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:
Master Detective must face the greatest challenge – time itself!
Overall rating
4
/
5
3 of 9 found this review helpful
Not Quite There But Worth A Look
PostedNovember 28, 2020
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
As some others have noted, this game has a very strange feel to it. The opening scene is of the Banshee from the previous Harbinger episode informing us as the Master Detective that all is not well in the timelines we thought we had settled out in the denouements of Black Veil, Revenant, and the justifiably revered RTR and Madame Fate (the Banshee was herself a throwback to the equally revered Dire Grove). It's an odd formula through which we get to see old friends and enemies once again, somewhat unfortunately because it also forces us to recall just how great the now 13-year-old RTR and Madame Fate really were in comparison to today's fare. This is not the first such comparison, either - we have already seen such offerings as Rewind, Madame Fate's Carnival (probably the best of the three but that isn't saying much) and the unfortunate Dire Grove, Sacred Grove, which managed to borrow not only the plot but the very scenes of its illustrious predecessor.
Nevertheless, here we go again, saving the world from the mysterious green force that ended Harbinger at the behest of...well, now who is this fellow, exactly? The Archivist, or Dalimar, or... This meta-mystery is one of the best features of the game and the resolution one of its few surprises. Best be paying attention at the close of the main game.
Pros: lots of good things to say. The production values are stellar, with none of those annoying technical glitches that seem to be surfacing with dismaying regularity of late. Voice acting adequate to excellent, graphics colorful and smoothly rendered, and the interiors detailed enough to make finding the bonus objects a challenge. Music is atmospheric and not overly repetitive. Mini-game heavy if you like that sort of thing (I do) but we're not really shorted on HO scenes either.
Cons: some big, some small. These mini-games, although resembling the sequential puzzles of the whole MCF series, are not the same level of difficulty by at least one order of magnitude. One at least, the matching of icons with characters of Madame Fate, is completely unplayable if you haven't played MF, and as mentioned above, that was a long time ago. There doesn't seem to be a logical connection between the timelines which were shattered and in need of repair - why those and no others? Was it random? The grab bag is a little too obvious here.
Bonus game: we play as Madame Fate herself, pursued through time and space by Alister Dalimar for at least the fourth time (Madame Fate, Fate's Carnival, and the main game here are the other three). Persistent fellow.
Overall, somewhat chaotic writing, multiple villains, and the rather dark objective of what is, in essence, simply sending these characters back to their graves, give the game a very weird atmosphere. One gets the feeling that it is not only they, but their attendant games, that have been dug up, dusted off, and replanted. The ending of the main game strongly implies a sequel, which will, I hope, find a different formula and more original approach. Newer players may find it a bit opaque, but a conditional Recommendation for old-school MCF players. Some good stuff here. Not a five-star masterpiece like the games it alludes to, but let's face it, the MCF bar is set very high.
I recommend this game!
A paranormal festival is held hostage by a mystery man demanding the truth!
Overall rating
3
/
5
7 of 9 found this review helpful
Rushed To Market?
PostedNovember 17, 2020
timothya
fromSandpoint, Idaho
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Hidden Object
Fun Factor
3
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
3
/
5
Storyline
2
/
5
Another in what has become a favorite series, but this one needed a good amount more QA before release. This time our hero and POV Rick Rogers is lecturing at a paranormal convention inexplicably held in carnival tents - one might think this would detract a little from the seriousness of the presentation, but in come cases a lack of gravity turns out to be justified. Some of Rick's fellow presenters aren't, you see, what they appear to be. And the lies, large and small, related to their presence will be outed by the God Of Truth, and their purveyors punished - certain of these untruths are on the order of cosmic parking tickets, others, not so much. (Were the God Of Truth to extend his efforts to politicians the game would never have ended). The beautiful Rachel is back and appears to have uttered a fib or two of her own in past games, and so becomes a target of the GOT's wrath as well, and although I seem to recall Rick himself being a little dodgy with the truth on occasion it was apparently not enough to earn his own timeout. Rick's task becomes prying his friends from theirs.
Pros: nice art with some spectacular cut scenes. Rick's voice actor captures his character perfectly although this time around he's more serious than wise-cracking. HO scenes in several different formats, a straightforward episodic plot with few complications.
Cons: game length is short, with a miserly few scenes devoted to the shorter chapters. I too found coding flaws in the mini-games that made them either untowardly difficult or outright unresponsive. The writing on the shorter chapters was sketchy in the exact meaning of the word: we really don't understand how a reluctance to believe in ghosts on the part of an investigator devoted to debunking them even qualifies as a lie at all.
Bonus game: Rick delves into his own past at last, but unfortunately not for long - one beautiful looking plug game simply didn't respond to anything and had to be skipped, and I too encountered a full stop at the puppet show and with no way to skip it and no way to return to the scene, had to quit the game completely. It isn't even a CE at that point because you can't finish the collections. That one cost them a star; the brevity and the writing cost them another one.
