kandinsky's Profile
Stat Summary
- Average Rating:4
- Helpful Votes:3,130
- Reviews Submitted:100
- First Review:November 26, 2014
- Most Recent Review:September 9, 2024
- Featured reviews0
Status:
You've been dealt a deadly hand...
Overall rating
5
/
5
49 of 60 found this review helpful
A LANDMARK GAME! (based on completion of game+bonus)
PostedOctober 28, 2016
kandinsky
fromNew York. Hudson Valley.
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Hidden Object, Match 3, Puzzle
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
5
/
5
Storyline
5
/
5
This is a landmark game in a genre which has become pretty stale ,leaving those of us who keep on playing often and with too many games and too many hours engaged in a repetitive activity rather like playing solitaire over and over. Sort of pleasant ,time consuming, but leaving no real memories.
If you play this game through you will remember it I think. It has a plot constructed with an imagination that does not fail. Both in the main game and in the bonus I was not sure what the just ending would be and at no point on the way to those ends did my interest falter.
Endings themselves are hard to handle, like borders on a picture risking to cut off or exaggerate elements. Players may differ on how these endings work or whether all loose ends are accounted for but I do not think they will regret the play or forget the game as one does with so many others in a day or two.
We play for different rewards of course and this game will be most prized perhaps by those who like me focus on plot and character and also setting... though setting is less central here. Well...others have introduced the details well enough so just this from me to say honor to this developer-- The Gamemaster indeed!
If you play this game through you will remember it I think. It has a plot constructed with an imagination that does not fail. Both in the main game and in the bonus I was not sure what the just ending would be and at no point on the way to those ends did my interest falter.
Endings themselves are hard to handle, like borders on a picture risking to cut off or exaggerate elements. Players may differ on how these endings work or whether all loose ends are accounted for but I do not think they will regret the play or forget the game as one does with so many others in a day or two.
We play for different rewards of course and this game will be most prized perhaps by those who like me focus on plot and character and also setting... though setting is less central here. Well...others have introduced the details well enough so just this from me to say honor to this developer-- The Gamemaster indeed!
I recommend this game!
Stop a strange phenomenon that could threaten the entire world!
Overall rating
5
/
5
37 of 50 found this review helpful
A PERSONAL REASON FOR LIKING A SILLY GAME
PostedOctober 20, 2016
kandinsky
fromNew York. Hudson Valley.
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Hidden Object, Match 3, Puzzle
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
4
/
5
I will limit this review pretty much to one point, though noting in passing that the graphics seemed lovely and the numerous hidden object games were fun.
But my thought is this that the idea of the haunted train if you think about it makes not much sense at all, especially as it is set out in the introductory song about Charon. It is not impossible to set fantasy events in a world with an inner logic of its own, perhaps even reflecting our actual world as Tolkien for one did so well. But HOPA games hardly ever achieve anything close to that and the Haunted Train certainly does not.
But I like stories of driven outsiders in their vessels, Captain Nemo or the Flying Dutchman, or groups of heros in their refuges such as the various "safe houses" the Fellowship of the Ring stop at (Tom Bombadil, Rivendell,Lorien etc) and the mystical train with the driven ,if not very bright considering how he gets suckered, Charon and Olivia in their train are such a team and I start out predisposed to like the game.
So this rating and recommendation but I am writing the review not just,though partly, to give some support to a game I enjoyed but also to make a point I have not seen quite made about how each of us probably has our inner themes... personal, poetic even...and if we find games that resonate too them we may expect to enjoy them. In my 'current favorites' place this time I put a game which I think can be great indeed if you respond to what it is doing...
so anyway as to the Train, enjoy it if you will...
But my thought is this that the idea of the haunted train if you think about it makes not much sense at all, especially as it is set out in the introductory song about Charon. It is not impossible to set fantasy events in a world with an inner logic of its own, perhaps even reflecting our actual world as Tolkien for one did so well. But HOPA games hardly ever achieve anything close to that and the Haunted Train certainly does not.
But I like stories of driven outsiders in their vessels, Captain Nemo or the Flying Dutchman, or groups of heros in their refuges such as the various "safe houses" the Fellowship of the Ring stop at (Tom Bombadil, Rivendell,Lorien etc) and the mystical train with the driven ,if not very bright considering how he gets suckered, Charon and Olivia in their train are such a team and I start out predisposed to like the game.
So this rating and recommendation but I am writing the review not just,though partly, to give some support to a game I enjoyed but also to make a point I have not seen quite made about how each of us probably has our inner themes... personal, poetic even...and if we find games that resonate too them we may expect to enjoy them. In my 'current favorites' place this time I put a game which I think can be great indeed if you respond to what it is doing...
so anyway as to the Train, enjoy it if you will...
