To get a feel for today's game before you download it, please check out several game-play videos of Mountain Crime: Recital HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE, plus a slideshow of around 50 images of today's game HERE.

Please only post comments about today's game giveaway; other comments either inappropriate, or comments with only one or a few words; for example vg, good, thank you, TY, bad, rubbish, this game is ****** etc , or if the comment has nothing to do with today's game or is complaining (send your complaints to the giveaway team via the contact form that I've linked to below), they may be deleted at the moderator or administrators discretion; however, a little light banter among community members/friends and with the moderator to keep this a friendly place to visit is acceptable and welcomed. All comments not specifically about today's game giveaway will be judged by the moderator and if deemed inappropriate, will be deleted and usually with no explanation. Please see the moderation policy HERE for details about posting comments. If you are having problems installing today's game check the FAQ's thread HERE and read through the communities comments because sometimes fixes have already been posted, for example, a common issue seen since the Themida wrapper was introduced three years ago is that some community members installation of the game is blocked by their security (usually an error message is flagged for example 'The executable is corrupted' even though in reality it is not) because Themida code has been known to hide malware, so as a precaution some anti malware programs will block and even delete the suspect installation files even though they are actually free from malware. This issue can be solved either by rebooting your computer in safe mode with networking or a quicker method is to temporarily turn off your security software to allow the installation. In the almost 11 years this game giveaway site has been operating there has 'never' been a game given away that was infected with malware.

If for any reason you want to contact the giveaway team, for example, you have a game to offer the community, or are unable to download the latest game or other issues that the FAQ's thread or these comments don't cover or solve you can do so HERE

Mountain Crime: Requital

In Brief

A Hidden Object game.

Suggestions:

After you've had an opportunity to play today's giveaway please take a few moments to give some positive or negative feedback about the game; for example, what you liked or disliked about the game, or how it could be improved. If you don't like the genre at all, please explain why and if any, what improvements would change your mind? If you don't have time to post a comment today, please do so at your convenience, thank you. To access the comments once the giveaway is over, open up the game giveaway to its home page then scroll to the bottom of the page where it says Archives and select the date the giveaway was live (giveaway days are in bold type). This will open up the appropriate page for you to post your comment or review.

There are thousands of subscribers to the game giveaway of the day every weekend which makes this an ideal forum for giving developers new or fresh ideas as to what their consumers (i.e you) would like to see in a game. For example, you could suggest extra content such as better or more original mini games, or a level editor that you would like to see that would make it more appealing to you. Maybe you think the graphics are a little dated and are in need of re skinning, or maybe you've just had enough of the genre and want to see something different or something with more originality? Giving such feedback instead of saying nothing or just saying this game is rubbish or good may bring more developers to the site, which could mean more and better games. Would 'you' give away thousands of copies of a game (or extra content for a game) away to a community that complains all the time instead of giving useful feedback? It only needs a few moments of your time.

This site could be transformed if only the community would be more forthcoming in their opinions of the games they are getting for free instead of complaining about the way this site has changed, for example, they don't like MPC games, they hate HOG's, have had enough of Match Three and Time Management games, or they want to see the latest version of Call of Duty or some other big name AAA game given away or that they don't like Steam games. If something isn't for you then please move on to the next giveaway, or check out the forums HERE, HERE and HERE, where a few members of the community post details of various free games and free game sites as well as links to various indie bundle sites etc; you never know, you may find something that really interests you.

If you miss today's game giveaway you can always get the game via MyPlayCity 24/7 HERE; or If you prefer to purchase the game you can get it HERE via Steam for £1.99/$2.99; (it also comes in a five game bundle HERE, that includes Behind the Reflection 2: Witch's Revenge, Mountain Crime: Requital, Vampire Saga: Pandora's Box, Weird Park: Broken Tune, Twisted Lands: Shadow Town and costs £6.99/$9.99. Or you can get the game via Big Fish Games HERE.

