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Mata Hari, the famous World War I spy, tries to uncover German military secrets by seducing top officials and investigating their houses. Secret Missions: Mata Hari and the Kaiser's Submarines is the second entry in the casual market from Frogwares, a company known for its adventure game titles. It was created by basically the same team of Sherlock Holmes: The Mystery of the Persian Carpet, and therefore shares the same interface and overall design. Being a casual title, it is a hidden object game with adventure elements and simple puzzles. Each level starts in Mata Hari's room at the Excelsior Hotel, where she receives missions from her superior through a concealed radio receiver. The radio itself is a puzzle, where multi-colored wires have to be connected to receive the message. A file shows details about the mission target, someone with valuable information. Sometimes, the photograph has to be examined with a magnifying glass for more details. Using the information provided, the player must dress Mata Hari to suit the taste of the man she's trying to seduce. On easy mode, a reticule moves over a portrait of the gentleman, showing when the choice of clothes is correct. Leaving her premises, Mata Hari arrives at the target's place where she must search around for clues, solving any puzzles on the way. A box at the bottom right of the screen shows the inventory, with black silhouettes for the objects that must be collected. Pink silhouettes indicate an extra step needed to retrieve the object, usually some container that must be opened, or puzzle that must be solved. Under the inventory, icons of puzzle pieces indicate the number of puzzles left to be completed. They turn gold after being solved. After being collected, the inventory objects can be dragged and dropped on parts of the scenery to solve puzzles. The cursor changes to a magnifying glass when hovering over an area with a zoomed view, and transforms in to a wrench when an action can be performed. All puzzles can be skipped, with points deducted from the score as a penalty, and the hint button highlights the area with actions still pending. |
