Mata Hari

About

In "Mata Hari," experience the dangerous world of espionage and sabotage leading up to World War I as a double agent. Utilize era-specific gadgets, break codes, and tap phones to complete perilous missions. Your choices and actions will determine the outcome of the game, leading to multiple endings. Based on real historical events, players must trust no one and use their charm and wit to elude pursuers and complete objectives. With 8 mini-games in 4 chapters, this game offers a thrilling and immersive experience.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

60%

Audience ScoreBased on 78 reviews

story23 positive mentions

gameplay5 negative mentions

The game features an interesting story based on the historical figure Mata Hari, providing a unique narrative experience.
The atmosphere and audiovisuals are well-executed, with beautiful backgrounds and decent voice acting that enhance the immersion.
There are various mini-games and puzzles that, while easy, add some variety to the gameplay and can be skipped if desired.

The gameplay is marred by excessive backtracking and tedious travel between locations, which can become frustrating and repetitive.
Puzzles are generally too easy, lacking challenge and depth, which may disappoint players looking for a more engaging experience.
The dialogue system is cumbersome, requiring dragging and dropping icons to interact, which can detract from the overall enjoyment of the game.

story
63 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
37%
59%
5%
The story of "Mata Hari" is a heavily dialogue-driven narrative that explores the life of the titular character, a Dutch dancer turned spy during World War I, blending historical events with fictional elements. While the intriguing premise and character development are praised, many reviewers note that the pacing can be slow, and the gameplay mechanics detract from the overall experience, making it feel more like an interactive storybook than a traditional point-and-click adventure. Despite its flaws, the game offers a unique perspective on espionage and the challenges faced by its protagonist, appealing primarily to fans of narrative-driven experiences.
- “Mata Hari is an older point & click narrative that focuses far more on telling its fictional story based on the real-life person Mata Hari, a Dutch dancer who gained popularity in Paris for her exotic dancing.”
- “The story is quite intriguing; it shows Mata Hari as a brilliant dancer turned spy against her will -- fortunately, her womanly wiles and quick thinking help her overcome every obstacle.”
- “All in all, it was an interesting story to learn about and see a bit how it developed; it got me to read a little more about the real Mata Hari and her life.”
- “The story is boring (and not in the least historically accurate, but real-life Mata Hari was even more boring unfortunately). Puzzles are trivial yet some involve pixel hunting if you don't use the space bar. Getting around is a chore due to both the dialog UI being annoying and the traveling minigame being pointless (but eventually skippable).”
- “The events that unfold throughout the story are supposed to be a big deal, but everything happens off-screen and nothing seems to affect the protagonist at all.”
- “The story is ok and uses a few famous names but isn’t that engaging, partially due to the constant back and forth nature and the long time span it covers.”
gameplay
21 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
14%
62%
24%
The gameplay is primarily a point-and-click experience that emphasizes storytelling over interactive mechanics, resulting in lengthy dialogue sequences and tedious backtracking. While some players appreciate the puzzle-solving elements and atmosphere, many criticize the gameplay for being clunky, repetitive, and frustrating, with a significant portion of time spent on travel rather than engaging challenges. Overall, the gameplay is seen as uneven, with a mix of easy puzzles and unfulfilling mechanics that detract from the overall experience.
- “Nevertheless, I have always appreciated the gratifying puzzle-solving mechanics.”
- “In terms of gameplay, the developers attempted to combine various mechanics.”
- “Gameplay is a simple point-and-click and goes quite smooth in the beginning.”
- “The game is pretty simple as a point & click with short bouts of puzzles and it focuses very hard on storytelling instead of the gameplay; due to being so heavy on dialogue, the game also becomes very long from all the talking.”
- “Gameplay is tedious and doesn't make you want to keep playing.”
- “There is too much repetitive backtracking, dialogue, and inventory mechanics that are quite impractical, and mini-games quickly become repetitive and tedious.”
graphics
16 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
63%
19%
19%
