Last year developer Sparkplug Games wowed console gamers with its addictive match-three adventure, Puzzle Quest 2 and is back this year to wow PC gamers with its incredible hidden object adventure, Lost in Time: Clockwork Tower. This surreal title puts you in the role of Eliza, an intrepid young woman bent on exploring the mysterious tower outside her village. As so often happens, curiosity kills the cat--or in this case, traps an entire village in a seemingly inescapable time warp.
Eliza appears to be the only one not affected by the catastrophe and with the help of a sentient pocket watch, sets out to fix what she has broken. At the pocket watch's urging, she explores both the tower and the nearby village looking for the means of freeing the villagers and getting time back on track. In helping Eliza to do this, you alternate between gorgeous hidden object sequences and interesting, imaginative puzzles while collecting gears for your pocket watch. These gears form various sets that enable your pocket watch to do all manner of powerful things, from seeing invisible objects to moving back and forth in time.
In addition to gear-hunting, you'll also collect diamonds and coal scattered all over the village and use them to buy useful items at the local general store. Coal can be converted into more diamonds in a fun mini-game that works like Plinko from the classic game show, The Price is Right. You can earn even more diamonds by playing another amusing minigame against a robot opponent that entails using playing cards to move pointers back and forth through time.
Lost in Time has a lot to offer both hidden object and adventure game fans. The strangely retro, vaguely steampunk graphics are truly beautiful and the funny and creative writing is far better than the majority of games in the genre. The character design in particular stands out as some of the best in any hidden object game to date and the voices for them are all cast and acted well.
Lost in Time: Clockwork Tower is an example of what a hidden object adventure should be. It's mysterious, entertaining, beautiful and fun. Casual gamers and adventure fans should make sure not to miss it. Available now on Big Fish Games for $6.99 for members.
Comments