The title sounds straight out of a James Bond movie, or perhaps it's a Carmen SanDiego game. Interpol: On the Trail of Dr. Chaos is closer to the latter - it's a game of finding objects in a sea of objects. Think of it like Highlights for Children. That's not to say this is a kids game, in fact I think it's a game that can be enjoyed by all ages. Place the controller in front of anyone and I guarantee they'll know what to do immediately.
The core game takes you around the world tracking down Dr. Chaos and his criminal accomplices. Really, the story is pretty moot and has little if any affect on gameplay. You'll find yourself traveling to cities like New York, London, Hong Kong and others as you complete 3 pictures puzzles in each area. These puzzles all take place in popular locales like The Great Wall of China, Buckingham Palace and Lombard Street. From the look of things when you arrive at the "crime scene," each criminal has decided to unload an entire garage sale of items into these historic settings. Hats, shoes, roller blades, baseball bats, cameras, keyboards, cats, dogs, briefcases, candlesticks, etc, etc, etc. It's pretty much the most random shit you'll ever see in one place unless you've ever cleaned out the house of a senile deceased relative. These backgrounds aren't completely static, most offer really basic animation and lighting to spruce it up, but the game isn't going to win any graphical achievement awards anytime soon.
Each of the game's 15 or so missions can be played with up to four players, either locally or over Xbox Live. Players are armed with their trusty magnifying glass to zoom in on the junk yard in front of them and pick out the feathered cap they spent the last 20 minutes looking for. It works well enough with two people, but once there are four reticules on the screen at once it's gets a bit crowded. Players share a point pool, so there's really no competition here; you'll want to work together to find all the clues as fast as possible to achieve the best possible score. Each missions is randomized as well, so there's replay ability too. This also means you can't cheat by playing a puzzle in single player and then hopping into co-op to make yourself look like a super sleuth.
Interpol: On the Trail of Dr. Chaos is easily a game that anyone can enjoy, and works great with friends. It's a game that's quick to find yourself addicted to for no reason. I wasted 10 minutes of my life on one puzzle to find a brown bowling pin in a sea of ancient artifacts. If that doesn't say it's addictive, well then it says I need help.
Verdict
Co-Op Score
3/5
The Co-Op Experience: Hunt for clues with your friends in this puzzle/adventure game. You are required to locate objects in a scene.
Co-Optimus game reviews focus on the cooperative experience of a game, our final score graphic represents this experience along with an average score for the game overall. For an explanation of our scores please check our Review Score Explanation Guide.