Some of my favorite games in the whole world are, were and will always be detective games. Maybe it’s because I loved to read Agatha Christie novels back in high school. The truth is that quite a huge number of people have always been fascinated about murder stories and major theft and other mysterious crimes that only Sherlock Holmes or Hercule Poirot could ever solve. Maybe you will never have the chance to play detective in real life… but that does not mean that you can’t do it in your virtual one...



The Hardy Boys computer games are a great example of a fun activity where you can practice your detective skills. Between you and me, I played each and every single Nancy Drew game that ever appeared. And if you know about Nancy Drew, you have surely heard about the Hardy Boys. Not only have they starred in some Nancy games but they are also the “babies” of Her Interactive and great detective wanna-bees. “The Hidden Theft” is one of the first Hardy Boys computer games as we have got a feeling there are still many more to come.



We don’t know if Nancy Drew was their source of inspiration, but right from the beginning of the game you can tell that these 2 boys love solving mysteries. The central idea, or crime committed in the game, is the theft of security bonds which belong to Samuel Spencer, a rich and rather odd character which lives on a very large estate. The bonds were kept in the personal safe of the man to which only he and his brother new the combination so you can guess who the prime suspect is. Since security bonds can be cashed in by anyone who possesses them, it is important that they are recovered as soon as possible. As the Hardy boys, Joe and Frank love a good mystery they are delighted in taking this case.

If there is something else you have to so in this game besides snooping around, it’s definitely talking to other people. Basically you have to interview every person that you come across in this game because a great part of being a good detective is knowing what questions to ask and when to ask them. You have to pick up items and figure out where to use them to get the desired result. I have not played this game yet but I can tell you that out of all the Nancy Drew games played, I have managed to finish only 1 without using a walk-through. Some puzzles are just… puzzling.



There is no need to worry if your computer or laptop is not exactly the best one around because all this game requires is about 1.5 – 2 GB of free disk space. It needs a unit that runs on at least a 1.4 GHz Pentium 3 processor and which has at least 256 MB of RAM. You need a video card, nothing fancy, just one that is compatible with Direct X 9 and that uses at least 64 MB of video memory and a 16 bit sound which is Direct X compatible.