Wow... what a story!

Now, let me clarify that the story isn't perfect here - it left lots of questions unanswered in the game, like this one: although Zed is the main villain here, his eyes are red just like Owen's when he was hypnotized... does this mean there's a puppet master behind Zed's actions?, it only gets interesting closer to the end where a bunch of plot twists is revealed, and well.....the story is not exactly the best one there is since the ending is pretty predictable.

Granted that I mostly play HOGs just for the storyline, I also really like the gameplay here. Aside from finding hidden objects, which frankly isn't at all hard, the game also has a "detective mode" where you'll need to identify all the important clues in a crime scene and then piece together, in a chronological order, what actually happened. Note that this is the first time I've played 9 Clues so I guess some of the game mechanics that I find unique may probably have existed in the first game of the series.

I don't really like HOGs that have a lot of backtracking and 9 Clues 2: The Ward did keep this down to a minimum. You just need to repeat the HO scenes in the game twice at most. Plus, if you tire of finding hidden objects, you can easily "skip" the gameplay simply by playing some mahjong.

The logical puzzles in this game are pretty fun to solve too. They aren't very hard and I was able to solve every puzzle without using a single hint!

So to sum up:

Pros:
+ A pretty balanced ratio between HO scenes and puzzles
+ Provides an alternative mini-game (mahjong) for those who tire of finding hidden objects
+ Story is pretty intriguing despite not being completely airtight (lots of unanswered questions/ loopholes)
+ Lots of other hidden stuff for you to find throughout the game - this might take a bit more effort
+ Voice acting is generally pretty alright
+ Can complete the entire game (even on your first playthrough!) without using any hints
+ Achievements are pretty easy to get

Cons
- Some pretty funny glitches. For example, there was one where Owen's head (during the scene where you've just revived him using some smelling salts) and the wheelchair (in the garden when you're trying to help the nurse wheel Gordon's body using said wheelchair) went missing after a dialogue.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlHGLA8g7uI

(Was disconnected for a bit here so you won't be able to see my solution for the "dripping water" issue)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zadX4zPJX_8


9 Clues 2: The Ward is a pretty decent HOG with a storyline that's intriguing enough to hold my interest and get me old brain cogs to start grinding (since, like I mentioned before, the game doesn't really provide a lot of answers especially for some weird stuff I've noticed) but is not perfect by any degree. Gameplay-wise, the game has sufficient variety to make things fun and interesting, without having to resort to plenty of backtracking or adding in puzzles that are too hard to solve without hints.

All in all, I'd say that the game, despite its deep and dark undertones, makes for a great casual HOG to play. Probably not worth buying it at its full price but if you can get it really cheap as part of a bundle you want, then why not? :)


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