Review Hauntings of Mystery Manor Developer: Cindy Pondillo Publisher: Cindy Pondillo Genre: Adventure Release Date: June 2005 Platform: Review by Tally-Ho July 20, 2005		Buy this game at Trade for this game at:

This game is nothing short of remarkable. Don't get me wrong; it's not a world-class top-shelf adventure game that will take the gaming community by storm; it's not even likely to win any trophies at a big convention - what astounds me is that it was conceived, created, produced and published by ONE PERSON! Cindy Pondillo, the gal in charge of the Mystery Manor Adventure Game website, came up with the idea, wrote the story, assembled the graphics and music, tossed it all up in a software engine designed for games, and successfully launched this project all by herself. Finally, she put it in the hands of some beta testers, who proof-read the text, made some helpful suggestions, and voilà - a game is born. I'm impressed!

You, the gamer, have been away from home for quite a while. You have inherited the old mansion and return, only to find nobody home except the ghosts of those who lived there in your absence. Each ghost has a story to tell, and each has something he or she needs in order to be released from confinement. As you point-and-click your way through a dozen or so rooms, some of which will look familiar to visitors of the Mystery Manor website, you find objects to pick up, stories to read, and clues to help you sort out which ghost wants what object. It's a pleasant mix of inventory puzzles; not just a simple find-the-key task. Some items need to be combined in order to work, and some conversations need to be completed in order to trigger other events.

The website is an adventure in itself, by the way. It's the manor where the game takes place more or less, and devotes itself to all phases of adventure games. For example: the ballroom features musical selections from various games, the attic provides saved games (where else would you save things?) the dining room features recipes (Kate Walker's Chocolate Cream Pie for example,) the Billiard Room provides games and links to other games; the Sewing room has a collection of - what else - patches! The grounds are a nice place for a stroll; you guessed it - find your walkthroughs there. And so on.

Usually a reviewer gets picky and rates the various components of a game. I guess that's fair in this case, as long as the reader remembers that this game was generated by one individual, not a team of engineers, writers, artists, and so forth.

Graphics

I must say these are unusually high quality for a solo project. I have looked at several games produced by the AGS engine, and there are good and bad efforts out there - rarely do the graphics even approach the quality seen in Hauntings of Mystery Manor. Of course, the author had a ready source by using the rooms available from the website itself, but "no harm, no foul" she didn't pick up somebody else's work, she already owned them. There are more rooms in the game than there are in the website, by the way.

Sound

It would have been nice to hire a bunch of actors to read the lines; the player must read the text instead. But hey - this is a single-handed project, remember? That said, I must give highest praise to the music. Different rooms have different background music (some rooms have none at all, which is refreshing too) and the music that is used is always appropriate to the situation, and of high quality. In addition, there are the usual sound effects, all good stuff.

Story

Well, the story isn't complicated; I've told most of the plot without the details, in this review. But what's important is, the story works; which is the major requirement for success in a game, in my opinion. If the story behind a game falls apart, the game falls apart with it; regardless of the millions spent on graphics, engineering and advertising. We've all seen it happen; the player still needs to believe in the story. You know what matters in real estate; location-location-location . . . well, what matters in adventure games is good writing, good writing . . .

Want to play the game? You can buy it here: Purchase Hauntings of Mystery Manor. Check that page also, for system requirements and other information. For a mere fifteen bucks US you can download the game and get the key to unlock it from the author; or for three dollars more to cover shipping and expenses, get the CD in the mail.

Final Grade: A
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System Requirements:

• 32 Mb RAM
• Windows 95, 98, ME, 2000 or XP, with DirectX 5 or Above
• Supports all DirectX-Compatible Sound and Video Cards