Courtesy of Sherban Young
As anyone who has played Deadly Allusions or Deadlier Allusions already knows, Deadliest Allusions is not about the graphic content. Deadliest Allusions is somewhat of a tribute to the old school text-based murder mystery games found on PCs in the 1980s and 1990s. However, in these games, players do not travel all over towns for sleuthing and questioning; all of the information needed to solve the murder mysteries are in one location, in one stream of dialogue.
Each mystery chapter usually involves someone finding a dead body that has some sort of clue on it, such as a note or the victim was able to grab a certain object just before death. Then another person will come across the crime scene, and the two live people will discuss some information about the dead person and what object he or she is clutching. From that point, one of the people instantly knows who the murderer is, and it's up to the player to deduce and declare who the killer is.
To figure out the murderer, players most often will have to use the search feature to type in the different suspects' names into Google and then look up articles (usually Wikipedia entries) about the suspect's name. One doesn't have to read too much into the articles, as the clues are not that hidden in the detail. For example, one victim could be holding a note with a time of 12:15 written on it, and after Googling one of the suspect's names, it turns out that original owner of the name came to power in the year 1215. Therefore, that suspect is the murderer.
The game does challenge one's sense of historical and pop culture knowledge, and the most enjoyable aspect to the game is the witty dialogue between the two characters that find the body. One is usually very upset about finding a dead body, as most people would be, but one is always hardly affected at all, and usually complains about how this dead body is keeping them from doing what they need to get done. Of course, that's usually the character who solves the murder, which makes a bit of sense since they are the ones who are calm and collected.
Those who have played the earlier incarnations of this series may be a little bit bored this time around, because not much has changed, including the settings of the murders. There is another bar setting, a mansion setting, etc. Each mystery is still brand new, but the methods for solving it are not.
It would also be nice to see some sort of point system for solving the murders. Points could be reduced for using the small and large hints, and then players could post their scores on an Open Feint leaderboard. It would give more of an incentive to play and solve the murders than just for the sense of accomplishment.
Deadliest Allusions is still a fun little game for those who love a good murder mystery, and fans who love everything about the first two installments will not be disappointed. Well, they may be disappointed in the fact that the developer has said this is the last of the series due to restrictions in the English language; however, here is a suggestion for the next title: "Even More Deadly Allusions."
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