I know it isn't particularly helpful to review a computer game that hasn't been in production for several years, but recently the "Murder, She Wrote: Mystery Jigsaw Puzzles" CD-ROM crossed my radar screen again after a long absence, so I thought I'd revisit it.
For those of you unfamiliar with it, this is a computer puzzle game for PCs that provides the gamer with four short MSW-style mysteries to solve, each of which is accompanied by a jigsaw puzzle you put together on-screen with your mouse. Bundled into this are some solitaire games and a program that allows you to create your own jigsaw puzzles from photo images you have on your own computer.
When I first learned of this game, I was suspicious of it on two counts: for one thing, the puzzle titles are the same as the extant quartet of conventional jigsaw puzzles that I already own (and had put together). So it didn't sound like there was any new material here. For another, if this game is so great, why add in solitaire? It made me think that perhaps the creators knew there wasn't much here, and felt they had to add in some bonus stuff to keep people from rioting in the streets.
On Amazon.com, where you can still find the game used, there was only one review of the product, and it was not exactly glowing:
"... it is nothing more than 4 half-hearted quicky murder mysteries, with accompanying jigsaw puzzles of the crime scenes. Jessica Fletcher/Angela Lansbury fans will not be impressed."
Veteran MSW fan and fan fiction author Stephanie was even less impressed. After giving the game a whirl on her computer, she sent me this opinion about it:
"Admittedly, I did read one review of this game prior to buying it on eBay and it was at best “mediocre.” But that could not have prepared me for how very bad it actually is. How bad was it? Glad you asked. It was so bad that I couldn’t even listen to the entire first story much less all four of them. I tried. I really did, but it was just simply too painful. I still cannot believe that Universal gave its permission for this.
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| [image from World Village.com] |
"First of all, the creators of the game didn't even have Angela Lansbury do Jessica’s dialogue, even though the stories are very short. Now, I have no experience with narration or voice-overs or whatever they are termed in the video game industry, but she probably could have done the entire game in a day or less. Secondly, the woman who did do Jessica’s dialogue was horrible. It sounds like she was reading her lines for the first time. And she was definitely reading them, not acting them. And that accent - I have no idea what that was.
"And who wants to assemble a jigsaw puzzle on the computer? Not I. I hate to say it but this was the worst computer game that I've ever seen (not that I've spent much time with computer games but still, I’ve played a few). I realize that the game was made nearly 12 years ago but even 17 or 18 years ago, there were far better games. Why didn't they at least set it up like a board game? Even that would have been far superior to this. This has to be, by far, the most disappointing Murder, She Wrote product ever created.
"The actual jigsaw puzzles on the other hand were enjoyable, even if they were not too terribly difficult and the mysteries were not incredibly challenging. At least they were fun.
"Finally – I cannot resist asking this question – how could Universal have given their stamp of approval on this game (and yet they continue to wield such a heavy hand at certain times and about certain things when it comes to the Murder, She Wrote book series). I just don’t get it."
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| [image from World Village.com] |
More about MCA/Universal and their stern supervision of the MSW book series in a later post.
I suppose that if you are a person like me who can't do jigsaw puzzles on account of the large number of pets I share my home with (I gave up on jigsaw puzzles once seven-toed Olorin joined our family), this might offer a useful alternative. However, I think that hearing another actress handle Jessica's speaking lines would be just too jarring to ignore. Although I have managed to collect almost every other bit of MSW-related memorabilia I can find, I will probably give this game a pass.
The Murder, She Wrote puzzle CD-ROM is long since out of print, but you can still find it on sites such as eBay and Amazon.com.
