Pocket Detective - Murder at the University: the review
The game is one shot, as in the case of escape room simulators: once the game is over, the mystery is revealed and players will no longer have any reason to try again to face the case. Unlike many other titles, the author has preferred to minimize the game elements, concentrating everything in just seventy-one cards, some of which also have the role of an instruction manual. There are no other components and, unlike other similar titles, there are no elements that are destroyed or ruined during the game.
Detective at work
The mechanics are collaborative and involve game turns: the different investigators (or the only investigator) rotate: it is also possible to play individually, even if much of the fun consists precisely in the exchange of ideas with the other participants) choose a path to follow and collect the corresponding clues. The information obtained is available to everyone, but it is only the active investigator who chooses the next move. Crime scenes can be searched, witnesses questioned, archived researches done, the forensic analysis requested and much more; everything happens simply by following the instructions on the cards: some are collected in covered piles that represent the different locations or sources of information, others are uncovered and indicate the active tracks. Each track reports which new card needs to be revealed to obtain the required information or advance the story in a timely manner. Each track also has an indication (through special symbols) of how long it may take to follow it and if it has negative consequences on the investigation, indicated by the Voltage symbols; only when the new card is revealed will it be known how many real time and tension symbols have been accumulated.The game does not have a predefined duration: the players can at any time decide to close the case, but it is important who have a clear understanding of the dynamics of the crime, so as to be able to pass a sufficiently solid case to the District Attorney. Each wrong conclusion leads to the accumulation of tension symbols that will penalize the final result. The mechanism for assigning points at the end of the game is very simple: it starts from a value of one hundred points, from which all the time symbols accumulated to complete the investigation and all the unmotivated Voltage symbols are subtracted (some can in fact be excluded from the count. ).
Highlights
The game has some well thought out elements, but it also has some limitations. In general the mechanics are very simple and allow anyone to participate, even players who have no experience; on the other hand, the explanations on the cards are very summary and therefore must be read carefully, under penalty of a few missteps at the start.The choice of simplicity is evident in many elements: there are no enigmas to solve or puzzles to solve. compose, but only investigative choices and information to be collected. If on the one hand this really allows anyone to follow and participate, applying logical-deductive reasoning, on the other hand the choice of providing all information in exclusively textual mode (except in very rare cases), greatly limits the physical interaction with the game, which is reduced to the mere reading of texts and the following discussions between the participants.
The author is evidently aware of the level of difficulty of the game and in fact in a specific introductory card that can be solved with a minimum of ten to fifteen rounds (which is equivalent to a game time of thirty to forty minutes, depending on the number of players and therefore the discussions between them).
