Your comments and reviews for Hidden Identity: Chicago Blackout

For the person looking for where the pipe goes - look in the front of the screen where there seems to be a little steam escaping and put it there.

I'm going to revise my review a little bit. This game was shorter than others from ST. You only visit each scene once in story mode. Some people were able to play story mode within an hour but it took me about two and a half hours. So that part really didn't disappoint me.

I didn't care for the endless mode though. One of my favorite parts of ST games is being able to clear each scene of all the objects. This one is set up to randomly generate a scene and only list 10 objects per scene. Once those are cleared, it randomly brings up another scene with 10 more objects. You never get to totally clear each scene.

If this gameplay had been like other games from ST, I would have given this game 4.5 stars. As it is, I'm only giving it 3 stars because of the way endless mode plays.

If you're looking for an easy, relaxing game this is it. The graphics are pretty good, nothing super tiny or frustrating to find. I liked the clues on the object list, was fun that they make you think just a little bit, for example, It goes caw (a crow) or smell pretty (a perfume bottle). Was also fun to find an item and then have to place it in the scene.
It doesnt have a relaxed mode, it's timed, but gives a very generous amount of time. I only used the hint button once, it seemed to reload quickly. I'll wait to buy until it's a Daily Deal, I heard it's very short.

Enjoyed playing the demo, but not a game for me to buy. Nice storyline, good graphics, pleasant music though repetitive. I like the clue words and the one game interaction in each scene. Wish there had been more. I also liked that there was a counter in each scene for the number of notes to find. It's nice not to have to worry did i get the note or didn't I...

I suppose if you are interested in score points the game would mean a bit more, but I don't pay attention to scoring and was happy that I could just click and move on. On another thread I read how short this game is and by the clues I felt it probably was very short. Also, I do not like to play endless seek and find anymore, so there is no replay value here. Nice game but just not for me.

Lousy graphics.

Played this for 5 mins and stopped. The music is annoying and I hated the response when an item was found. Boring game play.

ST: If it ain't broke, don't fix it! ST has always been the go-to dev for a nice, long, relaxing mindless HOG....don't tweak the formula!

Happy with it until I got to the shedded paper part. Can anyone tell me what to do?
Please!

Yes, this game is easier than some, and yes, it's on the short side, but with some games, the rest of the game makes up for this. Here, the clues are, as has been noted by several others, quite creative, and fun. The touches of humor are great. Finding the hidden objects does take a bit of studying the screen, as it should be, IMO, but not so much that your vision is ruined for an hour afterwards. The graphics are bright and colorful. Yes, they "goofed" on the "L"...but, hey, a lot of people born and raised in Chicago don't know that the term is actually "El", short for "Elevated", so that's not an issue. I admit I wish they had familiarized themselves with the zoos here, but again, this doesn't over-ride the pleasant game-play. My family loves this game, I love it, it's a keeper.

This was way to easy for me I finished it in one hour with 15 minutes to spare on trial version. I didn't skip any of the mini puzzles. I would of liked this game better if it were longer, had more of a penatly for random clicking and my cursor was kind of jerky, no option to get rid of the pointer.

inkydotz wrote:Chicago Blackout has a fresh perspective, unusual clues, and witty messages. I think it's a refreshing change of pace, including the upbeat sound of smooth jazz. It's an innovate presentation of a Hidden Object game, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I totally agree. It's relaxing even in timed mode because there is so much time given and lots of hints. No itty bitty things to find. Loved the music. For plain HOG it is refreshing. Just played demo so not sure about how long.

Lame, very lame. A no buy for me. At the very least, the could have used scencs from Chicago. A no buy for me. No creativity here at all..

It seems it has been a long time since there was a game this good. Hints to finding hidden objects is very clever. Nice challenge and a lot of fun. The music works with the game.

Hi,
My 1st time replying, but I thought it was definitly boring, will not buy this.

So far I have not been able to piece the shredded map back together. Have been to Chicago and consquently know where the pier, lakeshore drive is, but I can not get them to stay in place. Help!!!!! Other than that, the game was okay.

For me, this game had wicked load times - 1.5 min to get to a screen solved in 2.5 min; and no tweaking helped it. Otherwise, was *really* impressed with the way the objects were hidden in this one - well done on that count, although colors got pretty washed out in full window mode. Loved the witty clues! But at the end, was so frustrated with the screen load times (find last item. . . 30 sec . . . score tallies . . . 27 sec . . . select next location . . . 25 sec . . . next screen - seriously!) that actually felt relieved the trial was over. Too bad, had good promise.

There are definitely some things I like about this game: the music, and the clues that make one think about the object to find. Swish? Who'd have thought it meant a basketball! That was wicked cool! But the storyline was a bit lame, and it felt slow to me. I'm deleting after 34 minutes of play. (And I usually play through the demo!)

Some very mixed reviews. I like HOGS and this one is good, especially with the novel way of the clues given. I like some of the minigames, such as the man in the phonebooth. I had four credits (including 2 full punchcards) and i decided this game was worth a Credit. It is not the best game but i am sure i will enjoy playing it again in a few months' time.

i give this game 3-1/2 .

Agreed that the word play in the hidden object lists was the best part. This is pretty much pure HOG, the puzzles are short and easy, and feel like they're just a token thing in there. The graphics are kind of grainy, so it can be hard to find some of the objects that blend in well with something else, but other than that, not terribly challenging. Not something I'd play past the demo, but I can see some other people liking this. There's also a bit of a story going on through some hidden notes, which isn't bad.

Game Ratings:

Graphics – 2 stars
Story – 2.5 stars
Music/Sounds – 2.5 stars
Gameplay – 2.5 stars
Overall – 2.375 stars

My ratings of games can be high as 5 and can be low as 1.

Ratings Explained:

1 star: Poor
2 stars: Okay
3 stars: Good
4 stars: Great
5 stars: Excellent

I won’t be purchasing this game at all. For those who did – Happy Gaming!

Poodlebear wrote:Wow, good ol' ST and the "if it ain't broke don't fix it" style of game development. If you like the Amazing Adventures and Mystery P.I. games you'll like this cuz it's the same game wearing a different outfit.

This is a Popcap game - same as the others.