Hidden Expedition is a series of single-player hidden object casual games developed by the internal studios of Big Fish Games for the first five installments (using Big Fish Games Framework as the engine, and with the help of Flood Light Games in the 5th game), and by Eipix Entertainment for all subsequent installments. Two latest installment was developed by Domini Games. As of 2018, a total of seventeen games in the series have been released. The Hidden Expedition series marks the second major hidden object game brand from Big Fish Games. The second game in the series, Hidden Expedition: Everest, would go on to be the first game Big Fish released on the iPhone.
In this game, the player takes on the role of a treasure hunter working for the Hidden Expedition Adventure League (H.E.A.L.) to investigate the wreckage of the ocean liner Titanic. The Titanic Museum Foundation has discovered a rare artifact - the Queen's jeweled crown - was on the ship and have hired H.E.A.L. to retrieve it, as well as any other pieces that may be of value to the museum. Players have a limited time to search hidden object scenes in each area of the ship, or their oxygen will run out.
According to independent tracking site game-sales-charts.com, following its release on July 22, 2006, Hidden Expedition: Titanic climbed into the top 10 on nearly every major casual game distribution site. Moreover, it held the #1 sales spot on 11 of these sites.[2]
Hidden Expedition: Everest was released on June 1, 2007. As a member of the Hidden Expedition Club, the player is trying to reach the top of Mount Everest ahead of three competing expedition clubs. But first the player must find a mysterious adventurer who can help them find a hidden passage up. This leads the player through a variety of locations in Latin America, Europe, and Asia before ending at Mount Everest.
The significantly smaller screen of an iPhone resulted in the team having to redesign the buttons and hidden object scenes. Many of the original objects were too small to find once the pictures were rescaled to the 320x480 size, resulting in the scenes and some mini-games having to be changed.[4] The team also leveraged the iPhone touch controls and zooming capabilities to render the scenes into a usable form.[4]
Hidden Expedition: Amazon was released on June 20, 2008, for Windows. Two years after, on April 2, 2010, a version was released for iOS devices, including the iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch.[5] This version adds a multiplayer mode, allowing two players to compete against each other in a split-screen mode and integrates OpenFeint's award system.[5] The vice president of Big Fish Games Studios, Patrict Wylie, stated that these changes "transforms the device into a modern board game".[5] A black-and-white version for Amazon Kindle followed on July 28, 2011. It is also available on Kindle.
Hidden Expedition: Devil's Triangle was released on October 24, 2009. As the leader of the Hidden Expedition Adventure Team (H.E.A.T.), the player must search for a pilot who disappeared in the Bermuda Triangle.
Hidden Expedition: The Uncharted Islands is the fifth game in the series, developed with Flood Light Games. The Collector's Edition of the game was released on PC on August 14, 2011, with a Mac edition following.[7] A sequel to Devil's Triangle, the game's main character attempts to leave the islands only to find themselves crash-landing on a previously undiscovered set of islands in the Bermuda Triangle. The player must search for a dangerous pirate who is also trying to escape the islands with stolen treasure.[7]
Hidden Expedition: Smithsonian Hope Diamond Collector's Edition was released on December 20, 2013, for PC and Mac (later also released for iOS and Android), and is the sixth game in the series. Players take on the role of a new recruit for the Hidden Expedition League of Preservation (H.E.L.P.) team who is tasked with finding missing shards of the Hope Diamond before a gang of thieves do.[8] This is the first game of the series to be developed by Eipix Entertainment, who have been put in charge of developing all future sequels. In creating the game, Big Fish and Eipix were aided by the National Museum of Natural History, a part of the Smithsonian Institution. According to Big Fish Games, this was the first such video game collaboration for the Smithsonian.[8]
Hidden Expedition: The Crown of Solomon is the seventh game in the series. The Collector's Edition of the game was released on July 14, 2014, for PC and Mac, and later also made available for iOS and Android. The expedition continues as the player tracks down the fragments of King Solomon's crown and foils a madman's plot. In order to piece together the most powerful crown in history the player must travel around the world and prevent the fragments from falling into the wrong hands.
