timothya's Profile
Stat Summary
- Average Rating:4.3
- Helpful Votes:1,143
- Reviews Submitted:192
- First Review:June 24, 2012
- Most Recent Review:December 27, 2024
- Featured reviews0
Status:
Become the hero of your own chapter in Tiny Tales: Heart of the Forest.
Overall rating
5
/
5
3 of 4 found this review helpful
Not Dark At All
PostedJuly 29, 2017
timothya
fromSandpoint, Idaho
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Hidden Object, Puzzle
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
4
/
5
A bright, beautiful, often silly and very different game. I was fortunate enough to beta it and aside from a title change there were significant improvements, notably in the player character. Original notes begin, "Cartoony, saccharine, Disneyesque, I hate these games," and end about a page later, "Must buy!"
What changed my mind were the gorgeous graphics and a sense that the writers had kept a light touch on it. Don't expect subtle plot twists. No scary moments, no excess violence; this would be a very good game for a young person. For experienced gamers the puzzles are on the easy side, but the HO scenes are plenty and varied.
No demons, no cutesy assistants to distract, no phony supernatural drama, just a nice, light, colorful, straightforward adventure. Well done, devs!
I recommend this game!
Can you win the battle between Darkness and Flame?
Overall rating
5
/
5
1 of 1 found this review helpful
Visual Feast
PostedJune 10, 2017
timothya
fromSandpoint, Idaho
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Hidden Object, Puzzle
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
5
/
5
Storyline
4
/
5
The bar has been raised with respect to graphics. I was delighted to be able to beta this one and was blown away by the post-apocalyptic scenery, the smoothness of motion, and the general beauty of the art.
Pros: well, yes, the graphics. The game is beautiful, imaginative, slick, and spectacular. It bears a certain resemblance in that regard (and in the dialogue) with a couple of old favorites, the Invasion series. Not, apparently, the same Dev but the same feel, and I wouldn't be too surprised to find some of the same people behind it. Voice acting adequate to good, given the awkward quality of the script (see below). Plenty of game play, interesting bonus game. Puzzles excellent, HO scenes of several different types, some even timed (there's a blast to the past). Player characters incorporate both male and female POV, as they did in the Invasion series, and it actually worked. Oh, and did I mention the graphics?
Cons: the dialogue could use a lot of work. Too often it was cringe-worthy although the actors did the best they could with the material at hand. Plot got a little thin toward the watery denouement and if you hadn't played the predecessor it seemed a little short on detail.
Overall, though, a truly remarkable visual experience. That blew me away enough for that fifth star. Well done!
I recommend this game!
He can’t be stopped. And he’s digging your grave!
Overall rating
5
/
5
24 of 25 found this review helpful
Great Writing
PostedMay 27, 2017
timothya
fromSandpoint, Idaho
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Hidden Object, Puzzle
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
5
/
5
I had the luck to beta this one and I knew it was going to be great. In fact, it got even better. It took a while to make it to market and the quality of the finished product shows why.
Pros: Great graphics, which we have come to expect from this developer, a really creepy atmosphere, genuine surprises, excellent voice acting. Smooth, snappy game play, certain of the puzzles quite challenging but not impossible. And solid writing with a few twists and a genuinely surprising ending. It would have been a four-star game anyway, but the writing takes it to five and a half.
Cons: one simply awful technical problem with a maze that was corrected by an update. Great maze, incidentally.
Bonus game: oh, yes, it was good! A true extra chapter, not a prequel.
Overall: it was the writing that boosted this one out of the pack and into some really elite company. Can't say enough about the ending; actually, I can't say anything because it would be a terrible spoiler, but it was good, good, good! Even the ending to the bonus game was good. More of this, please!
I recommend this game!
Strange vines have taken over a popular National Park!
Overall rating
4
/
5
6 of 6 found this review helpful
Plenty of Puzzles, Plenty of Play
PostedMay 22, 2017
timothya
fromSandpoint, Idaho
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Hidden Object, Puzzle
Fun Factor
4
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
5
/
5
Storyline
4
/
5
I beta'd this game no less than twice, so there were apparently some issues in the earlier versions that the devs managed to straighten out, because game play was smooth and there was plenty of it.
Pros: Sharp graphics, quite lengthy chapters, lots of puzzles, some fairly challenging although not all for the right reasons There were some innovative means of exposition - the park interactive screen, for example.
Cons: certain puzzles - the windstorm gear puzzle comes to mind, as does the painting puzzle - were overly sensitive and the rules in the latter were neither clear nor consistent. These are more mechanical issues than conceptual.
Characters were introduced and then dropped, never to be seen again.
Characters were introduced and then dropped, never to be seen again.
