Special Enquiry Detail 2: Engaged to Kill Review (Windows PC)

A new and beautiful Hidden-Object Game from G5 Entertainment, Special Enquiry Detail 2 puts you once again in the shoes of detectives Lamonte and Turino who are now on a mission to stop a serial killer. You take on the roles of the detectives in a race to catch a serial killer known the “Engagement Killer,” who stalks engaged women and murders them in their wedding outfits as part of some twisted scheme.

Search for clues, interview suspects, investigate the crime scenes, and solve puzzles in order to identify and stop the killer before he takes any more lives. There are plenty of suspects and plot twists to keep things interesting. Those familiar with the genre may also be surprised at the difficulty of some of the puzzles presented. There’s something here for both the casual and the more experienced players. The exciting story and fun puzzles bring lots of entertainment.

Gameplay

The controls for Special Enquiry Detail 2 are standard to the hidden object genre. Mouse controls everything, just click to interact. Items can be combined, and used on the environment or to solve puzzles, for example, using wire cutters to diffuse a bomb. Some items are obtained through the hidden object scenes, others are found simply laying about in the different locations. There is a hint button in case you don’t know where to go next, which can be quite helpful at certain times when you hit a dead end. Sometimes, however, the hint can be very vague and simply point at the object/area you are stuck on.

The story is split into 6 different chapters, one for each major crime scene and the finale. There are a few dialogue scenes which are mainly comic style, voice acted, cut-scenes. Some of the in-game conversations are done as “click next to proceed.” Most of the characters to talk to that aren’t part of cut-scenes are animated in 3D so they are easier to spot. The models and animations aren’t great but they do the job.

One of the things I was not too pleased with was how much the hidden object scenes were reused. Several of them are repeated 2-3 times or more and rather quickly, not leaving much time for the eyes to rest and giving the feeling like they are just throwing the scenes to occupy more of your time. There are 49 different locations to explore, including crime scenes, sewers, parks, and other various locations. I was pleasantly surprised at how many different locations there were. The variation makes the game feel a lot more complex than it really is. Another nice thing that I felt added to the game experience was the map travel system, which made it feel more like we were a part of something larger within the game.