Hidden Expedition: Smithsonian Castle is the eighth game in the series. The Collector's Edition of the game was released on December 24, 2014, for PC and Mac, and later also made available for iOS and Android. It is the second game in the series developed in cooperation with the Smithsonian Institution. The adventure takes us back to the Smithsonian to uncover a mystery that dates all the way back to the founding of the institution. The player will have to dig deep into the Smithsonian's history to find the answers to the unusual and mysterious events of the present.
Hidden Expedition: Dawn of Prosperity is the ninth game in the series. The Collector's Edition was released on August 27, 2015, for PC and Mac. A series of mysterious earthquakes in Montana, aligned with unusual activity in a long-abandoned science facility nearby, forces H.E.L.P. to send its operatives to investigate the events. It soon turns out that the suspicious activity is not coincidental, but a part of a mastermind's sinister plans threatening to bring devastation on a grand scale.
Hidden Expedition: Fountain of Youth is the tenth game in the series. The Collector's Edition of the game was released on January 7, 2016, for PC and Mac. The player is on a mission to discover what happened with their H.E.L.P. colleagues who went to oversee a restoration of an archaeological site of Sigiriya, Sri Lanka. What looked like a case of jammed communication turns out to be an extraordinary adventure.
Hidden Expedition: The Eternal Emperor is the twelfth game in the series. The Collector's Edition was released on September 2, 2016. A dig site uncovers the tomb of Emperor Qin Shi Huang, founder of the Qin dynasty and first emperor of a unified China. H.E.L.P. sends the player and their trusty partner Sam to watch over the exploration of Qin's tomb and ensure that all who enter come out alive. Things turn sour in the tomb, however, and what was to be a fun adventure of the final resting place of Qin quickly turns into a chase through Asia to stop a madman from world domination- just a regular Tuesday for a seasoned H.E.L.P. agent.
Hidden Expedition: The Price of Paradise is the 19th game of the series. This is the first game of the series developed by Domini Games, and has one of the lowest user ratings and sales of any game in the series., The game was released on July 25, 2020.
Amazon Hidden Expedition is a hidden gem. The object of the game is to find a missing Professor, Professor Mandible and to get to a mythical temple to unlock the secrets that wait for you in some seriously gorgeous scenes, which take you on an exciting adventure.
Ready to scratch your hidden object itch? Hidden Expedition: Amazon has arrived! Along with the Mystery Case Files series, the Hidden Expedition games are some of the best-known titles in the hidden object genre. And for good reason. Hidden Expedition: Amazon has extraordinarily high production values, interesting gameplay that tweaks the familiar formula in very subtle ways, and plenty of crowded scenes to scrutinize.
Hidden Expedition: Amazon drops you right into object hunting from the start and the story gradually unfolds as you play. Professor Mandible has gone missing while journeying through the Amazon jungle. You must follow clues left in his wake to piece together the mystery behind his disappearance and find the elusive Beetle Temple. Each area is littered with dozens items cleverly hidden amongst the scenery. Read the list at the bottom of the screen, then try and find those objects in the picture above. An optional hint system helps you if you get stuck, but otherwise its just you, your eyes, and the pixels.
Instead of just straight-up object finding, Hidden Expedition: Amazon takes a page from the Azada handbook and throws a little adventure flavor into the mix. Each location you travel to features a number of areas you can travel between. Certain items will be added to your inventory in these areas and will need to be carried to other scenes to complete puzzles and find all of the objects. Areas of the screen and items in your list that require your inventory will be shown in blue.
The most useful new feature in Hidden Expedition: Amazon is the item silhouette images that appear when clicking on objects in your list. This shows you a shadowed outline of the item you're searching for, taking every ounce of ambiguity out of the object hunt and allowing you to focus on relevant items. For example, if the list says "pizza", should you look for a round disc or just a slice? Click the item, look at the silhouette, and thank the developers for including such a wonderful feature in a hidden object game.
Analysis: As far as hidden object games go, you'll be hard-pressed to find anything more impressive than Hidden Expedition: Amazon. The game features a solid object hunting experience with an unobtrusive storyline told as you play, cutting out any lengthy cutscenes and annoying interludes. Mini-games play a small but fun part of the game, and the overall design strikes that difficult balance of making the game easy to play without removing the difficulty. And most of the annoyances some casual gamers experience in hidden object games have been taken care of in this game.
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