Old Skull Games, the studio behind the Amber’s Airline series, is back with a new title in the Gamehouse Original Stories lineup – Detective Jackie: Mystic Case. After Jackie Johnson lost her daughter in a fire incident, she dedicates her detective career to solving children’s murders. Can you solve a new head-scratching case that involves a missing girl and a mysterious painting known as Medusa’s Vanity?
My first question upon seeing this title was how Gamehouse is going to make this new detective-themed Time Management brand a separate entity from Parker and Lane, another investigative game in their portfolio. That question was answered after only a few levels into the game. While both series choose to focus on real-life crimes, Detective Jackie: Mystic Case’s ominous overtone is more prominent and its storyline surrounding a cursed artifact gives it a layer of mystical qualities.
Compared to Parker and Lane, Detective Jackie: Mystic Case is also a better crafted, more cohesive game. The Time Management gameplay is typical of a Gamehouse game but has enough thoughtful, creative tasks and interactions to stay fresh and entertaining. I also like how the majority of each level is focused on purely serving customers, with distracting pop-up mini-games shoved to the sides. However, these pop-up mini-games are still an integral part of the levels as they are prompted whenever you reach a star goal. This setup allows the queued tasks to flow with minimal disruptions as well as allow the mini-games themselves to shine.
There is a good chance that hidden object fans who typically enjoy the genre on mobile will also enjoy Detective Jackie: Mystic Case. The suspenseful detective storyline involves captivating storytelling through interactive character conversations, interrogation scenes, and in-level evidence-finding sequences. There is also a hefty portion dedicated to Detective Jackie’s background story, which adds interesting context to her character.
Whether you play the game on a mobile device, a tablet or on PC, Detective Jackie: Mystic Case’s sharp visuals are impressive either way. And although the inclusion of voice-overs would have made the game even more engrossing, the game is already very engaging as it is thanks to the wonderful gameplay. Detective Jackie: Mystic Case comes with 60 levels, so there is plenty of content for you to enjoy.