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:
Save your kidnapped daughter Jessica by solving the secrets of the castle. Rescue the trapped souls from captivity and defeat Groth!
Overall rating
5
/
5
18 of 19 found this review helpful
A wonderful surprise with a twist on movement
PostedAugust 10, 2015
FishyFemale
fromDetroit, MI
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Puzzle, Hidden Object, Adventure, Match 3, Large File, Mahjong
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
5
/
5
Storyline
3
/
5
I rarely have as much fun as I did with this game. This one is unique in that it's not an adventure game in the purest sense of the word. Each room had things for you to do before you could go into another location. This made having a map unnecessary and I didn't even miss it. Everything you have to do interacts with other things in the room and it's all pure fun. The first part of the game seems like child's play, literally, but oh did I have fun reliving my childhood there. I'm not a fan of puzzles when I have to skip them but all of them in the game are fun and doable. The only glaring fault of this game is the story. It's pretty sparse and the ending is lame, but if the story is the least of your concerns with fun being the most important, then check out this game. The demo is a good indicator of whether you'll like the rest of it. The most unique feature I found was entering another room by being transported through a window. It really feels like you're moving right through the frame. Try it!
I recommend this game!
With her journalism degree in her pocket, Laura leaves her small-town home to take a bite out of the Big Apple!
Overall rating
5
/
5
25 of 30 found this review helpful
My favorite game from this developer
PostedAugust 8, 2015
FishyFemale
fromDetroit, MI
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Puzzle, Hidden Object, Adventure, Match 3, Large File, Mahjong
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
5
/
5
Storyline
5
/
5
Okay, so this developer is well-known here for not being popular because if its clunky game mechanics and teeny tiny items in the hidden object scenes. I guess I've played so many of their games now that I've learned how to maneuver around and actually have some fun. And I was pleasantly surprised to find how much fun I had. I actually identified with this woman's angst regarding the job hunt and the relationships she creates along the way. Her story is fun and interesting. The horizontal movement in the HOS may be dizzying for some folks but it's a staple for this developer and offers its own kind of challenge. I like it, as well as the variety of minigames that comes along. The music and ambient sounds are appropriate to each location too. Try the demo and see if you don't agree. It may take awhile to get used to how things work but if you can master it during the trial hour, you'll have a good grasp of how the rest of the story pans out. And it pans out quite well, in my opinion.
I recommend this game!
Past and present merge together in Campfire Legends - The Last Act. Join the campfire girls for one final hidden object nightmare!
Overall rating
3
/
5
16 of 20 found this review helpful
The story may get more interesting after the slow demo
PostedJuly 17, 2015
FishyFemale
fromDetroit, MI
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Puzzle, Hidden Object, Adventure, Match 3, Large File, Mahjong
Fun Factor
3
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
2
/
5
Level of Challenge
3
/
5
Storyline
3
/
5
This is the third part of the Campfire Legends trilogy and supposedly continues the story that left off from the second installment. Since I've only played the demoes of each game, I don't know how well the story is fleshed out in each one, but the beginning of this one started out very cleverly using a major plot point from the second game's demo concerning hot chocolate. There's a strategy guide included and I discovered that I'd gotten through the first third of the guide at the end of the hour demo, so this appears to be a short game. I hadn't noticed if there's a guide included in the first two installments but walkthroughs are easily found elsewhere on the internet. The demo didn't pull me in quite as much as the last game in this series so I'll pass on this one. Items were harder to find because all the scenes were in the dark, but the skip on the one puzzle in the demo didn't require accumulating multiple hints like the former games did. A diary appeared right before the demo ended which provides the back story. This may very well be a good game for those who like the different kind of gameplay it offers, so I can't decide whether to recommend it or not, but do try it out for yourself.
Save your sister from Bluebeard’s Castle in this incredible Hidden Object Puzzle Adventure game!
Overall rating
3
/
5
7 of 7 found this review helpful
Older style HOPA that still holds up nicely
PostedJuly 15, 2015
FishyFemale
fromDetroit, MI
Favorite Genre(s):Puzzle, Hidden Object, Adventure, Match 3, Large File, Mahjong
Fun Factor
3
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
3
/
5
Storyline
3
/
5
This was never a five star game, in my opinion. What kept it from getting four stars from me is the looong loading times between location changes. Why was this necessary when games much older than this one never used this technique? It really broke the continuity and made you forget what you wanted to do next. This game is uneven at best because the hint only told you to "explore the castle and grounds for clues". Oh really? The hint was completely useless except for those rare times when it would suddenly tell you exactly what you needed to do before you had the chance to think of it for yourself. This is an adventure game with HOS scattered throughout. The puzzles were great fun and very easy to do. The clever way they were done is what sold me on the game during the demo. I skipped only one later in the game because although I knew how to solve it (untangling the connected lines), there were far too many lines to untangle and my patience wore thin. HOS are all straight word lists with no interaction, but you can hover your cursor over a word and its silhouette appears in the hint area to help you.
