Cursed Cases: Murder at the Maybard Estate > iPad, iPhone, Android, Mac & PC Game

Overall rating

5 / 5

108 of 111 found this review helpful

That Little Something...

PostedAugust 17, 2016

siladan

fromIn the beautiful Land of Enchantment

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Skill Level:Expert

Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Hidden Object, Large File

Current Favorite:

Spirit of Revenge: Florry's Well

(11)

Fun Factor

5 / 5

Visual/Sound Quality

4 / 5

Level of Challenge

4 / 5

Storyline

5 / 5

I don't usually review games anymore, unless they are incredibly amazing or amazingly awful. There are several top notch reviewers on BF that give all the minutiae a prospective buyer could possibly want to know. If I need to know what kind of puzzles, how many of them, and if they are skippable or not, I turn to one of those fine reviewers and I'm enlightened. However, occasionally there is a ...Show more

I don't usually review games anymore, unless they are incredibly amazing or amazingly awful. There are several top notch reviewers on BF that give all the minutiae a prospective buyer could possibly want to know. If I need to know what kind of puzzles, how many of them, and if they are skippable or not, I turn to one of those fine reviewers and I'm enlightened. However, occasionally there is a game that has a little something that is undefinable and doesn't translate well in a regular review. This is such a game.

Murder at the Maybard Estate does not have the "Wow!" factor. It has nothing new to recommend it. The puzzles are easy and skippable, yet bland; the hidden object scenes are varied, but not particularly inventive; the sound and the graphics are average at best. And yet the story line engaged me from the start. It had that little something that kept me interested in spite of the shortcomings. I confess. I enjoyed digging for clues as I moved around the mansion. I didn't even mind the "Aura" thingy.

I don't know. Maybe I play too many hardcore games, but I appreciated the laid-back feel of MATME. I didn't have to tax my brain too much, I felt no anxiety or urgency as I navigated through the various tasks, and it was a good game for the mellow mood I was in. In other words, I had fun... and isn't that what playing a game is all about? Show less

I recommend this game!

+105points

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Overall rating

4 / 5

110 of 122 found this review helpful

What A Tangled Web The Maybard's Weave

PostedAugust 7, 2016

pennmom36

fromI'm inside a huge and elaborate mansion and the only water I can find is from an aquarium filled with piranha?

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Skill Level:Expert

Current Favorite:

Phantasmat Collector's Edition

(100)

Fun Factor

4 / 5

Visual/Sound Quality

4 / 5

Level of Challenge

4 / 5

Storyline

4 / 5

Cursed Cases clearly has potential, but it lacks a wow factor in my opinion. After initially playing the CE demo, I found the tasks to be a bit dull and repetitious, leading me to believe that after the demo, the game could become stagnant and trite. I decided to wait for a good Big Fish sale and then I reluctantly purchased this game to see if it picked up the pace a bit. After playing the entire ...Show more

Cursed Cases clearly has potential, but it lacks a wow factor in my opinion. After initially playing the CE demo, I found the tasks to be a bit dull and repetitious, leading me to believe that after the demo, the game could become stagnant and trite. I decided to wait for a good Big Fish sale and then I reluctantly purchased this game to see if it picked up the pace a bit. After playing the entire Collector's Edition, (and the Standard Edition demo for comparison) it became apparent that this game is like a roller coaster. The dullness gives way to an interesting plot that piqued my interest, then plummeted downward with tedious tasks, up, down, up, down, you get my point. The graphics are decent, and the voiceovers are well done, but the people and animals move sideways and jilted, I'd rather they not show the movement at all rather than watch them move awkwardly and unrealistically.

Emmett Maybard has been murdered and his killer is still on the loose! It's been two weeks since his murder and Emmett's sister Sophia has hired you to investigate because of your unique psychic ability to see past events and even people who have passed. The killer isn't done yet however, because one by one, he has been trying to poison Emmett's family and friends. Could the murders have anything to do with his current will?

