PixlBit

After the abduction of the Statue of Liberty and Big Ben, as well as the subsequent arrests of two V.I.L.E. criminals, you'd think the V.I.L.E. crew would lay low for a while. Instead, they've gotten more ambitious than ever, stealing the St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow as well as the pyramids straight out of Egypt. With the most linear quest yet, The Case of the Crumbling Cathedral is the shortest of the three episodes currently available on the Wii Shop Channel. While it's home to the best puzzles yet, it's over so quickly that it's hard to pay it any respect at all.

Once again, players will be talking to a variety of characters, now across Moscow, Cairo, and Dallas. These conversations will lead players down a fairly linear road wherein they'll solve an assortment of puzzles that align more with traditional brain teasers than the math-heavy puzzles of the last game. The same ten puzzle formula is repeated, and once again, two of the included puzzles have already been featured in the other episodes. Considering the last episode did the same thing, at this point it's unacceptable.

The full out removal of fetch quests and the puzzle quality makes it very easy and more enjoyable to progress through the quest. Unfortunately, my experience only lasted a mere 30 minutes. Regardless of the cheap price tag and puzzle quality, a 30 minute game is a 30 minute game. Adding more puzzles was the only change the developers needed to make in order to continually generate interest in the episodic release and it's the one change they didn't make.

With this third episode it becomes even clearer that Carmen Sandiego's adventure in math should've been released as one retail title that featured more polished gameplay and a greater selection of puzzles. If you've already picked up either of the first two episodes, The Case of the Crumbling Cathedral is not for you.