Where Angels Cry

When it comes to making puzzle-adventures Cateia Games has a renowned reputation. With some admirable titles already in their repertoire, they keep pushing for perfection, and Where Angels Cry is the latest to attempt to maintain that tradition.

If you’ve played ‘Red Crow Mysteries: Legion’ or ‘Tales from Dragon Mountain’ this game will seem awfully similar to you. While gameplay remains the same for all these titles; the intriguing stories are the thing's that separate them.

Tale of Where Angels Cry starts in the medieval era at the point when a monastery witnesses mysterious incidents. Monks start to disappear and there's no telling whether they are dead or alive. Villagers sight mysterious being's scavenging in the dark, Templars exhausting the innocent people, and spectacularly; a statue in front of the monastery is crying the tears of blood. The sense of hidden secrets begins to loom in the village and this is where your journey begins. Your job is to investigate these mysterious incidents and reveal whatever truth or force is behind them. Having a secret identity when you start the journey, you come across facts even a madman would doubt.

During the game your key task is to explore the surroundings and reveal every bit of information possible. You must find hidden objects using the mouse pointer prearranged in each scenario and use them wherever necessary. There is an inventory where you can carry all items. Some of the items need to be combined before using and some can be used directly. Anyone with little intelligence will know how and where to use these items. If not, there’s this hint system that will help throughout the game.

The story is presented with a progress bar that needs to be filled before each part, and therein lies the groundwork for the introduction of puzzle aspects. Meaning until you crack a puzzle, the story won’t progress. Most of the time, there is only one main puzzle in each scenario supported with several mini puzzles. By completing the mini puzzles you collect items that help in setting up the main puzzle. And once the main puzzle is cracked you move onwards and upwards.

Like any other puzzle game from Cateia Games there are a variety of puzzles that can be found here, from construction, tiling, jigsaw, lock, combination, musical and mechanical. There's something for everyone and enough in numbers that you won't be easily bored.

Aside from the array of puzzles, what makes this game truly different is the ability to interrogate the inhabitants. Sometimes when you are stuck and don’t know what to do, speaking with the people around you will provide good guidance. There’s also a journal that keeps a record of each scenario passed and in some cases it comes in pretty handy.The journal also comes with a Game Info section which gives you the stats of your gameplay, such as the number of hours played and achievements unlocked. There are several achievements here that require you to finish the major puzzles in a single try, which is perhaps where the most challenging parts of the game lay.

The atmosphere of the game is somewhat faultless. Every level is designed in impeccable detail and everything dynamically changes as the story progresses. Even though there aren’t any animated effects used other than those found in the cut-scenes, it never feels lacking. Each puzzle window is delicately designed and adds a certain realism to proceedings. Adding to that, the sound effects and Italian voice-overs of the locals are nice touches to tie the package together.

The game has its drawbacks though. Even though there are three different difficulty modes to choose, the most difficult mode didn’t seem all that difficult at all. Yes the easier modes provide more hints and support during the game, but puzzles in the hardest mode should’ve been more complex than they actually are. At times I really felt the game was designed for kids under thirteen or less, as it only took me a little more than an hour to finish the entire thing with all the achievements unlocked and 100% completion. To reiterate, this makes the game awfully short and could use a few more scenarios or added puzzles for an extended play. However, I must admit that the difficulty level of finding hidden objects has improved compared to few previous titles. It was my suggestion while reviewing Red Crow Mysteries: Legion years back and it’s rewarding to see the idea has been implemented.

Well, Cateia Games is very frequent at publishing puzzle titles and Where Angels Cry is definitely a progress towards perfection. For those of you are puzzle hungry this might be the title for you. For those looking for an enthralling story, you'll get it here, but it will be short-lived to say the least.

Sarwar Ron, NoobFeed