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Mystery Case Files®: Shadow Lake 
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Uncover the evil legend that haunts a forgotten town in Mystery Case Files®: Shadow Lake! In 1973, something wicked took over the town of Bitterford, Maine, after an unsuspecting inmate unearthed a mysterious object from beneath the prison floor.
Years later, Bitterford lies in ruin. You must join forces with psychic Cassandra Williams, played by award-winning actress Lea Thompson, to investigate the events that led to the town's destruction.
Only you can expose the evil that lurks in the depths of Shadow Lake. But beware... What you discover may haunt you forever.
- For a more in depth experience, check out the Collector's Edition
- Get the Strategy Guide!
- Check out our Blog Walkthrough
Click images to enlarge
Game System Requirements:
- OS: Windows XP/Windows Vista/Windows 7/Windows 8
- CPU: 1.8 GHz
- RAM: 1024 MB
- DirectX: 9.2
- Hard Drive: 1536 MB
Game Manager System Requirements:
- Browser: Internet Explorer 7 or later
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Mystery Case Files®: Shadow Lake
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Customer Reviews
Mystery Case Files: Shadow Lake
156
156
Not up to past MCF standards
I was extremely dissapointed in the game. Don't know what has happened to the creators their games used to be great. You spend all your time going back and forth to the fortune teller for silly drawings that are difficult to see and didn't see the point of them. You can't skip her annoying dialog and I didn't like that. After a while I couldn't remember what the point of the game was. Boring and slow. Couldn't see all the inventory items had to keep rolling them around.
December 25, 2012
Mystery Case Files: Shadow Lake
I was very disappointed. It's not up to the standards of the previous MCFs and I bought all of those. This one is very hard to follow, seems disjointed. I'd have been happier if there had been a 'skip" available for the psychic, sheesh what a talker!
Anyway, this is a no buy for me. Hopefully the developers will go back to the original well crafted games.
December 25, 2012
3- 4 stars for a SE (if you don't think it's a MCF) but very disappointing...
In the last and this MCF in the bonus there is utterly no story just doing things (here a 10-15min bonus in the CE) so you aren't missing out at all on any story - bonus or otherwise. I really recommend you stick with the SE.
I was very disappointed with this game (I finished the CE). Here are the reasons -
Every year I looked forward to the MCF as BFG always pushed themselves, were the leaders in innovative HOPAs and that is one thing I really miss from this game.
Dire grove had 'real actors', 13th skull really integrated the actors further into the games, although LF games have been doing FMV games for decades and the reason why I didn't like 13th skull so much was how it was done. But it was different as so was EFR - morphs as a HOS! Taking risks,being the leader that was big fish. What is new in this game? Nothing. Transporter map that you have to use and not like other HOPAs which you can walk to scenes (LF games do that). HOS going on for multiple scenes - really old HOGs did that. The only thing that was a bit different was the graphics on the arcade/physics tumbling block but there was a variation of that in surface:the noise she couldn't make. It was like "hey we have a new graphics puzzle here, and just in case you haven't noticed it, we'll repeat this 7 times!"
I can put up with repeating puzzles or HOS if it's about 2 or 3 times but here It was so forumlaic/repetitive as in at the end of each chapter you are called by the psychic to get 'drawings' (small clip of a scene you have visited and you have to find it - reverse HOS) then after you backtrack all over areas you've just been to, to place them you get a tumbling arcade type jigsaw. You have to repeat all this about 7 times.
I also didn't get the plot. Where was the mystery, the suspense? There was none, all a very old story retelling through a medium.
There were 13 HOS ( different ones but as they were over more than one scene it felt a lot more!)
Oh how I miss the morph different kind of HOS, here it just dragged on as a lot were over multiple areas. This isn't new as old HOGs used to do this. All but one were list type, and all but one were not junk pile. Items were tiny and very well blended in so you better have perfect eyesight. There sadly is a random click penalty (on hard, don't know about casual) but they didn't repeat.
continued
12 Puzzles
If you love puzzle in your HOPA you will be disappointed as 7 of them are the repeating type and none were challenging. There were a couple of arcade type which I don't like so even skipped them. The tumbling block one does get progressively harder but in one, you can't move the center ones and if you connect some in the wrong place it's impossible to move around to join.
Thankfully you can skip the puzzles.
Graphics were a weird mix, of sharp and well done scenes to looking like they were compressed and so dull, so many monochromatic scenes - a lot has a green hue on them.
WARNING for some (slight spoiler)
While I'm sure that people who don't like dark, summoning spirits know this about MCF games it's really ramped up here sadly.
-There is an exorcism on an object
-Throughout there is a psychic communicating with the dead and others
-There is a demonic worship act, mumbling in latin to summon demons (your character is trying to stop it) I really wish that wasn't in the game.
