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0 Montgomery Fox and the Case of the Missing Ballerinas is a point-and-click puzzle-adventure game developed by Paprikari and published by Big Fish Games and Ocean Media LLC. It is available to pick up on the PlayStation Store for £11.99
On The Prowl For Answers
Gameplay
In Montgomery Fox and the Case of the Missing Ballerinas, players assume the role of the titular character. Montgomery Fox is a detective looking into the disappearance of several ballerinas and suspects a character named Lazy Dog but lacks the required evidence. Players will enter levels which are hidden object games with clues and evidence to find. While hidden object games make up most of the gameplay, there are a couple of different puzzles.
Lost & Found
During the hidden object sequences, players will have a list of objects they must find in the level to complete it. Left and right of this list are two (optional) collectable objects players can find within each mission. A blue sparkle gives players a smaller area they have to look at to find some items listed.
When an object’s name on the list is highlighted blue, players can click it and swap between three items but only need to find one of them. There is a hint button that takes about 15 seconds to recharge. Hints will locate and incircle a listed object looking for. However, there is no penalty in-game or trophy-wise for using them, so use them to your heart’s content!
Colour Me Puzzled!
While the hidden object games make up the core gameplay, there are several other puzzles in Montgomery Fox and the Case of the Missing Ballerinas. Unlike the hidden object segments, you can skip these puzzles if you wish (though, where’s the fun in that?).
One of the puzzles in the game. One puzzle is a simple jigsaw. Another puzzle features five tubes filled with different coloured balls. Each cylinder has a colour label on it. Players must take a ball from the bottom of a cylinder and place it at the top of another. Players must keep shifting the balls around until each tube has filled with the correct corresponding colours.
Graphics & Audio
Cutscenes play out in comic strip style, and most of the story gets told through notebook pages of characters talking at the end of each level. Characters are hand-drawn and look great, and the maps on the level screen are detailed. The hidden object scenes and the puzzle mini-games are bright, colourful and well-drawn.
No spoken dialogue is in the game, but there is a soundtrack. While the music is jolly and fun, it gets repetitive pretty fast. I found myself muting the music after a while. Besides music, there are clicking on found objects and hint sound effects. They’re all pretty simple and nothing noteworthy.
Longevity
There are sixty levels to complete, it took me under two hours to finish and that was with all the collectables as well.
Final Thoughts
I found the game relaxing and not too demanding, but I wouldn’t recommend playing for long periods of time. If you love hidden object games, check out the other entries for Montgomery Fox. I did find some of the items a bit unfair with where they hid them. For example, a black object was on a black background. Thankfully the game’s hint feature really helped with these issues. Some items are also wrong, such as the Libra symbol actually being an Aquarius or some having misspellings.
I give Montgomery Fox and the Case of the Missing Ballerinas the Thumb Culture Silver Award.
Disclaimer: A code was received in order to write this review.
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