Every now and then, we see a developer doing something a little different with the hidden object genre. It is always appreciated. I grew up with Where is Waldo? and appreciate the opportunity to review those kinds of quizzes. Crime hour combines the idea of picking people out of the crowd with crime solving. You will see a specific crime, such as theft or murder, and then need to go through different times to find the culprit. Crime hour works well, especially on Switch, but has some limitations.
Each player in Crime hour is a detective working alongside an AI called EVE. You’ll use your program to investigate five time periods throughout history, from the actual Information Age through the more fanciful Atlantean and Aeon Ages, in the name of preserving the Real Timeline. Your goal is to pick out criminals on the map for each area, then go back to find the suspects or evidence needed to stop that crime from happening. Once in a case, you’ll look at various “ticks” to see progress over time.
Image through bad seeds
Despite the “adventurous” tone, in reality the only investigative elements are devoted to mini-games. Your role as a detective here involves what is essentially the equivalent of picking someone from a packed squad. Each case takes place on one of five “maps” taken from different time periods. These are black and white scenes with amazingly detailed characters. (I’m very pleased with the level of individuality in them!) When you find a particular person or clue or place, then you move forward or backward to find other pieces to ask someone to bear. responsibility or find evidence by pointing them out at different times in time.
I appreciate how clear everything is. The characters are well defined. It’s easy to highlight people and places with an hourglass icon. These remain on the map, regardless of steps forward or backward in time, so you can use them as additional references in the “case”. Extremely short mini-games may appear in each “tick”, with these involving “investigative” elements such as tracing a character over their phone or determining identity their. The controls are responsive on the Switch, so it’s easy to zoom in and out or highlight a specific area. You can also get some hints without penalty for doing so if a “case” is causing you trouble. I also appreciate that each investigation can mean tracking different people or people who change their appearance slightly, to add to the challenge of trying to pick someone out of a crowd.
Image through bad seeds
The problem is, Crime hour began to wear off its welcome. While there’s the premise that you’re a detective using AI to solve cases so they don’t happen, the overall “story” doesn’t feel very cohesive. Playing it one or two instances at once is ideal. But if you play for an extended session, like I did for this review, it can start to bleed a bit. The concept of seeing actions step by step and tracing victims and criminals is a solid one! But since they follow the same progression, the same map is used in many cases because only five “epochs” are investigated in time and always involve ten recorded “tick-shots” moments. at the right time, so they can all bleed together.
The fact that minigames never feel complicated enough to be a compelling break away from the hidden object element really doesn’t help. Each is basically an excuse to give a hint as to what you might need to look for next or where someone is. This probably means there isn’t much for them either. You may need to press buttons on the map or in time to arrange the appropriate parts of the image. The latter may feel unnecessary, as you can clearly see who they are in the original photo. The only time it’s useful is when it can give a hint as to who the next person to look might be, because otherwise you might not know their identity.
Image through bad seeds
Crime hour is a novel about a hidden object game. Ideas are sound. It might be a bit repetitive, but then someone could argue that it’s a general flaw inherent in the genre and not necessarily a big deal here. I really appreciate the design direction and artistic approach, even if the minigames feel a bit unnecessary or simple to include. Crime hour Overall a lot of fun, especially for the quick times on the Switch.
Crime hour available for Nintendo Switch and computer.
