Expert’s Rating
Pros
Cons
Our Verdict
The treasured jewels of Gemopolis have been stolen , and the Commissioner has requested your help to reclaim them . You ’re the Diamond Detective , and you have to collect gem , assemble clue and solve the mystery behind the heists .
Diamond Detectiveis part puzzle game and part detective story — a neat mix for casual teaser game fan who have n’t grown timeworn of the classical “ agree three ” puzzle format .
Diamond Detective ’s main gameplay takes place on a board populate by gems of various colors and size . As long as you’re able to match two or more gem in adjacent tiles you’re able to pile up them for your vault : orange to orange , for example , or essence - to - heart - to - heart . Make stone chains that are farsighted enough and you ’ll get bonuses and special commendations from the Commissioner . And you have to do all this before the regretful hombre gets away . ( You ’ll seem him — or her — lurk away at the bottom of the screen as you work out the puzzle . )
Each time you take in a chemical chain of gems , others will replace them , so you have a constantly full game battleground to act with . With each reformist level , the layout of the game field changes , which can create some interesting challenge — what ’s more , some tiles will be ice over until you make a chemical chain adjacent to them . flirt long enough and you ’ll even see coal that eventually becomes a diamond if you make chains near enough to it .
Heart - determine BoxThere ’s a lot of tiles to “ Delaware - icing ” and not a stack of metre to do it before the caped villain gets away .
There are some particular precious stone , as well — diamonds that give you bonus points , multi - biased gems that can be used to relate two severally colored chains together , “ life tintinnabulation ” gems that will temporarily halt the forward motion of the stealer , and others .
This is only part of Diamond Detective ’s gaming , however — if you beat each point you ’ll collect a clue . Collect five clew and then you’re able to go to the suspect lineup to figure out who you ’ve been chasing . And to do that , you have to apply some deductive abstract thought . There are a total of 50 level .
Sam Sparks , for exemplar , hates fire and will do anything to avoid it — so it ’s fair to presume that the matches you ’ve get hold at the view of the crime are n’t his . So you’re able to select those matches from your clue tilt and tie in them with him . Sgt . Sam Gallo is a real police officer , so it ’s unlikely that he ’d be using a fake police force badge — another clue spoken for . With five cue and six suspects , eventually you ’ll figure out who the thief is , and you could nab them for good — once you solve one terminal gem puzzle — the Pursuit Level , as it ’s called . There ’s no vault meter on the Pursuit Levels , but you have to make chains that will eventually fill in all tiles to gold before your time runs out .
Diamond Detective is a individual - player game but can be played by multiple actor . ( The plot tracks each player ’s progress separately using their names . ) Options are mere , limited to heavy effects and music adjustment and a full screen option .
A Universal Binary , Diamond Detectives requires Mac OS X 10.2 or later on and is otherwise unencumbered with any special system requirements , so it should be playable on just about any Mac running Jaguar or afterwards .
The artwork and wakeless effects in Diamond Detective are jolly standard GameHouse menu — not overpowering , a bit cartoonish , well suited for the environment . The medicine — a snazzy toe - bug soundtrack that sound like it was pulled out of old detective flicks — changes as the game goes on .
One thing I really like about Diamond Detective is how you’re able to pluck up your plot from the same horizontal surface you end at — it ’s ideal for effortless gamers who only have a few minute on the morning commute or in between encounter ( or over lunch ) to dally some games .
The bottom line
Matching puzzler game are starting to get a turn long in the tooth , but Diamond Detective mixes it up with some logical deduction too . Worth checking out for casual puzzle gamers who also wish a good dimestore tec novel too .
