Apple Arcade review #77: Murder Mystery Machine

Murder Mystery Machine (MMM) is an isometric point-and-tap adventure where you play a homicide detective. The opening titles feel very Law & Order-y, so you immediately understand the mood the developers are going for.

The investigation mechanics are expansive and thorough, and there’s plenty of attention to detail. Investigations are very mechanical and require connecting evidence in a virtual workspace.

There’s a lot of detail in the 3D scenes. You can zoom in and out with a pinch, and rotate the camera ninety degrees by swiping left or right. Objects of interest are highlighted and you tap to interact with them or with characters (and corpses). It’s not always easy to find items, however, and in the very first case, I struggled to locate the murder weapon. You can’t pan the camera around independently of your character, so you’re forced to walk around. It can get a bit fiddly. The user interface isn’t scaled for the phone screen, with tiny text and tiny touch targets. This game works better on an iPad.

I’m not sure how save games work, and on two occasions I lost a handful of minutes when I jumped out of the game. That’s not great.

I wasn’t particularly gripped by MMM. I struggled with the controls and there’s something clinical about it, but I guess that’s the point: this is Law & Order, down to the apartment crime scenes and lab work. If that sounds appealing, it’s probably not a bad implementation of the concept. But I personally prefer the much less realistic but more emotionally satisfying Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney series.

Link: https://apps.apple.com/no/app/murder-mystery-machine/id1459658137