Kojak – Detective Puzzles

Telly Savalas, aka the shiniest head in sleuthing, was the original actor to play Kojak, way back in 1973. Sadly, the Ving Rhames remake that followed up in 2005 flopped badly, only lasting a single series. Perhaps it was never meant to be. It's not as if Rhames's own barren pate was any less impressive than that of the great Savalas, after all.

Regardless, Kojak the game deliberately evades the question of which incarnation is being referenced by using a near-silhouetted bald head, seen from the back, in the game's title screen. Crafty.

However, this is arguably a moot point as much of the game's vibe – especially the music – evokes a smoky film noir, rather than the campy lollipops and catchphrases style of the TV shows.

The game sees you working your way through four story-led episodes. Each one consists of several mini-games, broken up by text-based story segments. There are six minigames in total, each relating to some part of the crime-busting syllabus.

There's the mug shot-based Identikit, requiring you to recreate a face out of various features, and Chain of Evidence, where you're given clues to deduce the whereabouts of various people and objects in a random crime scene, Cluedo style.

Phonetap, meanwhile, sees you figuring out a phone number by identifying the digits using wave patterns. Code Breaker involves finding various numbers in a mathematical sequence, and the last two – High-Speed Chase and Shooting Range – throw in some action-based gaming for a bit of variety.

So, there's a fair range of genres involved in the game, and there should be something to pique the interest of most players. Alas, each game is undeniably slight. Which in itself wouldn't be such a problem, but as a package they're simply not properly weaved into the story.

The greatest barrier to narrative bliss is the text itself. Whilst not particularly badly written, the virtually picture-less, unanimated format hardly makes for the most engrossing read. And trying to focus in on the tiny font ends up with the words turning into a string of 'yadda yaddas', willing you to click forward onto the mini-game post haste.

Where the game should have come across as a seamless adventure, perhaps a bit like Phoenix Wright with mini-games, Kojak seems more like a broken spider's web, in which are caught some mini-game flies desperately trying to free themselves.

The games get more difficult as you make your way through the episodes, and in fairness the majority do pretty well in the process. Where, for instance, Identikit and Chain of Evidence start off as very simple cases that seem to nip off your screen before you even really know what you're doing, by the last episode they're a real brain-teasing challenge.

Conversely, High-Speed Chase doesn't fare so well, with you spending most of the time making your way to fifth gear having started the event from standstill. By the time you reach the eponymous 'high speed', you've almost finished the thing.

Although not the perfect package, Kojak does at least offer something a little different from the usual 'cute' or 'zany' fare to be expected from most current mini-game collections. Here, collectively they make more sense – it's not as if any of the activities we've already described would be out of place in a '70s crime-solving saga. It's just a pity that the bland textual method of storytelling neither implements them adequately, nor leaves any space for memorable characters to develop.

Kojak won't keep you engrossed for a substantial amount of time, either. With games rarely lasting longer than a couple of minutes, you'll be able to get to the final showdown in a few play sessions. However, while it lasts, it does at least deserve further investigation.