Live actors, I usually love and sometimes it did hold the game together, but sorry Lea Thompson came across as melodramatic, and frankly bad especially at the end. And it's not direction or expecting too much as I thought the unknowns were far better actors.
Graphics were a weird mix, of sharp and well done scenes to looking like they were compressed and so dull, so many monochromatic scenes - a lot has a green hue on them.
OK so what's good about it?
Non repeating of HOS
A bit different some of the interactions or nice playing scenes
For a HOPA I thought it was a good challenge (not as hard as the others though)
It's not that long but it's a good enough length
Some cutscenes and some graphics
I'm recommending the SE as long as you don't think this is a MCF and just view it as a HOPA then it's OK. I hated the repeating aspect of it, plus having to go back over areas anyway due to gameplay and my personal rating is a 2 stars. But I really try and be objective so am giving it a 3-4stars and if you don't mind the above then it's worth while playing.
December 25, 2012
Not at all what was expected
I love the Mystery Case Files but was disappointed in this one. Not anything like the others. Couldn't skip the dialogue if wanted to. Sorry I bought it before trying it but since it was a Mystery Case File game and I have all the others I didn't question it.
December 26, 2012
Disappointing title from a usually great mob
Ive been a long time Mystery Case File Fan from the early days of Hunstville, Madam Fate etc and was so excited when i saw this new title come out. I didnt hesitate to buy the full collectors edition without trying it but thats a mistake i wont make again. I found this game to be boring, repetitive, uninteresting and not challenging at all. I dislike the idea of repeatedly going back to a video cut i wanted a real hidden object game and this was a total let down.
December 25, 2012
How Embarassing for Lea Thompson - Terrible MCF Game!!
Big Fish needs to give up on the Mystery Case Files series and start something fresh and new. Just when I thought the 13th Skull was the worst MCF ever, Big Fish comes up with Shadow Lake and proves me wrong.
The graphics and audio are fine. No complaints there really. But the rest of the game is a mess. Even Lea Thompson couldn't save this train wreck of a game.
There are really no puzzles to solve. Gameplay is very predictable and you almost feel as though you're watching a movie instead of playing a game. The high number of cutscenes is ridiculous. Several times I had to remind myself of what my goal was.
Lovers of previous MCF games such as Madame Fate and Return to Ravenhearst will be extremely disappointed with this latest offering, just as I was. In fact I was so upset with spending my hard earned money on the Collector's Edition, that I asked Big Fish for a refund and they game it to me.
December 25, 2012
Not what I expected- potential spoilage
I bought the SE with a free coupon for something to play on Christmas day. I enjoyed the beginning, the suspense was pretty good. I even liked Lea Thompson as the psychic. But once the repetitive aspects became clear, the fun and suspense went out the window. I love an interactive map, but I also love backtracking in a well done game. It is a refresher of where items belong or what you may have missed. But not to have an option was frustrating, especially because you did not go to where something needed to be done, but to the first spot in the scene or chapter. Going back to see the psychic was a four click move, every time. And the floating puzzle, yuck! One was ok, but knowing I had to repeat it was barely tolerable.
I have been a Big Fish member for years, I enjoy the opportunity to try so many games and buy what I like. As others have said, this game is just not up to standards. Some of the other game companies seem to be listening to what is said in the forums and adapting the suggestions. It is sad to say, but it seems like the developers of this MCF did not. Old, stale, and tired best describe this game. Sorry BFG.
December 26, 2012
not up to usual standards
I love mystery case files but this one just bored me. tried the CE and decided to wait for the Se but it just didn't help. I was very dissapointed and bored. I hope this is just a one time mishap and we go back to more interesting and fun mystery case files. this was just annoying.
December 25, 2012
Poor Sister
Worst game in the series. Why bother.
December 26, 2012
This game is not as impressive as I expected.
This review is based on playing the demo, which for some reason was tremendously short ...
I had plenty of expectations towards playing this game, having played other games in this series. Bigfish was heavily promoting this game probably because they put so much on producing this game, and it did leave an impression it might be the next best thing in the MCF series. It could of been that great if only they didn't try so hard to fix something that wasn't broken meaning the good old formula of other MCF was just fine didn't have to sweat new ideas.
On the plus side: the graphics are clear and well made though at times the objects on my monitor seemed to small to locate. There are few sub scenes for the HO list, which added more challenge, which is good.
The map beamed you to places you wanted to go to in order to complete missions, saved you from walking aimlessly.
The hint button was very helpful and recharged fast.
On the less glorious side: The acting wasn't all that convincing, and we could do just fine without the pieces of paper we had to collect in order to make one psychic lady happy. in my opinion, they were unnecessary part of the gameplay.
I recommend to give the demo a try and see if it's something you want to add to your bigfish console.
December 26, 2012
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