The scene... a moon drenched night, subtle movement casts flickering shadows that play tricks on your mind as you assess the imposing sight of the Final Journey Hotel. Twisted forms of tortured trees line the walkway leading up to the weary facade, as you notice the worn paneling and peeling paint, providing ample evidence of the building's age. A young woman sits weeping in a crumpled heap near the entrance to the hotel, and you spot your partner, James, ever the ladies man, attempting to console her.
It's here that you begin another grueling case in Haunted Hotel: Eclipse. A crime riddled building that's become the supernatural battleground in an age-old war, and you and your partner must now discover what's causing these two forces to engage in a fight to the death.
While the underlying theme to Haunted Hotel: Eclipse isn't anything new, two forces fighting for dominance, I will give the developers credit for coming up with such an interesting storyline of pitting supernatural creatures together and weaving that into a detective story. It's a murder mystery... but what happens when the victims are werewolves and vampires? We're about to find out.
The characters range from tolerable to lovable, with James coming in first in my book. His gravely voice acting brings his rough, adventuress side life, and he constantly amuses me as he plays doctor to the ladies you encounter, leaving you to do all the dirty work. Go check out that creepy hotel while I make sure this weepy, young maid is well taken care of... I shall catch this ice maiden and tend to her while you go explore that dark corner over there. Oh yes, I found this wicked looking scythe.... here, cut down our foes with it while I stand in the corner and fix my herringbone frock.
James definitely doesn't have a problem letting the woman run the show... and I love him dearly for that. Good boy, James. Run and fetch me a beer will you?
The hidden object scenes were few and far between... just how I like them. I felt like there was a nice amount of time between them, and I didn't feel like I was stuck in an endless litany of finding huge amounts of useless crap. I also didn't feel like the scenes were too dark or hard to see and the objects themselves weren't too challenging to find.
The puzzles were what really brought this game to life for me, and that's really surprising because I normally hate the puzzles. I just don't have patience for them. And, while the puzzles in Haunted Hotel: Eclipse weren't anything awe-inspiring, they were just generally entertaining to do and addicting... kind of like the way a jigsaw puzzle is hopelessly irresistible for me.
Most of the puzzles I encountered featured multiple steps to them, which was also kind of fun. I didn't think they were incredibly difficult to work out, but they weren't stupid simple either. It was a lot of puzzle sorting, logic puzzles, and coloring pieces to tell a story... nothing overly frustrating, and for the most part, very relaxing.
The graphics at first presented a disconcerting experience for me. At first, I was disappointed in the murky, cloudy feel to them. I didn't think they were as sharp or as crisp as I would have expected. However, I found the level of detail that went into the textures to be pretty amazing. I could almost feel the threads on the fabric of James' frock, and you could feel the age of the hotel itself echoing through the grains of wood and peeling paint flecks.
So why did the graphics feel foggy to me if there was such obvious attention to detail? That's when I realized the scenes were full of shadows and filtered rays of moonlight... the murky feel was on purpose... it was supposed to be a dark and spooky night after all. After I figured that out, I felt much better.
A bonus to Haunted Hotel: Eclipse was searching for the portraits that adorned the walls of the old place. There were about 15 of them in all and they featured the supernatural guests of the hotel.
Each picture would show the transformation of the creature from man to beast in a subtle animation that brought me straight to the Haunted Mansion at Disney World... where the pictures turn from human to skeleton right before your eyes... super fun and exciting to search for to see what monster I would find next.
Overall, Haunted Hotel: Eclipse was a rousing romp through fantastical creatures, amusing partners, and, while not overly challenging, relaxing and entertaining gameplay. If you have a taste for something deliciously spooky this October, you might want to dial in to Haunted Hotel: Eclipse.