Publisher: Triple Hippo
Developer: Triple Hippo
System requirements: Windows XP/Vista, 1.0 GHz CPU, 128 MB RAM, DirectX 9.0, 193 MB hard-drive space
Genre: Puzzle
Release date: Available now

My only experience with Tarot cards was when my family and I went to New Orleans a few years back. We were walking in the French Quarter and saw a woman with a sign advertising Tarot card readings, so we gave it a try. The lady flipped over cards and interpreted them, saying how rich I was going to be after I bought some land, so I bought a tract when I got home (kidding). I don’t believe in that stuff, but Tarot cards are widely used as entertainment or a way for people to explain the unknown. Developer Triple Hippo brings us a Tarot-themed hidden-object puzzle game, The Tarot’s Misfortune.

You play as a fortune-teller named Rosalie. She hears music while reading her own cards late one night. A mysterious man walks into her home and asks her to reveal his fortune. She says that the cards tell her he is in danger, but the man tells her that she is really the one in peril. She blacks out and wakes up in the town’s jail. All of the townspeople are missing, so she must gather clues to find out what happened and save them.

The Tarot’s Misfortune is a hidden-object puzzle game. The screen is scattered with random objects. To progress you must find the items on a list of objects given to you at the start of each stage. Your cursor serves as a tool to uncover the items, which range from the ordinary to the bizarre. Simple enough? But there’s a catch. Some of the objects are hidden very well and cleverly placed. A hint button is available for whenever you feel you need a little boost; clicking it displays a circle around one of the objects on your list that you still need to find. Key items also need to be recovered from various stages to unlock special doors. At times you find a special card that you must compare to a similar card, looking for differences. Once you find all the inconsistencies, you get a clue to help you move forward.

The Tarot’s Misfortune offers a unique challenge, because some of the objects are hard to find. I would spend as long as 10 minutes looking up and down, left and right to find an object such as a fork. I would then just curse and click the hint button and realize that the fork was right in plain sight in the foreground. I found minimal enjoyment trying to resist using the hint button and finding the objects all by myself. One of the funniest random objects I saw in the background was the “long cat,” a famous picture from the Internet. You can tell there’s an artist’s touch in the surroundings in the game, which helps to make it not a complete waste of digital space.

On the negative side, The Tarot’s Misfortune is a very simple game. Some might not think this is a problem, but it is. The game is easily completed and the puzzles are not a challenge at all. You are welcomed to Yawn City after the first couple of chapters because gameplay proceeds as follows: Find the list of items and get stuck on one or two objects that are hard to find, use the hint button to find the last remaining items, combine two or more key items to unlock another area, repeat.

There are a lot of problems with The Tarot’s Misfortune. Without a great story you have nothing to take your hand and guide you through the boring, repetitive gameplay. It still can be interesting to those who have some free time and really have a heart for hidden-object games, but most gamers should stay away from this one.

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