[vooks]

There’s always going to be that one game that was announced alongside a console, but missed the launch window only to be quietly released many months later. James Noir’s Hollywood Crimes 3D is one of those games and despite being an original franchise and completely built-for-3DS experience, it manages to fall short in many aspects. Thankfully it still does try to do as much as possible, but ultimately the experience does not feel anywhere near as substantial as you would expect, especially at a full retail price.

James Noir’s Hollywood Crimes 3D takes place in the 60s and has a rather unsual structure. It’s 1961 in Hollywood and the game takes place in a world where many American citizens worship the winners of Incredible Puzzle Masters, a locally produced television show that propels it’s participants to stardom. Hollywood Crimes follows the player, who has recently been accepted to participate in Incredibly Puzzle Masters. Following your first round, however, it’s discovered that a murderer is slowly hunting down the winners from the past versions of Incredibly Puzzle Masters and one of your own childhood friends, who is now an FBI agent, has come to Hollywood to solve the crime and find answers.

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As I’ve mentioned before, the game is incredibly repetitive, although the opening hours are quite intriguing as the game does a good job at using not only the 3D and touchscreen but also the camera to mimic a mirror during some cutscenes. But as you make your way through the eight hours that the main story offers you, the repetition of puzzles makes you realise how poorly structured the game is. To be fair, some of the puzzles are quite tough and in these situations, not even the hints can help, so the play time may be extended anywhere up to ten hours for some.

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James Noir’s Hollywood Crimes 3D was a game that I was looking forward to quite a bit, but unfortunately, fell flat on it’s face and was quite a disappointment for me. While it’s not a terrible game – there’s a little bit of effort put in here, most of the game feels like it could’ve used a bit more work to make it feel more like a game rather than a mish mash of repetitive puzzles with hardly any interactive moments when outside the puzzles. With a better writer, more puzzles and dare I say it some more grittiness, Hollywood Crimes could be something really special. But for now, the Professor Laytonseries remains my benchmark for any puzzle adventure-style game, as James Noir unfortunately does not try hard enough to knock the esteemed man of his perch.

Read the full review here: http://www.vooks.net/article-1511-James-Noirs-Hollywood-Crimes-3D-Review.html