Exclusive
Detectives United: Phantoms of the Past Collector's Edition
PC
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Hidden Object
Elephant Games presents another exciting new chapter in the fan-favorite Detectives United series!
Anna and James are on the case when Agent Brown doesn’t come back from a secret investigation. Brown’s trail leads to the town of Restville, but it stops there. Restville seems like a perfect town, but as the detectives soon learn, there’s something bigger going on – something sinister. Where is Brown, who is the mysterious mayor of Restville, and what is the secret of the blue roses that decorate every street? Gather your wits and prepare yourself for the truth in this hair-raising new Hidden-Object Puzzle Adventure!
This is a special Collector's Edition release full of exclusive extras you won’t find in the standard version. As a bonus, Collector's Edition purchases count toward three stamps on your Monthly Game Club Punch Card!
The Collector’s Edition includes:
- Help Restville’s mayor learn about Blue Roses and their poison pollen. Destroy the new strain!
- Replay your favorite HOPs and mini-games and earn extra achievements!
- Collect souvenir hats, puzzle pieces, and morphing objects! You’ll find extra surprises in Bonus Content!
- Enjoy stunning wallpapers and music from the game! Save them to enjoy later!
- Never get lost with the strategy guide!
Game System Requirements:
- OS: Windows 7/Windows 8/Windows 10
- CPU: 1.8 GHz
- RAM: 1024 MB
- DirectX: 9.0
- Hard Drive: 1148 MB
Big Fish Games App System Requirements:
- Browser: Internet Explorer 7 or later
Reviews at a Glance
Detectives United: Phantoms of the Past Collector's Edition
0 out of 5 (0 ReviewsReview)
Average Rating:
Customer Reviews
Detectives United: Phantoms of the Past Collector's Edition is rated
out of
5 by
12.
Rated 5 out of
5
by
laurakay76 from
Detectives Divided!?
A new DU game is an automatic buy for me, and I actually waited up for the game launch so I could download it immediately before going to bed. I love this series, and have been waiting for the fourth game ever since Elephant Games hinted on Facebook that it was in the works.
Agent Brown is my absolute favorite of the three detectives, so I was immediately caught by the idea that the game centered around him being missing. My beloved Agent? What happened? I've watched the entirety of Mystery Trackers: Raincliff, so I already knew his family history (which has been altered slightly here, but it's not as much of a distraction as I might have feared) and I was eager to see the story unfold. I loved how Anna, James, and Agent Shade were all clearly concerned for their missing friend and how determined they were to find him and bring him home safely.
If I tried to list everything I enjoyed about the game, we'd be here for entirely too long. Simply put, if you're enjoying this series, you're going to want to play this next installment. I'm so glad it's continuing and I can't wait for #5!
Date published: 2021-01-01
Rated 4 out of
5
by
mizmoose from
Not as bad as I'd feared. Not as good as I'd hoped.
The first Detectives United game was terrific. It really broke new grounds in HO games. I got to beta test it & snapped it up when it went for sale.
The second game wasn't as good and I really disliked the third one. Based on the reviews of this one, I didn't buy it without playing the demo first. When I ran out the demo time I promptly bought the game.
The Pluses: The storyline is a lot better. The switching between characters is a lot more natural [in the 2nd & 3rd games it felt clunky]. There was less reliance on Special Magical Powers and more on solving a mystery & helping Brown. The puzzles were of reasonable difficulty and what HO scenes existed were pretty good. Overall it kept me interested and entertained. I have a real problem with having to play HO games in little half hour chunks and this one I would have played all the way through in one sitting had I not had to stop to buy it.
The Minuses: The main storyline is fairly short. The CE is a reasonable length, which makes up for it a bit, but if you're not a CE person I wouldn't get this game without a free game ticket or other drastic sale. A lot of the puzzle &/or HO scenes are replaced with "find the pairs" where you have to find 6 pairs of things, and it feels very lazy. Having one or two in a game is fine, having 5 or 6 [I lost count; this includes the Bonus game] is too many. The developer still has the issue where something is obviously needed to fix/add to/change an item/scene but it won't let you do it until something is done first, and they don't make it clear that you need to do something first - they just don't let you do it.
Also: The music for this game was horribly monotonous. At the very least I expected the music to switch between detectives.
I'm going to put that I recommend this game but beware of the issues I've mentioned, and read the other reviews, before you buy.
Date published: 2021-01-03
Rated 4 out of
5
by
sorrell1110 from
Decent Continuation of the Series
I liked the game but there are a few glitches. I got to the attic in the bonus game and could not progress further. Then, I try to set the (lovely!) rose screen saver but it doesnt work. Those are my only complaints though, the game was solid overall.
