I own the Art of Murder & Chronicles of Mystery games by City Interactive. Been waiting for more adventure games from them, but their new Art of Murder & Cronicles of Mystery games are all weak little Hidden Object games. Won't purchase from then anymore. Sad day for Adventure Games.

Tried one of the hogs didn't like it at all. I guess until people stop buying them they won't create anymore of the adventure type that they did so well.

There are many here that feel the same way mommaopps. You aren't alone.

Ana

I agree their adventure games will be sorely missed. I feel betrayed and that they sold out for a quick profit. That's my .25 cents (adjusted from 2 cents for inflation).

I found a demo and played some of it don't remember where I got the demo and the HO were timed. There was a hour glass on the corner.
If you run out of time you have to start again.
What a awful game. I't for sale for $20,I wouldn't take it for free.
the one I was talking about is Art of Murder - Deadly Secrets
Richard

I've just bought Art of Murder: Secret Files out of curiosity - I'm disappointed that City Interactive have gone down this path but hope that this game might stand up against many of the better CGs being produced - I will report back when I've played it!

Secret files was the one I deleted in disgust. Your a good un if you can be bothered with it.

Ok I admit I am getting burned out on hidden Objects after buying nearly everyone on BFG for over 5 yrs. This is not good news that city interactive is taking the easy way out and making it Hidden objects instead of adventure.

I will not be purchasing anymore from City Interactive until they return to adventure format again. If I want to play HO I buy BFG although I am so grateful when BFG has more Interactive adventure games.

Someone is making a very bad decision in my opinion at City Interactive and this goes for all game companies that are taking the easy and cheaper way out.

I love adventure games and enjoy them in a way I never enjoy HO games. In an adventure game I am able to to get into the character and story more, especially when it has voices. This is my opinon I know what I like and I know what I hate to see changed.

Personally, I have to say that I'm glad that City Interactive isn't doing adventure games anymore. To me City Interactive was always a good example of how an adventure game should not be produced. Each game was produced as fast as possible, ripping of elements that worked in other adventure games (especially Secret Files and Still Life) without the knowledge of how to use these elements properly - only with the objective to make money by investing as little as possible.

Seriously, the CI games had some of the worst writing I've ever seen in the history of adventure games, the characters were as shallow as they could possibly be, the dialogues were ridiculous and if I'd be one of them, I'd feel ashamed for releasing products of such a low quality. Of course everyone is free to like whatever she or he wants to like, but the circumstance that CI isn't doing adventure games anymore is rather a good thing for the whole market to me. We don't have many good adventure games these days and the market is obviously very small. And every of the few good games is suffering because cheap low quality products like the CI games take sales away from the good games. Just my point of view.

Noticed some comments like the last one elsewhere and never understood why. These aren't "low quality games" but simply well-made games. Not great and perhaps not original but simply enjoyable games. I played them all and it sad to see the series have come to an end.

I agree Martin, they were good games, no real wow factor, but a decent adventure at a reasonable price with a fair amount of game time. They were all well received here.

Ana

True, but (and please don't get me wrong, I'd really like to point out that I don't mean this in an offensive way) Gameboomers isn't exactly known for being very critical.

Pardon us at GameBoomers for not being "very critical"; when we here are trying to have a civil discussion about games and not allow flaming. If you look hard enough there are comments - good and bad about games - except we do not use harsh language. That might be construed as " not very critical: but we construe it as civilized.

MaG, I think you got me wrong. Let me explain: I really like the culture of discussions on here and I probably don't know a community that's as friendly as this one. So, obviously I'm really glad that you don't allow flaming.

When I was using the expression "not very critical" I was simply referring to review scores on Gameboomers. The average scores in reviews by the editors of Gameboomers seem a lot higher to me than on other adventure related websites (like Adventure Gamers, Adventure-Treff) - that's what I was referring to. But I have to say it again, I didn't mean this in an offensive way at all.

Jack, if you peruse previous threads for the Art of Murder and Chronicles of Mystery you will note that the members spoke out by looking forward to the next release and spending their hard earned money on the releases. I can assure you if they did not like them they would not be buying them and creating threads such as this one expressing sadness that the new one are not pure adventures. It seems like the reviewers are not the only ones that appreciated them here.

Ana

I like the James Patterson hidden objects and The Mystery PI series along with Big Finish (though I really long for them to get back to Tex games). The the Big Finish and James Patterson games are full stories that grab you and take you along. I have also enjoyed the Agatha Christie Hercule Piroit (?) games for the same reason. I don't play hidden object games indiscriminately since I am an adventure gamer. I've played some demos, some I enjoyed but it went no further. Give me full adventure games (and games from Chief's excellent list of free ones while I wait for a full game to come along).

That's exactly how I would describe them too, BrownEyedTigre

Yeah, they weren't anywhere near the top of my list, but they were fun for what they were. I thought the second Chronicles of Mystery game showed a lot of improvement over the first, and I was looking forward to a continuation of that series. It's a shame they're not making adventure games anymore.

I agree with you completely on this one Ana. I reviewed three of City's games here and pointed out they were rather short but well crafted without mechanical defects. For their low price the games were worth the money and stood up well against more expensive offerings. I rarely give games a rating as I don't feel it is up to me to tell you whether or not to like the game.

Several times I made the point I detest Myst type games. I realize for people who like that kind of game it was an excellent game. Everyone has different taste. So when reviewing a game I try to avoid opinion and stick to describing the mechanics and identifying the quality of graphics, game play, voice acting. In my opinion people will know what to expect and they can chose if they like a game without my biased two cents. At least one can't say I rate a game too high or too low. But they will know if it is mechanically sound or not and they will know what to expect.

This is the only game forum I post to because the people here are super nice and do not rip you a new one every time they disagree with something said. It is always civil and welcoming. Keep up the good work.