I was disappointed that for a castle setting, you got to explore only a few rooms. The upstairs consisted of only two rooms and you're done with them early in the game, never to return. For the rest of the game, you're wandering around three areas downstairs but that's good because there's no map of any kind to transport or guide you and no journal to keep track of the story or clues, so you'll have to rely on your intuition and memory to guide yourself around. I like this kind of game because it plays like an old style adventure game where you have to keep your own notes. The game really picks up when you open the secret room and venture outside to spooky areas. This part of the game is more beautiful than where you were before and the animations are outstanding. You'll know what I mean when you meet the "person" who takes you across the lake and also when you meet the shaman. Other than the ghosts of Bluebeard's many wives, these are the only other people you meet. The excellent ambient sounds of the outside offset the monotonous drone of the looping music track which repeats far too quickly for my taste. Other than that, it's a good game but the long loading time between scenes may put off many people who just want to get on with it. The demo is excellent for finding out where your breaking point is, so if you can get through the demo without tearing your hair out and still find something to like, you might want to pick this one up with a free coupon or on a cheap sale. It's an older game so make sure it runs smoothly on your computer before you consider purchasing it. There are better games out there but this one's still fun and very satisfying when you figure things out for yourself.
I recommend this game!
Check in to the spooky Haunted Hotel and immerse yourself in a thrilling adventure!
Overall rating
2
/
5
6 of 7 found this review helpful
An old game with very passive participation
PostedJuly 15, 2015
FishyFemale
fromDetroit, MI
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Puzzle, Hidden Object, Adventure, Match 3, Large File, Mahjong
Fun Factor
2
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
3
/
5
Level of Challenge
2
/
5
Storyline
3
/
5
I just finished playing the demo and I'm underwhelmed. You learn the story by reading a book about what's happening. Then you explore various rooms on each level of the hotel by finding hidden objects. You then get to play various minigames like jigsaws, arcade, and untangling ropes. I love jigsaws but was unable to manipulate the pieces correctly so I had to skip those. The others were doable but nothing new since this is a very old game. I love playing old games but this one required just too much reading for my liking and I got bored quickly. The story is interesting and mysterious enough, with a plinking piano piece playing during the narrative portion. Various ambient sounds are heard during the HOS, like whispers, phones ringing, glass breaking, and a man coughing. There's enough here to give a spooky feel but there's nothing actually scary happening. I got to only level 5 in the hour trial but that's because of all the reading that was required. You can easily skip through all of it but then you'll miss the storyline. Sometimes I've had to reread portions in order to catch all the details. You never get to see any real people, only sketches in the book. I think this game has a limited audience just because of all the reading that is required, and most gamers today want more active participation in their gameplay. This game doesn't offer that. Do try the demo yourself though. I really wanted to know the entire story, but I just couldn't muster up the desire to buy it because I got bored and don't think it has any replayability.
I don't recommend this game.
Turn off the lights, turn up the sound and play the scariest hidden object game ever!
Overall rating
2
/
5
28 of 35 found this review helpful
Complicated way to skip puzzles made playing this no fun for me
PostedJuly 14, 2015
FishyFemale
fromDetroit, MI
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Puzzle, Hidden Object, Adventure, Match 3, Large File, Mahjong
Fun Factor
2
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
3
/
5
Level of Challenge
2
/
5
Storyline
3
/
5
Well, I did the trial and uninstalled right afterwards. I like a challenge as much as the next player, and I was moving along well enough until I got to that blasted fuse box puzzle. The hint system consists of you earning them by finding fireflies that look more like beetles. They could be anywhere in any scene but are soooo hard to find at times. And to be able to skip any puzzles, you have to unlock three different areas of the "skip" by finding multiples of said fireflies to do each "unlock". The developer made this "casual" game far more complicated than it should be. There are a few scares in the trial hour which I would've loved seeing throughout the game but being stuck in one place for so long with the fuse box just turned me off wanting to play more. I'm an experienced gamer so I'm not complaining to those who love this kind of gameplay. I've played other games where you have to earn your hints so it's not that. It's that you have to have so many fireflies collected for each of the three areas before you can skip the puzzle at all. This slows down the gameplay considerably and, for this gamer anyway, just made me annoyed because it kept me from learning more about the story so it is a "no buy" for me. From the few other reviews so far, there are gamers out there who like the challenge that this game offers, so for those people I say demo the game first and see how it feels. It's an excellent indicator of whether you'll like what you see but for me I'd seen enough.
