The Hardy Boys: The Hidden Theft Critic Reviews

Though not long, I thought the game was of a satisfying length. The same is true of the difficulty. Not hard, but no walk in the park either.

A nice enough teen adventure that doesn’t have any inappropriate content, but one that could have been better. More things to do, more puzzles. The story is interesting, though, and the teen characterization of the Hardy boys is well-done.

There are clearly some areas that needed more polish in this first effort, but it’s a solid debut that the developers can surely build on.

The Hardy Boys stories are perfect for adventure games, containing all the ingredients necessary for success: an interesting premise, a good story, popular main characters but, due to substandard sound, art and level design, the recipe just doesn't gel.

The story itself is at least well implemented and there is some enjoyment to be had, if you can persevere through the unwieldy control system, reams of irrelevant dialogue and woefully dated graphics.

An 80-year-old mystery wearing the skin of a teenage boy. Ew.

There is no connection between the actual investigation and actions of our zit-faced detectives. Horrendous dialogue, complete with the “American dream” philosophy, syrupy jokes about prepubescent love, and tear-jerking lectures of the characters, only widens this gap.

Aaaaaaagh!