The Eyes of Ara

Review

An unusual signal has been broadcast for the last few weeks from an abandoned castle and has disrupted every television, radio and local WiFi network within a 100 km radius. Strangely enough, no local technicians dare to enter the castle. Could it be because of the nonsense ghost stories that locals are spreading about this place?  Nonetheless, this signal has to be shut down as soon as possible. We thank you for taking this assignment on such a short notice and we look forward to resolving the issue promptly and efficiently.

The Eyes of Ara is a puzzle/adventure game in which you are a technician who ventures into a castle full of interesting puzzles.

But first you will arrive by boat and will enter the property via the back gate. From here, the first couple of puzzles are pretty easy to resolve until you reach the main hall.  The gameplay is very straight forward; simply move the mouse cursor all over each room. As soon as your cursor changes from a triangle to a circle it will mean that you can interact with a specific object or read journals and notes from the former owner of the castle.  These notes will give you more information on the story.  

The Eyes of Ara is divided into three chapters and in each of them you have to look for a certain number of coins, photos, toys, orbs (blue and yellow) and a painting, but you must have your magnifying glass to find them. To be honest with you, it is just an additional feature in this game; with the exception of the yellow orbs, it will not get you further into the game whether or not you find them.

Puzzle-wise, this type of game is excellent if there is a good balance between the easy and hard puzzles. In that regard, this game nailed it perfectly! After resolving a difficult puzzle, you need to have a simple one to keep you going and vice-versa, and let me tell you there are some serious puzzles to do here!

Another aspect that makes this game as good as it is are the graphics. Splendid 3D graphics from one room to the next. A truly visual pleasure. I really like the soundtrack which adds immensely to the enigmatic atmosphere this game. My only negative comment is in relation to when you zoom out of an object or puzzle and the movement of the camera. The response is slow-ish, but this is me being very picky!