euphoria's Profile
Stat Summary
- Average Rating:4.8
- Helpful Votes:534
- Reviews Submitted:25
- First Review:January 29, 2012
- Most Recent Review:April 30, 2019
- Featured reviews0
Status:
Compete with the neighbors for the highest score in ten home-themed card games! Use bonus cards to gain additional points.
Overall rating
5
/
5
36 of 41 found this review helpful
I Play This Every Single DAY
PostedJuly 4, 2012
euphoria
fromFlorida
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Word, Adventure, Hidden Object, Card & Board, Brain Teaser, Puzzle, Mahjong
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
5
/
5
For a couple of years, my "go-to" game was Fairway Solitaire when I wanted to spend 10 minutes to a couple hours playing something fun and just challenging enough without having to keep track of a storyline.
Picket Fences has been my new "go-to" game since it came out, and it never disappoints. The music is well done, the games are fun, varied and often challenging, and you find yourself learning strategies for each one. (You also find yourself calling the other players various rude names when they steal your cards or force you to skip a turn!) Can't recommend enough!
I recommend this game!
A UFO is rumored to have landed in the small town of Tundel and the mayor is trying to conceal it. Run your own journalistic investigation and learn the truth behind the event!
Overall rating
5
/
5
142 of 150 found this review helpful
Quirky and Addicting
PostedJune 22, 2012
euphoria
fromFlorida
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Word, Adventure, Hidden Object, Card & Board
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
4
/
5
Whew...just finished! I literally spent over nine hours playing this; couldn't stop until it was over and all the tasks were completed. Note that it is possible to finish the game without completing all the tasks; your objective is to accumulate enough money to fly out to an island to meet the Mayor, after which the game ends. If you complete all the tasks, you'll earn at least twice what you need to buy a ticket, so you don't have to do everything. But if you're like me, you'll not want to leave the mainland until you've helped all the crazy people who want to give you money!
Those of you who plan to rely on the walkthrough, be warned that many, many of the tasks are missing from it, so you'll be on your own for some of them. Having said that, the hint system is very helpful, so you shouldn't miss any items you need. Towards the end, I had to write down all the numbers of places I had visited so I could figure out what I had left to do.
There were a few spelling mistakes (not enough to seriously annoy) and the tutorial for a puzzle involving pipes described it as a jigsaw puzzle, which it was not. Other than that, I didn't notice any editing errors. With a game this large and with so many locations and characters, you'd expect a few to sneak past.
The puzzles were varied and, for the most part, not difficult. There were a few mini-game type puzzles (defusing a bomb, playing soccer) where, if you messed it up the first time, you wouldn't have another chance to play. But there were others (a shooting gallery, a couple of gambling games) where you could earn more money whenever you pleased.
There's a policeman who occasionally harasses you; he's funny for awhile, but after the 90th time he showed up, he was getting a little tiresome. (Maybe if he'd said more than about four different things I would have been more patient with him.) I would have loved for the map to be interactive; I wore out at least seven pairs of shoes by the time it was all said and done. (It did help to write down where I'd already been and who was in which house/apartment.)
And speaking of done, what a bizarre ending! I was disappointed at first, but then realized that, had I been the developers, I may not have thought of any better way to end it. But then, I like long good-byes.
I look forward to more of this genre!
I recommend this game!
Investigating her parents’ deaths, Edwina rekindles a centuries old tale of love and revenge. End the curse of the severed heart!
Overall rating
5
/
5
81 of 82 found this review helpful
Quirky and Fun
PostedApril 18, 2012
euphoria
fromFlorida
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Word, Adventure, Hidden Object, Match 3, Card & Board, Puzzle
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
4
/
5
First, let me get the "negative" out of the way. The HOG scenes were challenging; there wasn't one I didn't use at least one hint for. But this didn't bother me at all; the hint recharges quickly enough. And while some don't like revisiting HOG scenes more than once, I actually enjoy it because I can spot things I noticed when I was there before and get through more quickly.
I didn't find the story "sappy" at all; it was your standard adventure fare, really; a girl in search of her lost parents. The characters' motives remain a mystery for some time and it was enjoyable to see where I would be taken next.
The graphics were beautifully drawn and rather quirky, which I loved. The buildings and landmarks Edwina discovers are mostly lodged in the fantasy world, while at the same time based in reality when it comes to the possibility of such things existing. No fairies or magic in the settings; rather a landscape that looks like the dreams of a playful and brilliant inventor.
