Mystery P.I. Portrait of a Thief - Nintendo DS

Works great, and arrived in a timely manner. Game came with original packaging, and instruction. Overall a seamless transaction.

At first "Mystery P.I. Portrait of a Thief" was a very addicting game but, after several chapters, it became mind-numbingly repetitive and the whole mystery solving theme got lost. The storyline is that you are a detective who is trying to solve the case of paintings missing from a gallery. You need to gather evidence by finding objects in various locations in the town. You progress through 20 chapters in the case. After finding all the required objects in a chapter, you solve a puzzle. These puzzles can be either piecing a jigsaw puzzle together, completing a word search, matching pictures that complement each other, or putting tiles together to form a picture. Once the puzzle is complete, you are given new information about the case which begins a new chapter with more items to find and a puzzle at the end and so on.The locations were diverse and interesting and some of the items were very well hidden. The locations were easy to see for the most part; however, I noticed in airports the lighting made the game very dark and almost impossible to play. For added challenge, sometimes descriptions were not what they seemed. An "eye," for example, could be an Egyptian-style drawing of a eye, the word "eye" or simply an eye. If the list included more than one "bat" that could mean a flying bat and a baseball bat. The music was rather pleasant, but also repetitive and could get stuck in your head.As repetitive as the music was, so was the game play. After finishing several chapters, the same locations kept coming up and the game became tiring seek and find. Unlike "Chronicles of Mystery: Curse of the Ancient Temple," for example, I never felt like the game was a mystery. "Chronicles" is a seek and find game with puzzles as well but there is interaction with the locations that gives a sense of detective work. "Mystery P.I." did not offer such interaction. The search areas and puzzles were independent of the storyline. There was absolutely no crime-solving thought involved. The investigation just progressed as I completed the chapters.The re-playability of the game is low, in my opinion, because I got so sick of seeing the same places and looking for the same things. Some of the descriptions used are strange, too. A "bumbershoot" is an umbrella, for example. I guess the game taught me something. In conclusion, toward the end, I tried to finish the chapters as quickly as possible and was disappointed when a new chapter started as I just wanted to finish the game and move on to something else. That is never a good sign.

Worth the money

I liked this game but that's not unusual since I am a fan of the popcap games. I already had the forgotten ruins game and liked that one. This game was almost the same except you had a different story going. Although by the time I 'solved' the crime I forgot I was solving anything because the story kind of got lost somewhere. It didn't really matter to me because I really just like the seek and solve and puzzle games anyway, but hey-it was supposed to be a story, right? At any rate the items were moderately hard to find, there were keys and paintbrushes that were bonuses to find, and I will probably keep this game for relaxing evenings with my ds or for when I'm waiting on hold or waiting online. I would recommend the game to anyone who likes the seek and solve and puzzle games.

Let it be understood...I love Hidden Object games (just ask the folks at BigFish!). I have played the MCF MillionHeir on the DS as well as this one. The only real issue with either is that I'm not as young as I used to be and even with only a portion of the screen in view at any given time, it's often difficult to spot the items. I found it helpful to play the unlimited seek and find at the end, which let me see pretty much everything in each site, and I have a good memory, so my play has gotten better. The mini-games are ultra-easy, but they provide a good "break" from the tiny screen items.

Initially I liked this game and I found it fun searching for all of the items listed. I liked how some of the items were old fashioned looking or named by their scientific names to keep you thinking and on top of things. BUT...Eventually you get to a point in the game where there are no new items and no new pictures. Half of the time you are finding the exact same items with a few new ones added it. I like to feel like I am searching for something new or solving a puzzle. So at about the half way point I grew weary of the same-ole-same-ole thing. The mini games were easy at best....matching, putting together a mini puzzle...too easy. I wouldn't say this is a terrible game but I don't want to play it again, and most likely wouldn't have bought it for any more than ten bucks.

The game is fun and entertaining. Love the mini games.This game could of been perfect had the makers included some kind of magnifying tool to use on searching for small things, like bugs, keys, etc.While playing I find the things I can see and for the little stuff, I use my own magnifying glass for the small things. Would of been very helpful if the game actually had one built in. How hard could that of been?All in all it's a fun and entertaing game. Just some things are hard to see.This game is very similar to The Forgotten Ruins.

this was a disappointment. it was over way too quickly. i enjoy these types of games very much. this one is fun but in 3 days i had it solved. thats way too quick. my only consolation is that i didnt pay full price for it. it also taught me a lesson....not to purchase this type of game again. it just cannot sustain my interest as long as id like. i did like that is used words i had to google (moai, dromedary, etc) and described some things in a way that made me think (Split for Soup=a pea pod). they should limit the hint button usage...that woulda helped a bit.

Great game! 5 stars\4 thumbs up.