Mystery at Mansfield Manor Interactive Online Movie Game Review
Posted by Leonard Hayhurst on 11.03.2006
Watch the footage, catch the lies and solve a murder
Every now and again being the Movies Zone Editor for 411 Movies has certain perks. So along with getting to use the executive washroom at 411 headquarters, this week I was allowed the opportunity to preview the interactive online movie game Mystery at Mansfield Manor by writer and producer Rory Scherer. So I want to fully thank him for that.
Mystery at Mansfield Manor is a live action film with game play elements that has it likened on the site to a cross between the board game Clue and Choose Your Own Adventure books. If I can make my own comparison I would call it a cross between dinner theater and the old Ellery Queen television show. For seven dollars one is allowed four days access to the site to view all footage. This also allows you access to bonus material of a photo gallery and a making of featurette. A clock in the upper left hand corner keeps track of the time you have left on your account.
Acclaimed detective Frank Mitchell (Ben Trister) on the eve of his forced retirement is sent with rookie partner Billy Sheppard (Christian Gallant) to investigate the murder of rich oil company owner Colin Mansfield, Sr. (Paul Soren) at his palatial mansion. Mansfield recently suffered a stroke and has assembled his family and associates to announce changes in his will. This includes his children Debra (Melanie O’Brien) and Colin, Jr. (Tim Beresford) and his wife Rachel (Tennille Read), his lawyer Peter Fisher (Alec Saidak), trophy girlfriend Nicole (Lindsey Frazier), friend Senator Doyle (Tom Bolton) and heir apparent to lead his company Barry (Lance Winn). Also in the house is his nurse Beatrice (Robin Clipsham), chauffer Greg (Manual Verrydt) and cook Anna (Tatjana Cornij).
In the longer than it needs to be introduction Mitchell and Sheppard are sent to the mansion and Mitchell questions Anna who is not considered a suspect. This lays the foundation, but you get all you need if you read the character bios. In the next section you get to choose which suspects to interrogate and watch their video flashbacks of events. I would have liked some more interaction on this level, such as being allowed to choose the specific questions Mitchell asks to get information. The next section lists all suspects and asks the player to mark whether you think they are lying or not. If they are lying you have a list of words and phrases related to what you think they are lying about. For example, if they said they turned the lights on and the power was still out at the time you would drag the word ‘lights’ next to their name. If you match everything up right you move on to the next part where you re-question those suspects and get more footage. If not then Mitchell runs out of time and is relieved of duty. Don’t worry, you can go back if you get it wrong and try again. The next part has Mitchell taking a final tour of the house. You then choose to arrest a suspect and get one of multiple endings. The only real replay value is to see the other endings, but there is only one true killer. I caught most of the clues and red herrings on my first time through, but not everything. This is where the fun and challenge comes in as you have to watch the videos again for certain elements and compare them against the other ones. Each video averages about ten minutes, the second set of videos are shorter. There is a notepad for one to jot down things to remember on, but I found if you log out of the site and get back into it later your notepad is cleared.
While a low budget project I was pleasantly surprised. Production values were bargain basement, but it had the feel of a Canadian television show. Like with a dinner theater cast, you are surprised by how good some of the actors are and not surprised by how bad some of the others are. Winn as Barry is probably the best as his natural and rhythmic line delivery makes him the most convincing actor and he gets into his character to flesh him out with various nuances. Cornij is also good as Anna, which is key since she’s the introductory character dealt with. Soren as Colin Sr. does a good job of conveying a minor stroke victim without overplaying it. The others are a mix of overacting and under-acting. The main trait given Beresford as Colin, Jr. is that he’s a drunk and is supposed to be wasted by the end of the night, but he seems totally straight. I get that Trister is playing Mitchell as being a mix of crusty and uncaring, but his line reading is stilted and bland as is Doyle as the crooked Senator.
The individual segments are well edited and director Boris Mojsovski has a clear, no-nonsense style that works great for a project like this. We see everything in third person, but the footage is always specific to the person relating their story. I think it would have been more interesting for the player if the character of Mitchell were presented as first person point of view from the camera. You are Mitchell. The audio and visual has some minor hiccups, but nothing drastic. The load time of the videos is fast and the streaming is smooth. If you have a flash player and internet access, no matter the unit, you can play this game and watch the movies. Scherer’s script has some clever flourishes, but it does delve into clichés of the mystery genre, like the detective on the verge of retirement, and some laughable plot contrivances, such as vitamin pills and rat poison tablets being stored next to each other in a cabinet in large unmarked vials.
The 411: Mystery at Mansfield Manor is not perfect and one can certainly nitpick it to death. As a film, it’s certainly below average even for direct to video fair. However, the overall concept is fresh and creative. One can tell that cast and crew put a lot of hard work into the game/film and were firmly behind the concept. I would love to see a sequel with some of the bugs worked out and more game play options put in. I had fun with it, found it challenging enough and found myself trying to still work matters out in my head when I wasn’t playing online. I could certainly think of worse diversions on a do nothing weekend for seven dollars than this and believe that fans of murder mysteries and unique online gaming would find enough here to enjoy.
