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EideticMemory
12-30-14 02:19 AM
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12-30-14 02:19 AM
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A Hardy Boys Adventure -- On the DS

 
Game's Ratings
Overall
Graphics
Sound
Addictiveness
Depth
Story
Difficulty
Average User Score
6.5
7
8
2
1
9
9
5.8
7
8
2
1
9
9

12-30-14 02:19 AM
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| ID: 1117437 | 1712 Words

EideticMemory
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Most of us are familiar with the Hardy boys - or should be. It started as a mystery series that released several decades ago. It was the story of two brothers who worked with their friends (and sometimes family) to solve mysteries. I was curious to see how it would translate to the NDS, so I decided to check it out. This will be a critical analysis of the game, so nostalgia won't have an impact on ratings. Though I will point out differences or interesting similarities between the two when they come to mind.

Released in 2009, The Hardy Boys - Treasure on the Tracks is the only Hardy Boys game made for DS. It mixes history and fiction as you solve your way to a long-lost Russian treasure.

While Treasure on the Tracks is worth checking out for curiosity's sake, it is only mediocre as a game.

To see why, let's dive in.

Well drawn graphics, but too much clutter - 7 / 10

In a game where clue-finding is the main activity, graphics are not just important.

They're crucial.

The detail with which the designers drew individual items is one way of measuring the quality of graphics for our purposes. Looking at it this way, the graphics were very clear and well drawn. Under this standard of measure, at the very least, the graphics are successful.

However, if we look at the screen as a whole, it almost appears as if there's too much detail. In a game where only a very small proportion of the objects can be activated, having a cluttered green makes the game much harder than it needs to be. It's unfortunate that this clutter has a significant impact on the playability of the game. What's even more unfortunate is that a lot of time were put into the graphics.

Cut scenes and text are easy to interpret and read. Their clear graphics are a strength of the game and tell the story well if one does not get lazy on reading dialogue.

One note I would like to add is about the nature of the drawings themselves. They make the game seem a little childish. This could not be more misleading. With the depth of the story and with all of the long Russian names, I found myself at many points having to force myself to focus harder to understand the content of the game.

While it's clear that a lot of time was put into the graphics to make them look nice, the excess of clutter in the game hurts playability which is not a problem easily ignored.

7 / 10.

Fitting but Repetitive Music - 8 / 10

From the start I loved the music and how it fit the game. It brings the vibe of mystery, and is the type of music I remember hearing on mystery cartoons (such as Scooby Do, for instance) as a kid.

But as the hours passed, I found myself getting stuck more and more. I stopped loving the music. It sounded repetitive and annoyed me until I muted the game. The tracks always fit the game though, so that was constant.

As for the sound effects, they were decent. They fit whatever action was being performed, and they were of okay sound quality. There was no sound effect in particular that annoyed me. The reason for this might have simply been the lack of them, or the far time in between hearing them. Still, I would have preferred more of them to fill up the game or to distract from the music.

With music and sound effects that fit, and only a slight problem with repetitiveness, this category scores high.

8 / 10.

Makes you curious, not addicted - 2 / 10

Unlike the books, the game is unable to grip you. Most of my incentive for continuing to play came from heavy curiosity as a reader of the series and a little curiosity about the plot itself.

In other words, the game is not addictive. There isn't any incentive to replay the game, and just finishing it once is a hassle with the presence of both legitimate and illegitimate difficulty in the game.

Because you're only likely to play for as long as your nostalgia can hold out, addictiveness is one of the major weakness of Treasure on the Tracks. It is a weakness that is part of the larger problem of illegitimate difficulty, which we will get to shortly. So it is with no surprise that this category didn't score very high.

2 / 10.

Plenty of Dialogue and a Detailed Story - 9 / 10

To say that the storyline is a major part of the game is an understatement. The storyline IS the game in this case. It comes first, even to physically playing. I'm not kidding, it's really has that long cutscenes, that much reading material, and that much time talking with other characters.

