After pulling a surprise win at our annual awards event, Parker & Lane is back for a new sequel. Lily Parker has gone from an apprentice to one of the best detectives in the unit and is ready to face her darkest mystery yet! Join Lily Parker, Victor Lane, and peers in this detective time management game presented by Gamehouse and Big Blue Studios.
Parker & Lane: Twisted Minds follows the formula established by the previous installment, so fans of the original game will find it easy to get started with this one. Despite this being the second time around and the fact that the game mechanics are borrowed from other Snuggford games, Parker & Lane: Twisted Minds still feels relatively fresh. The investigative aspect of the game is definitely unlike any other time management games and is cleverly delivered through the storyline.
However, Parker & Lane: Twisted Minds also shares the same criticisms as the first game. The time management gameplay denies any sense of urgency or suspense that comes with storyline, no matter how “dark” some plot details are. This makes it easy to lose interest in the game, especially because the gameplay is not the most polished either.
When it comes to the challenge level, Parker & Lane: Twisted Minds is highly inconsistent throughout. Instead of levels getting progressively more difficult as the game moves along, the sequencing appears to be quite random. One level could be extremely easy and the next could be nearly impossible to beat. Furthermore, the pop-up mini-games in this game are simply not fun. They might play better on touchscreen devices, but they are a pain to control using a mouse or trackpad on a computer.
Parker & Lane: Twisted Minds comes with 60 levels, with a range of locations to explore. The game does a great job switching up the environment once in a while to avoid staleness, which is already prominent given the factors previously mentioned. Nonetheless, the bright and bold visual style of the game as well as the upbeat music are still effectively in creating engaging environment.