Coronation Street: Mystery of the Missing Hotpot Recipe

To tell the truth, being unfamiliar with the Coronation Street TV series, when I first heard about this game, I thought it is just yet another cooking themed HOG, in which the player is tasked to find the necessary cooking ingredients scattered around the kitchen, and then make an exotic dish. As it turned out, it is not the case. The story of the last Avanquest Software’s creation is based on the famous British TV series called Coronation Street, which was aired in 1960 and now has more than 7000 episodes. The main goal of the game, as you might guess from the title, is to help Betty restore her lost hotpot recipe. However this is only a small part of the whole story. Much like the TV series, the game highlights family issues of several characters, each of whom needs your help. Dialogue is skippable, though pretty well written, quite in keeping with the film. Unfortunately, there are no voices when playing through the game, so you will have to read quite a lot of text to keep track of events. The story develops slowly, over time, and realistically. In fact, playing Coronation Street: Mystery of the Missing Hotpot Recipe, you will become a witness to several episodes of everyday life of the main characters that were not shown in the TV series. If you are already familiar with Coronation Street, and managed to love this movie, the game will not disappoint you as well, because it will not only allow you to meet with your beloved characters, but also to feel the unique atmosphere of your favorite British town.

As for the gameplay, Coronation Street: Mystery of the Missing Hotpot Recipe is a classic Hidden Object game, which consists of multiple hidden object scenes and standard puzzles. In other words, there is no possibility to explore the game’s world on your own. All of the hidden object scenes are static shots from the movie littered with all sorts of junk. In my opinion, it is still much better than those ugly drawn backgrounds and odd characters from House, M.D., which made me abandon the game after fifteen minutes of play. Taking into account that even in high resolution Coronation Street: Mystery of the Missing Hotpot Recipe looks pretty crisp and nice, I assume that the quality of its graphics deserves the highest praise. Still, there are several annoying drawbacks. For example, there is a wall frame that makes the scene look much smaller than it could be if the wall would not be there. There also are some irritating visual effects. For instance, when you click the hint button, the screen turns to black and white, and one of the hidden objects from your list gets highlighted for a couple of seconds, so that you’ll need to wait until it stops glowing to understand what it actually is. Items to find are quite a few, and the shopping list is generated randomly. In respect that the graphics is pretty good, the atmosphere is warm and relaxing, and there is a good sound, Coronation Street: Mystery of the Missing Hotpot Recipe could be a brilliant game, if not a couple of flaws. First, there is an obvious luck of innovations, both in the gameplay, and in the graphics. Second, most of the items you need to find are almost invisible. Some of them are too small, the others merge with the background in color or are hidden behind the decorations, so that you can see only a small part of them, which does not allow you to identify the whole object. There also are several hidden object scenes with transparent objects, which look exactly like shadows on the walls, and fully merge with the background. As a result, it is virtually impossible to complete the stage without using a hint. Fortunately, the hint button recharges quickly, and there is no penalty for accidental clicks. As for the puzzles, they aren’t as numerous as the hidden object scenes, and so is their level of challenge. Despite the fact that all the mini-games presented in Coronation Street: Mystery of the Missing Hotpot Recipe are common, I was a little disappointed by the fact that there are no instructions.

There is only one melody, which is constantly repeated during the cut scenes and when you click the hint button. Of course, it is a bit annoying. Ambient sounds are good and diverse. Bear in mind, that there is no music for hidden object scenes. As I have already mentioned above, there is no voice action. Unfortunately, none of the actors who starred in the movie were involved in creating the game, that means that you are offered to explore the scenes already shown in the TV series, which are, however, arranged in a different order, and equipped with new dialogue.

In general, if you are familiar with the Coronation Street TV series, you may appreciate the new meeting with your favorite characters. With its lovely dialogue, nice, relaxing plot and photorealistic graphics, Coronation Street: Mystery of the Missing Hotpot Recipe has a good chance to win the hearts of players. Taking into account the specificity of the last Avanquest Software’s creation, I highly recommend this game to all the fans of daytime soap operas and Corry in particular, who might love its dialogue and plot. In my opinion, it might also appeal to the fans of the most hardcore Hidden Object games with virtually invisible hidden objects and littered hidden object scenes, who might appreciate its gameplay. And finally, if you are tired of all these monotonous horror stories, Coronation Street: Mystery of the Missing Hotpot Recipe will give you a pleasant change. Definitely give it a try!