Because you are psychic, you will use your Aura ability frequently which requires you to find two or three "clues" by searching for evidence with a magnifying glass until you find an area with a shaded blue section. Each clue you find will explain your detective deduction, but I just found this feature kind of lame. Some items in your Inventory will have a question mark which indicates that the item is evidence, usually in need of forensics. Your forensic kit is basically an icon with powder and an icon with with tape so you can follow a two step process to lift the print, which is very basic and repetitious. The Collector's Edition has the usual Achievements to earn as well as 13 Morphing Objects that will shed light upon the characters with a short bio. There is a satchel located on the bottom left of the screen that contains all your important documents, an evidence board, a map, a task list, and notes about the case. You can also access the Character bios you have found, replay the game's videos and your Trophies for earned achievements.(CE)

The Hidden Object Scenes are unimpressive, with no new variations, at least within the demo itself. Some of the scenes are repeated a second time which is a feature I hate because it's too boring a second time around. There are Silhouetted Shape finds,multi layered HOP's where you first find multiples of two different items and then place the objects into two ornate boxes which opens up the item Lists.
There are smaller Zoom Zone puzzles and you can opt to play a Match 3 game instead of the HOP's.

The Mini Games seem to be variations of the same type of puzzles. Below are brief descriptions of some of the games you'll encounter during the demo and a few memorable puzzles after the demo:

1) Recreate the image by placing diamond shaped tiles into the correct empty slots using directional arrows on each column and row of a grid board.

2) Each Aura ability requires you to search for blue shaded areas, usually two or three different areas of interest.

3) Restore the image by placing flower buttons to rotate the positions of the tiles.

4) Drag clock weights to set the time according to the clue shown.

5) Select pairs of matching items, beginning with 3 objects, then 4, then 5 items to climb a tree. (this made no sense, why would you grab onto a kite stuck in a tree or a finch minding it's own business to help you scale up a tree?)

6) Rotate the rings to line up with the silver clasps, clicking on one ring may affect others.

7) Jump the checkers, one by one to clear the board.

8) Drag groups of gears to their correct positions based upon the clue.

9) Place several portraits in their correct positions based upon their shapes using green gems to rotate.

10) Place gears correctly to open a lock.

11) Spot the difference between two nearly identical scenes.

12) Move picture parts to restore the image.

The Collector's Edition has 13 Developer Diary pictures, 10 Concept Art pictures, 6 Wallpapers, 13 Morphing Objects with character bios, 4 Music Soundtracks, 6 levels of replayable Match 3 games, 26 Achievement Trophies to earn, a built in Strategy Guide and a Bonus Chapter, enjoy! Show less

I recommend this game!

+98points

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Overall rating

4 / 5

40 of 44 found this review helpful

A GOOD MYSTERY GAME

PostedAugust 7, 2016

biscuitsmama

fromA good mystery but could have done without the gimmicks

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This "Key Contributor" plays, rates, and reviews a lot of games. We think you'll trust their thoughts and opinions about games.
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Skill Level:Expert

Fun Factor

4 / 5

Visual/Sound Quality

4 / 5

Level of Challenge

4 / 5

Storyline

4 / 5

Just like many others, I have been waiting for a good old-fashioned mystery but I am not sure about this one. As an investigator with special paranormal talents, you have been called to investigate the recent murder of Emmett Maybard. Not only was Emmett murdered but his sister has had an attempt on her life as well. Of course since it is a murder mystery it begins with blood spatter but ...Show more

Just like many others, I have been waiting for a good old-fashioned mystery but I am not sure about this one. As an investigator with special paranormal talents, you have been called to investigate the recent murder of Emmett Maybard. Not only was Emmett murdered but his sister has had an attempt on her life as well. Of course since it is a murder mystery it begins with blood spatter but fortunately it is mostly left to the imagination. As much as I love a good mystery game, IMHO, this game bogs down from the first moment when I had to use my special ability to search for clues. I absolutely hate this feature and when that was the first thing I had to do upon beginning the game, it was almost the last. Fortunately, I plodded onward and the game does become much better.

The graphics are excellent except that some of the characters seem comical, particularly the butler who sort of hops rather than walks when he answers the door. Aside from that the graphics seem excellent and crisp. The voiceovers are also extremely good. The game also offers a custom mode where the hints and skips can be set for 1 second, which I am sure will appeal to many.

You have an interactive map and then a gimmicky monocle to use that allows you to see auras. As I mentioned above, I hate this gimmick and almost didn’t continue in the game because I dislike it so much. Your other tool is an investigation kit that allows you to dust for fingerprints.

The first mini-HOP is searching for obscure clues when arriving at the Maybard Estate and I hated that particular opening scene. The next HOP was silhouette that had almost unidentifiable renderings of the objects to find. The silhouette type HOPS are my least favorite unless they are well-crafted and this one was not. Fortunately the HOPS are varied in style and some are excellent. The mini-games are very good and although most are easy there are a few that offer more challenge.

