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Computer Times
Editors' Choice Game Unsolved Mystery Club: Ancient Astronauts Review by Angie Kibiloski
Unsolved Mystery Club: Ancient Astronauts (Retail $19.99 Collector’s Edition, $9.99 Standard Edition), is the second title in the Unsolved Mystery Club series of games from Freeze Tag Games. It is a nice combination of point-and-click adventure and hidden objects. As an agent in the UMC, your job is to go around the world investigating strange and unexplained phenomenon, like the disappearance of Amelia Earhart in the previous installment in the series, or in this case alien visitation. In this game, 5 members of the UMC have gone missing, all while searching out the origins of myths regarding ancient astronauts, or what many people believe to have been alien beings that came to Earth and influenced early human civilizations. You will travel around the world, visiting the same sites as your colleagues, attempting to discover their fate, and possibly shed light on the mystery of the so-called ancient astronauts.
The majority of this game is adventure style gaming, in which you must search each environment for clues and items to help you solve puzzles, reach new areas of the world, and progress the plot. The puzzles are basic adventure conventions, like code breaking and spatial or picture puzzles. Some require items to be collected and used, while others just require some brainpower. You'll also get a chance to hunt for useful items in scattered hidden object screens. Sometimes, in order to solve one of the other obstacles or puzzles, you’ll need one of the items in the object list. After finding all of the hidden objects, the one you need to take with you will be yours to keep in inventory until you use it. The hidden object screens are only a small element to the action though, and I would not strictly call this a hidden object game, as it consists of so much more. Interspersed with the action of game play, you’ll get little animations or texts about certain clues you uncover, providing you with useful and interesting information, not only about the plot of the game, but about the real world stories and artifacts having to do with the ancient astronaut legends. If you get stuck, you can use the hint system, which allows you to see one clue of your choice at a time. As a separate download, you can get the detailed Strategy Guide, which is like a visual walkthrough of the entire game. If you buy the Collector’s Edition, this Strategy Guide comes integrated into the game. Added bonus content, in the form of concept art, music tracks, character art, and an entire bonus level, are also included in the Collector’s Edition.
The interesting thing about this game is that all of the myths that are cited really exist in our world history, so while exploring the game, you’ll be learning about real evidence to support the stories. The environments are detailed and beautiful as well, so you can almost feel like you’ve visited these real world sites. First, hop over to Mali, Africa, to a village supposedly visited by people from the stars called the Nommo, whom the villagers have long worshipped. Travel to Egypt to find out about a pharaoh who claimed to hold the spirit of an extraterrestrial within him. See wall paintings inside the Sphinx that might be depicting aircraft. Head into the Palenque Jungle in Mexico and go inside a Mayan temple, where the remains of a ruler, who could have also been alien in origin, reside. Go over to Nazca, Peru, and discover a scale model of what could be an ancient airplane, along with massive geoglyphs, line drawings of animals and people that can only be fully seen from the sky. In New Swabia, Antarctica, you’ll find a mysterious compound in an uninhabited territory, which could have been a Nazi research facility into alien aircraft technology.
Could all of this evidence really point towards our planet being visited by extraterrestrial beings, beginning many thousands of years in the past? Did these beings bring technology with them that we could never have developed on our own? Most importantly, what has happened to your fellow UMC agents? Can you figure out a way to bring them home? You can dive into the world of Unsolved Mystery Club: Ancient Astronauts yourself, by downloading the Collector’s Edition from the Freeze Tag Games website at www.freezetaggames.com or www.Amazon.com. If you would prefer the Standard Edition, that is only available through Big Fish Games at www.bigfishgames.com. System Requirements:
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