Common Sense Media Review
By Erin Bell
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Social hidden object/building sim with aggressive marketing.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 13+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Play
Videos and Photos
Hidden Chronicles
What's It About?
In Zynga's HIDDEN CHRONICLES, players investigate the mysterious death of an uncle by researching ancient artifacts. This \"research\" takes the form of hunting for clues in hidden object scenes. The scenes depict the different time periods and places from which each artifact comes, such as a 19th century Paris bistro, a violin-maker's workshop in Italy, and a thieves den. Players must also restore the family estate to its former glory by placing new buildings and decorations, which earn \"estate points\" that unlock more hidden object scenes.
Is It Any Good?
Like Playdom's Gardens of Time, Hidden Chronicles combines two extremely popular casual game genres (building sim and hidden object game) in a way that should appeal to fans of both. In terms of social interaction, friends can visit each other's estates and leave gifts behind, or challenge each other to a minigame that involves finding as many hidden objects as possible in 60 seconds. A dull, dangling-carrot plot is the game's major weak point. As well, the constant prompting to recruit friends and post messages to friends' walls is relentless and highly intrusive.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about Facebook's privacy settings, and why it's important not to give strangers full access to your Facebook profile, wall, and photos.
Families can also talk about the historical places that the player gets to visit. If you could travel back in time to anywhere in the world, where would you go?
Game Details
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