I recommend this game!
Can you escape your fate as a human experiment, or will you comply?
Overall rating
2
/
5
26 of 39 found this review helpful
DARK DOES NOT EQUAL DEEP!
PostedOctober 12, 2016
kandinsky
fromNew York. Hudson Valley.
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Hidden Object, Puzzle
Fun Factor
2
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
3
/
5
Storyline
2
/
5
I will keep this review brief , Biscuitmama and others have said it for me. The game is technically good, precisely state of the art as we expect from this developer, no less and also no more--nothing really innovative here but skill in making things look new and fresh, which in service of a fun game is great.
However here we have a relentless buying into the idea that a game or a story is more memorable and true and even deep maybe ,to the extent that it is dark.
dark has its place in the spectrum of color and light but overused it becomes a bore on the one hand and ,well, a real exercise in some kind of sadistic game on another.
dark has its place in the spectrum of color and light but overused it becomes a bore on the one hand and ,well, a real exercise in some kind of sadistic game on another.
I have gotten far enough in this game which I purchased out of respect to the developer to know that I am not complying, not playing, any more.
advise you to the same course.
I don't recommend this game.
Can you save your boyfriend before it's too late?
Overall rating
5
/
5
31 of 37 found this review helpful
THREE CHEERS+ BUT A TEAR AND A SIGH
PostedSeptember 28, 2016
kandinsky
fromNew York. Hudson Valley.
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Hidden Object, Match 3, Puzzle
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
5
/
5
I enjoyed this game more than any Ive played for quite a while. the sense of innovation, the suggestion of choices of path in changing the book (done so carefully that one hardly notices that there is only one path forward) the feeling of inventiveness in games and puzzles , graphics and in PARTICULAR at the end of Tale 2. then in Tale 3 the messages from outside which remind me of Philip KDick (for example in Ubik).
the negative I felt was that the plot did not hold the same level of invention to the end, we are told it is not clear what the motive of the bad guy or force is, but then it does not become clear at the end either.. perhaps it is just some usual demonic force wanting to destroy everything or perhaps (this would be more interesting but it is not set up within the story) it is an author's own self destructive side. I think the REAL PROBLEM (stress ? ) is that there is a limit to what one can do in this type of game. it is not Dostoevsky finally and cannot be , or Proust . a tear and a sigh no doubt from both developer and player realizing the limits of this form. like bright colored bubbles even the best of these...
And make no mistake this is one of the very best!
so if you are looking to this review to decide about buying and playing I absolutely suggest you do so. there is no better lately from big fish games.
the negative I felt was that the plot did not hold the same level of invention to the end, we are told it is not clear what the motive of the bad guy or force is, but then it does not become clear at the end either.. perhaps it is just some usual demonic force wanting to destroy everything or perhaps (this would be more interesting but it is not set up within the story) it is an author's own self destructive side. I think the REAL PROBLEM (stress ? ) is that there is a limit to what one can do in this type of game. it is not Dostoevsky finally and cannot be , or Proust . a tear and a sigh no doubt from both developer and player realizing the limits of this form. like bright colored bubbles even the best of these...
And make no mistake this is one of the very best!
so if you are looking to this review to decide about buying and playing I absolutely suggest you do so. there is no better lately from big fish games.
I recommend this game!
Can you save your world from darkness in time?
Overall rating
5
/
5
62 of 68 found this review helpful
A duck but a VERY good duck!
PostedAugust 13, 2016
kandinsky
fromNew York. Hudson Valley.
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Hidden Object, Match 3, Puzzle
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
3
/
5
Ad Reinhardt whose black paintings take abstraction to a sort of limit, was asked if it were no longer possible to do a painting of a mallard duck in our time. He replied of course you can do it but you better do it VERY well!
My feeling is that this game indeed ,as a reviewer said, makes one wonder if there is a certain brain dead quality in developers who come back again and again to the absurd fantasy plot of a girl whom the dark side wants to use to rule or destroy the world or whatever. It is like an artist painting a mallard duck unable perhaps to think of anything else.
And yet this game handles this silly and threadbare plot in such a bright and engaging way that I find it irresistible fun.
Perhaps it is the graphics which seem uncommonly good, and the whole way of setting out the story.
It works for me on some level deeper than thought ...it may for you.
So on the one hand I join wholeheartedly in asking developers to go beyond these plots which are at best practice pieces in learning to write fantasy and build worlds and create characters.... we beg you!
But, gosh , this seems to me a very fine drawing of a duck!
thank you for it and...next time move on.
And yet this game handles this silly and threadbare plot in such a bright and engaging way that I find it irresistible fun.
