Mystery Case Files: Huntsville
| Mystery Case Files: Huntsville | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer(s) | Big Fish Studios |
| Publisher(s) | Big Fish Games |
| Series | Mystery Case Files |
| Engine | Director |
| Platform(s) | Windows, Mac OS X |
| Release date(s) |
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| Genre(s) | Adventure, puzzle |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
Mystery Case Files: Huntsville is an adventure-puzzle casual game developed by Big Fish Studios, and distributed by Big Fish Games. It is the first installment in the Mystery Case Files series. The game is available exclusively at Big Fish Games website. The Mystery Case Files franchise has sold more than 2.5 million units to date.[1]
Story
After many Crime events have passed down to the small town of Huntsville in Texas, you, the Detective, assume a role of a future 'Master Detective' in order to solve a series of crimes and discover the Big Boss behind the Special Organization "S.T.A.I.N.". Every Level, the Player must find all the clues in the list and discover the S.T.A.I.N. villains behind the crimes. Once you've captured Harold Funkmeyer, S.T.A.I.N.'s second-in-command, you will be ranked as a 'Master Detective', find Gertrude Goodlittle, the Huntsville librarian and S.T.A.I.N.'s Big Boss, and continue your investigating career at the next game, Mystery Case Files: Prime Suspects.
S.T.A.I.N.
S.T.A.I.N. is a Special Organization who is responsible how is the person dangerous for the criminals. Every Member of the Organization has a trademark, all the members have a tattoo of a Skeleted Head tattooed at any part of their body or placed in items. All of them have different styles of Smulge such as Handwork Building, Scratch Folk, Thievery and more. One of them is an 'aspiring S.T.A.I.N.' agent mentioned in the second game Mystery Case Files: Prime Suspects. Among its members are:
Members
- Gertrude Goodlittle - S.T.A.I.N.'s Big Boss the game's main antagonist.
- Harold Funkmeyer - The culprit of the fourteenth case and S.T.A.I.N.'s second-in-command.
- "Slick" Rick - The culprit of the thirteenth case.
- Violet Burgundy - The culprit of the twelfth case.
- "Hoodwink" Harry - The culprit of the eleventh case.
- Lou, Pawnshop Pete's assistant - The culprit of the tenth case.
- Doris Blevins - The culprit of the ninth case.
- Ty from Clock Shoppe - The culprit of the eighth case.
- Eugene Needlemeyer - The culprit of the seventh case.
- Gil T. Azell - The culprit of the sixth case.
- Bill Larson - The culprit of the fifth case.
- Professor Luna H. Tick - The culprit of the fourth case.
- Elmer from body shop - The culprit of the third case.
- Rudy, the town barber - The culprit of the second case
- Darla Rudder - The culprit of the first case.
- Vincent "Vinny the Chin" Gavone - He is mentioned to be an aspiring S.T.A.I.N. agent as a Prime Suspect in the game's sequel Mystery Case Files: Prime Suspects.
Gameplay
Mystery Case Files: Huntsville marked the introduction of the hidden object game - a genre of casual game development in which a player must locate a list of objects which are hidden among many other objects on the computer screen. Once a player has located all the listed hidden objects, they progress on to the next area of game play. In case a player is unable to find a required object, many hidden object games offer a finite number of hints.
Like all Mystery Case Files titles, Huntsville relies heavily on hidden object game play. Upon completing each hidden object puzzle, players return to their 'Crime Computer' where they solve subsequent puzzles in order to gather evidence and help pinpoint the thief. A player is given a limited amount of time to complete each puzzle. If the player fails to successfully complete a puzzle in this time, he or she must begin again with an entirely new scenario.
Mystery Case Files: Huntsville features over 15 crimes in over 20 locations. Moreover, each time the player solves a crime, they can restart and play a new scenario with new clues and a new thief.
Reception
Following its release on November 18, 2005, Mystery Case Files: Huntsville broke all previous casual game sales records by over 100%, selling over $1 million worth of digitally distributed (downloaded) copies in under three months.[2] As a result, it moved into the top 10 sales positions on all major casual game distribution websites.[3]
Mystery Case Files: Huntsville was initially released in as an online game download for the PC and soon after for the Mac OS. In July, 2006, Big Fish Games signed an agreement with Activision Value to distribute the game beginning in September, 2006 at retail locations throughout the United States.[4]
References
- ↑ http://www.bigfishgames.com/download-games/726/mystery-case-files-huntsville/index.html
- ↑ "Big Fish Games' New Title Mystery Case Files: Huntsville Hits Record Sales". PRNewswire. 2006-03-07. Retrieved 2007-12-13.
- ↑ "MCF: Huntsville Sales Data". GameSalesCharts.com. 2007-12-13. Retrieved 2007-12-13.
- ↑ "Activision Value Publishing, Inc. to Distribute Big Fish Games; Three Successful Online Titles Selected for Retail". Activision, Inc. 2006-07-31. Retrieved 2008-01-03.
External links
- Official Mystery Case Files website
- MCF: Huntsville at Big Fish Games