sabinesa's Profile
Stat Summary
- Average Rating:3.3
- Helpful Votes:821
- Reviews Submitted:70
- First Review:December 2, 2011
- Most Recent Review:April 4, 2018
- Featured reviews0
Status:
Play as a small goldfish with an insatiable appetite. The more you eat, the bigger you get!
Overall rating
5
/
5
68 of 80 found this review helpful
What a fun little ditty
PostedNovember 22, 2015
sabinesa
fromCape Town, South Africa
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Time Management, Adventure, Match 3, Strategy, Marble Popper, Mahjong, Card & Board
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
5
/
5
Storyline
5
/
5
I wouldn't know how to classify this little gem, but it's absolute fun in all it's outrageousness.
It's not that long but has great re-play value with different levels of difficulty or to try to get 3 stars on each level.
It's basically a eat-or-be-eaten setup, but the way it's done, the music and sounds, the visual effects and the way the little (or huge) character moves is priceless.
Goes to show a real different type of game, with very simple graphics and not many bells and whistles is total fun. And all that with not even 20MB. Goes to show, it can be done with some excellent creative genius. Kudos to the 2 devs, as that's all it took by looks of things. You made my weekend!
I recommend this game!
Help Angelo collect the resources he needs to build his palace of wonder in The Trials of Olympus!
Overall rating
4
/
5
10 of 10 found this review helpful
Nice one
PostedNovember 12, 2015
sabinesa
fromCape Town, South Africa
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Time Management, Adventure, Match 3, Strategy, Marble Popper, Arcade & Action, Mahjong, Card & Board
Fun Factor
4
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
2
/
5
Level of Challenge
5
/
5
Storyline
5
/
5
There were a good number in this line before and I already wondered why the devs didn't make more of them. Well, here is one and it's real fun. Even the storyline isn't too bad and to me that's often superfluous and I hardly ever read or listen to those.
I agree though with some of the others that the graphics could have been crisper and sometimes it's not that easy to see whether a red looking tile is now a beetle or a round ring, specifically once there are chains around it or it's one of the bubble ones.
Gosh, has anybody yet figured how to turn of that silly and constant "Amazing!!" without turning the sound off completely? What gamer wants to hear that every 5 seconds? That's the main reason for me to not give this 5 stars, as that type of annoying interference with the relaxation is a nono to me and together with the slightly washed out graphics it detracts from an otherwise potentially very good Match3 game.
What I like are the boss levels, the spiders and the bubble tiles. It's all stuff that sets this lot aside from the rest of the Match3 crowd and it makes for an interesting variations to an otherwise potentially boring match the tiles effort. Also the challenge level is quite good, which I enjoy, because if there's no challenge at all my interest drops in 10 minutes flat.
Nice to see these devs give us another of their Match3 offerings, I have enjoyed them all over the years.
I recommend this game!
Unravel this creepy-crawly Match-3 adventure and unveil haunted castles that will leave your spine tingling!
Overall rating
5
/
5
3 of 4 found this review helpful
Wow, they raised the bar again
PostedNovember 1, 2015
sabinesa
fromCape Town, South Africa
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Time Management, Adventure, Match 3, Strategy, Marble Popper, Mahjong, Card & Board
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
5
/
5
Storyline
5
/
5
What a wonderful addition to the Jewel Match series. These devs are amazing and managed to keep what makes this series so great intact while adding extra little things that are great fun, add value and make it exciting.
This is how the development of sequels should be done. Hope other devs take note!
I recommend this game!
Descend into the Egyptian sands to find an oasis of puzzles, treasures, and mysteries in this Match 3 dazzler.
Overall rating
1
/
5
6 of 8 found this review helpful
What's wrong with me? (or the other reviewers)
PostedOctober 24, 2015
sabinesa
fromCape Town, South Africa
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Time Management, Adventure, Match 3, Strategy, Marble Popper, Arcade & Action, Mahjong, Card & Board
Fun Factor
1
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
2
/
5
Level of Challenge
3
/
5
Storyline
1
/
5
I generally love a good match3 game and this has some nice variation on the regular styles, so potentially a winner. ... But the bling, the noise, the fireworks, the hunning and hahing ... I cannot handle it. Even turned the sound off, but still too much bling.
Then what I really dislike is that powerups happen outside of the players control, but from outside in spots I might not have chosen and then it's lots of bling and drama all around.
I can handle a weak story line and quite frankly with many games it's a waste of time and as far as I am concerned they should just skip it altogether. Once in a blue moon a Match3 comes along that actually has a storyline that fits the game and is absorbing, say The Snow or Evy, but mostly it's meaningless and this definitely falls into the later category.
I have to admit, with all the raving reviews, I tried it a couple of times wondering what I am missing that had all the other folk so excited. Alas, to me there is nothing to redeem this one. Too little game, too much bling and windowdressing.