Perhaps it is the graphics which seem uncommonly good, and the whole way of setting out the story.
It works for me on some level deeper than thought ...it may for you.
So on the one hand I join wholeheartedly in asking developers to go beyond these plots which are at best practice pieces in learning to write fantasy and build worlds and create characters.... we beg you!
But, gosh , this seems to me a very fine drawing of a duck!
thank you for it and...next time move on.
So in this spirit a hearty recommend.
I recommend this game!
Something terrible has happened to Buttonlands! Your wonderful little world is now in ruins and it's up to you to restore it.
Overall rating
3
/
5
15 of 16 found this review helpful
STOPPING AT TWENTY SEVEN
PostedAugust 12, 2016
kandinsky
fromNew York. Hudson Valley.
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Hidden Object, Match 3, Puzzle
Fun Factor
3
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
3
/
5
It seems to me that the Holy Grail of Match 3 games is the achievement of continuing and mounting interest without increasing difficulty until one can go no further.
I got a good deal of pleasure from the game and its special feature of ,as in the game Othello, flipping the buttons to make new combinations without spending moves. But then I came to a point , the level 27 of the title but it could have been another earlier level where I pushed through finally, where I said to myself--"you have spent enough time and energy and wit on this progressively more diffricult game. this is the end. so long its been good to know you!"
It is not a satisfying feeling but the alternative is wasting a larger chunk of my life than I wish to only to inevitably come to a still more final roadblock down the road.
Developers take note: search for that grail of progression without loss of interest. Plot can be one clue and allowing a fully relaxed mode may be another or perhaps ,as in hopas, why not allow in fact the ability to skip? Not everyone enjoys butting head against wall until it gives way and one faces a next thicker wall.
three stars for the interest I had... no recommendation because of its for me dead end quality. try it if you wish and see...but not on my recommend.
I don't recommend this game.
Dive into the heart of an unbelievable investigation. Time's running out, can you solve this mystery?
Overall rating
5
/
5
136 of 155 found this review helpful
Absolutely Fascinating
PostedAugust 1, 2016
kandinsky
fromNew York. Hudson Valley.
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Hidden Object, Match 3, Puzzle
Current Favorite:
Black Viper: Sophia's Fate
(40)Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
5
/
5
Storyline
5
/
5
This game will not please every player but I find it very wonderful and very different. We all complain of the sameness and cookie-cutter quality of games, well here is one that is indeed different.
It is set in Palermo by a studio based in Palermo and the scenes are authentic and uncompromisingly Italian. The hidden objects pose a different kind of challenge than we are used to, they are often small, you may need to use the good hint system rather often as I have but somehow given the different nature of the objects and placements with still a pleasure in finding the ones that I do find.
The viewpoint character is drawn into the mystery of the fate of his (pleasing for a change to play a male role) grandfather. The story is in the occult but somehow ,whether because of the setting or the way it is developed, I do not feel that numbing certainty about what comes next that I do with so many games.
Having shared this to encourage you to join me in this game, I will go back to the door at the end of a secret corridor where I will press on with an unexpected pleasure in gameplay such as I remember from when I first began to play these games.
*in current favorite I will note another Italian game I find wonderful but which is even more challenging in its play.
It is set in Palermo by a studio based in Palermo and the scenes are authentic and uncompromisingly Italian. The hidden objects pose a different kind of challenge than we are used to, they are often small, you may need to use the good hint system rather often as I have but somehow given the different nature of the objects and placements with still a pleasure in finding the ones that I do find.
The viewpoint character is drawn into the mystery of the fate of his (pleasing for a change to play a male role) grandfather. The story is in the occult but somehow ,whether because of the setting or the way it is developed, I do not feel that numbing certainty about what comes next that I do with so many games.
Having shared this to encourage you to join me in this game, I will go back to the door at the end of a secret corridor where I will press on with an unexpected pleasure in gameplay such as I remember from when I first began to play these games.
*in current favorite I will note another Italian game I find wonderful but which is even more challenging in its play.
Set out across the globe to stop the end of the world!
Overall rating
5
/
5
32 of 41 found this review helpful
Very Fine Game but...
PostedJune 4, 2016
kandinsky
fromNew York. Hudson Valley.
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Puzzle, Hidden Object, Adventure, Match 3
Fun Factor
4
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
4
/
5
Why does H.E.L.P. have its academy in...Budapest?
surely not to be within driving distance from the developers of the game?
Looks like a pretty permanent instillation too including Sam's very fancy office( Sam plays Miss Moneypenny to our heroine's Bond) which of course we ransack just as freely as players of most of these games,as if kleptomaniacs in training, do any place they find themselves.