Cursed Cases Murder at the Maybard Estate is an excellent quality game that I am sure will appeal to many HOPA lovers but for me it felt tedious and rather boring. The use of the gimmicky monocle was an item that I believe bogged down the momentum of the game. Since I had a free game coupon I did get the game but it will probably sit in my GM until I have nothing else to play. Even though I didn’t care for the game I am sure many of you will love it and find that it is just the type of game you have been waiting to play. As always, I suggest you try the demo to see if this is a game you will like. Show less

I recommend this game!

+36points

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Overall rating

4 / 5

30 of 32 found this review helpful

Nice little game. SE was a good purchase

PostedAugust 10, 2016

playinthewaves

fromBaltimore, MD

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Skill Level:Intermediate

Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Hidden Object

Current Favorite:

Dark Parables: Rise of the Snow Queen Collector's Edition

(254)

Fun Factor

4 / 5

Visual/Sound Quality

4 / 5

Level of Challenge

5 / 5

Storyline

5 / 5

After reading some negative reviews of the CE, I decided to wait for a credit and then try out the SE. I think that was a good call. I liked the game, the story was pretty solid, but there were a couple small gameplay issues from time to time.

The pros:
-Game plays like a Nancy Drew, which I like--struck a good balance of questioning suspects (of which there are many), presenting evidence, and ...Show more

After reading some negative reviews of the CE, I decided to wait for a credit and then try out the SE. I think that was a good call. I liked the game, the story was pretty solid, but there were a couple small gameplay issues from time to time.

The pros:
-Game plays like a Nancy Drew, which I like--struck a good balance of questioning suspects (of which there are many), presenting evidence, and proceeding.

-Wasn't a hideous amount of backtracking, which I appreciated--but that was good as I didn't find the map to be particularly useful.

-I got stuck once or twice and the hint system was helpful, but wasn't getting stuck so often that I was relying on it. Game had a logical 'flow'.

-Voice-overs were really good. I would've liked to have the male and female detective get voices too, but the ones for the suspects were well done.

-Art was pretty. Objects were easy to find in the HO scenes.

-Good length. I felt like I was getting my money's worth without the story dragging too much.

The cons:

-There were a lot of 'click and drag' puzzles where you had to move elements within a mini-game that did NOT play well with my laptop trackpad.

-There were a few mistakes right towards the end of the game that made it seem rushed. The last puzzle before you catch your person is a 'find the pairs' puzzle..........which....didn't...have a pair to find? All four matching objects were different. RIP. Thankfully the skip button got me through.

Anyway, decide for yourself, but I definitely enjoyed it and was perfectly happy to have spent a credit on it. Not the kind of thing that makes me disappointed I went for the SE, though. I've seen some increasingly impressive games from the folks at Daily Magic, so I hope they're listening to feedback and using it to improve further! Show less

I recommend this game!

+28points

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Overall rating

4 / 5

6 of 10 found this review helpful

a good game

PostedSeptember 19, 2016

denniann2

fromharrisonburg, virginia

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This "Key Contributor" plays, rates, and reviews a lot of games. We think you'll trust their thoughts and opinions about games.
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Skill Level:Intermediate

Favorite Genre(s):Hidden Object, Match 3

Fun Factor

5 / 5

Visual/Sound Quality

5 / 5

Level of Challenge

5 / 5

Storyline

5 / 5

there is a custom level. an interactive map. you play as a detective that has been summoned to solve a mystery about a murder at the maybard estate. they want to why this happened and you uncover quite a cover up.

I recommend this game!

+2points

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Overall rating

3 / 5

18 of 19 found this review helpful

Hope this Stops the Curse

PostedAugust 9, 2016

PATinPNS

fromPensacola, FL

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Skill Level:Expert

Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Hidden Object, Match 3

Current Favorite:

Hidden Expedition: Midgard's End

(11)

Fun Factor

3 / 5

Visual/Sound Quality

4 / 5

Level of Challenge

2 / 5

Storyline

3 / 5

This is posted after playing the entire game.

Boy, did this one have possibilities, but boy, did it come up short. It's an okay game. I've played a lot worse, but I wish I had used a free game coupon to get it. Really not to the standards I have come to expect from this developer.

Graphics were fine and the sound was excellent especially the voice overs. I was a bit disappointed when there ...Show more

This is posted after playing the entire game.

Boy, did this one have possibilities, but boy, did it come up short. It's an okay game. I've played a lot worse, but I wish I had used a free game coupon to get it. Really not to the standards I have come to expect from this developer.