Not my cup of tea.
I don't recommend this game.
Your morning omelette still churns in your stomach. What dangers await hidden in the darkness? Will this Halloween night ever end?
Overall rating
1
/
5
15 of 24 found this review helpful
Original is a definite 5 star, this is just a nasty quick way to make extra bucks
PostedOctober 19, 2015
sabinesa
fromCape Town, South Africa
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Hidden Object, Time Management, Adventure, Match 3, Strategy, Marble Popper, Arcade & Action, Mahjong, Card & Board
Fun Factor
1
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
3
/
5
Level of Challenge
5
/
5
Storyline
1
/
5
Disappointing.
I love the Chicken Invaders Series and this 5th one is absolutely outstandingly great, except this Halloween Edition isn't doing anything for me. With both the third and forth one I bought the Easter Edition and in each the changes were fun and added to the game play. Not so this one, just the little chicks as ghosts and the boss levels with a different look, like a skeleton and not even nicely done.
Nae, expected more from the makers of one of the greatest shooter games ever. If you don't have the fifth one yet, rather buy the original, as this one doesn't even offer the original look as an Unlockable. If you got edition 5, don't bother, unless you are desperate enough to start your scoring from scratch and then the cheaper option would be to wipe your existing scores from the original.
Definitely recommend Chicken Invaders 5, but don't recommend this Halloween Edition -> boring!
I don't recommend this game.
A mysterious device has crashed into Kurt the Mechanic's garage. Help Kurt and his friends decipher its strange message!
Overall rating
5
/
5
16 of 16 found this review helpful
Absolutely best Nonogram Series ... ever!
PostedOctober 19, 2015
sabinesa
fromCape Town, South Africa
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Time Management, Adventure, Match 3, Strategy, Marble Popper, Arcade & Action, Mahjong, Card & Board
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
5
/
5
Storyline
5
/
5
I am the analytical type and this type of game is right up my alley. The Gizmo developers have outdone themselves really getting into the heart of what makes a Nonogram rock.
The first thing any gamer should do with any game, in my humble opinion, is to check out the "options". If the folk that gave Gizmos a bad rating would have done that they would have realized that all of what they were moaning about is actually under their control and that's exactly what makes Gizmos and the 2 further ones in the series so special.
1. Autofill - what a marvelous idea and now I don't even ever want to look at a Nonogram that doesn't offer that. This means that once you have filled all the given spots in a row/column it autofills the rest with blanks, so no more mindless clicking to get that done.
2. System cursor - a must in a game were precision clicking is important. On some displays the custom game cursor is fine, on most it isn't good enough (I wished this lesson was learned by the HO developers).
3. Turn off background images - again, to be able to work a Nonogram properly background pictures are distracting and make it harder to see the rows/columns
4. Sizing of the game field, which in turn will size the individual intersecting fields. For me it didn't look right when the squares were not true squares but stretched in one dimension, so I just sized it to fit my visual taste.
5. Great fun music that didn't get boring or tedious after sitting over various pictures for hours while at the same time being calm enough to not give one half a heart attack, so very fitting the type of mood a Nonogram creates.
6. Fun story line - not that that really matters in a Nonogram, but what a nice surprise.
7. Lots of lekker, increasingly harder levels with super well drawn images, that were real fun to look at.
8. Good challenge without overdoing it with a board up to 30x30
9. A neat, challenging but achievable scoring system with being able to get standard, silver or gold. Loved it and did so many of the images over to better my score. It was also displayed in a neat way were one from each page could immediately see which image one didn't get a good score.
10. Hints available ... for a price. Again, well executed, achievable and neatly fitting into the overall experience.
2. System cursor - a must in a game were precision clicking is important. On some displays the custom game cursor is fine, on most it isn't good enough (I wished this lesson was learned by the HO developers).
3. Turn off background images - again, to be able to work a Nonogram properly background pictures are distracting and make it harder to see the rows/columns
4. Sizing of the game field, which in turn will size the individual intersecting fields. For me it didn't look right when the squares were not true squares but stretched in one dimension, so I just sized it to fit my visual taste.
5. Great fun music that didn't get boring or tedious after sitting over various pictures for hours while at the same time being calm enough to not give one half a heart attack, so very fitting the type of mood a Nonogram creates.
6. Fun story line - not that that really matters in a Nonogram, but what a nice surprise.
7. Lots of lekker, increasingly harder levels with super well drawn images, that were real fun to look at.
8. Good challenge without overdoing it with a board up to 30x30
9. A neat, challenging but achievable scoring system with being able to get standard, silver or gold. Loved it and did so many of the images over to better my score. It was also displayed in a neat way were one from each page could immediately see which image one didn't get a good score.
