Ashley Clark: The Secrets of the Ancient Temple

Detectives have a unique way of looking at the world, since everything is a clue to them. After years of searching for evidence and out of place things, they probably have a hard time letting go and not paying attention to every little detail. On the other hand, they are crucial for our protection, otherwise criminals would just do as they please.

Ashley Clark: The Secrets of the Ancient Temple is your typical point-and-click adventure game in which you solve puzzles, search for hidden items, and generally try to figure out what’s needed to move on to the next screen. None of the challenges are very difficult, but you can have a blast solving the case and figuring out how to bring the responsible party to justice.

Story-wise, the game is obviously following detective Ashley Clark and her newest case. This time, a murder at the zoo catches her attention, which doesn’t look like much to the untrained eye. Although it seems like one of the animals is at fault, things get a lot creepier pretty quickly. One thing leads to another, and soon enough Ashley is exploring an ancient temple in a different world.

Dialog is not all that important in the grand scheme of things, since it’s only there for you to skip over. On the other hand, each location you visit has a number of puzzles you have to solve, even if most of the time it’s all about finding a missing item. The recipe is quite simple, actually: in order to get past a door, you need to find a key, but the box with the key is broken and stuck behind some vines. Thus, there’s always something stopping you from advancing.

It can still be pretty fun to go along for the ride, on the other hand, especially if you are a fan of the genre. The graphics are nice and colorful, although the animations are stiff and laughable in some cases. Thankfully, you only need to look at them during the cutscenes, so it’s not that big of a deal. There’s a bit of voice acting included as well, which helps with the overall atmosphere.

All things considered, Ashley Clark: The Secrets of the Ancient Temple is not the kind of game to lead a revolution in the genre. Still, if you enjoyed others like it, then you should be more than happy with what this one has to offer.