Mystery Case Files

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Mystery Case Files
Mystery Case Files
Developer(s)	Big Fish Games
Publisher(s)	Big Fish Games
Distributor(s)	Various
Engine	Big Fish Games Framework
Platform(s)	Windows / Mac OS X
Genre(s)	Puzzle
Mode(s)	Single player
Rating(s)	ESRB: Everyone (E)
Media	Download
System requirements	OS: Win 98/ME/2000/XP/Vista. Memory: 600 MB RAM. DirectX: 6.0.
Input methods	Keyboard, Mouse

The Mystery Case Files (also known as MCF) is a casual game series developed by the internal studios of Big Fish Games. The MCF series is known for its ‘Hidden Object’ puzzles where, in order to progress through a game, the player must find a certain number of items hidden somewhere on a painted scene. There are usually thousands of items hidden in the game and while some of them are easy to find, some can be quite difficult.^{[citation needed]}

There have been four games in the MCF series. After MCF: Huntsville, each one added additional features including flashlights (MCF: Prime Suspects), door puzzles (MCF: Ravenhearst) and word/crystal ball puzzles (MCF: Madame Fate).^{[citation needed]}

Storyline and characters have also played an integral role in the development of the series since the first title.^{[citation needed]} As an example of this, the latest game released in November 2007 (MCF: Madame Fate) has a plot that directly ties into the third game in the series (MCF: Ravenhearst).

Big Fish Games "estimates that 100 million people have at least sampled trial versions"^[1] of the MCF games since the initial launch of MCF: Huntsville.

1 History
2 Upcoming
3 References
4 External links

[edit] History

Mystery Case Files: Huntsville was released in November 2005 and immediately broke sales records for casual games. The player took the role of a master detective to solve a series of seemingly random crimes in the small town of Huntsville. The game featured a number of locations to explore and introduced the Crime Computer which is still a main part of the series.

Mystery Case Files: Prime Suspects was released in April 2006. The player is tasked with investigating the disappearance of the Queen’s Hope Diamond in Capital City. MCF: Prime Suspects added items that players had to discover to unlock later levels (such as finding a battery to power a flashlight). Characters also became a more prominent part of the series with the investigation revolving around multiple characters with different personality ‘quirks’.

Mystery Case Files: Ravenhearst was released in December 2006 and featured an investigation centered on a mysterious manor located in England. Players found objects to unlock diary pieces to follow the life of Emma Ravenhearst. MCF: Ravenhearst also introduced elaborate door puzzles to the series that were similar to a Rube Goldberg type puzzle.

Mystery Case Files: Madame Fate was released in November 2007 and is the latest game in the series. The player investigates Madame Fate’s Carnival and the carnival workers to see which one of them causes the fortune teller’s death at midnight. MCF: Madame Fate introduces more types of puzzles (including word puzzles and multiple crystal ball puzzles) while also changing the way a player can find items. Sometimes the player must combine two items on the screen, other times they must locate hidden areas to progress. The bulk of the game is still finding hidden objects, but there are a lot of other types of puzzles.

[edit] Upcoming

Mystery Case Files: Agent X was announced by Big Fish Games through a partnership with Glu Mobile in October 2007 and was released Q1 2008. Whereas the previous MCF games were developed for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X, this title is a mobile-only game.