Mobile Adventure Series – House of Tales

The Black Hole is a classic sci-fi tale set in the year 2288. The player is cast in the role of a black marketeer named Phil McPherson, who awakens one morning to discover that a black hole has sucked in one of Jupiter’s moons — the very one colonized to harvest “Hydro-V”, the raw material he sells illegally. It also happens to be the one whose mining operations were led by his estranged, corrupt father. Seeking only to capitalize on this development at first, you’ll soon find yourself at the very heart of the mysterious lunar disappearance, running from the law as you travel through space to perform your own personal investigation. The story is surprisingly ambitious, and has to cut a lot of narrative corners to tell it all, but it succeeds admirably at drawing you into the ever-expanding plot. In fact, as a credit to the game’s playability, I was frequently forcing myself to put the game AWAY, remembering that the nature of mobile games is to offer something you can play on the go, rather than breeze through all in one sitting.

Most of the puzzles throughout the game are clever and rational, providing enough challenge to keep you busy without ever frustrating. There is one puzzle that leaves a little to be desired, as it involves random button pushing — twice. It isn’t at all difficult to work through, but I was a little disappointed to learn that my search for a simple clue was pointless. This is only notable because the rest of the game is so well designed, of course.

Of the four games, Black Hole is the only one that gave me any technical difficulties, as over the course of several different playthroughs, a sequence near the end crashed twice, and simply refused to trigger the next scripted event a third time. Fortunately, as there’s no way to manually save the game, the game’s auto-save (performed each time you exit) restored me to the current screen to try again, and the subsequent attempt worked fine. So all’s well that ends well, as the glitch didn’t disrupt an otherwise stable experience.

I’ll have to resist the urge (too late!) to say something like “The Black Hole pulled me in and wouldn’t let go”, as that would undermine the gravity of the situation, but it’s true. It’s a fun, engaging little trip that should appeal to most science fiction and adventure fans, even if most of the journey is made at light speed.

Secret of the Lost Link has some sci-fi overtones, as well, but takes place a little closer to home. The game opens as Dr. Davis, an archeologist invited to teach at a university in England, concludes a lecture on the unnatural leaps in human evolution, with particular emphasis on technological advances. Stopping just short of endorsing UFOlogy, he encourages open-mindedness toward more fanciful theories to explain the unknown; a view considered unpopular by students and colleagues alike. Like Black Hole, these humble beginnings quickly give way to another sprawling adventure. Before long, this is no longer an academic issue for Dr. Davis, as he experiences the crop circle phenomenon for himself. With shades of Indiana Jones (minus the whip, but adding tons of other useful items), you’ll soon be directing the Professor across the globe, through snake-infested South American jungles and into the depths of an active volcano to track down the origin of a mysterious artifact that may provide the key to understanding human evolution.

While still plenty entertaining, Lost Link‘s story didn’t engage me quite as much as the others, as the clichéd aliens-influence-ancient technology plot is a little tired. Another issue is the weak characterization of Davis. Unlike most characters in these games, Davis seems practically devoid of personality, and remarkably unaffected by the fantastic events going on around him, which left me feeling a little more detached from this adventure than the others.

Surprisingly, tucked in among Lost Link‘s various multi-layered inventory obstacles is a puzzle that requires specific knowledge independent of the game. It’s actually a nice little puzzle, and not overly difficult if you have the information you need, but it will likely force some players out of the game to seek the solution. (At least you’ll have a phone handy.) This game also relies a little too much on repetitive activities you may not think to try more than once, which can cause some aggravation when you believe you’ve done everything possible. Developing a habit of “try everything twice” is not the greatest design choice. Still, as with the other games, Lost Link‘s structure is such that you won’t be stuck for long. I suppose I should also point out that a few of the game’s challenges require a degree of timing, but they are very much examples of paying attention, not using fine motor skills.

Although not the strongest title in this mobile series, Secret of the Lost Link still has lots of adventuring goodness to offer. The pacing is brisk, the settings are diverse, and there’s a decided feel of “adventure” to this game (a characteristic not enough titles possess), so there’s never an idle or boring moment throughout.