Overall, this is a might-have-been-great game in a terrific series that was spoiled by lack of QA at the Dev. If it works for you it's a solid four stars, but it didn't for me and so I can't recommend it.
I don't recommend this game.
Budapest is under attack as vampires stalk the streets!
Overall rating
5
/
5
11 of 11 found this review helpful
Fangs A Lot
PostedNovember 14, 2020
timothya
fromSandpoint, Idaho
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Hidden Object, Puzzle
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
5
/
5
As others have noted this is a perfect Halloween game. I love this series and where else would one expect a plague of vampirism more than Budapest? Aspiring investigator Agatha has called in The Detective to assist her in solving a sanguinary crime involving, in part, her brother (note: never be the relative of a budding detective. Only bad things happen.)
Pros: excellent graphics. As always with the Dark City games I was left wanting more exterior shots of a beautiful city. The ones on hand are very, very nice. Spooky atmosphere enhanced by some wonderful music. Engaging plot - is this real vampirism, or fake, or both? And if so, why? Agatha's complaint that women aren't allowed to be detectives is met by the fact that they can, and they can also be damsels in distress, and...and villains. Which will it be? Some nice references to vampiric lore - Inspector Helsing, indeed. Add Agatha's brother's cat Lester to the mix, a not-quite-assistant who turns up at opportune times.
Cons: some minor annoyances. The sound is a little unbalanced as The Detective's voice comes booming out of speakers at a stentorian volume. Agatha's accent is from that part of Budapest that is closest to the American midwest, apparently. No one attempted a Hungarian accent, probably fortunately as Bela Lugosi has that one wrapped up for all time. Puzzles are a little on the easy side.
Bonus game: here we play as Agatha, now fully occupied in her own detecting. It's a very good coda involving two of the other characters in the main game.
Overall, a top-notch entry in a great series. I played it twice and can't get the music out of my head.
I recommend this game!
A mysterious invitation promises rare treasures but exposes dark secrets!
Overall rating
5
/
5
6 of 8 found this review helpful
Lots of Fun
PostedOctober 26, 2020
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
Well written, three mysteries to solve involving collectors who have stepped over the moral line into the hands of the master manipulator. A client who has been involved leads The Detective into their life stories and an opportunity for redemption of a sort. And then, the client - can he be redeemed as well? And then, the villain...
Pros: graphics are terrific and in places truly spectacular, color saturated but appropriate to the theme, excellent music, good to excellent voice acting. The player gets to choose which emphasis he/she prefers between mostly puzzles, half and half puzzles and HO scenes, or mostly HO scenes, which lends high replay value. This is a wonderful innovation. Stories are well plotted, especially the second one, which contains a resolution that was to me truly a surprise. Plenty of game play, unusual these days.
Cons: not much. Some of the mini games were perhaps a bit too easy, but most were well within reasonable difficulty for an intermediate level player. One painting puzzle required a bit of trial and error - a clue there might have been useful. Plot fell off a bit and then came back as the focus went toward the villain.
Bonus Game: two, really. The first involves who the villain really was and how he/she came to be in the state we see. The second, very brief, told us the later histories of the principals, all of them. And gave us a hit that The Detective's relatives...are not entirely safe...
Overall, a wonderful game that gives full value. I can't really fault it for not being long enough just because I didn't want it to stop. Well done, GrandMa!
I recommend this game!
Explore a fascinating world, save a werewolf and defeat cruel witches in this amazing hidden object adventure!
Overall rating
5
/
5
1 of 2 found this review helpful
Five BN Lays Down A Winner
PostedJuly 24, 2020
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
5
/
5
I feel like I'm only adding to the chorus here, but so be it. The genius Five-BN Devs who gave us the stellar Darkness And Flame series are back at it, and I couldn't be more delighted. We have witches and a werewolf in this offering, a quest, a race against time, plenty of play, spectacular scenery, and some delicious puzzles.
Pros: Oh, my, the graphics are beautiful, the motion is smooth and lifelike, and the art is gorgeous. Music is atmospheric, mini-games are great, and the game flow is logical despite a good amount of back-and-forth. There are certain ancillary characters in this who are not the usual cardboard cutouts, but memorable in their own rights. Production values are stratospheric. Why can't other games do this?
Cons: Not much to speak of. The player character voice actor is a little overwrought from time to time, and the game is non-linear enough to demand an occasional visit to the very useful map, which isn't altogether a bad thing. Poor Ulf doesn't get a lot of lines beside "Aargh!" but he does it well.
