New York Mysteries: High Voltage Collector's Edition

I appreciate how this game's Hidden Object Puzzles (HOPs) aren't just about finding objects in a scene; there's a puzzle to find one object that leads to the next. Additionally, there are plenty of collectibles to look for in most scenes. The story follows a standard detective storyline with a twist, and the bonus content adds more depth to the narrative. I also found the playtime to be very satisfying. Overall, I enjoyed this game and would recommend it.

GAME CONTENT:

1) Use of explicit or offensive language? No.
2) Depictions of sexual content or innuendo? No.
3) Portrayals of drug or alcohol use? No.
4) Depictions of violence, blood, or gore? No.
5) Representation of LGBTQ+ characters or themes? No.
6) Depictions of racist or bigoted behavior? No.
7) References to real-world political or religious events or beliefs? No.
8) Instances of animal abuse or cruelty? No.
9) Depictions of domestic abuse or violence? No.
10) Use of supernatural or occult themes or imagery? No.
11) Use of magic themes or magical imagery? No.
12) Are jump scares or other frightening elements included? No.
13) Depictions of suicide or self-harm? No.
14) Mention of diseases or medical conditions? No.
15) Using dolls or other toys in a potentially unsettling or creepy manner? No.

Laura is back! After solving the mafia case, she's sent to investigate a series of strange murders. She discovers that it's a paranormal being that is behind these. Why? How can she stop that?

This time, the story is revolving around a man whose execution has gone so bad that the authorities never spoke about it. That's how the game is beginning. So you have to find how he disappeared and how come it's related to the murders. As usual, the game is mixing reality and paranormal and underground train as it's how you reach each location, like in the first game. You're working for Bishop, who was the one that asked for your help previously. The bonus chapter is about the father of the convict and how he tried to save his son to a death sentence.

Anyway, the gameplay is items to find, to combine, shapes scenes (let's say that maximum 5 of them may be harder to solve), puzzles (with some that are rare in the genre or combining several in one) and people to meet and discuss. It's not that I like the shape scene, however, I would have preferred some variety, like alternating with a list of hidden objects.

The developers are also the same as Lost Lands, so, yeah, given the fact that I've played three of their games nearly in a row, the first NY mysteries being weeks ago, I can't forget about the bonus contained in the opus: minigames to replay (new or familiar ones - practical to get timed or click counted achievements involving some of them), concept arts, music tracks, etc.. Besides, you have also objects to collect to unlock stuff: beyond objects (changing appearance) and four specific objects (Liberty Statue, cats, towers or balls) that are all in each scene. Besides, collecting diapositives is also explaining the background of the Order you're working for - though I have to confirm that because I didn't look about them.

Anyway, the graphics are quite good and diversified: from a prison to a lab that would have pleased Tesla (as the game is also based on what he discovered) without forgetting New York under the snow in the bonus chapter. And that soundtrack! I mean, it was giving me chills.

So, yeah, I can say that it's among these HO games that you need to play, as it's not boring and very well done. Perhaps the voice acting of Laura could be better..... but hey, I didn't regret my purchase. Go for it, seriously!

This is one is pretty solid. Each scene has a morphing object, and can have additional collectibles. That said, this one doesn't have any classical I-spy hidden object scenes. It have only sequential HO scenes where you see and outline on an object you need, e.g locate a bread knife to cut open the bread that has a key to open a lock within the scene.

None of the collectible cats, statues, slides, balls, and morphing objects are in missable places. But if you use the medallion item before collecting them all, you'll have to play the game again. You won't have to collect ones you already collected.

There is also hints for easy/normal/custom difficulty players, and an in-game strategy guide for hard players. All the puzzles are fairly logical.

Decent story. Good voices and sounds. Good puzzles and gameplay flow, especially with the useful map. "Hidden object puzzles" are of the find an object to use to find another object type. Works fine on Linux. Expect somewhere between 5 and 7 hours of gameplay depending on how well you do with the puzzles (which I thought were generally easy).

I really enjoyed this, it was long, indepth, fun story, and kept me entertained for several hours, and the bonus chapter is nearly a full game on its own.

Not a bad game, but what really irritates me about all the New York Mysteries games is that this game is free to download and play everywhere except Steam. I could have bypassed Steam altogether and downloaded it onto my PC and not paid for it. Sure, it's a pretty inexpensive game, but where does the developer get off penalizing people for playing/buying through Steam? Feel ripped off and swindled.

