Pros: Suspenseful. Stylish visuals and sound effects. Two modes of play.
Cons: Intricate story. Repetitive sound track. Re-visiting hidden object locations.
Although a sequel,
Vampire Saga 2: Welcome to Hell Lock, the game carefully hides its connection to the first
Vampire Saga: Pandora's Box game. The hidden object game (HOG) sequel turns all of the stereotypes about vampires, ghosts, abandoned towns, amnesia and love stories into something cool. Imagine a guy with memory loss and bite marks on his neck has just crashed his bike at the gates of a ghost town. Cheesy as hell, isn’t it?
Like
Vampire Saga: Pandora’s Box,
Vampire Saga 2: Welcome to Hell Lock packs in a lot of suspense with a multilayered and unpredictable plot. The hero doesn't remember his name and discover his motorcycle is totaled. No one can help him because the residents left Hell Lock decades ago when the town’s coalmine caught fire. The road behind collapsed, and the only way back to the civilization is though decaying streets filled with phantoms and debris. However, the most dangerous and entertaining feature of this town is neither the coalmine fire nor building decay. The game's ending will answer this question while amusing fans of ghost and vampire stories.
As you wander
Hell Lock, you find distinct, stylish and nicely drawn places like an old-fashioned movie theater or a small police station. Each screen has things you need to fix, break or open. The straightforward quests reveal fascinating details of the story. In order to complete the tasks, you find useful items in hidden object scenes.
After searching for every object, one item enters your inventory. This sounds complex, but the inventory stays tidy throughout the game. A photo album serves as a handy map, so you can return to any location, or see the locations you have not finished.
Vampire Saga 2: Welcome to Hell Lock has attractive graphics and many visual effects, like floating ghost figures, running clouds or flying leaves. (There are a few frightening effects, too.) The high quality artwork and hidden objects nicely capture what you expect in a bad dream about a haunted town abandoned in early '70s.
The camera mini-game has a very stylish blurred black-and-while look. Sound and music are very nice without annoying you including those sound effects for object interactions and cut-scenes.
Like other hidden object adventures, this one includes two game modes: casual and hardcore that you can switch anytime. “Hardcore” mode offers classic game play that's fun for seasoned HOG fans. “Casual” mode has more hints, which helps those new to HOG.
Vampire Saga 2: Welcome to Hell Lock has repetitive soundtrack and a complex story that may be hard to follow and frustrate players. Players have to visit hidden object scenes several times, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Returning to scenes can be boring at times.
Vampire Saga 2: Welcome to Hell Lock tells a captivating and surprising story with a fun adventure. Its stylish visuals are better than the average HOG. The hidden object scenes are OK and it helps that it has two game modes. All these things turn this into a great interactive adventure. Just take your time in playing the game so you can sort through the complicated story.
