Reviews:
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While, at its core, this is still ultimately a hidden object game, the narrative flair, time jumping, and overall feel at least make it refreshingly different
While the Switch certainly has a pretty wide variety of family-friendly titles, more often than not they’re essentially toned-down versions of well-established genres. While those are great prep for future hardcore gamers I also appreciate it when developers take things in different directions than the norm, and in the case of Crime O’Clock revisiting a classic I grew up on (thanks, Highlights magazine), the hidden object game… just given a little extra interest to help it feel appropriate in video game form. Your goal is generally to determine the scene of the crime and then, in a twist, move back and forth in time to track events back to their origins and through their evolution help determine whodunnit. In order to keep it from becoming completely monotonous some mini games will also work their way into things as you perform crime lab and other sorts of functions. While some are a bit more consistently engaging and well-implemented than others they at least accomplish their goal of breaking things up periodically. I’ll admit that after the initial rush from the concept feeling fresh wears away the experience can be a bit one-note on the whole, but given what I’d imagine is the more casual audience it’s generally intended for I’m also not positive that’s a bad thing. Perhaps a bit too slight for more experienced gamers, this feels like something parents could hand off to their younger kids to get their eyes, minds, and thinking caps firing rather than just vegging out on something less carefully and deliberately crafted.
Justin Nation, Score:Good [7.7]