Fear for Sale: City of the Past Collector's Edition

The job of a private investigator is already interesting enough, and they don’t even deal with paranormal events. Things would be a lot more fun if ghosts and apparitions were real, because it sure looks like the characters from TV shows and video games are constantly on some kind of adventure. On the other hand, it would also be a lot more dangerous than regular PI work.

Fear for Sale: City of the Past Collector's Edition is a hidden object game in which you play the role of an investigator tasked with solving all sorts of weird cases. You achieve your goals by paying attention to the environment and searching for useful objects, although sometimes you might have to work pretty hard to uncover some clues. There are plenty of interesting puzzles to solve as well, most of which require you to figure out how to use the items you find.

Story-wise, this episode in the series deals with statues that come alive and attack innocent folks, which is obviously bad news. Paranormal forces are supposedly at work, but regular people play an important role in the plot as well. Although the plot is not exactly worthy of any prizes, it is intriguing enough to keep your attention from start to finish, at least if you can deal with the puzzles.

As mentioned earlier, most of the gameplay revolves around investigating certain locations, usually by picking up any item that looks useful. You can only pick up certain objects anyway, so you do not have to worry about carrying the wrong stuff in your inventory. Some of the items can be disassembled or changed somehow, which means yet another puzzle for you to solve.

The graphics are not very impressive, but for a point-and-click title, they are more than enough. Most of the environments are pre-rendered and quite smooth, although there are a few animations to brighten the landscape every now and again. All is well in the sound department too, with moody music and decent sound effects to fill the background.

As long as you can accept the repetitive gameplay and the rather slow pace of the game, Fear for Sale: City of the Past Collector's Edition can be exactly what you need. The puzzles are entertaining, and the story is interesting enough to keep you engaged.