Blackwood & Bell Mysteries - Become a World Class Detective!

The goal in Blackwood & Bell Mysteries is very similar to that of Gardens of Time (makes sense seeing as how they were created by the same game studio: Playdom). For those of you who haven’t played Blackwood & Bell Mysteries before:
You travel to solve mysteries and crime and preserve evidence in your Evidence Yard. You are greeted by James Blackwood and informed that he is a partner of Blackwood & Bell, consulting detectives. Catherine Bell joins you and tells you that "your" new case just made the front page! This dialogue becomes much more dramatic when the paper reveals that an opera singer, Helga Von Hertz, has gone missing and a stagehand has been murdered! Oh no! They will need your help to investigate! The next mission is to preserve items in your yard. This gives you a higher reputation and a higher reputation unlocks your next quest. The next quest is to visit the scene of the murder at the Royal Opera House. Every scene has a special highlighted clue that will help you solve the case.

In this quest I have discovered a tiara that must have belonged to Helga Von Hertz herself. This is very much a mystery sort of plot with hypotheses and deducing answers from ponderous statements… And very dramatic. They suggest you play each level multiple times to uncover more clues and to earn more stars. As I revisited the first scene, London Alley, I notice there was a shady man posted against a wall. Talk about creepy. I suggest you try to always get 2 stars at least on each level. The game will sometimes ask you to earn more on certain levels. However, watch your energy levels. I don’t like to go below 10. When you start getting low add things to your garden, it will help you get more reputation AND energy. Next I am invited to visit a neighbor, George, in his yard and challenge him to find out who is a better sleuth (whatever that means). This earns you silver to buy things for your yard and XP that unlocks new items to display in the yard.

I find out next that Helga was last seen on stage and must scour the stage for clues. On the stage you find a poison bottle said to contain chloroform explaining why Helga did not scream when she was abducted. How cruel! Next thing to do is find the source of the chloroform at some of the chemist’s shops nearby. I have run low on energy because they keep making me visit the same place to find a clue for a second time. In the meantime I have to buy things for my yard to open a new quest and gain more energy. The graphics on this game are good, everything is dark and dreary and that adds greatly to the whole mysterious ambiance. Even at my Evidence Yard. I like the landscape around my yard too. It has a mansion behind it and a cobblestone outline around the yard with a road outside of that surrounding my yard.

If you like the whole idea of solving mysteries in hidden object games then you should definitely look at playing some more detective games and mystery games.