I finally waited for the treasured box with the new Crime Scene to fall into my hands. This is a series of detective games in which you need to operate a phone, tablet or any object that can scan QR codes (an iron is definitely not suitable). Buy the game, download the application in the app store or Google market and go ahead with the songs.
My blog has already had as many as 3 reviews of the first games in the series (one, two and three). Today I will talk about the fourth game, which is dedicated to the Middle Ages, which is already clear from the title =)
in a box
Immediately it should be written that the Middle Ages is an independent game, i.e. you don’t need any other base boxes to play Medieval. In some way, maybe it can be called a restart of the series. The box has shrunk in size, the evidence field has become thin. And so, in principle, we have a standard independent set of Crime Scene – a deck of characters, a deck of items and evidence, double-sided location boards, a field for evidence, a starting location board. Of the absolutely new – a dog card and dream cards.
In terms of quality, everything seems to be quite suitable, given that this is for the most part a one-time game, after passing which it can be sold. It seems that the cardboard has become thinner, but for the most part, the thickness of the cardboard here would have affected the price, and hardly anyone wants to see the deluxe version of the game with a one-time passage … IMHO, there is nothing to complain about.
Bloody streets of Paris
The new arch takes us to France, in the 1400s. We play as the knight Abelard Lavelle, who is periodically haunted by prophetic visions of crimes. That is why people who have something happened to us periodically turn to us for help. As soon as something disturbing was dreamed, then the poor fellow, who had a misfortune, was already hanging around the threshold.
In terms of gameplay… To be honest, you won’t find anything new in this box. It’s the same good old Crime Scene with barcode scanning on character and location cards and viewing crime scenes on your phone or tablet.
Download the application, launch the game, choose one of four scenarios (one tutorial is also available), lay out the cards on the table, as the application asks to do – and solve the crime =)
To talk to a character, you need to scan his QR code, to go to another location – we scan the code, to ask someone about the items found – we scan the code, to contact an assistant – we scan the code. As we scan, we will meet new characters, find new clues, move to new locations. After some time, the application will ask us to meet with the customer and reveal the essence of the matter to him by answering a few questions. Who was killed, what, why, what was the victim’s hobby, where did his half-sister work, who was her lover, what was the name of the lover’s cat, etc.
For each correct answer we get points. At the end of the game, we can read a short description of the whole case, in which we find out what we were right about and what we were wrong about. If we went through a case pretty badly, because we filled up a bunch of questions, then it’s better to replay it again to find all the secrets.
The change of setting primarily affected the scenery. Now we roam the streets of Paris, talking with nobles, prostitutes, priests. owners of public baths, cooks and various other interesting people. What is interesting – in the game, the enmity between the French and the British is also played out in the background (the Hundred Years War.
if anyone studied poorly at school =)). I am pleased with the fact that the authors of the game are trying to play different versions of detectives, not limited to their classic death. It was a pleasant surprise for me to be transported to the year 1400 and play as a detective knight. It turns out that in those years there was also something to investigate =) So refreshing the topic is a big plus for me.
For me, as having played all the previous games in the series, innovations were most interesting. How has the game progressed? What’s new? And I probably have not very good news for you. There are two main novelties – vision cards and a dog card. Since we have a clairvoyant protagonist, before the start of each scenario, we receive several vision cards, which depict scenes from the crime that took place. Of course, we still have no idea how these pictures are related to the case we have to take on.
but as we progress we will begin to understand what kind of people are depicted on the vision cards and what items are key. For the most part, these are clues for us to pay attention to. For example, somewhere during the search we did not see one important item, but we can find it on one of the dream cards. These cards point us to the right path of investigation. Sometimes it just happens that the detectives seem to get into a dead end, when everyone has asked everyone, but the case does not go any further. In this game, we can find clues on visions. If you do not want to make the gameplay easier, then you can just play without visions (in fact, as they did before).
Doggie is also nothing more than facilitating the gameplay. Having found an object, you can let the dog smell it (scan first the dog, then the object), and if he smells a familiar smell, he will take you immediately to the place where the person who owns this object is located. For example, you can talk to an eyewitness who admits that the murdered person hung out with the guys who spend time in such and such a tavern. Or you can give a dropped wallet to a dog, and she will immediately take you to the tavern.
