Unlock the Mystery of the Crystal Portal

Written Android App Review

When Nicole Rankwist realizes her archaeologist father is missing, her journalistic instincts take over and send her (and you) on a global adventure to find answers in the Mystery of the Crystal Portal Android app.

If you have a sense of adventure, love search-style game play, and want to play a beautifully illustrated game, follow me on this Android app review of Mystery of the Crystal Portal.

Gameplay

It is immediately obvious that the Mystery of the Crystal Portal Android app has a detailed story line, built to suck you in and make you want to search for answers. Once you get started, Mystery of the Crystal Portal is almost entirely a search game.

You help Nicole search object filled rooms, temples and more, looking for items to unlock her father’s complex clues. Complete quests and vanquish levels to collect pieces of the Crystal Portal, bringing you one step closer to the truth.

There are also fun mini-games tucked into the Mystery of the Crystal Portal Android app. It’s a pretty simple game for such a complex story line, but I suppose they complement each other.

To be honest, I thought this game would be more interesting. It’s more story than action. If that’s your sort of thing, then you’ll love this app.

Graphics & Design

There are extremely detailed graphics in the Mystery of the Crystal Portal Android app. There have to be. The rooms you search are full of items, some you’ll need, others are worthless.

This app looks like a late 90’s Saturday morning cartoon. The graphics are detailed and there are certainly a lot of them. But they are plain 2D graphics, despite their loveliness.

User Interface

It’s important to remember that the scenes you explore with Nicole are pinch to zoom, otherwise you’ll never make it through this app. Sometimes controls or menus are blocking items, and the only way to find them is through zoom.

Once you realize that, it is pretty easy to play Mystery of the Crystal Portal. My only other UI complaint has to do with dragging and dropping items. Once you find an item, every touch you make moves the item, not the screen. This function could use a little tweaking, because it gets pretty frustrating to pull items to their proper place.

Value

After playing several screens on the Mystery of the Crystal Portal Android app I was told to continue I must purchase the full version of the game for $2.99. I have an extreme aversion to apps that claim they are free then try to con you out of money. I prefer to know the app I’m playing costs money, or deal with ads.

Mystery of the Crystal Portal isn’t really interesting enough to warrant a purchase, so I can see why they did this. Unfortunately, consumers still have brains. I will be removing this app from my phone, and not paying a dime.

Android Apps Review Details: Mystery of the Crystal Portal Android app is free. This app requires Android 2.1 and up. You may download Dragon Hunter from the Android Market.

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