In these fast paced times
we reside in, every now and again it’s
good to slowdown and journey back, to an era when things were more
carefree. When life was simple. With the just released The
Butler Did It! , by Finnish indie game company Darconus ; those who enjoy
Mystery / Suspense Adventure games can now
do just that.

First allow me to set-up the basic storyline for you, in a luxury
hotel in the Swiss Alps, a murder has just been committed. Unfortunately
for the murderer, Jacques-Louis Barajean, France’s best detective,
is there vacationing (or so he thinks). At the start, the game has
you choose a difficulty level, representing the various times of
the year at the hotel.

The Butler Did
It! is the type of game one plays when they want
to take a break from creating empires or exploring a dungeon . This
game is one that consists of short mystery scenarios, which are different
every time you play the game. The average game time is about ten
minutes, give or take a fingerprint or two.

The good folks at Darconus have created a PC game that is comparable
to those great board games of the day: Clue, Sleuth, etc. This game
gave me a warm fuzzy inside, bringing me back to my livingroom on
a Sunday and playing board games with my mom.

The Butler Did
It! is
a beautiful game graphically, reminiscent of classic films and
television series; along with its light, almost
classical brunch type music score, the gaming atmosphere is perfectly
set. A mystery is now afoot, my cap and pipe (wait a minute, I don’t
smoke a pipe) please Watson!

This is a game that is very much mouse driven, in other words, your
clicker fingers will get an extreme gaming experience. As Detective
Barajean, you click to move about the hotel and its rooms (indicated
by a person walking or a door leading you in or out icons). Clicking
is also the way you interact with the guests and get clues (courtesy
of a magnifying glass icon) to write down in your notepad. At the
start of the game, your host is kind enough to give you a roughly
drawn map of the hotel and its grounds. As you make your way through
the hotel, you will be reminded of the time slipping away, with the
appearance of a chiming grandfather clock face. This screen pops
up every few minutes it seems.

Soon the good detective
is out of time and must gather all the suspects and present to
his host and the others, who he feels committed the
murder. The murderer is named, the authorities are called in to take
them away and that mystery ends. How did you do, you cautiously ask.
Well, let’s just say my Detective Barajean these days, is a
better mystery writer than detective (probably making more money
too).

On the whole, I enjoyed my gaming experience with The
Butler Did It! The introduction piece alone, gave me the feeling that I was
watching an old super 8 film and the graphics used for this piece
were quite unique. All visual and sound elements came together wonderfully,
to bring me perfectly into the game.

The Butler Did
It! is
not one of those games that will break any new grounds in the PC
gaming universe, but it’s a nice little “ getaway
from it all game “.

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

System Requirements:

• Pentium 266 or Better
  DirectX-Compatible 2Mb Video Card
• 32Mb RAM
• 60 Mb of Free Space
  on Hard Drive
• Windows 95/98/Me/2000/XP
• DirectX 5 or above
• DirectX Compatible
  Sound Card