Aaron Crane: Paintings Come Alive is good, showing the highest standards of value productions. Each location contains a huge amount of details, and hidden object scenes in particular really demonstrate the effort put in by the art team. Best of all, the artwork goes right way to enhance the storytelling.

Only downside so far are the puzzles, for instance, jigsaws, rotating tiles, etc, which aren’t too challenging, but they are still fun to do. The puzzles seem to be absolutely the same type in each chapter so far, so could get a bit repetitive for some. Fortunately, the hint system is just helpful enough to give you a nudge rather than telling exactly what to do next.

Summing up, Aaron Crane: Paintings Come Alive is a refreshing change from the daily Hidden Object games. Thanks to no hand holding, this title makes you think it through. So this a an intriguing adventure game, not too easy and not too slow. What a good breath of fresh air from all tiresome Hidden Object installments!

24, February 2012