Jane Austen's Rogues & Romance: A beautiful hidden object tale on Facebook

If I had to make a list of names I never thought would be associated with Facebook games, author Jane Austen would probably be included. However, when we first previewed Jane Austen's Rogues and Romance for Facebook back in February, the idea of a Jane Austen themed hidden object game kind of clicked. Now that the game is out of closed beta and available to play by all, we've had a chance to see just how well these two worlds really go together.

The main storyline in Jane Austen's Rogues and Romance sees Jane Austen herself pleading for your help as two characters have jumped from the pages of the ending of the novel Pride & Prejudice and are now trapped in the pages of other works. You'll jump into the world of fiction and romance right alongside Austen, as you begin your search for Elizabeth and Darcy on their estate at Pemberley.

While Rogues & Romance does give you an Estate or Manor as your base of operations, there's a major twist here that separates the game from many of the other hidden object games on Facebook. Instead of being presented from an isometric outside view, the manor is presented from the inside, as you can actively explore and customize the different rooms within the house, completing quests by adding tables or decorations to each room or completing hidden object scenes that correspond with each.

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Scenes themselves require energy to complete, and can be mastered, as you might expect. You'll be able to track your high scores on each scene against those of your friends, can earn bonus points in scenes by finding "bounty" items that are coded with a different color on each scene's list and reward those bonus points automatically.

As you complete quests and progress the storyline within Rogues & Romance, you'll unlock even more of Austen's literary works for exploration, moving from Pride & Prejudice to stories like Northanger Abbey, Emma or Sense & Sensibility. While the basic setup of each hidden object scene remains fairly unchanged from the more established Facebook games in the genre, Rogues & Romance excels where others don't in the quality of the graphics in each scene. These are on par with any number of great PC download titles, with crisp items that are more enjoyable to find as a result, requiring far less eye squinting and random clicking.

All told, Jane Austen's Rogue & Romance offers beautiful art and a fairly in-depth storyline, as far as Facebook games are concerned. Luckily, the game offers enough in the way of backstory to help those unfamiliar with Austen's works, but also contains plenty for existing fans, as you'll see characters come to life before your eyes. It's almost unfortunate that titles like Zynga's Hidden Chronicles and Playdom's Blackwood & Bell Mysteries have already made such names for themselves on Facebook, as Rogues & Romance will likely be overlooked by many as a result. Still, if you find yourself in the mood for a hidden object game with more depth, Jane Austen's Rogues & Romance is definitely worth the time it takes to give it a try.

Click here to play Jane Austen's Rogues & Romance on Facebook ---->

What do you think of this literary take on hidden object games on Facebook? Sound off in the comments!