10. Hints available ... for a price. Again, well executed, achievable and neatly fitting into the overall experience.
In Summary, if you are looking for a great Nonogram look no further than the 3 available Gizmo games, they really nailed it on the head - just don't forget to tailor the options to your liking.
I recommend this game!
In Lucky Luke: Transcontinental Railroad, oversee the construction of the historic railroad stretching across the United States!
Overall rating
1
/
5
25 of 27 found this review helpful
poor
PostedOctober 13, 2015
sabinesa
fromCape Town, South Africa
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Time Management, Adventure, Match 3, Strategy, Marble Popper, Mahjong, Card & Board
Fun Factor
1
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
1
/
5
Level of Challenge
1
/
5
Storyline
1
/
5
Really poorly done. Good attempt, but not much to redeem it other than the little titbits of info between levels.
I personally dislike it when I have to "collect" someting that I already have performed an action to get, in this instance one needs to order good from the post office (like a market or trader in other games), but that's not good enough, no, the transport with the goods stands on the side of the screen and one has to click on it again to make it deliver ... is there any sense in that other than useless extra clicking? Luckily one doesn't have to click goods, say trees one felled, but still needs to mouse-over. I much prefer the time management games where I can concentrate on the actual work of building, clearing, etc, instead of those mindless extra clicks/movements to get goods that I have done the action to set up in the first place. In my experience the bulk of the games that force those extra clicks or mouse overs lack in actual neat building features and depth of development of each level and the programmers try to enhance the game play by making one do extra things. They should rather spend more time developing each level a bit better.
Another thing I didn't like about this one is that it wasn't clear where the road goes, could have been this way or that and only repeated unsuccessful attempts to get to somewhere made it clear there was meant to be a fence in the way ... mind you, not that it visually was in the way and the worker could have easily walked around it. That's poor graphic development and there was lots of that with this game.
Another poorly executed aspect is that one doesn't just click on say a part of railroad that needs rebuilding, no, one has to fit a half a block that the cursor turns into onto the correct spot for it to react ... how arcane is that; I thought that type of game movement died about 10 years ago.
Anyway, disappointing and I truly don't know which game the people played that gave the great reviews. The one I tried was rather poor. To be honest, I am starting to wonder about the great reviews that come sometimes with new games so quickly ... are those the devs themselves or friends?
I personally dislike it when I have to "collect" someting that I already have performed an action to get, in this instance one needs to order good from the post office (like a market or trader in other games), but that's not good enough, no, the transport with the goods stands on the side of the screen and one has to click on it again to make it deliver ... is there any sense in that other than useless extra clicking? Luckily one doesn't have to click goods, say trees one felled, but still needs to mouse-over. I much prefer the time management games where I can concentrate on the actual work of building, clearing, etc, instead of those mindless extra clicks/movements to get goods that I have done the action to set up in the first place. In my experience the bulk of the games that force those extra clicks or mouse overs lack in actual neat building features and depth of development of each level and the programmers try to enhance the game play by making one do extra things. They should rather spend more time developing each level a bit better.
Another thing I didn't like about this one is that it wasn't clear where the road goes, could have been this way or that and only repeated unsuccessful attempts to get to somewhere made it clear there was meant to be a fence in the way ... mind you, not that it visually was in the way and the worker could have easily walked around it. That's poor graphic development and there was lots of that with this game.
Another poorly executed aspect is that one doesn't just click on say a part of railroad that needs rebuilding, no, one has to fit a half a block that the cursor turns into onto the correct spot for it to react ... how arcane is that; I thought that type of game movement died about 10 years ago.
Anyway, disappointing and I truly don't know which game the people played that gave the great reviews. The one I tried was rather poor. To be honest, I am starting to wonder about the great reviews that come sometimes with new games so quickly ... are those the devs themselves or friends?
I don't recommend this game.
Help young Finn and princess Dalla reunite in love! Explore, gather, produce, trade, build, repair and work for the wellbeing of the Kingdom.
Overall rating
2
/
5
2 of 2 found this review helpful
too clicky
PostedSeptember 22, 2015
sabinesa
fromCape Town, South Africa
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Time Management, Adventure, Match 3, Strategy, Marble Popper, Mahjong, Card & Board
Fun Factor
2
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
2
/
5
Storyline
2
/
5
Based on some of the good reviews I tried this again seeing that it is the DD today, though I had tried before and didn't like it and even own the first installment, but haven't finished that yet.
Anyway, my initial assessment was confirmed, way too much mouse clicking required to make it possible fun, in fact it's tedious. I hate it in any TM game when money or goods are not automatically collected. Weirdly enough the goods from stores, etc are collected automatically, but one has to run around each house to collect taxes and send the dwellers to collect food. That's so very mindless and takes away all the fun.
