Scratches (PC, 2006)

Scratches manages to capture the creepy atmosphere of old Victorian mansion very well. I honestly felt quite reluctant to open some of the doors of the house, as I was dreading what was lurking behind them. The graphics are quite good but not the best I have seen in this type of game. The puzzles were challenging, yet logical. As for the ending, well most will tell you that it is disappointing, but if you were following the story and reading all the letters and diaries strewn around the house then you will know exactly what happened. There are also some really good discussions of the ending available online. I don't want to spoil the ending for you so better that you search for them yourself, after you have played the game and still have questions in your mind.

All in all, I enjoyed the game. It definately had a very creepy atmosphere without much gore, most of it is left to your imagination which is by the far the most powerful in the enhancing the creep factor. Only thing I did not like about this game was the short duration. They could have added quite a few more hours of gameplay and suspense without taking away from the storyline in the slightest.

Scratches is a game I neither liked nor disliked. Having played at least 100+ PC games in my time, Scratches only held my amusment for little over 2 days. By no means is the game "boring", but it is without individuality. This game puts you in a creeky old house where items have to be found and doors need to opened. I will admit, when you open any door within the game, you definatly get, well, scared. This is a cute "walk around find things" game but if your looking for great graphics, gameplay, etc, then walk right past it.

Overall, the game wasn't bad. It did lack a GREAT storyline but the one it has is fair and entertaining. If you are a fan of the game Syberia, you will be upset when you install it Scratches. This is just a good, not great, "walk around and find things" game.

This was a pretty good game, interesting graphics, not too difficult. Would be good game for teen's to start out with. Think they went overboard with the rating warning of "alcohol, blood, mild violence & language" as I experienced none of that.

First of all, I love "find-an-item-to-combine-​with-another-item-to-open-a-se​cret-door" type pc games. Games like "Dracula" and "Barren Hill" were just fun! But this wasn't. The clues are hard to find, and you find yourself wandering over and over the same rooms looking for supposed items that are "timed", that is, you can't use them till you do something else. I hated the phone calls being the timer on most items. (It was like waiting for a date to call! Arrghh!) It became a matter of being in the right place at the right time. You could even miss important calls and have no opportunity to get them again. Stupid!
Even downloading a "walk-through" from the internet didn't help. The music became annoying after awhile too. Basically, I stopped playing from lack of interest. What ever the designers were aiming for( horror, mystery, whatever) they missed, at least with me.
I originally bought it because I didn't know any better. The PC Gamers magazine warned against it, and now I know why.

Scratches is a great game to play. The graphics are great and the soundtrack goes very well with the game to produce a creepy atmosphere. The story line keeps the player engaged in the game and wanting more.

I found myself still thinking about Scratches long after I finished the game.

I highly recommend this game to everyone!