Review: Crime O’Clock Solves Crime by Finding People Across Time

Every once in a while, we see a developer do something a little different with the hidden object genre. It’s always appreciated. I grew up with Where’s Waldo and appreciate opportunities to see those sorts of puzzles again. Crime O’Clock mixes the idea of picking people out of a crowd with crime solving. You will see a specific crime, such as a theft or murder, and then need to go through different moments in time to track culprits. Crime O’Clock works well, especially on the Switch, but does hit some limitations.

Each player in Crime O’Clock is a detective working alongside an AI known as E.V.E. You’ll use your program to investigate five time periods throughout history, ranging from the realistic Information Age and more fantastical Atlantean Age and Aeon Age, in the name of preserving a True Timeline. Your goal is to pick out crimes on the map for each area, then go back to find the suspects or proof necessary to then keep that crime from happening. When on a case, you’ll look at various “ticks” to see progress over time.

While there is an “adventure” overtone, in practice the only investigative elements are left to minigames. Your part as a detective here involves what is basically the equivalent of picking someone out of a very packed lineup. Each case takes place on one of the five “maps” taken from different time periods. These are black-and-white scenes with surprisingly detailed characters. (I was very pleased at the level of personality packed into them!) Once you find a person or specific clue or place, you then move forward or backtrack to find the other pieces of the puzzle to get someone responsible or find proof by pointing them out at different moments in time.

I appreciated how clear everything is. Characters are well-defined. It’s easy to highlight the people and places with the hourglass icon. These remain on the map, regardless of steps forward or back in time, so you can use them as an additional reference during the “case.” Incredibly brief minigames can come up during each “tick,” with these involving “investigation” elements like tracing a character by their phone or pinning down their identity. The controls are responsive on the Switch, so it’s easy to zoom in and out or highlight a specific area. You can also get some hints, with no penalties for doing so, if a “case” is giving you trouble. I also appreciated that each investigation could mean following different people or folks who change their appearance slightly, to add a more challenge when trying to pick someone out of a crowd.

The thing is, Crime O’Clock starts to wear out its welcome. While there is a premise that you are a detective using AI to solve crimes so they don’t happen, the overall “story” doesn’t feel very cohesive. Playing it a case or two at a time is ideal. But if you play in an extended session, like I did for this review, it can start to bleed together a bit. The concept of seeing step-by-step actions and tracing victims and criminals is a solid one! But since they do follow the same progression, in many cases using the same map since only five “eras” in time are being investigated, and always involve ten “tick” moments captured in time, it can all bleed together.

It doesn’t help that minigames never feel complex enough to be a compelling break from the actual hidden object element. Each one is essentially an excuse to provide a hint as to what you might need to look for next or where someone could be. This can mean that there also isn’t much to them. Maybe you need to tap nodes on a map or in time to line proper parts of a picture up. The latter of which can feel unnecessary, since you can clearly see who they are in the original image. The only time it comes in handy is when it might offer a hint as to who the next person to search for could be, as you might not know their identity otherwise.

Crime O’Clock is a novel take on a hidden object game. The idea is sound. It can get a bit repetitive, but then someone could argue that is a general flaw inherent in the genre and not necessarily a huge issue here. I really appreciated the design direction and artistic approach, even if the minigames felt a little unnecessary or simple when tossed in. Crime O’Clock is generally a lot of fun, especially for a quick timesink on the Switch.

Crime O’Clock is available for the Nintendo Switch and PC.

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