If you are a common visitor to the world of casual games, perhaps you have already met with Mozart, Marie Antoinette, Edgar Poe and many other famous historical personalities, so there is no wonder that this time you’ll see yet another deceased celebrity, Nicola Tesla, who will become your character’s assistant. If you don’t mind such desecration of the name of the legendary scholar, Tesla’s Tower: The Wardenclyffe Mystery, the new Hidden Object Adventure game developed by Persha Studia and released by Big Fish Games, will definitely appeal to you!.. Read more
The game takes place in our time, but don’t expect to see the world what you’re used to seeing! According to the plot, in 1895, Nicola Tesla conducted an experiment with the ether, which led to his own mysterious disappearance and the fact that all the people of the earth have lost the ability to sense the color and enjoy the music. Perhaps, it doesn’t seem such a terrible loss to you, but the main character of Tesla’s Tower: The Wardenclyffe Mystery claims that Tesla’s experiment has sucked the joy out of her life, so, as you see, it’s all very serious! Soon after the experiment, people have proclaimed Tesla as the villain, and only a hundred years later his young descendant, Marie, decided to get to the truth and find out, what was the true purpose of his infamous experiment. So, here is your turn. To tell the truth, the idea of the ether seemed to me a bit crazy from the first sigh, but I must admit, that it is pretty well substantiated by developers, and indeed it was supported by Tesla in the years of his scientific activity.
The gameplay of Tesla’s Tower: The Wardenclyffe Mystery perfectly suits the plot. The number of traditional hidden object scenes is slightly reduced, while the mini-games occur at almost every step of your virtual journey. Unlike the majority of Hidden Object games, packed with repetitive, overused puzzles, this one offers your attention a whole bunch of completely unique trials. Most of the time you’ll have to deal with various mechanisms, trying to repair the old wiring, run the generator, replace the chip and so on. Fortunately, all the tasks in Tesla’s Tower: The Wardenclyffe Mystery are quite logical, so, if you won’t skip the dialogues and regularly read your diary, you’ll easily cope with them on your own. Or, maybe, not so easily… Anyway, if you somehow manage to get stuck, you can always skip the annoying puzzle by pressing the skip button and move on.
As for the hidden object scenes, in the lower part of the screen there is so-called shopping list showing you, which items you have to find in current location. This list is generated randomly each time you start the mini-game, and only one object is constant. As you might already guess, it is necessary for further progress. Most objects are pretty cleverly hidden, so even if they lie right before your eyes, you won’t notice them from the first sight. Sometimes you will have to open the door, pull out the drawer or remove a piece of cloth, before you can see the thing you need. The scenes are slightly littered, but still don’t look like the junk piles you’re used to seeing. There is no penalty for miss-clicking , and the hint button recharges in about one minute. In addition, when you hover the mouse over the items you can take, the areas you can zoom or the doors you can walk through, your cursor changes to the hand, a magnifying glass or an arrow accordingly. Active areas periodically glitter attracting your attention, so you definitely won’t miss anything important.
Most game hints you get chatting with your virtual assistant, still you won’t get stuck even if you skip them all, as you’ll find enough instructions on the pages of your character’s diary. In addition, you can get an advice by hovering your cursor over an active area. In this case, your character will hint to you, what else you need to do to use it. As well as the dialogues, most cutscenes are skipable. As for the diary, it is pretty well organized and therefore very helpful. For example, you can click on any spot on the map to see what items you’ve picked and what tasks you’ve received in this area. Traveling using the map is not allowed, but it isn’t such a big trouble, taking into account that there’s not much backtrackings.
With regard to the graphics, the so-called world of drained colors looks much lighter and brighter than many modern Hidden Object games. If you’ve found a dark location, probably somewhere on the wall there is a switch that allows you to turn on the light. As for the blurry background, there was only one on the very beginning of the game, when Marie dropped her eyeglasses. Each scene is crystal clear and so beautiful that you just want to tear it into screenshots and set them as your desktop wallpapers. Numerous animated elements presented in almost every scene considerably enliven the static picture. In general, if you like art, you’ll highly appreciate this game for its picturesque interiors and magnificent images of the sky. The only downside of Tesla’s Tower: The Wardenclyffe Mystery’s graphic design is the appearance of game characters. Against the highly detailed backgrounds , cartoon-style characters look a bit strange. Marie, for example, on closer acquaintance turned out to be not as cute, as we would like her to be. As for Tesla himself, he looks more like a mad scientist than an inspired aristocrat, as we have seen him on the photographs survived to the present days. If you reject all comparisons with the real prototype, perhaps he will charm you for a while with his bright facial expressions, still it would take some time to get used to.
In addition to high-quality graphics, Tesla’s Tower: The Wardenclyffe Mystery can boast of a pretty good voice acting. Both the major and episodic characters sound pretty compelling. Background music is also quite perceptible. It is absolutely annoying, but still creates a certain atmosphere, filling your heart with unexplained restlessness and vague sadness. If you have ever played Outcry, perhaps you’ll understand what I mean. These games are quite similar from plot and puzzles to graphics, music, and the fact that your late relative leads you in your journey. The difference is that Tesla’s Tower: The Wardenclyffe Mystery looks much more vivid in color and its ending is not so disappointing. Well, and there is a bit of humble humor that slightly discharges the tense.
In general, depending on your experience, you will pass this game for 5 to 8 hours. Perhaps, you will pass it once again for a while to recall the plot and enjoy the unique riddles. Tesla’s Tower: The Wardenclyffe Mystery’s developers have proved that to win our hearts the game doesn’t need to have all these bloody murders, dark cemeteries, broken dolls and missing friends. It isn’t scary at all, but causes a strong emotional response, and you wish it never ends. Bravo, Persha, we want more!