There are so many great TM games out there and none of the good ones ever has a lack of an auto-collect feature. Houses or farms, etc just generate food, money, whatever automatically according to their upgrade level, that's just how any good TM works in my opinion, so I the player can concentrate on the building or clearing or whatever the objective might be. Come to think of it though, the other annoying TM game that had something like this is by the same developer (Royal Envoy).
Great pity because the surround of this, graphics, story, music, sounds is all good ... if it just weren't interrupted by the continuous annoying mouse clicks all the time ;(
Try before you buy, you might also find the mouse clicks too annoying to make it enjoyable.
I don't recommend this game.
This just might be the best Clutter yet! Explore 12 mines filled with clutter, sliders, box quotes and more!
Overall rating
3
/
5
10 of 17 found this review helpful
Enjoyed it but won't buy the next one
PostedSeptember 20, 2015
sabinesa
fromCape Town, South Africa
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Time Management, Adventure, Match 3, Strategy, Marble Popper, Mahjong, Card & Board
Fun Factor
3
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
2
/
5
Level of Challenge
3
/
5
Storyline
1
/
5
The Clutter games are rather addictive (I've got all of them), but what good old Joe has as talent in terms of actual game mechanics and clutter boards, he is desperately lacking in making the "surrounding" attractive. The sounds are way too repetive (and I only turned one style off) and the photographs are amateurish. Let me not even start at the attempt of a story and this one is the worse with sayings about stories ... really, did he programme this at a writer's retreat ;) after the 5th one I stopped reading. Also, he obviously loves his name as everything is about Joe. Hey, Joe, we heard you, you can stop mentioning it now already!
The other thing that's totally annoying is that I can never figure in these games where I am. The whole setup is so convoluted that I don't know where I actually am. Are there chapters? Do they follow onto each other? What's a "quest"? To what and for what?
Then, what I really enjoyed before are the static fields without much overlapping and to have to find 5 matches. It's always amazing how matches can stare me right in the face and I don't see them, very fun. With this edition I loved the plasic clutter and a couple of other boards, like the pillows and coins (not together though). What I totally didn't enjoy is the "find a like item" as I often cannot figure the difference between a box, a bread box, a pot, a tea pot, a flower pot, hello. To me that's sending my brain in the wrong direction, I am looking for sames, not likes. The one has to do with a visual queue coupled with the understanding of the item, the other twists the visual queue too much for me and I skipped those levels. Except then of course, I don't know anymore where I am and how to get to the levels I actually enjoy.
Joe, a good one are the sentence riddles ... nice addition to the overall clutter idea and a nice change of pace, but again, I don't want to do one after the other of the same, I would have liked it more spaced throughout.
Anyway, I bought this and had a good couple of hours with it, but don't think I'll buy the next unless Joe for one stops talking about Joe and for the other actually gets the surrounds of the game more organized. Sure, I love the fact of the many choices under options, that's a definite bonus, but the rest looks all just like the first clutter and hasn't changed since - I am tired of that brick wall, the unexciting photos morphing from black and white to colour. Been there done that, Joe, get on with it already!
If you enjoyed the other Clutter games, you'll probably get some good fun out of this, but it's getting to the end of it's life span as is for me.
Match the zen stones and travel through exotic locations to restore harmony to nature!
Overall rating
2
/
5
12 of 14 found this review helpful
Nice Mahjong, bad mechanics
PostedSeptember 15, 2015
sabinesa
fromCape Town, South Africa
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Puzzle, Time Management, Adventure, Match 3, Strategy, Marble Popper, Arcade & Action, Mahjong, Card & Board
Fun Factor
1
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
2
/
5
Storyline
2
/
5
This really is a pretty Mahjong and with that style of game visuals and sound are very important, at least for me. It should be relaxing while being challenging enough to be fun.
I only tried a bit of the demo version and was rather excited by pleasant music and wonderful tile face choices and by looks of things nice and interesting boards. Except ... and her comes the big but, this isn't played regular Mahjong style where one looks for equal tiles on the board, no, underneath is a row of tiles and one has to match from that row with the board - totally weird in my opinion. My eyes kept on darting back and forth between those two areas and nothing made much sense to my brain ;) I kept on wanting to click on the same tiles on the board, but alas, that doesn't work, one has to match it with the row underneath the board. Sorry, not my cup of tea. If somebody likes that approach what's neat is that one can click all tiles that are matched in one shot, so that's not a bad idea.
I've played this type of Mahjong before, but the available tiles outside the board where only 2, so it wasn't quite so confusing where to look and work from. I did enjoy that before but not in this one. Somehow the 2 game areas are too separate of sorts for my visual field and therefore the fun level was zero for me.
Others might find this pleasant though, perhaps give it a try, just don't expect a regular Mahjong.
I don't recommend this game.