Mystery Trackers 1: The Void (IHOG)
The Steam interface does not work with this title.

Options include separate sliders for Music and SFX/Environment, Full-screen and Custom Cursor.

If you have graphics glitches around the cursor:
Disable the custom cursor. The standard cursor will still change when you hover over an exit and/or something to investigate.

Story:

Three famous celebrities have disappeared in the Void's family mansion, and it's up to you to find out why. Is there foul play afoot, or are the whispers of the estate being haunted actually true?

The story is where this game really shines. It can be as immersive as you wish, as clues that you find go directly into your journal - you aren't forced to look at any of them.

There are not a lot of cutscenes, and the ones we do have are short. Story progression is mostly done via our Diary. We get new entries often, and the journal actually opens up to page 3, so be sure to go back and read those first two pages!

There's not a lot of backtracking in the game itself, but you'll have to go back and forth in the journal quite a bit, as new bits fill in on older pages as complete objectives.

Gameplay:

The game contains standard find-by-list hidden object scenes (no interaction), and there are a lot of them! At one point there were three HOS in different parts of the same room! HOS do not repeat.

There is no misclick penalty, and the HINT recharges quickly.

If you use a HINT during the adventure portion of the game, you will get a written hint. For example, "I should check out the other side of the bedroom upstairs." There are no directional hints, and no MAP, but to-ing and fro-ing is kept to a minimum due to older locations becoming inaccessible.

The mini-games are pretty standard, but still entertaining enough to complete. These puzzles can be SKIPPED.

Sights and Sounds:

This game was first released in 2010, so it should be no surprise that the graphics aren't quite up to today's standards. Still, they are pretty and set the tone for the game nicely.

The music is likewise environmental, and the sound effects suit the game nicely.

CE Content:

• Integrated Strategy Guide
  
• Bonus Chapter
  
• 12 in-game Achievements
  
• 4 Music Tracks
  
• 18 Wallpapers
  
• 19 Concept Art
  
• 1 Screensaver
  
• 4 Papercraft

Bonus Chapter:

Enter the mind of the antagonist and become the villain. The gameplay and overall mechanics are the same as in the main game.

Verdict:

This is my third time through The Void since it came out, and it's nice to be reminded of why I enjoyed it enough to replay it the first time: The story. It's different, it's strange, it's mysterious and all in all very entertaining. There's a lot of story if you just take the time to immerse yourself in the journal entries.

If you love finding hidden objects and a good story, this game is for you. If you like a good story - but aren't really into doing a lot of HO scenes, this game is still for you... Just randomly click everywhere during the HOS, and you'll be done quickly enough~ ;) I recommend this game to people who enjoy IHOG's and/or love an entertaining story.

Every bit as good as when I first played it , back in 2010! Yes there are a ton of hog scenes but they are easy and it doesn't feel onerous. The game moves at a brisk pace featuring a story with a strong MCF feeling. Really enjoyable.

Game Information

"Mystery Trackers: The Void" Collector's Edition is a Hidden Object Puzzle Adventure game that was developed by Elephant Games and published by Big Fish Games Studio.

"The Void" is the first episode of "Mystery Trackers."

Since this is a collector's edition game, it comes with extra features that are not available in its counterpart; the standard edition.

The Game Review

Game Visuals

I want to mention that the visual for the game is nicely done. The visuals can be adjusted in the game's option menu. Please do note that this is an old game, it might not play well on wide screen monitors in full screen mode; due to the game's format.

Game Audio

I want to mention that audio for the game is well done. Even though the audio is somewhat simplistic and repetitive. The audio can be adjusted in the game's option menu as well.

Gameplay

There are no game difficulty modes to choose from.

The notebook keeps tracks of the progression in the game. Such as story events and clues.

There is no interactive map in the game. The player has to remember where to go in the game.

There is no padlock feature that is available to lock the inventory panel in place. The inventory panel is stationary.

The hidden object scenes consist of the following: Traditional word lists; Find "x" amount items. Some of these hidden object scenes may require little or no interaction.

The puzzles are fairly easy to solve without having the need to skip any of them.

There are twelve different achievements that can be unlocked from playing the game. All the achievements do come with some requirements that need to be completed in order for them to be unlocked. These are in-game achievements only.

Since this is a collector's edition game, there is a bonus chapter, but it can be accessed only after the main story is completed.

Miscellaneous

There are extra features in the game: Bonus Chapter; Game Strategy Guide; Screen Saver; Soundtracks; Concept Art and Wallpapers. Most of these extra features can be accessed only after the entire game is completed.

Final thoughts: I have found the game enjoyable to a certain extent. The replay value for the game is low. I would recommend this game, but not at the game's full price value.

Ok I really liked the story on this one. Alot actually. But theres some problems. First of the game is glitchy around the cursor for me. Not a big deal but it can be distracting. Some of the puzzle glitch. There's one with a record that slowed down the game to a crawl. My advice is either skip it or look up the solution and just run it once. Another puzzle near the end of the game I had to skip completely because the buttons wouldn't work. That was agravating. Oh and when you need to use the phone near the end you need to hit the plus sign first. Odd. Some of the numbers you can call are amusing though. The story is engrosing but mostly told through the journal. So there will be reading. It is interesting though. Theres also a bonus level which you can play after your done the main game. I would definately reccomend this but maybe not at full price.

This game has a good story which was quite exciting and several parts gave me a laugh. There are a variety of fun puzzles, although some of them are challenging. The journal has a lot of background information as well as plenty of puzzle solutions. Hint system was really helpful as well as strategy guide. Lovely detailed graphics beautifully define environments, Wonderful color palettes.
I can't wait when other games in the Mystery Trackes series will be released on the Steam.

No longer able to load game to play so do not purchase, if it's even available to do so.

One of the decent game i actually enjoy played with my mom in this year, However there are some drawbacks to this game which was the cursor visual bugged and some puzzle was glitched but excluded that this game art-style was pretty satisfied and it had a lot hidden object scene which was not too easy and quite too hard.

Mostly fun gameplay! One of the puzzles didn't work at all for me so I had to skip it and the mouse had a weird after image problem throughout the game so maybe avoid if you're an achievement hunter as skipping will lose you a trophy but still very much enjoyed!

One of the best Mystery Trackers games Ive ever played. I encountered 2 or 3 puzzles that needed skips because they didnt work, but nontheless super fun experience.

This game was very fun. Although I had 3 to 4 glitches, which might have been on my end but not sure. Overall I really enjoyed this game! To get clues and read about different things throughout the game you have to read the book after finding different clues. Defiantly an interesting game.