MYSTERY CASE FILES: RAVENHEARST

Reviewed by Cherie Jung

(December, 2012)

Ravenhearst Manor stands abandoned behind locked gates. A creepiness pervades the property and rumors about the manor have been circulating for ages. Players will attempt to discover its secrets by searching for hidden clues — the missing pages of a diary that must be found and re-assembled.

This is a charming hidden object game. The puzzles are challenging but fun, rather than challenging and frustrating. (Most players will find the puzzles not too difficult.) Finding the various hidden objects is also quite challenging. Limited hints are available for those who become stuck.

I found playing the game MCF: Ravenhearst to be easier than MCF: Dire Grove and MCF: Shadow Lake but much more fun than either of those two games.

Listed at $9.99, I purchased this game for $6.99 with an online discount. (A free one-hour trial is available on all games.)

I have dial-up internet access so I chose to have the game mailed to me on a CD (along with another game I ordered and two strategy guides) which I then uploaded/installed to my computer and then activated online at the Big Fish website. There was an additional $7.99 fee for the CD. To me, the added fee was worth every penny because of my very slow dial-up access! In addition to the games I ordered, the CD contained one full-sized free game and several trial-size games.

When I initially tried to activate the games on the Big Fish website, I thought I had a problem. Ever the impatient person, I fired off a query to the Big Fish help staff. I received an automated response that my query had been received and that I would be contacted by a Big Fish Customer Service representative in 24-72 hours. They actually responded in 14 minutes. Yes, 14 minutes. Now I don't expect that kind of service all the time, but Wow! To make things even better, the Big Fish Game Manager program had already solved the problem by suggesting I re-activate the game(s) before I got the assistance from the Customer Service rep.

Game System Requirements: