The tenet of any true detective is to be able to find each clue, no matter how small or insignificant, required to solve the case at hand. And in a game such as Polly Pride: Pet Detective, the small and insignificant things are what will separate the true detectives from the Hercule Poirot-wannabees in the audience. Now, how finding an umbrella and a watering can in a junkyard can have anything to do with finding Mrs. White’s cat Fluffy is beyond me. But, fans of the seek-and-find genre will take for granted the fact that they have to to further the story. And what a story it is.

You are Polly Pride, proprietor of the local pet shelter and friend to all things great and small. While you enjoy the pet shop and working with the pets that come in, your real passion is helping to locate missing pets. That, and the hunky vet that has moved into town. But, that’s not the only thing that has changed in town. A cosmetics company has recently setup shop in town, and mysterious black vans have been seen coming and going from the plant. And, while it may simply be a coincidence, the number of missing pets in town has increased lately. It’s up to you to sort this mystery out.

From a gameplay standpoint, Polly Pride: Pet Detective is standard seek-and-find fair. You are given a limited amount of time to visit a number of locations and find all of the things on the list. The objects range from the obvious to the minuscule. One of the difficulties that I have always had with these games is that sometimes I’m not sure what I am looking for. What exactly does the urn look like? What color is the feather that I need to find? The game Sunset Studios Deluxe offered a hint that would show you what an item looked like, but not where it was in the scene. This allowed for a bit of ease in finding the item, since you knew exactly what you were looking for. Some of the objects will keep you guessing, especially in some of the darker scenes, such as the cosmetics factory. You won’t be able to randomly click around the picture until you find an object, though. After five incorrect clicks, you will loose time from your timer. Luckily, you have a limited amount of hints to use that will help you find the objects you seek.

Lest you forget, your job is to find missing pets. These will show up in many of the scenes. Many of them will show up as static objects that only move after you have selected them. Others will hide in the scene and pop out at random. You’ll need to react fast to catch some of those pets, as they move quickly back into hiding. You’ll find that you are collecting more pets than you are currently looking for at times. These pets will go to the shelter and wait for their owners to claim them. This is accomplished by playing one of the two mini-games available between rounds. The first has you reconstructing a flier of a missing pet after it has been accidentally shredded. The other sees you matching missing pet posters with the pets at the shelter in a memory-match game. Neither game is extremely difficult, but they are a nice diversion.

The story is a mix of mystery and soap opera, and might turn some people off. I found it interesting enough to keep me playing the game, at least. The cut scenes are well drawn, and the music OK, though nothing to write home about. This may not have the level of depth as, say, the Mystery Case Files series, but it was a fun game none-the-less. If you are looking for some seek-and-find fun, you’d do worse than to give Polly Pride: Pet Detective your business. Check out the demo by clicking below and see for yourself.

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Overall Rating:

(3 votes, average: 4.67 out of 5)

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