I don't recommend this game.
A deadly secret lurks in the woods of Dire Grove!
Overall rating
2
/
5
5 of 6 found this review helpful
This one is the nail in the coffin for the MCF franchise
PostedJuly 12, 2015
FishyFemale
fromDetroit, MI
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Puzzle, Hidden Object, Adventure, Match 3, Large File, Mahjong
Fun Factor
2
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
2
/
5
Storyline
1
/
5
Oh dear, I was so hoping all the dreadful reviews of this game would prove me wrong. As a stand alone game not connected with MCF, this MIGHT have been an ALMOST "okay" game if not for all the problems it has. As it is though, this is NOT an okay game. For starters, the story is lame with the ending to the regular game even lamer. It doesn't get any better with the alternate ending in the bonus section either. The story is confusing to follow so I'd stopped caring about it soon after I'd started playing. Part of the reason is how we were given information. Dialog options were presented but it didn't matter in what order we chose them or why we had to do it this way. THEN our same choice was written again along the top of the screen. And THEN we got to hear our character say it! That's three times we had to endure this every time we were presented with dialog options. Why was it done this way? This slowed down gameplay in addition to the excruciatingly slow loading times between scenes. My computer is newer than this game so it should not have taken this long for scene changes.
Along with the boring storyline comes the endless back and forth. I actually prefer the adventuring aspect of this kind of game and will forgo using the transporter map because I enjoy immersing myself in the surroundings and it helps me remember where things are. But in this game, I came across things that I had no idea where to use them and my inventory got full quite quickly that a transporter map became essential. I don't like playing games this way so I didn't enjoy it. The gameplay wasn't intuitive at all and the puzzles were even less so. The famous, interactive "door puzzles" that we loved in Ravenhearst were fun because they followed a logical train of thought that made you feel accomplished when you solved them. The puzzles here looked like they were the same kind at first glance, but as you click around, you realize that this isn't the case. Nothing works, so getting puzzle hints becomes essential because logic does not apply here. Even the puzzle hints are obscure at best and don't flow logically to what you're required to do to solve the puzzle. This results in extreme annoyance instead of pleasure and I hated having to skip all of them. The strategy guide is useless in leading you through the puzzles because you have to constantly toggle back and forth from it to the puzzle you're working on. This is because you can't remember what you just read because it is difficult to follow how it looks in the puzzle! The one "door puzzle" I was able to figure out almost all on my own was late in the bonus chapter, but when I finally needed to use a hint, it never triggered the last movement to finish it, so I had to skip that one as well. How is this game supposed to be fun when the storyline is boring and you can't do the interactive puzzles on your own? I was able to do almost all of the smaller minigames but so much of everything else was bad that it canceled out whatever was good about it.
The graphics are beautiful and detailed but the entire game is presented in the exact same purple color palette throughout. The bonus chapter actually looks better than the main game with the full moon prominent and is at least a little bit fun to play. However, there is zero creep factor throughout the entire game and absolutely no connection to the other MCF games at all, other than a lame reference to Alistair Dalimar (from the Ravenhearst games) and an item mentioned from Fate's Carnival. Big Fish should've continued producing the MCF franchise on its own instead of farming it out to another developer. Having to constantly find more nuts for our animal "helper" to eat in order for him to get things for us became boring too in the bonus chapter. The master detective never needed helpers in the other games before this developer took over, but this developer is known for its use of animal helpers and is using them in all the MCF games it's making. A big negative, in my opinion.
I wish I could recommend this game but I cannot do it in good conscience. I think Mystery Case Files has taken a downward turn because this game had nothing to do with the original Dire Grove other than its geography. Why revisit past locations if there are no tie-ins to them? I liked Fate's Carnival enough because it gave closure to the doomed characters from Madame Fate but I didn't like this one at all. This game was just all over the place, both literally and figuratively, and should have been done a whole lot better than it was. Do yourselves a favor and just play the original Dire Grove instead. Both the SE and CE are better than this one.
I don't recommend this game.
Search for a town consumed by fog! Unlock forbidden doors and uncover mysterious items!