Date published: 2020-12-31
Rated 3 out of
5
by
ysbrand from
Meh
Just like with books and movies the sequels go from bad to really really bad. The first game in this series was awesome and then each sequel just got horrible. Really don't know what is going on with developers these days but there hasn't been a "terrific" game released in a long time. Only reason I purchased this game was the BOGO and I regret doing so. Most definitely not CE worthy.
Date published: 2021-01-02
Rated 3 out of
5
by
pennmom36 from
THE WHOLE TOWN IS DRINKING THE KOOL AID..DON'T STOP TO SMELL THE ROSES!!! ?
Completed Game approximately 4.0 hours
(including completion of all mini-games & CE Bonus Chapter)
18 Main Game Scene Locations +7 Bonus Chapter
Difficulty Range: Beginner
Restville is a picturesque, quaint sleepy town where time practically stands still, the ideal place to settle down and raise a family. Everyone knows everyone here, and everyone is proud of their unique flora. This is the town Agent Brown grew up in and his family is particularly proud of the rare blue rose hybrids they created, which has made Restville a town like no other. The problem is, you do not...under any circumstance, want to take the time to stop and smell these deadly little blue buds!
Helper/Gadget
There are no Gadgets, however, you will be playing as all three characters from Elephant Games popular series, eventually. James Blackthorn from the Haunted Hotel series, Anna Gray from Grim Tales, and Agent Brown from Mystery Trackers...without Elf it just doesn't work for me :(
Morphing Objects/Collectibles: (CE version only)
The Big Elephant has really been skimping on the CE bling lately. With the exception of their annual Christmas game, they have barely added ANY additional content, the chapter lengths have been remaining the same, but they never have had lengthy games. As for the Morphs, and Collectibles, those have dwindled to almost nothing, in the past 26 morphs were standard (1 in every scene) This game has a measly 13 Morphing Hats, so what they are doing now is combining the Morphs with the Collectibles, instead of offering a morph and a collectible in every scene, now they just make them morphing collectibles! There used to be a ton of Jigsaw puzzle pieces, now there are only 20 Zoom Zone Jigsaw Fragments, (which allows you to set 4 Screensavers w/o actually assembling the jigsaw) let's keep in mind that they haven't changed the number of scenes they offer in their games, they always have 18 scenes in the Main Game, and 7 scenes in the Bonus Chapter so we ARE getting less, way less, so unless I just sniffed one of those blue roses which clouded my thought process, we are paying the same amount of money, getting way less bang for our buck, lower quality (I'll get to that part) and they expect us to give them a good star-rating?
Video/Audio Quality:
Elephant Games has always been one of my favorites when it comes to graphics, hands-down, and their story-telling abilities are phenomenal. I cut my teeth on Mystery Trackers: The Void and fell in love with HOPA games because of this developer! With that being said, recently, I have been able to count on multiple instances of game freezes or music that seems to get stuck on the same track loop. This game, in particular, actually quit and exited out to the GM when I woke up in the jail cell, again when James donned a disguise, and a third time when I finished the "bend the key" mini-game and entered the shed to meet Agent Brown. (how much you want to bet this visual/audio quality blurb section gets added to someone else's review next time bwahahaa)
Hidden Object Scenes:
There are only 9 Hidden Object Scenes +5 in the CE Bonus Chapter, not including several smaller zoom zone hidden object scenes where you are tasked with finding 1 object at a time that matches the silhouetted shape (usually 5 objects) For some reason, they have gone back to their old ways of making the objects really noticeable, or perhaps this game was just made a long time ago, but I could easily pick 95% of the items without looking at the list! There are Interactive List Finds, Silhouetted Shape Finds, Matching Pairs where you move items two at a time to find a matching pair hidden behind the object, Multiples of the Same Object Finds, and Swatches where you find areas on a bulletin board that matches tiny swatches.
Mini-Games:
There are 17 Mini-Games +4 in the CE Bonus Chapter. (less is more?) I was really happy that they include a lot of mechanical types of puzzles which is my favorite type, a feature Elephant Games has perfected! Here are a few of my personal favorites:
1-Enter the correct letters on the safe by searching for subtle clues located on the safe...in the form of various codes!
2-Guide colored water drops from the top to the flower of the same color at the bottom using colored buttons to turn pipes.
3-Swap lock pieces on the top and bottom so they will interlock correctly with the teeth on the center, sections can only swap with highlighted sections so you may have to move them around into the desired position.
4-Bend each section of the lockpick to match the teeth of the lock.