From my research, the storyline itself is a mixture of history and fiction. The storyline follows the Romanov family (who was real) and their wealth (also real), which they kept safe from Rasputin and the Bolsheviks (probably true). Where it delves into fiction is when it talks about a rumored train where this wealthy dynastic family supposedly stored much of their riches. No such train appears to have existed in real life.

The majority of the storyline features the protagonists, Frank and Joe Hardy, searching for clues and asking questions in order to find said treasure.

If you remember what I said earlier - I mentioned that the graphics were somewhat childish. The storyline on the other hand, isn't. It was at times hard for me to follow and as a college student I'd like to think it was not a sign of my own dullness, but rather that the storyline itself that caused this.

The biggest contributor to the storyline difficulty is how fact heavy the storyline itself is. It takes some thinking to keep Russian names straight, and with all of the cutscenes, notes everywhere, and conversations, it's hard to keep it all straight in your mind. So it's easy to feel lost.

To sum up, the storyline is very detailed and well written. However, it's only the fact that it's absurdly hard to follow (for something that's supposed to be “enjoyable” for kids as well) that makes this category fall short of perfect.

9 / 10.

Not Much Depth - 1 / 10

It's clear from the start that there isn't much depth. You play through a fairly linear storyline, and depending on how well you play, you could easily be spending most of your time not actually “playing”, but watching cutscenes and/or reading dialogue / in-game books.

But just how little depth there really is might be hard to see because the game does a really good job of giving you the illusion of choice. They'll consistently give 3 options, but you'll consistently be finding out that it's not multiple choice and that you have to go through all of them.

There does appear to be a somewhat “open” world. Except it's not open at all and there's literally only two true directions the vast majority of the time, going either forward and backward.

So in reality the depth of this game is minimal. It should be clear by this point why the level of your nostalgia will be the indicator of how long you play.

1 / 10.

Illegitimate difficulty - 9 / 10

This game is difficult, and much of that seems illegitimate.

The first is with the mini-games. It was the first shock I had. Within 5 minutes of starting the game I came up upon the first challenge. It was absurdly hard for a children's game. To make matters worse, the amount of directions given are minimal. The challenges that followed that one weren't necessarily -as- tough, but they were still unreasonably hard for a children's game.

Knowing where to go was often incredibly difficult. Yes, I maintain that the only two directions the majority of the time were forward and backwards. Perhaps to I'll clarify by saying it was often absurdly hard to find where on the screen to press in order to progress. The location of the arrow changed almost every room, and it was a headache. It's not fun getting stuck for something as silly as this.

Sometimes the interactions with in-game objects are illogical, and you end up randomly clicking in hopes of getting the “puzzle” right. It's a sad, but unfortunate truth about the game. The story itself felt highly illogical in some places, but that's minor compared to the physical puzzles of the game that could confuse kids for 30 minutes or more each.

So while some of the difficulty can be overcome by thinking, other times you find yourself just guessing. It's easy to get stuck, and you might find yourself spending an absurd amount of time trying to progress at certain parts.

9 / 10.

Mediocre. Check it out for curiosity only - Overall: 5.8 / 10

Graphics : 7 * 20% = 1.4
Sound / Music : 8 * 20% = 1.6
Addictiveness : 2 * 25% = 0.5
Story : 9 * 25% = 1.75
Depth : 1 * 5% = 0.05
Difficulty : 9 * 5% = 0.45 (Optimal difficulty was 5/10)

Sum = Overall Score = 5.75 / 10.0

To sum up, The Hardy Boys - Treasure on the Tracks had it's upsides, such as quality graphics and storyline. But it also had it's downsides, which really all spouted from one facet, difficulty. It was nice to check out for curiosity, but I wouldn't recommend playing it if you're looking for anything more. It's fiendishly difficult, so perhaps if you're willing to endure that pain you might want to play it as a challenge (to both your patience and your sanity).

