caroleleah's Profile
Stat Summary
- Average Rating:2.6
- Helpful Votes:177
- Reviews Submitted:14
- First Review:July 16, 2013
- Most Recent Review:March 24, 2019
- Featured reviews0
An invitation from your long lost mother leads you to a mysterious facility deep below the Atlantic Ocean.
Overall rating
3
/
5
13 of 15 found this review helpful
So much wasted potential!
PostedDecember 30, 2013
caroleleah
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Strategy, Time Management, Puzzle
Fun Factor
2
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
1
/
5
Storyline
2
/
5
So much wasted potential
Sigh. I had such high hopes for this game! The storyline began with a really interesting premise: A young woman was invited to an underwater "hotel", where folks could experience their fondest dreams while still safely in reality.
The demo promised several stories-within-a-story, as there were five dreams discovered to be available. We were able to get a taste of the first two dreams before the demo ended, and I was left with the impression that we would be able to revisit those areas as the story developed. The demo tantalized with multiple clues regarding physical things from dreams somehow showing up in reality (i.e., a monkey from dream #1 making an appearance in the hotel). The story was developed via journal entries and tapes by the scientists who worked on the dream project, plus some cut-scenes. I found these very interesting and not at all intrusive. The puzzles and hidden objects seemed to be well-balanced, although each were incredibly easy. The graphics were lovely, crisp and clear, with bright colors and overall well-lit scenes.
Based on the intriguing promise of the demo, I quickly bought the game, and my disappointment came hard and swift after that! The demo had all the "good stuff", and little was left in the remainder of the game. The game devolved very quickly into only a hidden object game with little adventure, with HO scenes coming back to back. Oftentimes, I found myself returning to the exact same HO scene which I had just finished literally 30 seconds prior! In one instance, I even had to "locate" several of the exact same ITEMS as I had done only a minute before!!! It really felt as if a totally different team worked on the game past a certain point, as the game changed course so dramatically midway through.
The dreams I had looked forward to revisiting were not developed any further, which was a sore disappointment. There was SO much potential there for interesting sub-stories, but they were only brief glimpses and no further information. The notes in "extras" gave a lot of info on each character, which would have been fabulous to have introduced in the actual gameplay, but this was not done. As a result, the (undeveloped) characters seemed flat and uninteresting, with nothing to make me feel an "attachment" to any of them; all of those interesting details were just left in the character notes in the Extras section and never developed in the game. Things which seemed to have some urgency (again, only in the demo!) weren't addressed any further in the remainder of the game, such as the worry over dream encounters (monkey) appearing physically in the real world. No further mention was made of these worries, as if it was *only* dreamed up (pun intended!) to use in the demo itself, with no regard for what would happen in the rest of the story. There was also the odd frequent appearance of a masked character, whose presence was never explained. I was also on a hunt for 5 kittens throughout the game, all of whom needed to be returned to their mama and human, yet that happy little family was ignored in the end. I'm angry about what happened and can't say more without giving anything away; suffice it to say that Crazy Cat Ladies will be disturbed at the way that family was left at the end. Ten stars off for that lapse! Grr.
The bonus chapter was actually rather interesting, and was a bit of a finale to the main game. It was a separate storyline, though, and not necessary to the main game. I was actually hoping, in this case, that some of the questions raised in the regular game would be addressed, and some ends tied up, but that did not happen. While it was a separate story with a bit of interest, the bonus really seemed to be mainly for the purpose of indicating there would be a sequel. (Ack!)
I'm giving this three stars, grudgingly. The graphics were good. The storyline had promise, but fell off a cliff shortly after the demo, with multiple odd loose ends remaining by the end of the game. There was no challenge at all, in either puzzles nor HOS. Normally I do want a challenge, but will sometimes buy a game strictly due to the interesting story: I want to see how it plays out! Again, the loose ends were never tied up here, and I was left feeling cheated. I would give this a 2-1/2, if possible, but am rounding up to a 3 as some folks might not be as put out as I was about the way things did NOT develop. Even so, I do not recommend this game. I'm even wary of saying "Try the demo, and make up your own mind", as the game did not even begin to live up to the promise shown in the demo.
