Hidden Agenda (2013) WWW

Hidden Agenda is a browser adventure detective game. It was produced by a casual market giant, PopCap Games. The title is based on free-to-play business model with micropayments.

The action takes place in a world populated by humanoid animals. The game is maintained in an atmosphere of noir films. The combination of cute characters with a serious themes creates a unique blend which significantly enhances the unique atmosphere of the game. The players take the dog, a private investigator, hired by a rich turtle in order to discover what is behind a series of mysterious incidents and crimes that plague a small coastal town. It will not be easy, as the inhabitants of the village jealously guard their secrets. During the campaign, we have to solve six major issues, but the town also offers numerous side quests.

The gameplay mechanisms are characteristic of the hidden object adventure games. The goal is therefore mainly discovering specific items mentioned in the list on the left side of the screen in every scene. Most of them are cleverly hidden in a way that makes it blend into the background. Finding these objects therefore requires considerable carefulness. The game offers some prompts, but we always have a limited amount of them.

Between hidden-object scenes, we visit the town shown from isometric perspective in which we can take side quests commissioned by the local residents. They also mostly boil down to finding some items, but we have to do it on the isometric map. In addition, visiting the town can expand our knowledge about the world and its issues by the means of discussions with NPCs.

Last updated on 21 November 2014