The Institute - A Becky Brogan Adventure

The Institute - A Becky Brogan Adventure is the second hidden object game released by MumboJumbo telling us about adventures of Becky. Becky Brogan is a girl who dreamt to become a detective one day. Being a high school she investigated a supposedly haunted mansion for a school research project, and discovered that Meane Manor didn’t indeed have its share of sinister secrets. These secrets were the ones to discover in Becky Brogan: The Mystery of Meane Manor, the previous game of the series. Now Becky is college student and studies investigative journalism and criminal science. So in The Institute she faces her second case. It is all about a doctor and nurse who have gone missing from a psychological institute.

For those of you who’re expecting a nice adventure it is better not even try the game. The Institute is a pure hidden object game with rare puzzles between the HOG scenes. Though the plot is really intriguing at the beginning the lack of interactions will not give you any chance to enjoy it. All the information will be received through the documents, photos and notes (some of them made with the help of the blood or… just red ink) etc that you’ll find in the HOG scenes. The absence of animation is obvious from the introduction part. Instead of the acting heroes that usually tell you the story you’ll see a kind of comics with Becky starring. But to tell honestly it’s not at all as bad as it may sound.

The sounds of heart beat while the loading of the game chapters creates the feeling of suspense in the best traditions of Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock

The graphics are cute but a bit of gloomy. On the other hand you’re messed up in a story with two people missing, so you must not be expecting vivid colors and funny sounds. As for the music it is not at all unique or catchy. But I really liked the idea of a heart beat that accompanies the loading of every new scene. Have you heard that the heart beat is the most calming sound for every person? It is caused by the fact that being a germ we listen to mom’s heart beat for the first nine month of our life… But listening to this sound in the game creates the feeling of suspense in the best traditions of Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock.

The Institute reminds Becky Brogan: Mystery of Meane Manor a lot - the sequel definitely has an old-school feel to hidden object genre. The scenes are messy, and all you need is just to search all of the items on the list without any time limits. Though in The Institute some of the found things go to inventory and should be used in the same scene right in the place kindly pointed with the fog. In one of the scenes I got the keys and the axe to my inventory panel and I needed to do something with the door. Would you guess what I preferred to do? I was even disappointed that I couldn’t crash the old door and needed to unlock it with the keys instead…

The Institute reminds Becky Brogan: Mystery of Meane Manor a lot - the sequel definitely has an old-school feel to hidden object genre.

Be prepared that the object you’ll be looking for are tiny. They are not just small and well camouflaged, they are almost atomic! But there is no penalty for random clicking so sometimes it helps just to cross the entire scene like you’re hunting the mole. Besides in every HOG scene you’re to find an object that is not in a list. Usually it is a teddy bear or any other kind of a bear. Every bear will help you to recharge your hint button any moment you wish. Though the hint button is rechargeable pretty fast and you don’t really need to hasten the process. On the other hand the abundance of HOG scenes may make you feel bored so you might want to finish the game as quickly as possible…

Have you ever dreamt of being a detective? It’s not only about examinations and pursuits. At’s more about analytics and evidences’ searching. So hidden object game is a reasonable first step. And The Institute - A Becky Brogan Adventure is a nice option.

digg it! | del.icio.us