Okay, enough of this bad review. Now I'm off to write a good review on another game, yet to balance things out! :-)
I don't recommend this game.
The rich folklore continues with this exciting tale set in an old Slavic land. As Child of Spring, can you save the world from eternal winter?
Overall rating
1
/
5
11 of 15 found this review helpful
No need for all the animal cruelty!
PostedDecember 15, 2013
caroleleah
fromBowling Green, KY
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Word, Adventure, Time Management, Puzzle
Fun Factor
1
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
1
/
5
Storyline
1
/
5
Okay, I'm not squeamish. I tend to like the dark, creepy, spine-chilling games, many of which have rather squirmy subject matter. But this game-?! I had previously tried the Collector's Ed. demo, and could not remember why I didn't like it. So, I just tried the Standard Edition. It didn't take long to remember what was the problem the first attempt!
The game play itself is incredibly linear, with never a question as to what is the next action. Very, very beginner level. I *would* have said that this would be an appropriate game for children due to its simple progression, but... there's a nasty animal cruelty thing going on here. Every major scene change involved saving an animal which had been cruelly treated, and I had had more than enough by the 3rd example of this. Forward progression of the game seemed to be dependent on our saving some maliciously abused creature, and that was absolutely NOT necessary. I don't play games to be angered. I only managed to tolerate 28 minutes of the demo, and there had already been three cruel events?!? You couldn't pay ME to take this game.
I cannot stand animal abuse, and this game is apparently rife with it. No, no, no, NO - I would not recommend this game to anyone!
I don't recommend this game.
If you have enough courage to challenge the darkness, then you’ll manage to find out the mystery of the Rossolimo family.
Overall rating
1
/
5
11 of 11 found this review helpful
Won't waste any more time with this series!
PostedAugust 25, 2013
caroleleah
fromBowling Green, KY
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Large File, Puzzle
Fun Factor
1
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
3
/
5
Level of Challenge
1
/
5
Storyline
3
/
5
This has a huge game play world, but NO MAP. As a result, the "game" is nothing more than running back and forth in frustration, finding objects to solve puzzles which cannot even be found any longer, as there are so many rooms, houses, and worlds in which they could be located!!
By the end of this stinker, I was simply following along with a walk-through, which is certainly NOT "playing a game", IMHO. If the devs think it adds to the challenge factor to not include a map, they think wrong. There is a huge difference between "challenge me", and "FRUSTRATE me"!!
Never again, is all I can say! I wasted the money on it so was determined to finish it, but now wish I hadn't wasted my time as well!
By the end of this stinker, I was simply following along with a walk-through, which is certainly NOT "playing a game", IMHO. If the devs think it adds to the challenge factor to not include a map, they think wrong. There is a huge difference between "challenge me", and "FRUSTRATE me"!!
Never again, is all I can say! I wasted the money on it so was determined to finish it, but now wish I hadn't wasted my time as well!
I don't recommend this game.
Discover the city of Apothecarium, where inhabitants are caught in a perilous struggle against a powerful alchemist who is taking the lives of innocent!
Overall rating
1
/
5
19 of 24 found this review helpful
Missed the appeal of this one!
PostedJuly 16, 2013
caroleleah
fromBowling Green, KY
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Puzzle
Fun Factor
1
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
1
/
5
Storyline
1
/
5
My comments are based on the DEMO only; I could not possibly have slogged through the entire game - yikes.
So goodness, color me confused! This game has gotten rave reviews, so I assumed I would enjoy it. Um, well - NO.
I was confused from the beginning, with a feeling that I'd somehow missed some of the opening 'set-up'. This was such a strong feeling, that I went back & started once more, thinking I'd clicked through on dialogue accidentally and somehow missed something. Nope, it was just an incredibly sudden opening to the story.
