FishyFemale's Profile
Stat Summary
- Average Rating:3.8
- Helpful Votes:1,171
- Reviews Submitted:113
- First Review:September 23, 2012
- Most Recent Review:January 1, 2023
- Featured reviews0
Status:
A recently unearthed artifact proves a dark legend to be true! Follow the trail of a group of missing graduate students.
Overall rating
5
/
5
9 of 10 found this review helpful
One of the best adventure games ever!
PostedSeptember 23, 2012
FishyFemale
fromDetroit, MI
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Hidden Object, Large File, Match 3
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
5
/
5
Storyline
5
/
5
There's not much more to add to the rave reviews this game has already earned. It has everything I look for in a great game...immersive storyline, detailed graphics, moody soundtrack and the ability to wander about on my own without too much unsolicited help but knowing it's there when I need it. This is the first game I played where a spooky story takes place in the winter with the blowing snow all around me and it put me right into the center of it all. The challenging puzzles and hidden object scenes were just the right amount too...not too much nor too little and everything was balanced in such an excellent way that I really cannot find fault with any aspect of this game. I only had to consult the walkthrough once towards the end when I couldn't figure out what to do with the thermometer but the effective hint system provided all the other help I needed during the game. It may be an older game but it's been on the all-time bestseller list since its release and is consistantly on the top 100 list each time a sale is offered. It was even offered for $2.99 during the weekly sale and still stayed in the top 100. That can't be said for many other games and shows it's still got the legs to keep it on the list. Demo the game first if you don't believe me and then decide if you want to buy. You can always wait for the next half off sale. Whatever the price, you'll get a long game with a story that wraps up nicely in the end and will leave you feeling very satisfied.
I recommend this game!
The history of Ravenhearst Manor is shrouded in mystery. Unlock the secrets within this episode of Mystery Case Files™.
Overall rating
5
/
5
19 of 22 found this review helpful
Loved almost everything about it!
PostedSeptember 23, 2012
FishyFemale
fromDetroit, MI
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Hidden Object, Large File, Match 3
Current Favorite:
Shaolin Mystery: Tale of the Jade Dragon Staff
(66)Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
5
/
5
Storyline
5
/
5
Although the hidden object scenes are mostly junkpiles and some for me were difficult to see (the green on green background in the garden), the game more than makes up for it by its excellent storyline and puzzles. For each location, there is a jigsaw and door-lock puzzle so those who like jigsaws like myself will find them in abundance here. The story is dark and disturbing and as the story unfolds, you will put together a jigsaw picture that corresponds to that particular day in Emma's diary. You'll also hear whisperings scattered throughout the game to make it more realistic. And the door puzzles are of the most unusual kind with funny animations included which have nothing to do with solving the puzzle but are there to lighten your mood and make you smile. Even though there are no instructions for the puzzles, you can basically just click around on everything and things will fall into place and you will notice a pattern form as to what to do. When I first played Ravenhearst, I just kept clicking around and the locks would open on some of them without me knowing how I did it. Upon later plays, I saw the pattern and was able to solve them the "right" way. I never needed to consult a walkthrough or the forums. Finding the skeleton keys at the end was thrilling as it was timed, so try to find them when you're at those locations earlier in the game so you'll remember where you've seen then and you won't get too stressed later. A tip for when you're finding the keys during the timed portion: write down the rooms where you pick them up from so you don't waste time going back there looking for a key that you've already retrieved from that room. There are many rooms and because of how you access those rooms, you may forget that you've already visited that one when looking for the keys. So if you love finding hidden objects and doing jigsaw puzzles, you'll like Ravenhearst. I played this one after failing miserably the first time with the puzzles in Madame Fate. The door-lock puzzles in Ravenhearst got my confidence back in that they were challenging but not ridiculously hard like in Madame Fate. I like these better.
I recommend this game!
A mysterious fortune teller has foreseen her demise at midnight this very day. Can you find the soul who seeks to kill Madame Fate? You be the detective.
