Kaonashi Ga Suki

Title: SafeCracker
Year: 2006
Platform: PC
Rated: E for everyone

Are you a logic puzzles fan? Do you enjoy playing sudoku and other math games in your spare time? Did you try solving the puzzles in The DaVinci Code? Then you’ll enjoy SafeCracker, the recent recipient of PC Gamer’s Best Puzzle Game Award (March 2007 issue).

Eccentric billionaire Duncan W. Adams passes away, but his will is missing, hidden somewhere in his extravagant mansion. Adams was a collector of intricate safes, and his family believes that the will is inside one of the 35 safes scattered throughout the house. The Adams family hires you (with a delightful British accent) to crack each safe and find that will.

There are many different rules for opening each of the 35 safes. Some require observing a pattern first, some involve finding a code or password, while others use a key obtained from a previous safe. Very few hints are provided. However, keep your ears open for the comments your character makes as he tries to open a safe. And while there are many letters and diary pages that you find as you travel from room to room, they only provide clues to Adams and the family members’ personalities, rather than how to break in the safes.

Yes, the safes can be insanely difficult! Often times when you first encounter one, you find the color drain from your face as you think, “OMG what the hell?!?” and want to bang your head on your desk. But after your panic subsides and you look at the safe again, possible solutions start to come to you. Naturally there are many websites that offer walkthroughs and answers, but I recommend against using them. Don’t cheat yourself out of the satisfying feeling of solving a tough puzzle on your own. However, if you are at your wits’ end, go to Just Adventure. Their walkthroughs offer subtle hints before the solutions, so scroll down slowly.

The graphics in SafeCracker are beautiful. It’s fun to just look around and admire the details in each room. However, the game is simplistic in that you’re not really in a 3-D environment. While you can look up and down and around the room, the graphics are actually just composed of a series of 2-D images pasted together to create the sense of space. If you move the mouse too quickly, it can be dizzying to look around the room. At the same time, since you can’t manipulate any of the other objects in the rooms (e.g., you can’t open drawers or sit on chairs), I suppose it’s not necessary. Furthermore, since the game is a very affordable $20 and can run on Windows 98, one shouldn’t complain.

There were two things I didn’t quite like about SafeCracker. One was that at times, outside knowledge is required in solving a puzzle. I don’t think it’s fair to have to say, know the rules of badminton in order to solve a puzzle. The other is that, although you get different endings depending on what path you choose (hint: save right before opening the last safe), all are very unsatisfying. Although I wasn’t quite expecting a majestic, 5-minute cinematic ending, I wished that there was more to it than just text.

Regardless of its weaknesses, SafeCracker is a fun and challenging game for puzzle lovers or for those who just want to take a break from more conventional PC games.

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