''Mortimer Beckett'' is a hidden-object type

video game series This is a list of video game franchises, organized alphabetically. All entries include multiple video games, not counting ports or altered re-releases. 0–9 *''1080° Snowboarding'' *''1942'' *'' 3D Ultra Minigolf'' *'' 3-D Ultra Pinball'' *'' ...

that consists of five games. All the games are

adventure games An adventure game is a video game genre in which the player assumes the role of a protagonist in an interactive story, driven by exploration and/or puzzle-solving. The genre's focus on story allows it to draw heavily from other narrative-based m ...

, or point and clicks. The main plot is always to find items to advance to higher chapters. Also, there are items called "puzzle pieces" which allow interaction with other characters, items, and animals. In the first two games and the last one, the objects are broken down into pieces and scattered throughout the different sections of chapters. In the third and fourth games the only difference is that pieces are not broken down, making it more like an

I spy I spy is a guessing game where one player (the ''spy'' or ''it'') chooses an object within sight and announces to the other players that "I spy with my little eye something beginning with...", naming the first letter of the object. Other players a ...

game. As of 2013, all released games have been ported to the

iPad The iPad is a brand of tablet computers developed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple that run the company's mobile operating systems iOS and later iPadOS. The IPad (1st generation), first-generation iPad was introduced on January 27, 2010. ...

, and the first game has additionally been ported to

Nintendo Wii The Wii ( ) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America, and in December 2006 for most other regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major home game console, ...

Games

The games are: - ''Mortimer Beckett and the Secrets of Spooky Manor'', in which Mortimer helps his uncle to get rid of ghosts, by retrieving pieces of the Ghost Machine which have been hidden all over the manor. The

cut scenes A cutscene or event scene (sometimes in-game cinematic or in-game movie) is a sequence in a video game that is not interactive, interrupting the gameplay. Such scenes are used to show conversations between characters, set the mood, reward the ...

are 2D and read like a

comic book A comic book, comic-magazine, or simply comic is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and wri ...

. - ''Mortimer Beckett and the Time Paradox'', in which Mortimer has to travel through time to retrieve pieces of a timebomb that fell through a portal in his uncle's manor. The cut scenes are 2D, in which Mortimer falls into the next time zone. - ''Mortimer Beckett and the Lost King'', in which Mortimer wakes up from his final travel through the time portal from the previous game and learns that he has to find the eight jewels of a powerful crown, with which he can locate the kingdom's lost king. The cut scenes are 3D, in which Mortimer travels to a new location. - ''Mortimer Beckett and the Crimson Thief'', in which Mortimer has to find and return valuable art pieces that were stolen by a mysterious thief. - ''Mortimer Beckett and the Book of Gold'', in which Mortimer joins Kate O'Malley in order to find the book of gold.

Reception

The first game had mixed reviews, according to

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

. Adan Ballard of

IGN ''IGN'' is an American video gaming and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa district and is headed by its former e ...

gave the game a 6.2/10, noting that "there's not a lot to Spooky Manor, but that doesn't stop it from being fun to play", while Francesca Dimola of Nintendo World Report rated it a 3/10 due to "a poor graphical presentation, and little-to-no replay value". The fourth game was rated 3.5/5 by

Gamezebo ''Gamezebo'' (sometimes stylized ''GameZebo'') is a website which reports on and reviews video games. Founded in 2005 by Joel Brodie, it was billed as the first website to solely cover casual games and expanded its scope to social games in 20 ...

's Brandy Shaul, who criticized the story as being "shallow and under-developed", but praised the puzzles as being "challenging enough to be satisfying".

References

{{reflist

External links

Mortimer Beckett Games List for PC, Mac and iPad
Video game franchises Hidden object games Video games developed in Serbia