Being a P.I. nowadays is pretty normal and as it seems they have more and more work to do than ever before. There are the cases of adulteries, fraud, second families or even for a chance of becoming wealthy on the expense of somebody else, but this P.I. is different! Our P.I. is Vicki Nelson, and she has quite a story behind her. Vicki is a former police officer who had to leave the police forces because of her sight was getting worse more and more so she found herself in the private investigator business. But she wasn’t there alone, as her partner was a 450 years old vampire, who is unrecognized son of King Henry the Eight. As they are a bit of a weird couple their targets aren’t any less weird, especially when it comes to demons, zombies and ghosts. This deathly duo is searching for any one of these unearthly beings to vanquish them from earth back where they belong. Blood ties are based on a TV show that has the same characters like in the game, but the TV show is also based on blood books from Tanya Huff. They got a case that will make them force their every investigator skill to the max, as they are dealing now with a very great problem. Secret societies have been here for ages. Some have great power, some exist just so they can gather around somewhere, but this one had great responsibility. The members of this society have pieces of a jewel, and not just any jewel. The Hellfire club, as they were called, was given a magical amulet to guard, and then every year from then they were to gather again on the same place so they can reunite the pieces of the magical tablet and lock the demon Astaroth back to the underworld so it doesn’t break free. This year it was different as 14 members of the club have gone missing and it is up to you to find them. Maybe the plot of the game will be also weird for somebody, but this kind of plot can make you buy the game even without looking at it! The gameplay of the game is pretty straightforward as there aren’t any additional games that will involve with the main game mode. This means there are no mini-games. Maybe this could be a good thing, as almost every game today has one, so why not make one without them? Everything here spins around hidden objects and if you are able to find them. Every level of the game gives you a new person to find, that is one of the 14 missing persons. Depending on the character you are searching for, the level can reach from two to six locations and the number of items that can be found is from thirty to ninety. In case you get stuck with some items, and you definitely will, you have the hint system at your disposal. This hint system is a bit different from other, as we are normally costumed to time refilling hints or those which refill themselves with objects found. For this hint system to be refilled you need to find a pentagram and clicking on it recovers all of yours hints. You better use these hints if you want to finish a level in time. Finding all of the items that are given on the wanted list gives you the right of passage to the next level, if not well… There is also the punishment for those who like to click everywhere. Too much clicking, that is too much miss-click will shorten your playtime that is the time that you have to finish the level. But the weak side is definitely its story, even though it has got a catchy start. Like previously said you are given case files about the missing person you need to find, and you find it at the end of the level, but you don’t get to see how? You are just given a part of the tablet and move on. Another thing is that, if the game is based on the TV show and it somewhat popular, they could have used that to build up games gameplay in a way of providing more dialogues and scenes that connect the game to its source. As far as I know, the TV show is set in Toronto, and instead of using that information and giving the game additional graphical kick the game has no whatsoever similarities with the city. When you start your search for the items there will be some misunderstandings with the words the manufactures used in describing a certain item. The words won’t be always exactly what they represent so you’ll have to look for similar things more closely. There will be lots of pilled items in one place that need to be searched through entirely as the one specific item is mostly the one you would last think of searching for. Basically this is a game for the hardcore fans of hidden object genre, as it is a straightforward game where there is nothing but searching for hidden object items. But the lack of interaction of the characters in any way is you a downside as it could give the game what it needed the most and make it more tempting!