The graphics of the game are generally described as decent, with some users appreciating the atmospheric visuals and attention to detail, especially considering the game's age. However, there are mixed opinions, with some noting technical issues and low resolution that detract from the overall experience. While the graphics are not considered atrocious, they do not stand out as exceptional either.
- “As time passed, there was a natural transition from 2D to 3D graphics, accompanied by other technological advancements.”
- “Great stories about Mata Hari and great graphics too, but there is a little bit of a bug in some sections which is still fine.”
- “The game successfully brings you to the depicted time period, with decent visuals (except the awful dancing animations) and music.”
- “I tried to run this on my laptop (Windows 8.1 64-bit Intel GMA 4400 graphics) after I finished Bioshock on that laptop, and it could not get past trying to connect to the DirectX adapter.”
- “The graphics, considering the time of release, are satisfactory.”
music
9 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
56%
22%
22%
The music in the game is generally well-received, with many praising the engaging soundtrack and its ability to enhance the overall atmosphere. However, some users noted issues with overlapping music tracks and suggested that the interaction mechanics could be improved. Voice acting is mostly good, contributing positively to the immersive experience.
- “On the plus side, the backgrounds were gorgeous and the music was engaging.”
- “All dialogues have voice overs, nice soundtrack and art.”
- “The soundtrack is excellent and Mata Hari is a very seductive character.”
- “It would be much better if it was like a quicktime event, but instead you have to put your mouse inside the boxes on the four corners of the screen as the music notes are right in the boxes.”
- “The game successfully brings you to the depicted time period, with decent visuals (except the awful dancing animations) and music.”
grinding
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Overall, players find the grinding aspect of the game to be tedious and frustrating, with repetitive mechanics, excessive backtracking, and unengaging mini-games that detract from the overall experience. While some elements of the story and atmosphere are appreciated, the gameplay is often described as shallow and annoying, leading to a lack of motivation to continue playing.
- “Gameplay is tedious and doesn't make you want to keep playing.”
- “There is too much repetitive backtracking, and the dialog and inventory mechanics are quite impractical. The mini-games also quickly become repetitive and tedious.”
- “Frustrating, annoying, and tedious; it adds absolutely nothing positive to the gameplay.”
atmosphere
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
67%
67%
The atmosphere of the game is generally praised for its engaging audiovisuals and storytelling, creating a memorable experience. However, some players find the gameplay mechanics lacking, with easy puzzles and excessive backtracking detracting from the overall enjoyment.
- “I enjoy the atmosphere and audiovisuals.”
- “I did enjoy the atmosphere and story.”
- “I did enjoy the atmosphere and story, but bad gameplay mechanics, poor voice acting, and tedious travel make this a big thumbs down.”
- “I rarely played a game with such an atmosphere.”
replayability
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
100%
While the game features different endings based on player choices, enhancing its replayability, the mini-games are poorly executed and quickly become tedious. The scoring system offers some incentive to replay, but its impact on the overall experience is minimal.
- “Overall, this is a recommendable adventure game with some replayability, as there are different endings to achieve depending on three values: wealth, spycraft, and skills.”
- “The mini-games add some variety but are poorly implemented, becoming boring quickly, and the scoring system, which offers some replay value, has no bearing on the game.”
- “Overall, this is a recommendable adventure game with some replayability as there are different endings to achieve, depending on three values: wealth, spycraft, and skills.”
optimization
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Overall, while the game offers an immersive character experience, users have noted that the optimization is lacking, with some mechanical issues affecting performance and detracting from the potential of the story.
- “The story of Mata Hari had some great potential, but the performance is rather poor.”
- “The 'performance' puzzles are mechanically weird sometimes, but a small price to pay for an otherwise immersive character experience.”
humor
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game features some interesting and funny dialogue, but overall, it suffers due to poor execution, which detracts from its comedic potential.