If I haven’t already mentioned it, I’m a self-proclaimed dork. One of my vices is TV crime dramas – I love to "hunt" for the clues alongside the actors and crack the case before the hour is up.

I was hooked on the show Castle from the start for its combination of the classic crime scene investigation and the budding feelings between Castle and Beckett, the two main characters.

Not to mention being envious of Castle having the opportunity to go on cases with detectives to do research for the novels he writes, how exciting! When I saw an HOG based on the show, Castle: Never Judge a Book by Its Cover, I was beyond thrilled and couldn’t wait for an opportunity to play. 

After a quick family vacation we are home and back to the grind and I was looking forward to a little me time to explore the game.

I was immediately impressed with how well the animators captured the likenesses of all of the main characters. I was somewhat disappointed in the lack of voice-overs, but I can imagine it would have cost a small fortune to hire the actors and dialog bubbles are less distracting to me. The cut scene opens with a glimpse of the first murder.

Unfortunately, the animation in those opening moments leaves a lot to be desired and nearly turned me off the game. But, staying true to the game title Castle: Never Judge a Book by Its Cover, I didn’t want to give up so soon.

I was quickly relieved as I got into the game play – the graphics are crisp and clear and no hint of the hokey animation from the cut scene. The dialog bubbles continue and, in Rookie mode, the on-screen prompts let you know who has something to say.

The background music and sounds set a slightly creepy tone, but are unobtrusive, and I didn’t even notice them once I was focused on the game. Sparkle hints guide you through the scene and where to investigate. The map lets you travel from place to place and a gold police badge indicates a scene with interactions left. I appreciated the map as even in the first chapter there was a bit of jumping back and forth investigating the crime.

The hidden object scenes are typical – somewhat messy and the items don’t all seem to be relevant to the storyline. As a bonus, you can choose to view the silhouette of an item instead of the description – particularly helpful when you get items like a fan that can take on multiple shapes.

I was able to easily complete the scenes without additional help, but there are hints readily available as well as the silhouettes.

The mini-games in Castle: Never Judge a Book by Its Cover were less impressive to me. The first several are basically the same concept – turn all the squares one color, but, as you click on one, others will change as well. Slightly different directions but the same basic game repeated. There was a Simon Says game to unlock a door that was different, but still, not very challenging. 

Overall, I really enjoyed the game play and the storyline. I was so disappointed when my time was up – I had already pushed bedtime back by 15 minutes to squeeze in a little more play (bad mommy, I know, but she was happily playing with her toys, too!) but I can’t wait to get back to it and keep working to solve the case.