As the title suggests, this game is just the opportunity to play detective — but it’s not about theft, kidnapping or murder this time round. In Kayo Games’ PlayDetective: Heartbreakers, you get to take on the role of a private investigator for a whole new range of cases: think cheating girlfriends, wayward husbands and flirtatious housewives. It’s not just gossiping about a spouse’s late nights and unresponsive phone calls now; it’s your responsibility to get to the bottom if it all.

The bulk of the game consists of a juicy narrative presented through dialogue texts and surveillance camera footage, punctuated with adventure scenes where you have to play minigames to collect evidence against your suspect. Scoring well on the minigames earn you cash, which you can spend on investigative actions such as planned phone calls, wiretapping, and camera snapshots.

The minigames are actually pretty common puzzles, but presented through pretty fancy detective themes. There are cryptograms, which play like word games where you have to fill in missing letters on a message. There are lie detector tests, where you’ll need to observe the emotional response of the suspect and determine if the statements he makes are truthful or not. Among a few others, there’s also a bejewelled-style minigame, which unfortunately is more difficult than fun, largely because of its pretty demanding countdown timer.

The game progression is rather linear though, so you won’t really have much choice on the outcome of the case, nor much decisive power over what detective tools to use and when. Simply, the game is all about doing your best for the minigames, so you can afford to gather as much evidence as you can — skipping bits of evidence leaves holes in the plot, and missing out on too many will result in you losing the game.

PlayDetective: Heartbreakers does have a rather exciting premise — after all, break-ups and scandals are some of the most interesting things to investigate. However, in the realm of gameplay it’s hardly exceptional. Playing the game then, is a means to get through the story, rather than a joy in itself.

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