I have one more final to go, and then it’s home for the holidays. I can’t wait. I’m normally a pretty calm person, but if I have to watch another Christmas movie or even walk by the TV when one’s on… I just might scream. The girls have been on an endless Christmas movie marathon since we got back from Thanksgiving break. It’s been a little ridiculous. I mean, how many times can we watch A Christmas Story till I want to shoot my own eye out??? That’s why I wanted to play something that was distinctly not Christmas, so I went with Fear for Sale: Sunnyvale Story. That sounded nice and scary and not Christmas related at all.
Anyhow, the premise of the game is that you are a reporter sent to investigate a recent string of disappearances in the town Sunnyvale. When you get to the town, the mayor tells you that they are not allowing members of the press into town and that if you do enter town, he will have you arrested! Definitely something fishy is going on here, so you begin to investigate.
You soon meet the sheriff of the town who tells you that he suspects the mayor in all this, and that he will tell you everything he knows. Then right before your eyes a ghost house appears and snatches up one of the deputies before it mysteriously disappears again! And somehow this is all related to a murder that happened 30 years ago of a woman and a suspicious trial where the woman’s husband was found guilty and executed!
Could this be the man’s revenge on the people involved in the couples’ deaths? No one knows! But what is clear is that something is definitely wrong in this little town and there’s a ghost house hungry for more victims.
Clearly the story is intriguing and makes it pretty easy to get into the game. In terms of graphics, there are some great cut scenes to watch and overall some pretty nicely created artwork to help set the scene. The music and sound is just right to give it that necessary creepy feeling, but not too creepy that it gets disturbing or scary to play it.
There’s nothing really out of the ordinary in terms of gameplay. It’s your standard hidden object adventure game where you can pick things up and zoom in on areas. The hidden object scenes aren’t too challenging, and you can always use a hint if you get stuck or skip the puzzles after a little bit if you are having trouble solving them.
Overall, it’s a good solid game that has a great storyline if you’re looking for something to distract you from all the holiday festivities this month like I am. I guess the girls are still mad at us for eating all the leftovers, but honestly, if you put food in the fridge and don’t put your name on it, it’s fair game and we’re going to eat it… you didn’t hear me complaining when Lucy ate all my chocolate from Halloween did you? Even though everyone knows I love peanut butter cups and they clearly were mine… but whatever…
