Murder Mystery Machine Review

Murder Mystery Machine was reviewed on a PS4

Having a detective as a protagonist in gaming is a popular choice, and for good reason. Who of us haven’t fantasized of being a police detective as a child, investigating all sorts of grisly murders and criminal mysteries? Personally, I’ve always wondered whether I’d be clever or smart enough to investigate a real murder, I always wondered whether I’d be able to use my powers of deduction to unmask the real killer. Luckily, Murder Mystery Machine lets me do just that.

What is Murder Mystery Machine?

Murder Mystery Machine is a top-down investigative thriller in which you play as Cassandra the rookie detective, who alongside her partner, will work on solving several murder cases. A teenager beaten to death with a baseball bat, the assassination of a popular politician or the murder of a private investigator just to name a few.

Its presentation is similar to a TV show, with a short intro that plays before the beginning of every case. It’s also split up into eight episodes, or cases, and with each of them also split up into bite-sized investigations or scenes. These will take you about 10-15 mins to wrap up, and you’ll spend about an hour and a half with each case, so the game definitely doesn’t lack in content and value.

Who? What? Where? When?

What makes the game intriguing is that it doesn’t focus on the violence, the exciting car chases, tailing missions or anything that involves fun in the traditional sense of the word. It rather gives you the ability to experience REAL police work. The clue gathering, the paperwork, interrogating the suspects and for people who are into that, it’s a blast.

Each of the cases’ scenes presents a certain objective. Discovering the identity of the next prime suspect, the next location to go to, the murder weapon or any other clues that can lead you to the next scene. The game asks you to find the answers to Who? What? Where? And When? You’ll also have to deduce the motive of each murder. Don’t go grabbing your trusty notepad just yet, there’s no need to write down the hundreds of clues you’ll get as the game does it for you.

I’ve got a clue

Murder Mystery Machine gives you the ability to organize all of the evidence  in a workspace full of clues that you’ll literally have to link together using your inner Charlie Day. You know, like the Pepe Silvia meme. And the game did make me feel like a conspiracy theorist or a madman as I was constantly trying to put one and one together, even when they didn’t make much sense. I guess I’ll have to let go of my dream of ever becoming a murder investigator since I had to use the game’s intuitive hint system to progress many times.

With a quick push of a button, you can use the game’s hint system, which will nudge you in the right direction. Depending on the context, it’ll show you the next deduction to make or the next clue to find. It really helps the player get un-stuck when they’re clueless about what to do next. Although using the hint lowers your overall rating, I wasn’t afraid to use it since the score doesn’t affect the game at all.

Where the game loses its footing though is in its linear structure. There’s no room for errors, as you’ll literally be blocked from progressing if you made the wrong deduction. Each new location is unlocked once you complete the previous one, so all of the cases progress in the same way. This really ruins the game’s immersion as I felt I was simply going through the motions, instead of coming up with my own deductions and conclusions.

However, the cases themselves are intriguing, and peeling away the extra layers one level at a time satisfied my inner Sherlock Holmes. Cases that often feel simple at first quickly turn into a convoluted mess of betrayals, heartbreaks and abuse. The overarching plotline of Cassandra’s relationship with her partner ties all of the individual cases in a meaningful way.

Overall,

Murder Mystery Machine is a great detective simulator that will surely test your deduction skills. If you’re looking for an easy to pick up and play game or if you have an unhealthy obsession about grisly murders and homicides then this is the perfect game for you.

The lack of voice acting and the linearity of the cases may make the game monotone at times, but it’s not long before it shakes things up by throwing a plot twist your way. As its title indicates, the best way to describe Murder Mystery Machine is to label it as a puzzle game in the shape of a crime solving mystery. If you’re a fan of whodunits or solving homicide cases, then be sure to check it out.

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Special thanks go to Microids for providing us with a review code.

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You should play Murder Mystery Machine if you

• Enjoy Solving Crimes and murders
• Have enough deduction skills
• Don’t mind the linearity of the cases
• Always wanted to be a detective
• Don’t mind a lot of trial and error
• Love the episodic nature of the game
• Don’t mind the lack of voice acting

Murder Mystery Machine Score

8/10