Overall, though, a pretty good value for the buck in terms of game play. And for those who help beta these things: the devs do listen on a couple of details I won't share here. It makes the effort worthwhile.
I recommend this game!
Can you stop the cemetery’s dark keeper in time?
Overall rating
4
/
5
3 of 3 found this review helpful
Embrace the Formula
PostedMay 16, 2017
timothya
fromSandpoint, Idaho
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Hidden Object, Puzzle
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
3
/
5
Storyline
3
/
5
It's Redemption Cemetery, and so the players know by now what they're getting: souls to be reclaimed from events in their unrelated past lives in separate episodes with a full-game wrapper that saves the players from the consequences of their own nosiness. The formula has remained consistent over time but the games have improved with the technology. This particular one is a solid four-star effort deficient only in the wrapping - why these particular three souls? A modern police officer beset by a madman, a 19th-century doctor whose only offense was not finding a cure to a mystery disease, and the Keeper herself, the only one of them who actually did something to deserve her unpleasant status. Why them?
Pros: great graphics, snappy game play, some nice variations on the usual puzzles which were on the easy side, and some sliding bar HO scenes that were quite fun. Atmospheric music, cut scenes not overdone for a change. Simply a nice, solid, workmanlike effort in a familiar genre.
Cons: not much original here. Voice acting adequate if a little chatty. The Scary Amusement Park was a nice riff but a terribly overdone theme, and aside from the usual macabre settings (dem bones, dem bones...) there wasn't a lot of fright value in the thing.
Bonus game: sister-to-the-rescue again, a couple of very entertaining mazes, could have used a little more exposition. Who was that awful fellow who was trying to turn little brother into a charcoal briquette, and why? We are not told, but our heroes ride off into the sunset - nice art here, by the way - in the back of a police pickup, which would result in a hundred-buck ticket in this neck of the woods.
Overall, a nice, very playable entry in a storied series. If you prefer short stories to long novels, this is the game for you. I loved it.
I recommend this game!
Can you uncover the Logan Family's terrible secret in time?
Overall rating
5
/
5
7 of 9 found this review helpful
Spooky, Solid Game
PostedApril 17, 2017
timothya
fromSandpoint, Idaho
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Hidden Object, Puzzle
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
5
/
5
Storyline
4
/
5
This would have made a great Halloween game. We have a spooky castle, a possessed family, an ancestral murder or three, plenty of play, plenty of puzzles.
Pros: great environment even if we're pretty much inured to spooky castles by now. Very nice graphics if a bit dark. Lots of puzzles, some quite original. Music is appropriately scary. And someone is whispering to the player in the background.
Cons: not a lot. It's a redeem-the-ghost-souls plot and so the player does fall into a predictable pattern by the third go-around. Plot resolution is a little ambiguous - we've identified the villain but we're not sure what we actually accomplished along the way. Quite a lot of back-and-forth but the map is very useful. At times the cut scenes are annoyingly frequent. Climax was not very climactic but enough threads were unraveled to make it satisfying.
Overall, a very solid game with plenty of play and some fun puzzles. Very spooky atmosphere. I like this one.
I recommend this game!
A pearl is stolen, leading you on a worldwide chase!
Overall rating
5
/
5
14 of 17 found this review helpful
Out Of Breath
PostedApril 12, 2017
timothya
fromSandpoint, Idaho
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Hidden Object, Puzzle
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
5
/
5
I'm exhausted - this one was one long chase scene, Fiji to Tokyo to Italy, and if the plot touched on the outlandish occasionally it was all in fun.
Pros: the usual excellent graphics, nearly a travelogue game as these are prone to be. Driving music added to the urgency. Competent to good voice acting, (well, there was the guy from Fiji who sounded like he was straight from Mumbai), a good mix of puzzles, some of which were actually challenging.
Cons: ending a bit abrupt but consistent with the plot. Ah, the plot - high-tech artifact makes its way into a pearl and is stolen by ninjas at the behest of a mysterious Italian lady working on a seven-century vendetta based on a waterlogged house that Marco Polo sank to save the city. It was just goofy enough to be fun, but seriously?
Well, never mind. No one expects War And Peace, and it gave us a chance to rappel in Tokyo and ride a really cool jet seaplane to Venice. I'll take it!
I recommend this game!
Can you stop the townspeople from mysteriously aging?
Overall rating
3
/
5
5 of 9 found this review helpful
Glorious Puzzles, High Plot Weirdness
PostedMarch 29, 2017
timothya
fromSandpoint, Idaho
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Hidden Object, Puzzle
Fun Factor
4
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
1
/
5
This is a must-play game, but the bar for the MCF series was set very high a long time ago and this one doesn't quite attain it. What typified the best of the MCF games was superb game play, high-quality graphics, terrific atmosphere, and fatally for this entry, a coherent plot that was deftly revealed clue by clue. It was only that last item that was found wanting, but it kept this one from attaining the quirky heights of, say, Madame Fate or Dire Grove, much less the genre-creating brilliance of Return to Ravenhearst.
