Foreclosure Looming

Wild West Quest starts off on something of a sad note. Your grandmother's house is getting foreclosed on by the Armstrong Bank and in order to help her save it, you'll need to sell some of her old stuff to make a little scratch. While rummaging through her possessions, you find an old trunk full of information on your great, great grandfather William Mason, a Wild West Prospector.

Among his pictures, you also find newspaper claiming that he was shot dead in the street by bandits. Right after, you find the wanted poster for Black Jack Armstrong, the man who killed William Mason in cold blood.

You also find an old pocket watch, which is the first thing you find that could actually fetch quite a profit. However, when you attempt to wind the watch, you get transported back in time to the year 1888!

With no way to get home, you no have choice but to help your great, great grandfather!

Welcome to the Wild West!

While Wild West Quest is a hidden objects game that stays true to the genre, it also mixes it up quite a bit to ensure that you don't get bored by replaying the same exact level several times. There are plenty of levels where you'll hunt for objects in a cluttered western scene, but you also spot the differences between pictures, search through a mess of cards, find several instances of one item, and even shoot an army of encroaching banditos!

You'll be going off more than just lists, as well, since not more than a few levels in I was looking for objects based on silhouettes. The game makes a clear effort to provide some variety and it really shows. A lot of hidden objects games get stale within the first handful of stages but I never once felt that with this product.

The way the story unfolds is arguably the game's strongest point. If you're a fan of westerns like myself, than you'll love it immediately. If you're not crazy about the genre, don't write it off just yet; this product isn't exactly a rootin' tootin' John Wayne flick. You'll find something you like. The cast of characters is diverse and entertaining and the search for your great, great grandfather gets more suspenseful by the second as Black Jack Armstrong and his banditos begin to close in.

A Timeless Classic

While the premise of getting sucked back into the 1800s is what originally got me interested in Wild West Quest, it's the fun, innovative gameplay and intriguing story that made me stay. Watching the game mechanics go from typical, to not-so-typical, to completely unique was a nice progression and made me realize that I'm playing something really special. It didn't take long for me to get invested in the story, either, and pretty soon I found myself really caring about what happened to William Mason.

It's rare that I get so involved in a product that I lose track of time but this is just one of those gems. I can't recommend it highly enough.