Off the Record: The Italian Affair Collector's Edition

[h1]I played on the hardest difficulty; game length seems good[/h1] A lot of the problem with games like these is how long it takes for people to finish. It is going to be different for everyone, more so when there are different difficulties to choose from. All I can say is I played on the hardest setting and finished the base game and the bonus chapter at around 7 hours, and that's including a bit of afk time. Don't let the lack of steam achievements fool you. The game has its own set of in-game achievements and they are quite demanding. One asks you to find ten objects in ten seconds, and there are multiple types of collectables to pick up along the way. In fact the collectables are some of the hardest to figure out without a guide. The reason for this is the randomness of it - while the fox statues are one per screen, none of the others are. I think the bonus chapter only has morphing objects in addition to the statues, but I never finished these collections, even though I got close... missing only one or two from each of the types. There are the fox statues, letters (in the form of a rolled up bit of paper), letters of the alphabet, and the morphing objects. Having mention…

This game is Amazing! You get to jet set around Italy, talk with many characters, puzzles are nice & easy to the storyline progresses nicely.. and the story is excellent. Not your typical fairytale, it actually makes sense. It's a pretty good length too and I never wanted to stop playing because I couldn't wait to see what was going to happen next. The audio and visual devices are a super cool addition to the game play, as is the cozy little "cards" pocket in which to use various cards that you obtain during the game. Wish there were a couple of more assemble and/or paint the pictures and maybe if you could actually "DO" something more with the photos you collect, but that's just me. Excellent job Eipix. Good quality graphics and decent voice acting too. Loved it! Can't wait for more!

Ok. How do I put this. I DID not like this one. Don't like not being able to go back to area I missed. Travel is automatic so I'm warning you. Once you leave the first area you'll see what I mean. Did not like the story. I should have liked the story. Just. Some crap made absolutely no sense. If this was a supernatural story I might let it slide. But an active swinging guillotine underneath a mental hospital. Right. Gas goes into a gas can? Wrong. Goes into a big pot. Sure. Just.... Usually when something makes sense I can just be like yea. Haunted. Crazy. Paranoid. This. The puzzles and such just did not really fit the story they were trying to tell. And the camera mechanic while unique. Did not really add anything to it. Not going to recommend this one unless your a fan of the series, a completionist, or a HOG nut. Hence me playing and review these kinds of games.

Another superb entry in the Off The Record series. I enjoyed the plot and the variety of puzzles/difficulty. My only complaint is the length of the game...far too short. I still highly recommend, however.

Great game even better on sale, not as good as the 1st in the series but still good

Just to adding my agreement to what has already been said, really. This is IMO the best of the series (out of 4 so far). The graphics certainly go way beyond what's normally passable in a HOG. Does that really matter for this genre? Well yes; it does. When I play older HOGs, I notice the lack of quality in the graphics. When I play contemporary ones, I barely notice them at all. But in this they really stood out, and made each new scene/map a genuinely joyful experience. Also, the characters were actually pretty well written and interesting. Although the plot started intriguing and descended into confusing and then cliched, this really isn't why I play HOGs, so any interest in it at all is a plus. The usual complete nonsense HOG 'logic' applied, of course. The one negative review here so far talks about logical inconsistencies. Really? Have you ever played a HOG that makes even a Hollywood level of sense? Suddenly a random pile of junk appears, you pick things out of it, and take away one item. This you use once (however useful it might appear to be) and then somehow vanishes forever. And every door is locked by an intricate puzzle, the many parts of which are scattered nearby.…