The final chapter of the Greed series is finally here, the conclusion that first started with Greed: The Mad Scientist, and even had a spin off entitled Greed 2: Forbidden Experiments. Originally released in early 2018, this third game ends the series, and goes out with a positive outcome.
After the events of the first game, detective Amy Turner gains considerable reputation, even from the mayor that promises to rebuild Pontoon Laboratories, in honor of Dr. Goodwin for his efforts for the good of humanity, in his search for a cure that ends all diseases. Detective Turner receives a call from Sara, who tells her things are not going in the right direction…
Rebuilding Pontoon Laboratories should have been an easy task, but the workers are scared of strange ghostly apparitions, and some are even missing while others left injured. What could possibly be happening? The detective meets Sara, and both, must once again enter the facility to put a final resting on Bura Pharma’s greed, and this time they’re going to get help from unexpected sources.
In Greed 3: Old Enemies Returning, old memories sure do return, with a cool story, that works wonderfully for a final chapter. Players take once again the role of Amy Turner, a detective responsible for the investigations at the laboratory. The narrative is what you’d expect at this point, with some supernatural effects, but mostly, a decent mystery, and thrilling adventure. There won’t be any major surprises, or plot twists, and it’s somehow predictable, but still enjoyable.
Like a traditional Hidden Object Game, players collect objects, and use them accordingly, while unlocking hidden object scenes. In this third and final chapter, each location has two turns, one for traditional gameplay, where one has to find hidden objects based on their name, and a second wave where instead of names, players search objects based on their shape. It’s an addition previously seen in the second game, still, a very welcome one.
Hidden Object scenes are easier due mainly to two reasons; one being the increased design quality, and secondly there are less objects on the screen. This choice could had been to lower the difficulty even more, to reach a wider audience. The same can be said for puzzles or/and mini-games. There’s only a handful of them, featuring mechanics previously seen, such as rotating objects and memory-based puzzles. Clearly perfect for newcomers to the genre, or for a casual experience.
Greed 3: Old Enemies Returning is the shortest of all the games of its series, with barely over one full hour of gameplay. This is not a direct reflect on the game difficulty, but it’s something to be expected based on a fast-paced gameplay, that delivers a very intuitive and logical adventure, with no backtracking at all.
There have been some interesting visual changes, more particularly for characters that are now based on real, living models, and later modified. While opening the journal, one can see real human hands depicting the detective, and other features can be seen for characters alongside this adventure. This is a cool way of using assets, and one we rarely see.
Sara's design hasn’t changed, and she is still a 3D render from scratch, the same goes for other previously seen rendered characters, but new ones definitely benefit from the real model assets. The user interface is nice, with a smooth contrast in relation to the environment. The overall scenery follows the same line seen previously, in the laboratory and its surroundings.
Like previously, we have rendered locations, re-worked by hand to portray the necessary ambience and style. Design choices went pretty well, with a great set of locations, and not even one single place was re-used, which is great. Hidden Objects are really well designed, following a very realistic trajectory, which makes it extremely easy to spot.
Performance wise, it’s the same as seen in the previous chapter. Original images are still native 720p, with based PNG’s, and this in 2018 is not the ideal set-up, but the engine used is still the same, so it can’t really be helped. Thankfully, it upscales well with the Widescreen Fixer for 16:9, and at 1920x1080 the image is still clear and pleasant. Up resolutions such as 4K will definitely lose quality.
The soundtrack is another improved feature, with far better developed themes, consisting of three music tracks, one being the main theme. Tracks follow the wave of the game, from suspense to surprising encounters, and the veil of mystery developed through a synthesizer, in melodic tunes. Possibly, the best sound works of the entire series, mixing neo-classic with smooth electronic ambient sounds.
Another fantastic surprise is the Extras in the Main Menu, and what type of goodies do we get? Well, after completing the game, players can unlock 5 wallpapers, 10 concept art images, and 3 music themes used in-game. It’s not much, but it’s a well received change from the lack of unlockables from previous titles.
Greed 3: Old Enemies Returning shows, above all, the improvements made by Urchin Games, that kept increasing their technical performance, despising limitations. Thankfully, Steam users can now enjoy a trilogy of really good value for those who enjoy a casual experience, or are newcomers.