Said story, as far as I could tell, was that people were dying from a mysterious disease, and my mission was to find somebody in a town called Apothecarium, where apparently Someone knew the cure. Or how to create a cure. And I think the town was supposed to be have been the Good Guys, except that it was really only one Bad Buy, who was taking people captive & making them slaves. But, a tiny innocent soul managed to be waiting for me outside the gates of the town, to dash in and become a hero. Or something.
I had to do a hidden-object scene right at the beginning, and couldn't find everything so had to use a hint to finish, but the hint didn't work in the very first scene. Hm. So I finally get into the town, & am faced with the Bad Guy, who has The Tiny Innocent in his dastardly clutches, and I do a bit of hocus-pocus and The Innocent develops an evil expression and melts through a nearby door. Um, what?
In the course of the next few scenes, I had to traipse back & forth, attempting to discover my goal. There were sudden, inexplicable changes in my viewpoint, which I understood to be showing me that *here* I've fallen, and *there* am underground watching plants grown. There were unsettling odd accompanying sound effects to certain scenes which were actually nausea-inducing, in all seriousness.
As I was trying to determine my goal, I was traipsing back and forth, repeatedly, trying to guess at what this game wanted me to do next. And in each scene change, the lag time was incredibly slow. I've tolerated that quite well in other games which I loved otherwise, but not in this dud! lol! If that was the only glitch, maybe it would be forgivable, but my screen also had areas of nothing but broken color lines, and the intended picture/background was simply scrambled in those spots. Add those technical problems to all the other things, and it makes for a real stinker. I think I'll go play something now that actually has some appeal, since this turkey is definitely NOT it! LOL!
Of course, my opinion is just that - MY opinion. Clearly, somebody out there likes this mess, but I certainly wouldn't recommend it. Oh, lest I forget - the visuals seem to be pretty good!
So goodness, color me confused! This game has gotten rave reviews, so I assumed I would enjoy it. Um, well - NO.
I was confused from the beginning, with a feeling that I'd somehow missed some of the opening 'set-up'. This was such a strong feeling, that I went back & started once more, thinking I'd clicked through on dialogue accidentally and somehow missed something. Nope, it was just an incredibly sudden opening to the story.
Said story, as far as I could tell, was that people were dying from a mysterious disease, and my mission was to find somebody in a town called Apothecarium, where apparently Someone knew the cure. Or how to create a cure. And I think the town was supposed to be have been the Good Guys, except that it was really only one Bad Buy, who was taking people captive & making them slaves. But, a tiny innocent soul managed to be waiting for me outside the gates of the town, to dash in and become a hero. Or something.
I had to do a hidden-object scene right at the beginning, and couldn't find everything so had to use a hint to finish, but the hint didn't work in the very first scene. Hm. So I finally get into the town, & am faced with the Bad Guy, who has The Tiny Innocent in his dastardly clutches, and I do a bit of hocus-pocus and The Innocent develops an evil expression and melts through a nearby door. Um, what?
In the course of the next few scenes, I had to traipse back & forth, attempting to discover my goal. There were sudden, inexplicable changes in my viewpoint, which I understood to be showing me that *here* I've fallen, and *there* am underground watching plants grown. There were unsettling odd accompanying sound effects to certain scenes which were actually nausea-inducing, in all seriousness.
As I was trying to determine my goal, I was traipsing back and forth, repeatedly, trying to guess at what this game wanted me to do next. And in each scene change, the lag time was incredibly slow. I've tolerated that quite well in other games which I loved otherwise, but not in this dud! lol! If that was the only glitch, maybe it would be forgivable, but my screen also had areas of nothing but broken color lines, and the intended picture/background was simply scrambled in those spots. Add those technical problems to all the other things, and it makes for a real stinker. I think I'll go play something now that actually has some appeal, since this turkey is definitely NOT it! LOL!
Of course, my opinion is just that - MY opinion. Clearly, somebody out there likes this mess, but I certainly wouldn't recommend it. Oh, lest I forget - the visuals seem to be pretty good!
I don't recommend this game.