When you have a game based on a novel by H.P. Lovecraft, you can only be extremely interested in it, even though it’s “just” a hidden object game, so unfortunately not extremely appealing to the more hardcore gamers. We’re talking here about Ghost Towns: The Cats of Ulthar, a creepy adventure involving killer cats, gypsies and a town full of mysteries.
The game starts a you, a lone traveler, arrive in the small city of Ulthar where you witness a quick trial, where a gypsy kid is sentenced to death for using magic on cats and having them kill an entire family. The kid’s sister, however, tells you that her brother is innocent and asks for your help to free him. And you’ll do so by unraveling the mystery surrounding the Cats of Ulthar!
The game is a hidden object adventure, meaning that you will have to do some exploring in the small city and solve different puzzles that reward you with items that you can use to solve even more puzzles, eventually finding all the kitten statues required to prove that the kid is innocent. We have a bunch of hidden object scenes to complete, and they are packed with items and offer a pretty high level of challenge without being impossible though or by having items that are too blended in the scenery.
Unfortunately, that’s about it about Ghost Towns: The Cats of Ulthar, at least if we are to talk about the positives. The adventure itself, even though interesting as a story, becomes pretty boring fast, especially because you are required to explore over and over again the same scenes. There are just several areas to explore (shops, a gypsy camp and so on) and you will have to redo the same hidden object scenes multiple times, which tends to be pretty boring.
Also, except for the quality of the hidden object scenes themselves, the difficulty level of the other puzzles is really low and you get hints all over the place, even if you’re not asking for them. And this is not necessary good, at least for the more experienced player. For me, it was a good thing since it helped me cruise through the game without any problems.
Visually, the game looks decent, but not stunning. The colors are not too bright and I didn’t particularly like the style (but again, this is just my personal opinion and I am sure others can find them brilliant). The music is OK – your regular hidden object game soundtrack with noting memorable, but nothing to drive you crazy either.
All in all, Ghost Towns: The Cats of Ulthar is not the best hidden object game out there, but clearly not one of the worst either. It’s good for a rainy day when you’re all alone at home and you have nothing to do – you can hop into the game as it has a pretty interesting story, it’s easy enough to be completed without any headaches or frustrations and the hidden object scenes, even though played multiple times, are just OK.
iTunes Link: Ghost Towns: The Cats of Ulthar