Overall rating
4
/
5
4 of 4 found this review helpful
Intuition is needed for this one
PostedMarch 25, 2015
FishyFemale
fromDetroit, MI
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Hidden Object, Large File, Match 3, Puzzle, Mahjong
Fun Factor
4
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
4
/
5
This game has beautiful graphics,a moody soundtrack, interesting story, and not too many HOs compared to other games. It's more adventure, which I like, but there aren't a lot of places to explore so it's relatively easy to remember where you need to go. I think it's just the right amount of wandering around for the intermediate/advanced player. Beginners might have more trouble because there's no transportive map. More intuitive thinking is needed for this game which provides just the right amount of challenge for me. It's not a perfect game however, because the hint button is mostly useless outside of HOs. Sometimes it even points you to places (like puzzles) where you don't have the needed items to use there yet,and further along, diary entries appear saying you've explored a certain area where you haven't yet visited. And there are two places located in trees which are known glitches, so your hint button will repeatedly point to a place off screen where you can't even click on even if you tried. I almost went nuts trying to adjust my display settings to see these areas and when doing that still didn't work, I found the forums useful in obtaining the information that these were glitches and to just ignore them. The HOs are great fun however. Some are still the standard word lists but many others are the interactive kind, and your hint button is very helpful in the hos as well. There's also no penalty for overclicking. What's unusual about this game is that your inventory shows two tabs, one for tools and the other for clues. While wandering about, your hint button will point you to a location where you might have to use one of your tools to get something else. You just have to figure out which tool to use. "Item" or "object" would have been better words to use because they use the word "tool" very liberally here, so don't think it's hardware you're needing to use each time. This game is very intuitive so you're going to have to think outside the box on much of it. When I first demoed this game a couple years ago, I hated it because I thought it was too hard. Since then I've gotten better at these games and played the demoes of both versions again and found that I liked it enough to buy this time. I'm glad I did because it's a good game, however it's not great. It's got its flaws because sometimes things will disappear from your inventory, or areas that you've cleared are suddenly blocked again the next time you sign on. Uninstalling and reinstalling the game didn't fix the problem so I had to start over with a new player name. This time, the game worked fine so that's something to remember. Do try the demo first though because it's a good indicator whether this is the kind of gameplay you prefer or not.
I recommend this game!
After your father dies, your sister Violet requests your help at the Family Castle. Get to the bottom of a dark mystery!
Overall rating
4
/
5
4 of 4 found this review helpful
Just your basic hidden object adventure game
PostedMarch 9, 2014
FishyFemale
fromDetroit, MI
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Hidden Object, Large File, Match 3, Puzzle, Mahjong
Fun Factor
4
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
4
/
5
This is an older game so you might be put off by the old style gameplay. The hidden object scenes are general word lists, with no interactive elements whatsoever, and the minigames are the standard fare and are fairly easy to complete. Although there's a journal and task list, there is no map but each area has only a few locations so the wandering around is minimal and a map is not needed. It's a short game overall but the developer is a well known one, so the artwork is beautiful as always and the story is interesting. I thought the ghosts that meander throughout the game added a mysterious element to the already mysterious atmosphere because they "talk" to you since live people are nowhere to be found. Eh, there's nothing new or fancy here but sometimes that's a good thing for those who prefer it that way. For the seasoned gamer, there may not be enough here to tickle the palate but for the beginning player this would be a fine introduction to the HOPA genre
I recommend this game!
It’s a fight to stay alive! Use your wits to find shelter, avert pirates, and signal civilization to organize your rescue.
Overall rating
2
/
5
8 of 8 found this review helpful
There are far better island rescue games than this one
PostedFebruary 18, 2014
FishyFemale
fromDetroit, MI
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Hidden Object, Large File, Match 3, Puzzle, Mahjong
Fun Factor
2
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
2
/
5
Level of Challenge
2
/
5
Storyline
2
/
5
It's called Lost Island for a reason. No one wants to find it. I only played the demo but found no redeeming features. Nonsensical plot has a lone passenger of a sinking cruise ship (how did everyone else leave?) having to use catapults to put out fires (why if it's sinking?) before leaving the ship. Then she gets captured by natives but is still able to get around the island finding things to do. These things are in the form of objects to find but they're the kind where you click on an area and five circles appear with a single item in each one. Once you find all of them, that "task" is done. You now have the fun job of doing four more tasks in the same scene with four different areas containing the five circles...yada yada yada. It's a lather, rinse, repeat kind of game with slow movement between scenes and zero movement of storyline. Try it and see for yourself. The artwork is not bad to look at but the items to find are frequently very small or in dark places. There are no voiceovers but you get to hear dentist office music throughout. This game is very old and plays like it too. The developer is known for sometimes quirky storylines and humorous touches but this game doesn't have any of that. I just found it odd and boring. Read the forum reviews to find out more if you're that curious but really, there are far better games to spend your money or free coupons on.
I don't recommend this game.