Treasure on the Tracks has a lot of room for improvement, but I wouldn't mind seeing a sequel made in the future if it was actually an attempt at improving the game.

If you're curious, check it out. Maybe you'll feel differently.

Have you played this game before? Thinking of trying it out? Comment below.
Most of us are familiar with the Hardy boys - or should be. It started as a mystery series that released several decades ago. It was the story of two brothers who worked with their friends (and sometimes family) to solve mysteries. I was curious to see how it would translate to the NDS, so I decided to check it out. This will be a critical analysis of the game, so nostalgia won't have an impact on ratings. Though I will point out differences or interesting similarities between the two when they come to mind.

Released in 2009, The Hardy Boys - Treasure on the Tracks is the only Hardy Boys game made for DS. It mixes history and fiction as you solve your way to a long-lost Russian treasure.

While Treasure on the Tracks is worth checking out for curiosity's sake, it is only mediocre as a game.

To see why, let's dive in.

Well drawn graphics, but too much clutter - 7 / 10

In a game where clue-finding is the main activity, graphics are not just important.

They're crucial.

The detail with which the designers drew individual items is one way of measuring the quality of graphics for our purposes. Looking at it this way, the graphics were very clear and well drawn. Under this standard of measure, at the very least, the graphics are successful.

However, if we look at the screen as a whole, it almost appears as if there's too much detail. In a game where only a very small proportion of the objects can be activated, having a cluttered green makes the game much harder than it needs to be. It's unfortunate that this clutter has a significant impact on the playability of the game. What's even more unfortunate is that a lot of time were put into the graphics.

Cut scenes and text are easy to interpret and read. Their clear graphics are a strength of the game and tell the story well if one does not get lazy on reading dialogue.

One note I would like to add is about the nature of the drawings themselves. They make the game seem a little childish. This could not be more misleading. With the depth of the story and with all of the long Russian names, I found myself at many points having to force myself to focus harder to understand the content of the game.

While it's clear that a lot of time was put into the graphics to make them look nice, the excess of clutter in the game hurts playability which is not a problem easily ignored.

7 / 10.

Fitting but Repetitive Music - 8 / 10

From the start I loved the music and how it fit the game. It brings the vibe of mystery, and is the type of music I remember hearing on mystery cartoons (such as Scooby Do, for instance) as a kid.

But as the hours passed, I found myself getting stuck more and more. I stopped loving the music. It sounded repetitive and annoyed me until I muted the game. The tracks always fit the game though, so that was constant.

As for the sound effects, they were decent. They fit whatever action was being performed, and they were of okay sound quality. There was no sound effect in particular that annoyed me. The reason for this might have simply been the lack of them, or the far time in between hearing them. Still, I would have preferred more of them to fill up the game or to distract from the music.

With music and sound effects that fit, and only a slight problem with repetitiveness, this category scores high.

8 / 10.

Makes you curious, not addicted - 2 / 10

Unlike the books, the game is unable to grip you. Most of my incentive for continuing to play came from heavy curiosity as a reader of the series and a little curiosity about the plot itself.

In other words, the game is not addictive. There isn't any incentive to replay the game, and just finishing it once is a hassle with the presence of both legitimate and illegitimate difficulty in the game.

Because you're only likely to play for as long as your nostalgia can hold out, addictiveness is one of the major weakness of Treasure on the Tracks. It is a weakness that is part of the larger problem of illegitimate difficulty, which we will get to shortly. So it is with no surprise that this category didn't score very high.

2 / 10.

Plenty of Dialogue and a Detailed Story - 9 / 10

To say that the storyline is a major part of the game is an understatement. The storyline IS the game in this case. It comes first, even to physically playing. I'm not kidding, it's really has that long cutscenes, that much reading material, and that much time talking with other characters.

From my research, the storyline itself is a mixture of history and fiction. The storyline follows the Romanov family (who was real) and their wealth (also real), which they kept safe from Rasputin and the Bolsheviks (probably true). Where it delves into fiction is when it talks about a rumored train where this wealthy dynastic family supposedly stored much of their riches. No such train appears to have existed in real life.