Bonus Game: A prequel and more. One of the aforementioned ancillary characters, a boy of dubious veracity (all right, he's a terrible liar - nice bit of voice acting there) turns up again, and we find out what he's really after. Our heroine will release him in the main game, but this doesn't simply loop and stop there as so many prequels do, it continues on into a separate game arc. Full value for a Bonus Game worthy of the name.
Overall, we've had a couple of excellent games lately after a horrible dry spell at the beginning of the year, but this one really raises the bar. A solid five stars and a hearty recommendation.
I recommend this game!
Help stop a killer and keep an important scientific discovery from falling into the wrong hands!
Overall rating
4
/
5
4 of 4 found this review helpful
Nice Mini-Games
PostedJuly 15, 2020
timothya
fromSandpoint, Idaho
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Hidden Object, Puzzle
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
4
/
5
Bias alert - I love puzzle games and this one was heavily weighted toward puzzles. Not that the HO scenes were inadequate, but the strength of the game was in the puzzles. Our heroine lands a dream job that turns into a family nightmare involving mind control, mystery sera and super-soldiers, and the CIA. And that's only the beginning...
Pros: Wonderful sequential puzzles! For me this was the highlight of an excellent game. Nice bit of trickery in the writing - I thought the game was wrapped up but there was this one nagging question left, and a last chapter that resolved it and a couple of other open matters. Nicely done!
Cons: Not a big thing, but persistent errors in English - missing articles, inappropriate homophones, misspellings - this is easily correctible and really got to detract from the game flow. The dialogue is stiff (to be charitable) and could have used a serious edit itself. Again we have a heroine who insists on fist-fighting a trained opponent twice her size - this is simply silly. Perhaps we could have a spelling contest?
Bonus Game: A compliment and a complaint - this was a very nice wrap-up that should have been the conclusion of the main game, well written and satisfying. The complaint is that only the purchasers of the CE will see it. And one other thing - the puzzles that you get to replay are a small subset of the ones in the game and not the most interesting ones. Not much value added here.
Overall, a very welcome adventure/mystery game, heavy on the puzzles, a little short on CE goodies but worth it for the closure on the plot.
I recommend this game!
An expedition to an Aztec temple awakens a true force of nature!
Overall rating
3
/
5
0 of 5 found this review helpful
Great Start, Fell Off
PostedJuly 10, 2020
timothya
fromSandpoint, Idaho
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Hidden Object, Puzzle
Fun Factor
3
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
2
/
5
This is a long-running series and so it's natural enough to expect a little turnover in the development team, but I got the impression the team behind this entry hasn't played the predecessors. I too used to enjoy the now-absent fact cards and the moderating presence of Sam, who provided a welcome counterpoint to the occasionally too-perfect, hence bland, player character. Series have personalities, and this one appears to have lost its, and that's too bad.
Pros: There's a lot to like about this game, especially the early chapters. I found the maze with successive puzzles to be particularly engaging and played in Hard mode, which I'd recommend for most of the mini-games, nicely challenging. Generous with game play, lots to see.
Cons: Heavy color saturation on this one, although the underlying graphics are detailed and the art beautiful. A touch of historical inexactitude here: making the Aztecs out to be children of nature makes about as much sense as a fertility goddess complaining about overpopulation, (which she did). Still, it's just a game. The ending was quite abrupt - the villain died, and...and what?
Bonus Game: No points for this one. I reached a problem where I couldn't place a wheel and a wrench into the picture anywhere and ended up completely stuck. Game over. Irritating.
Overall, the impression was of a game with great potential and a terrific start that simply dwindled and ended. I saw poor QA in this one and despite the art and the music, a story not brought to proper closure.
I don't recommend this game.
Can you stop a deadly evil waiting in an abandoned school?
Overall rating
5
/
5
4 of 4 found this review helpful
Play Nice, Kids
PostedJuly 2, 2020
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
5
/
5
Oh, this one was good. Madhead have outdone themselves this time. I enjoy the Creepy Little Kids trope a great deal and especially this pair of cute twins with glowing eyes who are, at least, well-dressed and courteous while they're trying to kill us. "We" are Sophie and her two friends Dario and TJ, off on a vacation with a horror story apiece to tell the others, and wouldn't you know it? Their stories end up telling them. Buckle up players, you're in for a ride!
Pros: The atmosphere of this game is deliciously spooky, with some genuine jump-scares that seem to come when we're least expecting them. It's beautifully drawn, with excellent voice acting and marvelous atmospheric music by Jovian Audio. HO scenes are very different and are beautifully presented, and there are morphs both inside the HOS and out, so you have to stay on your toes. Mini-games give us an Easy and Hard mode and the latter can be very challenging indeed. Some nice bonus twists - Dario's scene-switching glasses took the creep factor up by a lot more than a simple gadget could. There's a very sick world lurking underneath the real one, and it's only a pair of glasses away.
