Detective Games

A post on VGViews compares old mystery games (Laura Bow) with new mystery games (Nick Bounty). The Nick Bounty games stack up very well, and the reasons are interesting.

One of the problems with Laura Bow, and with Sierra games in general, was the many ways to accidentally kill yourself. Getting into the elevator? Oh, sorry, you didn’t say you checked to see if it was on your floor. You fall down the elevator shaft and die. Crossing the road? You’re hit by a bus and die. Petting a cat? You contract a particularly virulent strain of rabies and die. Eating some candy? Well, you get the picture.

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A few days ago, I discovered the Nick Bounty mysteries, flash games(or free downloads) from the independant Pinhead Games company. The first mystery is called “A Case Of The Crabs” and the second “The Goat In The Gray Fedora”, which gives you an idea of the seriousness. (I think Laura’s boyfriend in one story was a dockworker called Steve Door)

Nick Bounty is a bit more campy, with black-and-white sketch graphics, and sarcastic comments and narration, imitating hardboiled detective novels.

Read the whole article here.