I was excited to see League of Light: Dark Omens appear this weekend on the new release boards for Big Fish, mainly because I've been somewhat eager to embark on a new and exciting adventure that wasn't a sequel to an already established franchise.
Not that the sequels lately haven't measured up or have hopelessly disappointed me. It's just, there's been a lot of sequels that have come out lately and while that's great to continue an adventure, I worry that it might stop developers from continuing to bring us new and exciting worlds and characters to play with.
So when League of Light: Dark Omens didn't ring a bell, I was ready to jump in and embrace whatever new world this hidden object adventure game was going to launch me into.
That is, until I discovered it's another detective story... oh crap... not another one.
Seriously, there must be some sort of quota in the world of casual games that we've horribly abused to get this many detective games. Just for once, let me play a character that I don't envision ensconced in a trench coat, with a silly hat, walking around with a magnifying glass... it's... it's just not sexy.
Let me be some kind of kick ass warrior or a powerful sorceress, or even a confident scientist... yes, these characters are stereotypes, but you know what? They're not detectives!!!
Sigh... I could go on, but I'll be good. I know there are plenty of really wonderful games out there that feature detectives so League of Light: Dark Omens isn't doomed to fail in my book, just because of this one little setback.
Moving on... so the story begins with you apparently receiving a letter asking you to come to the Carpathian Mountains to meet some people you've never met before and you apparently agree... not sure what that says about the street smarts of my character, but ok...
The game begins with you standing before a council in a shadowy room being congratulated on your acceptance to the League of Light... ok, hold up... did I apply for this? Was I entered into some kind of drawing? Is this something that I even want? Or is this like a fake award that everyone else turned down because they were smart enough not to fall for that marketing scam?
I'm really unclear about how I should react to this news and the game doesn't give me too many hints to help out with that.
Add on the fact that my first mission is to go stop the Dark Lord from rising again, a creature who has apparently caused vast destruction throughout the world and who could quite possibly take over again... are you sure you people have the right person? Cause, this seems like a job for a senior agent of the League of Light, rather than a newbie who doesn't have enough sense not to answer strange letters.
Oh well, I guess we must have signed a no return contract, because we headed off to the town of Sorrow's Well to battle dark forces to impress our new friends.
Things quickly go from bad to worse upon your arrival, as the daughter of the man you're staying with is plucked out of her room by a freaking red eyed gargoyle on steroids. Being the good detective, you give chase and are soon caught in a world with creatures of myth and legend lurking around every corner. Banshees will pop up at you, and they may or may not make you jump and scream... hey...just a little... and gargoyles will spy on you from the shadows, their beady red eyes following your every move.
Even I have to admit, I got pretty caught up in the story of League of Light: Dark Omens once it started rolling, and I got over the fact that I was forced to once more take up the mantle of detective. It was exciting to discover each new creature and add them to my bestiary, which kept track of every type of monster I met. It almost had an old school adventure kind of feeling, like an old Dungeons & Dragons game, where I had to consult the monster manual.
The graphics added to this feeling, because while they weren't bad graphics, they weren't the usual crisp, realistic looking graphics we're used to in today's hidden object games. They were beautifully done, but took on more of a storybook persona, a gorgeous painting, deeply shadowed and mysterious, that gave it that fantasy flair that I really adore.
The music drenched us in somber tones that led us from sorrow, to fear, to danger at the appropriate times. The voice-overs were also well done... the main narrator, while not sparking an immediate affection, quickly grew on me with his raspy way of threading the tale through the magic paintings you would find throughout the game.
I admit that League of Light: Dark Omens had decent gameplay, nothing was clunky or weird, but it definitely seemed a touch too easy even for casual mode. I rarely had to use the hint button and I never skipped a puzzle... and that's saying a lot for me because usually I don't have the patience to try to plod through them.
The hidden object scenes were interesting. There weren't the usual find and click types of scenes. These scenes didn't have as many objects to find, mainly because you needed to use the objects you found in the scene in order to reveal more objects.
So say you find a hammer... you need to use the hammer on the pig to break the bank. In the bank you may find a coin. You need to then use the coin on the toad to open up a compartment... and it keeps going from there until you eventually find the object that will make its way into your inventory.
Overall... while I didn't think I was going to like League of Light: Dark Omens, I actually loved it. It was a great adventure story, even if you were a detective, and the unexpected twist into the realm of fantasy definitely scored points with this D&D nerd.