Mean Machines Sega


Mansion Of The Hidden Souls

Categories: Review: Software
Publisher: Sega
Machine: Sega Saturn (EU Version)

 
Published in Mean Machines Sega #39

Mansion Of The Hidden Souls

Myst aside, the Saturn hasn't yet attracted the in-depth adventures that appeal to a wide audience of older owners. In Japan, there has been no end of detective and mystery games: Rampo, Chinese Detective, Dracula Detective and Yumemi Mansion. There are usually unsuitable import buys because of the Japanese text.

It's also that which prevents many of them being converted, but Sega have created Mansion Of Hidden Souls out of Yumemi Mansion. In many ways it's a sequel to the Mega-CD game, Mansion Of Hidden Soulds, but with more locations, naturally more puzzles and better graphics.

Many of the locations are taken from the original game, but they look one hell of a lot better. Even so, this year-old game is not at the cutting edge of Saturn technology and in our opinion is starting to look a bit dated.

The Mansion Of Hidden Souls

Gameplay, for the uninitiated, involves wandering around the 3-D locations (within certain confines), examining objects and using them. The interface is extremely simple and there is no arcade element of any kind.

One final deterrent is the lack of lasting interest. It shouldn't take an intelligent individual (and Saturn owners generally are) more than a couple of days to polish it off, which makes it an expensive little adventure.

Verdict

Overall 63%
Admirable technical precision, but the gameplay would be best suited for real.