Bonus Chapter (Collector's Edition version only)
A new Mayor, Andrew Stevens has been elected to Restville and he has even bigger problems than the previous administration! No, they aren't having issues with blue roses, these roses are totally a different color...I so need a rolling emoji, lol! You'll play as Andrew Stevens the Mayor as well as one of the previous mayor's minions in this short Bonus Chapter spanning over 7 Scene Locations. There are just 4 simple Mini-Games and 5 Hidden Object Scenes, and you will search for the remaining 3 Morphing Hats and 5 Jigsaw Puzzle Fragments which allows you to "set" (no assembly required) the final Jigsaw Puzzle Screensaver.
Collector's Edition Version Extra's
5 Wallpapers, 4 Music Soundtracks, 23 Achievements, 13 Replayable Mini-Games, 14 Replayable Hidden Object Scenes, a Secret Room to search for 40 Hidden Objects (objects shown on SG), 13 Morphing Hats, 20 Zoom Zone Jigsaw Puzzle Fragments to "set" 4 Screensavers (no assembly required) Expedition Room (allows you to return to scenes to pick up collectibles) 4 Main Chapters +Bonus Chapter, and a Built-In Strategy Guide. I've opened my own forum! You can see all of my Series' Lists at thewoodsforum.boards.net
Date published: 2020-12-31
Rated 3 out of
5
by
crazyfor20 from
Boring Demo
I love Elephant games - I am disappointed in this one. First of all I usually need help on the side games. This time I was completing them like I had created them. The storyline is really uninteresting. It is a shame. So glad I only played the demo.
Date published: 2020-12-31
Rated 3 out of
5
by
sunnyglow from
LOOKING AT THE WORLD THROUGH BLUE ROSE COLORED GLASSES
REVIEW BASED UPON THE ENTIRE GAME
4 Chapters Plus a Bonus Chapter – Strategy Guide: 34 pages (My time: 4.5 Hours)
STORY: More family drama erupts for our detective trio in this game; however, this time it is not Anna Gray with family problems, it is Agent Dorian Brown. After returning to his childhood home in Restville, Agent Brown has disappeared. His disappearance may be linked to his twin brother, Mortimer, who is engaged in misguided nefarious activities. Now, his detective cohorts, Anna Gray and James Blackthorne, are off to Restville, a town where everyone sees the world through rose-colored glasses. What is happening in Dorian’s childhood home where his brother is mayor and his brother’s flower child girlfriend keeps blue roses in bloom all year long?
OPINION: Hope you are wearing those rose-colored glasses while playing this game. Meandering around the blue roses in this game did not alter my perception of it. I found this game short and lacking the creativity and activities of many of this developer's other games. It has an engaging storyline, however, to me it has the feel of an assembly-line game. I found the pace dragged in spots throughout this game. Although this is one of my favorite series from this developer, to me, this game is not of the same caliber. However, I feel that the quality of most of Elephant’s recent games have decreased in size and quality as well. One thing the blue roses did accomplish for me within this game – it has made it forgettable.
There are only two collectibles in the game, morphing hats and pictures fragments with which to create four screensavers. There are only thirty-three (33) to locate within the game. Most scenes have only one collectible, and there are scenes without any collectibles. They are easy to locate. The secret room at the end of the game has forty (40) additional items to locate within the game’s scenes. I thought this activity was one of the better activities within the game.
MECHANICS:
• Four (4) levels of play including a customized version.
• 22 achievements.
• Collect 20 puzzles pieces which create 4 screensavers.
• Collect 13 morphing objects (hats)
• 5 wallpapers along with concept art, music, and video sequences
• Replay 14 HOP scenes and 13 mini-games
• Secret Room opened at the end of the game to collect 40 more objects within the scenes
• Expedition room (allows you to return to the rooms to get collectibles)
• Tag Team between the 3 detectives playing each one within the game.
BONUS CHAPTER: It is a sequel. After the damage caused by the previous mayor, a new mayor, Andrew Stevens, has been elected. Play both the mayor and the flower girl from the main game as they investigate reports of a new type of rose whose pollen could be deadly to the town. This is a short chapter with six (6) mini-games and four (4) HOP scenes plus two (2) mini-HOP scenes with a small number of items to locate. It is consistent in quality to the main game. Two of the mini-games are picture puzzles (one appearing right after the other) which I feel were dumped into the game to provide filler to the game. To me, this chapter is not worthy of the extra price of the collector’s edition designation.
