Muse

Intrigued by the vivid introduction to a new game, we let this cartoon-like game fool us in a cruel way. Its pictorial illustrations lull our vigilance, promising the same expressive gameplay. But our hopes and illusions are shattered within a few minutes when this game begins its annoying narration and its ‘cuddly’ graphics turn into cutesy pictures.

We would have to define Muse by Big Blue Bubble as a hidden object title with random mini-game and puzzle segments. The story is paper-thin focusing on a girl that asks you to travel to the imagination of artists. According to the rule of this genre, there is an evil-doer who complicates your adventure. There is a choice of difficulty modes: timed and untimed. The hidden object puzzles are very frustrating, both because of the artwork, and due to the developer’s efforts to make hidden items as unrecognizable as possible. On top of that the penalty click is really horrible – it takes you back to the the scene instructions right away.

In Muse, the mini-games are all well-familiar for hidden object veterans. Maybe two or three mini-games are a bit different. However, this is too insignificant for such a premise. To crown it all, there is no ‘skip’ button for these segments so you have to ‘enjoy’ all of these mini-games. The music background breaks dreamy atmosphere of this installment. Moreover, it doesn’t only serves the game but even try player’s patience. If you do not want your head explodes, turn it off immediately. All in all, it is one of the shortest games. The reason is not in its gameplay length but we can devote this boring play no more than 10 minutes. What a frost!

9, February 2011