It's a good game. Great hopa.
I only give it a negative review because they make so much advertisement for their games. Everytime you start the game you get a screen "click here for more games" and even when you finished the game.

wasnt 7 hours more like 6 as forgot to pause it saying that i wish ther was a middle button its not bad but would go mad on it if want to pass few hours the its ok would pay full for it get in sale or cheaper else where story not that good but like i said pass the time

Very good game. I just finished playing it for the second time. (I left it on for a while, also. Too many of these games are too short. I can't say how long this one was. It didn't seem too short.)

This is one of the best hidden object games I've played.

It was a decent story for the genre. Lots of interesting things to find. Good mini-puzzles. GREAT hidden object scenes. These are the type where you have to find one thing, then use it to find another and so on.

Just overall very good game. It also has a set of extra puzzles post-game that I quite liked.

I contemplated returning it in the beginning. But then, after that, I decided that I really did like the game. The only thing I don't like it shadow hidden object. I am not a fan of those. And this made me not like them even more.

Don't get me wrong, I actually enjoyed playing this game. However, after I finished the main part, I didn't play the bonus chapter right away and closed the game. Later when I got back into it, my progress had been lost and I couldn't play the bonus game, so I do not appreciate that very much. This is the first game that's ever happened with for me. I'm just going to have to wait until some time goes by, because there's no way I'm going to play through the whole thing again right now. Vexing.

This playthrough took me 7.5 hours on advanced mode for both main game and bonus chapter. You are Laura, an investigative journalist, who is a well manicured female whose hair is never out of place even after climbing a tower!! You are sent to investigate a series of murders where only a pile of ash remains at the crime scene.
There is a supernatural feel to this game, but all is not as it seems! I felt the story ran out of steam and fell rather flat at the end. It felt as if the devs didn't quite know what genre the game should be.
I enjoyed the graphics and the 50's feel. Music was good and not overpowering. An instant travel map was necessary because there is a fair bit of backtracking. I managed to find all the collectables and morphing objects for each scene - the map tells you if you miss one.
Puzzles were tricky, but doable. I managed all of them without a strategy guide. I found the HO scenes more challenging as you had to be interactive in the scene.
No bugs. 7.5/10

Ok, first a big warning :

I played the main game til the end but didn't start the bonus game.
When I restarted to continue, the bonus game was not active and the main game brought me back to a much earlier save.
So this annoying bug makes you play main and bonus game in 1 session !

Otherwise it was an ok HOG game, ok cutscenes, good puzzles, the usual standard is met.
Not the best in the genre, but up there with the better games.

Great Quality.

Another good episode but
comparing to the first, kinda lacking.
Short and abrupt ending for the main story.

These detective hunts are considerable harder.
Start Hard mode, look out for one collectible and one phantom each scene, easily complete in one playthrough.


Good experience.
Looking forward to start Part III.

Like another reviewer, I'm having problems with the game forgetting my save point. I had completed the main game a few days ago and exited the game without starting the bonus game. When I started the game today, I couldn't play the bonus game because it was loading from a save point about 20-30 minutes before the end of the main game (including loss of the achievements I had earned after that point in the game). Since it wasn't that far back, I decided to play through and finish the main game again. After that, I played the bonus game from start to finish, verified I earned the achievements, played a few of the Diascope minigames, and then exited (making sure the Steam client synchronized the game data). A few minutes later, I started the game again, and it was once again back at that same save point about 20-30 minutes before the end of the main game.

Because of this save issue alone, I cannot recommend this game.

However, even if there were no save/load issue, I still don't think I would be able to recommend this game. For one thing, all of the hidden object scenes are of the silhouette type (you see only silhouettes of the items you need to find, and it is not always clear what those shapes are supposed to be); I much prefer the type in which you are given a list of words representing items you need to find. Second, one of the achievements is to find 3 hidden object items within 3 seconds. That's nearly impossible because those scenes almost always require you to zoom in on a section, find an item, zoom out, zoom in on another section, use the first item to enable an action which gives you another item, and repeat. Lastly, there is way too much backtracking. The interactive map makes it quick and easy, but that doesn't change the fact that constant backtracking is not fun.

Whereas I enjoyed the Darkness and Flame series of games, I found this New York Mysteries series to be more annoying than enjoyable.

I have to admit, I found the story in this one extremely creepy. It was still a good game, plenty of puzzles and achievements, etc., but some of it is really unsettling, especially the bonus chapter. This might be a selling point for you or a turn off, so just wanted to put that info out there. Still recommend the game :)

Game Information

"New York Mysteries: High Voltage" Collector's Edition is a Hidden Object Puzzle Adventure game. The game was developed and published by Alawar Five-BN.

"High Voltage" is the second episode of "New York Mysteries." Previous episode: "Secrets of the Mafia."

Since this is a collector's edition game, it comes with extra features that are not available in its' counterpart; the standard edition.