The puzzles are equally quirky and fun and here's where there is "magic" in some instances. I found the puzzles just challenging enough - I didn't breeze through any, but I never had to resort to the skip button, either. One thing I did appreciate is that, once I had gathered all the items I needed for a particular task, I didn't have to go through a tedious step-by-step assembling process. In some other games, you're required, for instance, to gather up a bunch of weird ingredients and a container and a stirrer and a source of flame, etc etc etc and then follow some ridiculous printed instructions on how to put them together in a particular order. Ho-hum. Glad that kind of task was notably absent; I really enjoyed all the puzzles presented.
Because I didn't skip any puzzles or "hint" my way through the HOG scenes, the game took around four hours to complete. I rather wish I had sprung for the Collector's Edition; if there's a sequel, I definitely will.
I recommend this game!
Explore a haunted amusement park in Weird Park: Broken Tune! Investigate a rash of “accidental” deaths and solve the case!
Overall rating
5
/
5
2 of 2 found this review helpful
Didn't Want it to End!
PostedFebruary 17, 2012
euphoria
fromFlorida
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Word, Adventure, Hidden Object, Match 3, Card & Board
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
5
/
5
Storyline
4
/
5
I put off playing this for awhile because I'd recently finished another "spooky amusement park" game that didn't really grab me. So glad I finally clicked PLAY! An excellent game that I will play again one day; and the list of those I'd care to replay can be counted on the fingers of one hand.
Beautiful, imaginative graphics, excellent gameplay, logical puzzles and not TOO much running around. The best part was finishing the main "goal" of the game and thinking it would be over within a couple minutes - so sad! - and then it turns out there's another good couple hours' worth of adventure to go! Things get really weird then, but nothing is ever scary or gory; mostly it's really interesting and fun. I found myself more than once saying, "Whooooa, cool," out loud! You have to admire the imaginations of those who developed this fabulous game and hope there are more to come. :)
Just had to add that this was the first adventure/HOG type game I've ever played where I did not use ONE SINGLE CLUE during the HOG scenes! It's not that they were particularly easy; it's that the graphics were clear and sharp, the list of objects straightforward and there weren't ever more than one of each item you were looking for. What a pleasure to finish a HOG scene on my own for a change - and every single one in the game to boot!
I did use the hint system a few times when I wasn't clear as to what to do next. (It turned out, each time, that I had failed to notice an object I could pick up a few scenes earlier.) The little monkey grinder hint system is ADORABLE - especially the sweet little tune it plays! Almost worth buying the game just for that. :)
Bottom line - one of the best I've played (and I've played a LOT); I'll be revisiting it again for sure.
I recommend this game!
After using your Ancestor’s Mirror to explore Castle Fairwich, you are sent back in time on a brand new quest!
Overall rating
2
/
5
14 of 15 found this review helpful
Hand-Holding to the Max
PostedJanuary 29, 2012
euphoria
fromFlorida
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Word, Adventure, Hidden Object, Card & Board, Puzzle, Mahjong, Strategy
Fun Factor
2
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
3
/
5
Level of Challenge
2
/
5
I don't remember why I bought this without playing it first; a decent sale or a credit about to run out, maybe. Either way, I regret it.
This would be the perfect game for a raw beginner or someone who wants to be babysat, because there is no strategy involved whatsoever. The game takes you by your little hand and leads you through it. You go where it says to go, and do what it says to do. There is no exploration allowed and no thinking needed. The mini games are all exactly the same: connect train tracks together by rotating curved areas of the track. Ho-hum.
There's a journal with the plot and notes, but it was fairly useless and boring. Useless because you don't need it for strategy; boring because it lays out a rather ridiculous story and there's an excessive amount of documentation that you pick up all over the place. I stopped even looking at it after awhile.
An example of how ridiculous the storyline is: There's a train wreck, and all the passengers go missing. So the authorities decide the best possible course of action is to...shut down the entire town near the wreck! So no one is allowed to be in town anymore! Yes! That makes PERFECT sense, right?!
There are many, many, MANY hidden object scenes, which to someone who loves them would be good news. Except the objects are, for the most part, extreeeeeeeemely tiny and/or mostly hidden behind other objects. I played on a 17" laptop, and most of the objects were no more than a few centimeters wide. Had to use the hint quite a lot, at which time I'd often think, "Oh, so THAT'S what that was supposed to be."
I only played about two hours (hoping it would get better), but so far there have been only a few different scenes to explore, most of them three or four times. Not that you're actually "exploring," since you are given no choice where to go next.
All in all, one of the more disappointing games I've ever played.
I don't recommend this game.