Cons: One minor gripe is the best I can do - the background sounds have that thrice-cursed barking dog in them occasionally, which is officially one of the most annoying sounds ever (the other is a crying baby which thankfully we are spared). Not a Con really, but do be aware that this one isn't for kids, no joke.
Writing: Deserves its own section out of pure excellence. Not even the plot is what it appears. Yes, we have the classic three stories from three narrators structure...or do we? Three escapes, three happy endings...or not? And a wonderful reveal at the end which was the very last thing I was expecting. Game writing this good is a high art and deserves a round of applause. And just when you thought they were through messing with your head, there's the:
Bonus Game: Anything specific would be a spoiler. Let's just say if you thought the ending to the main game was great, this tops it. I'd highly recommend the CE for the bonus game alone.
Overall, a true tour de force and the best game of the year for me. It's been a long wait for one this good and it was worth it.
I recommend this game!
Can you stop a new monster brought to life before it's too late?
Overall rating
4
/
5
2 of 3 found this review helpful
New Life For An Old Favorite
PostedJune 21, 2020
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
4
/
5
Just when you thought it would never recapture the magic, somebody proves you wrong. This one is truly exceptional with regard to art and atmosphere, with some player options that bring it right up to date. We are - choose, male or female, with three profile options within each - a student of a robotics expert who is under assault by his own creations. The world is straight steampunk with all the weird gadgets that that genre demands. Plot is straightforward with an interesting twist or two. Puzzles are on the easy side with a couple of notable exceptions.
Pros: Graphically stunning. I didn't even get past the opening screen without staring. Really, the art here demands its separate consideration, and this is one of those games where the player will enjoy wandering scene to scene just to enjoy the eye candy. I was angry that the winsome little puppet in the cage couldn't be returned to for admiration once we solved her secret, for example; it's that good. Average to good voice acting, original themes in the music, and a nice variety of HO scenes.
Cons: Way too much hand-holding, too much "here's this, you'll need it" after every character encounter. It's a short and very linear game with a great deal of sometimes unnecessary guidance, which will make it accessible for a beginning player but perhaps a bit too obvious for an expert player. This is nowhere near the difficulty of the original entries in the series but that doesn't necessarily mean it's bad.
Bonus Game: A really nice prequel. We find out who Howard is, and, well, that turns out to be worth the price of admission in itself.
Overall, a fresh win in what had become a moribund series. Thoroughly enjoyable, regrettably brief, but every bit worth the money.
I recommend this game!
Can you stop a mysterious monster terrorizing a new amusement park?
Overall rating
1
/
5
6 of 7 found this review helpful
So Disappointing
PostedMay 27, 2020
timothya
fromSandpoint, Idaho
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Hidden Object, Puzzle
Fun Factor
1
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
3
/
5
Level of Challenge
2
/
5
Storyline
1
/
5
A shocking disappointment from one of my favorite developers. Simply the worst MadHead game I've ever played. Puzzles that don't work, unsympathetic characters, illogical moves, and a plot that can't seem to decide where it's going. The overall design of the game has been neglected and the painfully inadequate writing can't save it. There is a constant barrage of nonsensical solutions: we have a potentially great maze turned into stupefying boredom, we burn a piece of tape with a prism (prisms don't do that, you need a lens) which we get by throwing termites on a live vine. We find gears that are to be de-rusted and lubricated...with coconut milk? A light bulb that was working perfectly now needs de-rusting with carbonated soda before it will function again? What this sort of illogic does is leave the player looking at a problem and trying everything in an over-full inventory because whatever does work won't make sense anyway. Perhaps this was intended to be challenging but I only found it frustrating.
Comes the denouement and we suddenly realize we have been presented with three alternative theories of where the monsters came from and are expected to deduce which is correct, a confusion that doesn't last long because we are presented with an answer that is arbitrary and with no supporting evidence whatever. And pop! - game over.
Pros: it isn't a Viking themed time management game, there's that. Nice music from Jovian Audio.
Cons: the above. This game needed a very great deal of editorial guidance it didn't get.
Bonus Game: If possible, worse. We have a sudden jolting change in character POV that changes back just as suddenly, and a bizarre love story of a stranger tricked into burning one of the principals alive, murdering the provocateur in sequence before taking his own life, and a curse (from whom? They're all dead) on a chest that turns people into monsters when no monsters were ever involved in the first place. Along the way we shoot with our only cartridge (ammo must be expensive in this place) one of two wolves who are attacking our heroine, and pause to repair a conveniently placed but naturally incomplete catapult to launch a lump of raw meat we've happened across to distract the other. Come on, really? What is worse about this chapter design is that it's merely the missing ending to the main game which the CE purchasers, if any, won't get to resolve.
Overall, it's a mess: short, illogical, and aggravating. The biggest thrill, chill, and kill I got from this game was deleting it.
I don't recommend this game.