Installation:

Mountain Crime: Requital downloads to a 866 MB zip file that unzips to three files, (a setup.gcd security wrapper, the set up file and a read me). Those with multiple hard drives are able to save games on any drive they wish. The newly installed game is 0.99 GB in size. The game installs to the following path by default, but can be changed by the user if you prefer:

C:\Program Files (x86)\MyPlayCity.com\Mountain Crime - Requital

Four shortcuts are installed to the desktop. three of which can be safely deleted (Play Online Games, MyPlayCity Games and shortcuts to a free online game which vary each week). Also, if you don't like icons installed to the quick launch task bar, make sure you uncheck the box when the additional tasks window appears (after the Select Start Menu Folder window)

Introduction:

Set yourself in the shoes of a real detective in Mountain Crime: Requital! Both adults and children will enjoy this hidden object game with solid gameplay and well constructed puzzles. One rainy night somebody phoned you and asked to come and help a man who had a heart attack. You leave for the "White Wolf Hotel" to tend to an acutely ill patient. On your way a stranger points your car to a collapsing bridge and after nearly dying you come to the place to find it totally abandoned. Someone commits here one crime after another and you are to find the offender. Hurry up, or you will be the next victim! Learn how to play and start your inquiry. Find useful things, write down necessary information and solve various puzzles. Use hints when you are stuck. You may also peep into your journal to learn which place to visit. The game Mountain Crime: Requital has two difficulty modes. In the regular mode the "Hint" button recharges quickly and interactive zones are highlighted, while in the expert mode the "Hint" button recharges slowly and interactive zones are not highlighted. The graphics in the game Mountain Crime: Requital are really amazing. The hand-drawn backgrounds and environments are filled with an excruciating amount of details: rain cascades trickle down windows, candles and lights play gently with the curves of curtains and furniture. Are you ready for a thrilling adventure? Welcome to the game Mountain Crime: Requital!

Reference accessed HERE. 26th Aug 2017

If you have a problem installing or activating or getting Mountain Crime: Requital to work please visit the problems section, which I've now incorporated into the FAQ's thread, and which you can find HERE

The Game:

Review 1:

A doctor called to a newly opened mountain lodge to help a patient is drawn into a madman’s deadly game of revenge. Rainy nights, car crashes, washed out roads, abandoned hotels, crazed arch-villains out for revenge…these motifs have become the mainstays of hidden object games but unfortunately, rampant overuse has seriously diluted their impact. Alawar Stargaze’s new hidden object adventure, Mountain Crime: Requital clearly illustrates this by misusing the studio’s considerable talents to present every thematic cliché in the book.

The game starts without preamble, as Dr. Phillip White (you) are called by a “Mr. Grey” (they were really stretching with the names here, eh?) to the White Wolf Hotel to tend to an acutely ill patient. After nearly dying (thanks to a hooded figure who points your car toward a collapsing bridge) you get to the hotel to find it totally abandoned. Well, not totally—there’s a guy dying of snake bite, a sketchy reporter type and a seemingly unhinged officer of the law who may or may not be up to something. It’s a bizarre set-up for what ends up being a bizarre—and not entirely cohesive—whodunit.

Mountain Crime: Requital (there’s the name issue again – the game’s title doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue, does it?) starts with the cliché of the crashed car and abandoned hotel and then goes on to dutifully trot out every other known hidden object banality. Locked doors? Check. Unnecessarily weird machinery missing parts? Check. Blacksmith shop where you cast an item? Check. Grates to unscrew, fountains to fill, fuses to replace? Check, check and check. While it’s true that the very nature of adventure-style exploration demands the inclusion of these things, Mountain Crime: Requital does it in a tired, cynical sort of way. It’s like you can tell the development team was merely phoning this one in.

Harsh as that is, it doesn’t imply that the game is bad. In fact, the rich, colourful graphics were obviously made by a highly competent art team and although the human characters are the stuff of nightmares (especially the sheriff – yikes!) and the scale of the characters often seems out of whack with the architecture, the overall look of the game is really good in a moody sort of way. In general, the puzzles are extremely easy and solving them won’t take experienced adventurers any time at all but the pacing of the game is good throughout. Good too is the game’s method of communicating where you are and what your current objective is. Even without your journal as reference, you always know what to do since the hero frequently says things like, “I should go out back and look for the elevator parts.”

Thanks to this kind of solid design, the game offers a fairly satisfactory hidden object experience when it isn’t totally muddled by the convoluted story line. No spoilers here, but let’s just say that the secret you’re working to uncover has to do with a wealthy businessman, a wild heiress, a shady business deal, insurance fraud, arson, a child’s sanatorium, the 1980’s, a forgotten past and a completely un-looked-for family connection. It’s far too much to squeeze into one game and even though the developers go to great lengths to explain it all, in the end you’re still likely to be left scratching your head. Worse, the actual end of the game, even with the meticulous wrap-up of the labyrinthine plot line, still manages to be abrupt and unsatisfying.

