Inspector Parker: BeTrapped! is the latest casual
game from Oberon Media, and, like its predecessor Inspector
Parker, it has an unusually
classy pedigree for a casual game, in that it was designed by none
other than Jane Jensen.

Jensen, the legendary game goddess behind (among other things) the
Gabriel Knight series of games, is currently pepping up the casual
game world with her own distinctive attention to detail and storytelling.

Whereas the first Inspector
Parker game was an update of the venerable
old DOS game Sherlock, BeTrapped! takes aim at re-inventing that
old Windows chestnut, Minesweeper. Yep, you read right, Minesweeper.

Now, before you reach
for another link, let me tell you that you’ve
never played Minesweeper like this. It’s actually really fun.

To be more specific, BeTrapped! is sort of a collision between that old bomb-search game and Clue.
The intrepid inspector is dispatched
to Ravencourt Castle, where the young lord of the manor has just
died mysteriously. A group of family members, employees and friends
have gathered in the mansion, and it’s up to the Inspector
to sort out what’s really going on.

Clues and interviewable
suspects are scattered throughout the several levels of the manor
house, but complicating the proceedings is the
fact that virtually every room has been booby-trapped. The player
must help the Inspector clear each room of traps before that room
can be explored. That’s the Minesweeper part of the game.

However, it’s superior to Minesweeper in several ways: It’s
much more visually creative, full of amusing little animations depicting
the various booby traps going off. Plus, unlike the original little
Windows game, you’re actually allowed to make a mistake. I
always thought that’s what kept Minesweeper from being as much
fun as it should have been: One mistake and it’s game over.
BeTrapped! is much more forgiving, giving you a few free chances
to recover from.

Once a given room is cleared of these various traps, you are able
to look for clues and interview suspects. The game even has an inventory
system that allows you to solve additional puzzles.

The interface is simplicity
itself (point and click), and navigation is also a breeze. Any
room you’ve cleared can be jumped to
immediately through a handy Map menu.

The story is satisfyingly
convoluted and colorful, as are the characters. It would have been
nice if the game had included speech, but I assume
that’s one of the limitations of a budget title.

The game features two
gameplay modes, Adventure Game, which I’ve
just described, and Puzzle Game, which lets you simply enjoy solving
individual trapped rooms.

It’s not fair to judge BeTrapped! by the same standards as
a full-blown adventure or puzzle game. It’s a budget-title
casual game, and it fills that role very well. It’s affordable,
stylish, amusing and, most importantly, fun.

Of course I hope Ms. Jensen
will serve up a new mega-adventure one of these days. But I’m
perfectly happy to continue enjoying these little trifles from
her team in the meantime. I think you will
be, too.

Final Grade: B
(find out more about our
grading system)

System Requirements:

• Windows 2000/95/98/ME/XP
• Processor: Pentium
  600 MHz
• Memory: 128 MB RAM

This
review is copyright Ray Ivey and Just Adventure and
may not be republished elsewhere without the express written consent
of the author. Republication of said review must also contain a link
back to Just Adventure.