What are those bones on the cliff side in the lead in video of the game which would seem to be of the Midgard serpent which circles the world?
Why am I playing this sort of world saving game?
Could or would a major developer take the risk of making a game without all the cliches of the genre?
surely not to be within driving distance from the developers of the game?
Looks like a pretty permanent instillation too including Sam's very fancy office( Sam plays Miss Moneypenny to our heroine's Bond) which of course we ransack just as freely as players of most of these games,as if kleptomaniacs in training, do any place they find themselves.
What are those bones on the cliff side in the lead in video of the game which would seem to be of the Midgard serpent which circles the world?
Why am I playing this sort of world saving game?
Could or would a major developer take the risk of making a game without all the cliches of the genre?
I cannot answer any of these questions but I put them out there together with the agreement to what other reviewers have said that this is a very well made game indeed and ,yes, I enjoyed it and expect you will too...
Best in the series? In some ways but I rather liked the Hope Diamond one where the Smithsonian collaborated in the background information. But compared to the games between that and this certainly in my opinion. Enjoy!
Best in the series? In some ways but I rather liked the Hope Diamond one where the Smithsonian collaborated in the background information. But compared to the games between that and this certainly in my opinion. Enjoy!
I recommend this game!
Explore the haunted history of a ballet school while guided by spirits from another dimension! Can you help guide these poor souls home?
Overall rating
4
/
5
22 of 31 found this review helpful
THE SOUND OF ONE HAND CLAPPING
PostedMay 10, 2016
kandinsky
fromNew York. Hudson Valley.
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Puzzle, Adventure, Match 3
Fun Factor
3
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
3
/
5
There is one main thing I liked about this game and I am going to weight it so heavily as to give it high marks but with an awareness of the strange situation reviewers face with games one wants to encourage and yet which aren't very good in many ways.
the bad first as it seemed to me:
terribly repetitive HO games relatively easy but too many by far and puzzles which did not interest me or perhaps which I did not understand or could not do or feel like doing and skip time too long.
English uncorrected.
Plot it seemed to me not well resolved or consistent in detail.
Plot for that matter that I ,likely you too, have played any number of times one way or another.
These things would seem to add up to a game too hastily put together to get it out there and without care or time for detailing.
the bad first as it seemed to me:
terribly repetitive HO games relatively easy but too many by far and puzzles which did not interest me or perhaps which I did not understand or could not do or feel like doing and skip time too long.
English uncorrected.
Plot it seemed to me not well resolved or consistent in detail.
Plot for that matter that I ,likely you too, have played any number of times one way or another.
These things would seem to add up to a game too hastily put together to get it out there and without care or time for detailing.
good things:
Swan Lake music is good of course but I turned sound off much of the time.
it is sufficiently long.
Swan Lake music is good of course but I turned sound off much of the time.
it is sufficiently long.
and one thing that seemed to me GREAT
and this may just be to my sense but somehow the art used to create the dark world entered through the house of this dimension and towards the end of the story is wonderful. It has, or maybe just from my feeling of this time I played , a sense of strangeness and Other World quality more than any I have felt in all the games with visits to other dimensions.
Is this just based on feeling and impression of the moment?
or anyway it must relate to my own sense of things etc
But if it is a real achievement it is something worth celebrating considering the number of games that attempt it.
Is this just based on feeling and impression of the moment?
or anyway it must relate to my own sense of things etc
But if it is a real achievement it is something worth celebrating considering the number of games that attempt it.
Is that enough for you to want to play the game? Your call.
my recommend is on the basis of the above notes and your having empty time to fill.
my recommend is on the basis of the above notes and your having empty time to fill.
I recommend this game!
Mix potions, pick locks, make magic orbs, and much more - to rescue the magic creatures from the evil wizard in this enchanting match-3 adventure.
Overall rating
5
/
5
58 of 66 found this review helpful
MAGIC!
PostedApril 26, 2016
kandinsky
fromNew York. Hudson Valley.
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Puzzle, Hidden Object, Adventure, Match 3
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
5
/
5
Storyline
5
/
5
I like match three games as ,for one thing and at least, time passers or stress relaxers. But this one goes beyond that in drawing me into a world of magic and fantasy without losing that element of relaxation. This is not all that common with games--fantasy can be dulled by senseless plotting or dim humor that gets old or failure of imagination. This one doesn't try to be cute and offers a straight and enticing fantasy world together with the pleasures of building in that world. I would say it is already almost my favorite of this sort of game , I will mention one other in 'current favorites' so as not to go outside the review guideline of not comparing games. I am sending this review in early , almost always play a game through first, in hopes of helping find the large number of you who would enjoy it!
I recommend this game!