Mountain Crime: Requital is an odd duck. On one hand, it’s an expertly designed and beautifully illustrated title that’s great for players who want a reliable hidden object gaming experience. On the other, and for those of us who play a lot of games in this genre, it’s a confusing story layered on a pile of tired clichés and isn’t really worth the effort. Ultimately, your results will vary, depending on your expectations and the level of experience you have with hidden object titles.

Edited reference accessed HERE. Originally posted by Nellie Johnson on 20th Dec 2011 . Edited by Whiterabbit-uk 26th Aug 2017.

Review 2:

Here's something I never thought I'd say about a hidden object game: Mountain Crime: Requital's biggest problem is that it may be a little too ambitious.

Obviously, that's probably putting things in slightly loftier terms than they deserve. But here are the basic facts. Mountain Crime: Requital's biggest problems are its cut scenes and its voice acting — or, you know, two of the things you need least in a hidden object game.

I mean, I get that Alawar Entertainment wanted to create some kind of immersive game world, and good on them for making their PS3 debut something more than a bunch of static locations where you search endlessly for weirdly incongruous items. But after enduring scene after scene of people moving around awkwardly, interacting via strained, stilted dialogue, I truly believe that the static option would have been better. After all, the game does a great job of building mystery and telling a story just through random newspaper clippings and personal notes scattered around each location, while every time an animated cut scene shows up, momentum grinds to a halt. Pages of text and exposition may seem antithetical to the very nature of modern video games, but in this case, there's no doubt they would've been the better option.

Particularly because if you can get past those flaws, you'll find a pretty fun game underneath. As I said, the game does an excellent job of building a mysterious narrative just through the objects you find hunting around the various locations, and I can honestly say that — terrible cut scenes aside — I was genuinely interested in the game's story, and I wanted to know how it all ended.

More importantly, though, the game's puzzles are solid — not to mention varied. Mountain Crime: Requital may be advertised as a hidden object game, but it doesn't limit itself to just searching around pictures for random items. There are a few places where you genuinely need to think things out logically, and I'm going to come right out and admit that I wouldn't have finished the game if it hadn't been for a combination of the PC version walk through which you can find HERE and the "Skip" option that comes up after several unsuccessful puzzle attempts.

Edited reference accessed HERE. Originally posted by Matthew Pollesel on 24th June 2013. Edited by Whiterabbit-uk 26th Aug 2017.

Other Reviews and Videos of Mountain Crime: Requital:

You can see Steam community reviews (that are mainly positive) of Mountain Crime: Requital HERE, and you can see some game play videos HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE. If you’re having problems progressing through the game you can find a walk through HERE, and there's around 50 images you can check out via a slide show HERE

Conclusion:

The game has a good atmosphere with a nice environment , however the story is rather convoluted and has an abrupt, nonsensical ending. Despite the poor reviews I’d still check this out, especially if you love HOG adventures. Personally I had enough of these HOG’s several years ago after playing literally hundreds of them. I even cancelled my big Fish account because virtually every game being released to BFG was a HOG. I ended up with a years worth of game credits which were basically wasted on games I wasn’t really bothered about simply because most of what BFG had on offer were HOG’s (at least at that time) . That said, I’d give this a reasonable 7 out of 10 for game play and decent graphics. It’s not got the same animations compared to yesterdays offering, but the graphics are as good.:)

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank MyPlayCity for giving away Mountain Crime: Requital and also to the game giveaway team, as always, for securing other ways to get free games.

Useful Information not related to today's game giveaway:

The problems section that used to be posted here in the Game review is now included in the Game Discussion FAQ's thread; which you can find HERE.

I've updated the games section that used to be posted with the review. The thread is now called 'Weekly round up of game deals', formerly the games section of the weekly reviews. You can find the new thread (which I've posted in the sticky section of the game discussion forums to make it easier to find if you are perusing the game discussion forums) HERE.

The rest of the information that used to be posted here can be found in the forums HERE. Finally, check out Delenns for details of other free games and offers HERE