The Game Review

Game Visuals

I want to mention that the visuals in the game are well done. The visuals can be adjusted in the game's option menu.

Game Audio

I want to mention that audio for the game is well done. Even though the audio is somewhat simplistic and repetitive. The audio can be adjusted in the game's option menu as well.

Gameplay

There are three different difficulty game modes to choose from: Easy; Normal and Hard.

The notebook keeps track of progression in the game. Such as story events and clues.

There is an interactive map in the game. It allows the player to fast travel between each location quickly without having the need to constantly backtrack. It also indicates that there are a variety of tasks that can be completed at various locations within the game. The interactive map is not automatically given at the start of the game.

There is a padlock feature available to lock the inventory panel in place.

There are some interactive items in the game. Some of the interactive items may require extra components before they can be interacted with. All interactive items are marked with a symbol in one of the corners.

The hidden object scenes consist of the following: Placing items back and Shadow items. Some of these hidden objects may require little or no interaction.

The puzzles are fairly easy to solve without having the need to skip any of them. Most of the puzzles can be replayed in the game's extra feature section.

There are four sets of collectibles in the game, Lucky Cat; Tesla Tower; Statue of Liberty and Ball Chain. They are scattered throughout the game for the player to find.

There are morphing objects (beyond objects) in the game. They are scattered throughout the game for the player to find as well.

There are twenty-two different achievements that can be unlocked from playing the game. Each of these achievements does come with some requirements that need to be completed before they can be unlocked.

Since this is a collector's edition game, there is a bonus chapter, but it can be accessed only after the main story is completed.

Miscellaneous

There are extra features in the game: Bonus Chapter; Bonus Hidden Object Scenes; Bonus Puzzles; Wallpapers; Concept Art; Soundtrack; Cutscenes and Game's Strategy Guide. Most of these extra features can be accessed only after the entire game is completed.

Final thoughts: I have found the game developer's method of advertising their other games is unappealing. The advertisement pops up before the actual game loads. They have already advertised their other games in the 'More Games' section.

Other than that I have found the game enjoyable to a certain extent. The replay value for the game is low. I would recommend this game, but not at the game's full price value.

I have a mixed review on this one. Firstly, I really like that the map indicates whether you've found everything or not (Useful for completing collections). Not sure about the in-game strategy guide... a book of answers that you can access whilst playing.... why would you include that?! I agree that it should exist, but as part of the game - it removes any form of real challenge.
Instructions for mini games aren't that clear, there was something that told me to more the slides to correct place, sounds very straight forward... however after 5 minutes of trying to move them I just skipped it because they didn't slide at all, or move when clicked, scrolled, etc.

Laura is back! After solving the mafia case, she's sent to investigate a series of strange murders. She discovers that it's a paranormal being that is behind these. Why? How can she stop that?

This time, the story is revolving around a man whose execution has gone so bad that the authorities never spoke about it. That's how the game is beginning. So you have to find how he disappeared and how come it's related to the murders. As usual, the game is mixing reality and paranormal and underground train as it's how you reach each location, like in the first game. You're working for Bishop, who was the one that asked for your help previously. The bonus chapter is about the father of the convict and how he tried to save his son to a death sentence.

Anyway, the gameplay is items to find, to combine, shapes scenes (let's say that maximum 5 of them may be harder to solve), puzzles (with some that are rare in the genre or combining several in one) and people to meet and discuss. It's not that I like the shape scene, however, I would have preferred some variety, like alternating with a list of hidden objects.

The developers are also the same as Lost Lands, so, yeah, given the fact that I've played three of their games nearly in a row, the first NY mysteries being weeks ago, I can't forget about the bonus contained in the opus: minigames to replay (new or familiar ones - practical to get timed or click counted achievements involving some of them), concept arts, music tracks, etc.. Besides, you have also objects to collect to unlock stuff: beyond objects (changing appearance) and four specific objects (Liberty Statue, cats, towers or balls) that are all in each scene. Besides, collecting diapositives is also explaining the background of the Order you're working for - though I have to confirm that because I didn't look about them.

Anyway, the graphics are quite good and diversified: from a prison to a lab that would have pleased Tesla (as the game is also based on what he discovered) without forgetting New York under the snow in the bonus chapter. And that soundtrack! I mean, it was giving me chills.

So, yeah, I can say that it's among these HO games that you need to play, as it's not boring and very well done. Perhaps the voice acting of Laura could be better..... but hey, I didn't regret my purchase. Go for it, seriously!

One of the more excellent HOG's I've played on Steam in a while. Great graphics, good story and good length. There is also Steam achievements which is nice too and not a bad price for a collector's edition compared to some of the others with outrageous prices.