HOP SCENES: There are only fourteen (14) HOP scenes within the entire game and all of them can be replayed. There are also mini-HOP scenes in a small number items (six to eight) are to be located. Most of the mini-HOP scenes are silhouette with items located sequentially. There are only three styles of scenes – lists of items, silhouette items, and matching. They can all be replayed at the end of the game.
MINI-GAMES: There are only twenty-one (21) mini-games, thirteen (13) of which can be played at the end of the game. The ones within the game are decent, there are just not enough of them to keep an active pace within the game.
SPOILERS: THERE ARE SOME OF THE MINI-GAMES AFTER THE DEMO:
A. Sequence puzzle. Pull on 4 cords so all are of equal length in a straight line
B. Maze puzzle. Lead James Blackthorne throughout Restville, while avoiding pop-up sheriff tokens 2X
C. Switch puzzle. Switch jagged lock pieces so they mesh with matching jagged pieces on a center bar.
D. Question/Answer. Something new. As Dorian Brown, answer questions Anna Gray asks you. Choose between two answers for 4 questions
E. Battle scene puzzle. Choose 3 symbols within the scene to match those shown at the bottom of the screen. More of a HOP scene 3X
BONUS CHAPTER:
F. Switch puzzle. Switch 4 books on a bookcase so their spines match in sequence to those on a given diagram.
G. Strategy puzzle Fill in a grid with different colored flowers by clicking on different colors, changing the first rose and others surrounding it to that color. Continue until all roses in the grid are the same color. You have 25 moves
H. Rotating rings puzzle. Rotate 3 rings with symbols along the edge so that each of the 4 symbols on each ring matches those along the sides.
**I recommend this game with reservations. It has an excellent story but lacks the usual creativity usually seen in most of this developer's games.
Date published: 2020-12-31
Rated 2 out of
5
by
tesamoine from
Looks like the creative team was on winter break
It's about time someone gave an honest review of the revered Elephant games. They seem to be put on a pedestal because they made the MCF series. I have never cared for their games with the exception of Grim Tales. I feel they are consistently short games with very short bonus chapters. That leads us to this mess of a game. Looks like someone threw a bunch of ideas into a pot, mixed it up and said lets try to make an assembly line game out of it, plus lets throw in a 15 minute bonus chapter while we are at it. I, for one, expect more from games than what Elephant has been offering. I was able to do every mini game, which is not a good thing because I'm awful at them. There were only a scattering of them and not too many HOS. They resorted to the little mini HOS which, to me, are just time fillers. This could have been such a good series, but with the exception of the first one, they have all fallen flat with this one being the worst. I've been home during this COVID pandemic and have been playing older games and what a difference. No, they don't have all the bells and whistles, but you could sit down and expect a good, long, interesting game. Even though I'm craving a new game, I refuse to support a developer who throws together a mess and reaps the profit. (stepping off my soapbox now) :)
Date published: 2020-12-31
Rated 2 out of
5
by
SuperBoyKidFlash from
Not up to par
What is going on with these games lately? I rarely ever review a game as most reviewers tend to cover what I wish to state. This time I wish to state something about this game.
The visuals are quite well done and so is the sound. However, the gameplay itself is very tedious. The player is sent to the same basic locations over and over again although as different characters. Even the bonus chapter uses those same rooms. Over all, about a dozen rooms were created for this game. This seems to be a bit lazy on the part of the creators of the game.
The second part is the game itself is rather short. Much of what happens is chatter between the characters and little gameplay. If one is into the plot that is fine, but we do like to play these games at one point.
Maybe I got spoiled by the wonderful earlier games like Cadenza and Moonsouls. We had many rooms to visit and many tasks to do. Those games last for a long time but don't feel like it until you check the clock.
How about the creators revisit some of the older games and read those reviews? Maybe get back to basics of what makes a fun game.
Also, there is a lazy attitude about collectables lately. 20 puzzle pieces to collect plus 13 hats. The 20 pieces are for four pictures to put together. Not very challenging...
Overall there needs to be a bit more put into these games. If that means raising the prices then so be it. Everything else is going up so why not make great games and charge a little extra for them instead if skimping?
Overall, I didn't like this game as much as I should have. I didn't hate it but I can't give it three stars which says something. I also can't recommend this game either although I won't press the button for it as people should check it out first. Maybe others will like it for what it is. For me, I expect better of Big Fish and the developers of these games.
Date published: 2020-12-31
Rated 2 out of
5
by
demfrevr from
Sadly lacking
There is nothing to this game. There is just not enough to do. Completely unexciting. Story has been done before. I don't like switching between characters as rapidly as this game does. They use the same scenes over again in the bonus chapter. Characters are bland and boring. Graphics and sound quality are very good.
Date published: 2021-01-01