Hidden Memories of a Bright Summer
Score: 69% ESRB: 4+ Publisher: Microids Developer: Kt Games Media: Download/1 Players: 1 Genre: Puzzle (Hidden Object)/ Adventure
Graphics & Sound: Hidden Memories of a Bright Summer has a muted color palette since you, as Sarah, will be exploring the aging house and grounds of the estate of your old Aunt Selma, recently deceased. Even though you haven't seen her and Uncle Albert since you were a very young girl and only spent one summer there, she has left you her estate, along with a enigmatic journal and a mystery along with it. Everything has a washed-out appearance to it, so expect to have some difficulty locating certain items, such as the mysterious fragmented tablet that has been broken and strewn across the property, or Aunt Selma's notes to Sarah, which also are scattered about and hard to spot. I am typically not a fan of Hidden Object games that hide items by placing them deeply and heavily shaded in the background or by modifying their size so their appearance is unexpected. This happened quite a few times in Hidden Memories of a Bright Summer, leading to frustration. Yes, there is a Hint button in the form of your dog, who barks when your hint is ready, but this tended to be annoying and only helped when you were in a Hidden Object scene and had a list of items to collect. If you were simply in the game exploring the estate, the doggie Hint button wouldn't help you a bit, even if the missing tablet piece or note was right in front of you. More on this later. There is an overall map of the grounds to guide you, but it is an overhead view of the estate and there are pulsing arrows pointing at every area. The areas themselves pulse with light, but it took me a while to figure out that the arrows pointing to each area were one of two different, but very similar, colors. The colors are so close that I didn't notice it for most of my gameplay, which is not a good thing. Maps should be useful. Consequently, I could never really tell where I had already visited and what I had completed. The music tinkered in the background and was nothing special. It was somewhat haunting, but I was always jarred away from it by the barking dog. There's a loud flute note that plays when you access your tool bag, which contains tools that will help you in your journey (sometimes), and that sound, too, was a bit jarring. You can also hear birds tweeting in the background and other sounds at times as well.
Gameplay: I was initially interested in Hidden Memories of a Bright Summer because it seemed more straight-up Hidden Object, rather than Adventure, but this was not really the case. In addition to Hidden Object scenes, you are supposed to pick up things along the way like notes from your Aunt Selma, which weave the mystery, and fragmented tablet pieces. Also, blue feathers come into play, along with other items, but I don't know what for, since they don't have names, even when you select them. Some Hidden Object scenes would have you collecting 10 of the same item, such as seed packets or a particular toy, for no apparent reason. That was a bit strange to me. Then you'd proceed on with an odd list of things to find in a scene. Something in that list might go into your tool bag for future use or might be a part of the puzzle, but you may not know that unless you stare at the area for an extended period of time and hope something sparkles. As I said earlier, your doggie Hint won't work if you aren't in an active Hidden Object scene. Personally, I hate leaving a mystery unsolved, but when I can't find the missing pieces of the tablet or the missing notes, I really have no way to complete the game. It's just frustrating.
Difficulty: Hidden Memories of a Bright Summer has no difficulty selection, so the difficulty is what it is. While there is a Hint button, it will only help you in the portions of the game where you are in an actual Hidden Object scene. If you are simply looking around the grounds of the property or the house and trying to solve a puzzle such as why the electricity is off or how to get into a door with a rusted lock, you simply have to figure it out on your own. Sure, Aunt Selma left you a journal, but it isn't very helpful and there's no ongoing journal or diary with your current objectives, to help you along. There is a sparkle that will indicate something on the screen that can be interacted with, but it doesn't immediately shine, so you must often wait a while, staring at the space in the hopes that something glimmers to catch your eye. Even then, you can try the different items in your possession to see if any of them hold the correct answer, but at times, even after you have tried the correct item, the game will not proceed forward. This kind of unreliability made the game all the more frustrating.
Game Mechanics: As I mentioned earlier, Hidden Memories of a Bright Summer's map is confusing. It is difficult to tell where you have and haven't already been and the color difference on the arrows pointing to each area are very close. Collision detection is iffy, meaning you might have to tap on an item a few times before the game recognizes that you have found it. Also, as I mentioned earlier, sometimes you'll tap an item with the correct tool and it won't immediately recognize that you've used the correct item, leading to you getting the same message blocking your way, then letting you through right after. It's disconcerting. Overall, although I really expected to enjoy Hidden Memories of a Bright Summer, I really didn't, mostly because I found it tedious and because I couldn't complete the game, so I can't get to the end of the story, which kind of defeats the purpose since the story is what drives you to want to dig through the Hidden Object scenes in the first place.
-Psibabe, GameVortex Communications AKA Ashley Perkins
Related Links: Hidden Memories of a Bright Summer | iTunes
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