The majority of the storyline features the protagonists, Frank and Joe Hardy, searching for clues and asking questions in order to find said treasure.

If you remember what I said earlier - I mentioned that the graphics were somewhat childish. The storyline on the other hand, isn't. It was at times hard for me to follow and as a college student I'd like to think it was not a sign of my own dullness, but rather that the storyline itself that caused this.

The biggest contributor to the storyline difficulty is how fact heavy the storyline itself is. It takes some thinking to keep Russian names straight, and with all of the cutscenes, notes everywhere, and conversations, it's hard to keep it all straight in your mind. So it's easy to feel lost.

To sum up, the storyline is very detailed and well written. However, it's only the fact that it's absurdly hard to follow (for something that's supposed to be “enjoyable” for kids as well) that makes this category fall short of perfect.

9 / 10.

Not Much Depth - 1 / 10

It's clear from the start that there isn't much depth. You play through a fairly linear storyline, and depending on how well you play, you could easily be spending most of your time not actually “playing”, but watching cutscenes and/or reading dialogue / in-game books.

But just how little depth there really is might be hard to see because the game does a really good job of giving you the illusion of choice. They'll consistently give 3 options, but you'll consistently be finding out that it's not multiple choice and that you have to go through all of them.

There does appear to be a somewhat “open” world. Except it's not open at all and there's literally only two true directions the vast majority of the time, going either forward and backward.

So in reality the depth of this game is minimal. It should be clear by this point why the level of your nostalgia will be the indicator of how long you play.

1 / 10.

Illegitimate difficulty - 9 / 10

This game is difficult, and much of that seems illegitimate.

The first is with the mini-games. It was the first shock I had. Within 5 minutes of starting the game I came up upon the first challenge. It was absurdly hard for a children's game. To make matters worse, the amount of directions given are minimal. The challenges that followed that one weren't necessarily -as- tough, but they were still unreasonably hard for a children's game.

Knowing where to go was often incredibly difficult. Yes, I maintain that the only two directions the majority of the time were forward and backwards. Perhaps to I'll clarify by saying it was often absurdly hard to find where on the screen to press in order to progress. The location of the arrow changed almost every room, and it was a headache. It's not fun getting stuck for something as silly as this.

Sometimes the interactions with in-game objects are illogical, and you end up randomly clicking in hopes of getting the “puzzle” right. It's a sad, but unfortunate truth about the game. The story itself felt highly illogical in some places, but that's minor compared to the physical puzzles of the game that could confuse kids for 30 minutes or more each.

So while some of the difficulty can be overcome by thinking, other times you find yourself just guessing. It's easy to get stuck, and you might find yourself spending an absurd amount of time trying to progress at certain parts.

9 / 10.

Mediocre. Check it out for curiosity only - Overall: 5.8 / 10

Graphics : 7 * 20% = 1.4
Sound / Music : 8 * 20% = 1.6
Addictiveness : 2 * 25% = 0.5
Story : 9 * 25% = 1.75
Depth : 1 * 5% = 0.05
Difficulty : 9 * 5% = 0.45 (Optimal difficulty was 5/10)

Sum = Overall Score = 5.75 / 10.0

To sum up, The Hardy Boys - Treasure on the Tracks had it's upsides, such as quality graphics and storyline. But it also had it's downsides, which really all spouted from one facet, difficulty. It was nice to check out for curiosity, but I wouldn't recommend playing it if you're looking for anything more. It's fiendishly difficult, so perhaps if you're willing to endure that pain you might want to play it as a challenge (to both your patience and your sanity).

Treasure on the Tracks has a lot of room for improvement, but I wouldn't mind seeing a sequel made in the future if it was actually an attempt at improving the game.

If you're curious, check it out. Maybe you'll feel differently.

Have you played this game before? Thinking of trying it out? Comment below.
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