Mind's Eye - Secrets Of The Forgotten

Secrets of the Forgotten starts out traditionally enough, as you take on the role of a Gabrielle, an investigative journalist who's looking into the murder of the town's mayor. Gabrielle is a journalist who happened to be in the right place at the right time when the mayor is found dead from an apparent suicide. As she and her cameraman partner Roland report on the incident, they discover there's more to this mystery than meets the eye... This game will actually tell a worthy tale rather than just hacking up an excuse to string a bunch of puzzles together, but we will leave that to the players to find out on it's own. Mind's Eye is a stylized, almost comic-book style look that helps separate it from the glut of HOGs out there. The character portraits, that look wonderful and the various scenes are all unique and well detailed, thanks to large parts of the multiple layers of depth. There are also some interesting lighting effects -- like a whirling police light or flickering light bulb -- that not only look cool, but also make the object finding a little more difficult. The only real problem with the art style is that some objects are simply too small or not clear enough so a player can pick them out among the other items. It's just too bad that it doesn't last very long. Because while Mind's Eye may not be all that innovative, it has the potential to be a very good HOG with solid gameplay mechanics and a refreshing visual style. It would've been nice to see the story fleshed out quite a bit more, and to have more variety in terms of the mini-games; hopefully something we'll see in a sequel. As it stands, Mind's Eye makes for a great afternoon diversion. Enjoy it...