Pros: the graphics are of the very highest quality and the cut scenes are detailed and dynamic. Sensational opening. Plenty of play and oh, the glorious multi-stage puzzles that have become the hallmark of the MCF greats! Unlike so many current games you don't watch this one, you participate, and there's a new challenge around every corner.
Cons: but the graphics are also unrelentingly dark, and if someone were to take the color purple out of the developers' palette there wouldn't be any graphics at all. The music, although making the obligatory bow to the MCF themes, was flat and uninspiring. Voice acting was adequate to strange, and a relief from Allison's adenoidal stridency would have been welcome. They replaced the old clicky clue typewriter with a silent modern keyboard and lost the amusing feedback when a clue is found, alas. And then there's the writing.
The Writing: Let's be candid here: it was awful. The plot was utterly incoherent: Ankou, escort to the Land Of The Dead (one was supposed to know this) has been inexplicably trapped in the living world by a combination of a filched quill and grotesque statuary. We are never told why this suddenly causes aging in the village or why Henry is exempt, nor why an incommunicative boy seems to know just what is to be done to speed the Detective on his/her way. Terrible waste of a wonderful character potential there, no development at all but a rather sweet coda. I had hoped for something in the bonus game in his regard but no luck there either. This was not really even a plot, it was a flimsy framework for the rich puzzle environment mentioned above.
Overall: I'm still recommending the game, it's a visual feast (if you can see it) and the puzzles are glorious. Slog through them and don't hope for anything much in the way of a story and it's still worth the money.
I recommend this game!
The citizens of Bordeaux are outraged after eight monks are murdered.
Overall rating
2
/
5
20 of 29 found this review helpful
A Miss In A Hit-and-Miss Series
PostedMarch 15, 2017
timothya
fromSandpoint, Idaho
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Hidden Object, Puzzle
Fun Factor
1
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
2
/
5
Storyline
1
/
5
The series, which I generally enjoy, has gone a bit stale in this offering. The best parts are only average and I got the sense that it was cobbled together from bits of other games; it had an odd, shambling, disorganized feel to it, and certain of the puzzles were infuriatingly incomplete. How, for example, is one to imagine that the clutch of flowers one is carrying must be singed before being capable of sweeping away a spider web? The answer given for one of the crystals in the guide is incorrect, and the hints simply stop working in that room for no apparent reason. The two movement puzzles are barely playable - overall the impression is one of sloppy construction and lack of thorough testing.
Pros: PLENTY of game play for a change! Excellent and very useful map, which is good because the game is dizzily back-and-forth. Adequate-to-very good art, which we have come to expect from this dev.
Cons: The writing is chaotic, the plot veers wildly from one direction to the other, there are unexplained age shifts, major players suddenly appear and then just as suddenly depart, there isn't really a single character in the thing that is sympathetic, and at the ending the antagonist suddenly has a weird change of heart and the thing halts so quickly you bump your nose on the monitor. Most of the plot is uncovered in a single, somewhat tedious revelation scene that leaves the player less informed than before. If a single thing wrecked this effort, it was the writing. Our old nemesis St Germaine is apparently there for window dressing only and his graphics are very strangely rendered. The music is carried over from other games, and the voice acting is marginal. At no point did I feel submerged in this game environment, and at some point I stopped wanting to be.
Overall, the good news is that with a thorough rewrite this one has the makings of a wonderful game. For me, though, it lapsed into tedium and never emerged.
I don't recommend this game.
Can you beat the clock and get your life back?
Overall rating
5
/
5
14 of 19 found this review helpful
Absurd and Awesome!
PostedMarch 7, 2017
timothya
fromSandpoint, Idaho
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Hidden Object, Puzzle
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
5
/
5
Yet another rock-star body-swapping murder mystery...wait, what? Full marks to the devs for originality. Haven't had this much pure fun in playing for quite a while. The milieu is a sort of surreal faux 50's a little reminiscent of Streets Of Fire. The characters are amusing caricatures, the voice acting is excellent, the graphics of superb quality. The plot is tongue-in-cheek over-the-top, and it really doesn't matter that the resolution makes no real sense because the player is having too much fun. Oh, yes, and Big Jim is AWESOME! Wonderful lines, wonderful voice acting. The music is equally original and there's actually some pretty nice guitar work in there that catches the tongue-in-cheek intention perfectly. You'll either love this game or hate it, and I loved it. Bonus game is a treat. It's a bit of a risk for a developer to depart from the usual cliched games and this gamble paid off in full. Highly recommended.
I recommend this game!