Overall rating
4
/
5
4 of 5 found this review helpful
Madame Fate revisited
PostedSeptember 23, 2012
FishyFemale
fromDetroit, MI
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Hidden Object, Large File, Match 3
Fun Factor
4
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
5
/
5
Storyline
3
/
5
This was the first game I'd ever bought from Big Fish. Since I love the sinister circus/creepy carnival theme, I thought this would be fun. Boy, was this one over my head! I had thought it was an adventure game instead of pure hidden object searching. The objects are either too small or so well-blended into the surroundings and with the limited number of hints available and that blasted timer, it made the gameplay not fun at all. Needless to say, I didn't get very far into the game so I shelved it for a few years and found others to enjoy instead. After becoming more experienced with hidden object games that I did love, I comtemplated deleting Madame Fate since it was too advanced for me and I thought I'd never play it again. But checking my account, I found that I'd paid full price for it (not knowing about the frequent sales that went on# so I wanted to get my money's worth and decided to give it another chance. And I'm glad I did.
It's definitely not a game for the beginner like I was back then. The searches can be eye-straining and almost all of the puzzles are hard. There are no instructions and the hints are useless for the puzzles so I had to resort to a walkthrough for most of the ones that I couldn't figure out for myself. Some of them require quick eye-hand coordination and there are still two that I can't figure out even with the walkthrough so I always have to skip those. Besides the object searching and puzzles, there's still a lot to like about Madame Fate. There are several word games that are played throughout so you need to be a good speller #keep a dictionary handy# and creative enough to come up with words from a jumble of letters but these can all be skipped. I'm good with the word games so those were a lot of fun for me. Another of the searching games that was great fun was where you need to find a certain number of a particular object #like balloons or peanuts# and those were more doable and fun than the regular hidden object lists because you can earn time back depending on how fast you found them. There are morphing objects to find too which unlock extra locations which are delightful #like the kitty carnival#, colorful #tunnel of love# and somewhat disgusting #the outhouse). I guess making the last location unattractive was supposed to show the developers' sense of humor. I especially enjoyed the carnival sounds.
I've played through the game a couple dozen times now so I know whre all the objects are located in each location and I'm getting better at solving the puzzles too. If I'd written this review when I had first tried playing Madame Fate, I know I wouldn't have rated it higher than 1 since I hated it. Now, I would have ideally liked to rate it 3.5 since 3 is average and it's better than average but I can't give it a 5 for several reasons. Even though it offers two modes of play, both modes are timed and you don't have the option of turning the timer off or pausing it when doing the puzzles. I would have liked having the option to at least pause the timer during the puzzles so I could work them through at my leisure and perfect my technique with the timing on some of them. But the clock ticks on and you can run out of time before you finish the game and I find that frustrating with no sense of accomplishing anything up to that point. So they lost a star for that. They should either have the timer in the expert mode only or give the option of pausing or turning it off during the puzzle portions so that you can examine the scene and take as much time as you want with them. I hate timed games for that reason. It's too stressful when all I want is to relax.
A pet peeve of mine but which is a minor point for them are the depictions of the bumper cars and concession stand. If Madame Fate's carnival is supposed to be active, then why are the bumper cars in a degenerate state and not working? And why is the concession stand condemned? Other than the cluttered look from the hidden objects in the scenes, the other attractions are clean and in a working state so I don't understand why the devs didn't clean up these two sites to make them consistant with the others. It's always been a distraction to me and it detracts from the other appealing-looking attractions.
I'm surprised that they haven't updated this game with a collector's edition. As one who owns the game, I wish there was a way to just play with the puzzles so that I could become quicker with them when I'm playing against the timer. Even that would make the game more worthwhile, in my opinion. Like I said, I would detract two stars for the timer and the bumper car/concession stand locations. Also, it takes a very long time for the last two morphing object locations to become available in order to unlock the outhouse. And THEN, even LONGER for the outhouse to appear on the carnival grounds! No matter how many times I've played straight through, it's always the same with the outhouse. It takes a long time for it to unlock and to actually go there to investigate. So i would rate the entire game a 3.5 but since we can't give half points, it gets bumped to a 4 since I think it's better than average but not excellent. For the seasoned player, it's worth it but I wish I'd have waited for a sale instead of paying full price for it.
I recommend this game!