Blood Ties
Ages: Everyone

Twelve people, each holding a piece of an artifact which keeps an evil banished from this world, are missing. You must find the pieces and solve their disappearance by hunting through a series of rooms whose interiors are overloaded with articles. In different backdrops, you point and click to find a list of items you are hunting for. A rationed number of hints are also given to their location.

The hunt, as these types go, is relatively easy and fun. It is all seek-and-find without character interaction. The music is well done, the graphics are top notch and the premise is intriguing. You are given profiles of the missing characters and, as each artifact piece is recovered when completing each hunt, it is highlighted as it reassembled. Overall an enjoyable game.

The only disappointment was that the story was not tied into the action. It served as a superfluous backdrop to the puzzles. With the build up of the plot and characters, it seemed a shame to be so disconnected to the hunt. Perhaps some clips of the detective and partner's movement in seeking the twelve MIA's could have been included. It would have been nice to have each person located or rescued after each hunt, maybe with a clip of an interview with them. As it is, the hunt is finished, the artifact is reassembled and you are simply told the twelve missing people show up to reclaim their portion.

The second issue is actually in the hunt for the listed items. Without any clues as to the shape of the particular piece, I was often unclear as to exactly what I was searching for. Two glasses turned out not to be a pair of drinking glasses but two pairs of eye glasses. A wheel was not a tire wheel, a steering wheel but instead a ships wheel. A nut left me wondering shelled or unshelled until I realized that I kept passing up the screw nut. The obscure or odd items are tough to find if you aren't familiar with them or if the graphic doesn't assist your ability to identify them. You also have to be careful to click correctly on a piece or it isn't picked up as solved, either. Those few complaints aside, for those who enjoy the click and point games, this will still be fun.

Fun Factor: Game needs more character involvement.
Player Friendly: Game doesn't give enough hints for finding objects.

Reviewed by: Adison Garzon - 11/09