Graphics were fine and the sound was excellent especially the voice overs. I was a bit disappointed when there were no voice overs for the detective and I just can't understand why not. You get to chose if you are male or female, but the only thing that did was put a male icon on the script box. Some of the scenes were rather amateurish. For example the butler hopping from place to place instead of walking and other movements just happened rather than being fluid. Minor things, but still important to me. The music was good and went along with the action going on.

I ranked the level of challenge low, because there were a lot of silhouette hidden object scenes, my least favorite to begin with, that were hard to figure out what they were. I don't know if the size of the silhouette being so small was the problem or what. Once I figured out what I was looking for it was simple, but getting to that point was difficult. Also there was a lot of repetition in not only the hidden object scenes, but the mini games as well. For example, find the picture parts seemed really popular. I'm not a big mini person anyway, but some of these I just couldn't get to work or was doing them wrong. I was able to complete several of the mini games, but was thankful they had the custom setting so I could skip them. There is an interactive map which showed places where things could be done as well as transporting around the estate.

Story is a bit convoluted and I found it to be rather hard to keep the characters separated. It kind of comes together at the end, but is a mishmash along the way.

As I said, this isn't a horrible game, but be sure you play the demo before you buy. This is not a typical game from these folks and I look forward to an improvement in their next offering. Show less

I recommend this game!

+17points

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Overall rating

3 / 5

5 of 7 found this review helpful

Promised more than it delivered

PostedAugust 7, 2016

baa27

fromUK

Skill Level:Expert

Fun Factor

3 / 5

Visual/Sound Quality

3 / 5

Level of Challenge

3 / 5

Storyline

4 / 5

Based on Demo
Storyline was good and there are some good elements to the game but it was slow to move around. The image quality was old fashioned and the detective character bizarrely didn't speak although everyone else does.

No massive challenge in the puzzles and it was an ok game but I'm not going to buy it because although I was enjoying the storyline the game play was just too stilted and ...Show more

Based on Demo
Storyline was good and there are some good elements to the game but it was slow to move around. The image quality was old fashioned and the detective character bizarrely didn't speak although everyone else does.

No massive challenge in the puzzles and it was an ok game but I'm not going to buy it because although I was enjoying the storyline the game play was just too stilted and slow. Show less

I don't recommend this game.

+3points

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Overall rating

2 / 5

12 of 16 found this review helpful

Don't waste the money

PostedAugust 10, 2016

ddj1025

Fun Factor

2 / 5

Visual/Sound Quality

4 / 5

Level of Challenge

1 / 5

Storyline

3 / 5

Short and sweet. The puzzles in this game are so easy to figure out I wish I hadn't wasted the time to do them. Storyline was ok, but most of it is room jumping to get the correct pieces. If you like a challenge, you won't get one here.

I don't recommend this game.

+8points

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Overall rating

2 / 5

11 of 19 found this review helpful

CURSED CASES

PostedAugust 8, 2016

GOLDBUYER

fromLincoln Ca

Skill Level:Expert

Favorite Genre(s):Hidden Object

Fun Factor

2 / 5

Visual/Sound Quality

4 / 5

Level of Challenge

1 / 5

Storyline

2 / 5

NO FUN AT ALL. VERY BORING. THIS IS NOT HIDDEN OBJECTS GAME. TO MUCH MOVING AROUND FOR NOTHING. TO MANY QUIZZES AND PUZZLES AND NOT ENOUGH HIDDEN OBJECTS.

I don't recommend this game.

+3points

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Overall rating

2 / 5

Not for Me

PostedJanuary 19, 2021

peanutlee33

fromMichigan

Skill Level:Expert

Favorite Genre(s):Hidden Object

Fun Factor

2 / 5

Visual/Sound Quality

4 / 5

Level of Challenge

2 / 5

Storyline

3 / 5

Demo version
I got 20 minutes into this before realizing it wasn't for me.
The graphics are great and the voiceovers impressive but the animations rather elementary. The characters, voiceovers, and objects are slow moving, along with the changing scenes, which irritated me a little. Things should move along like click speed, and they don't.

I skipped through most of the short games as they ...Show more

Demo version
I got 20 minutes into this before realizing it wasn't for me.
The graphics are great and the voiceovers impressive but the animations rather elementary. The characters, voiceovers, and objects are slow moving, along with the changing scenes, which irritated me a little. Things should move along like click speed, and they don't.

I skipped through most of the short games as they didn't make sense to me such as the first diamond matchup portrait thing where you're supposed to fit the correct eyes. At least I only played the demo version instead wasting the money. Show less

I don't recommend this game.

0points

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