dancemom1's Profile
Stat Summary
- Average Rating:3.6
- Helpful Votes:13,287
- Reviews Submitted:871
- First Review:April 15, 2012
- Most Recent Review:November 26, 2024
- Featured reviews0
Status:
Wield powerful relics and stop a book from releasing the ultimate evil!
Overall rating
2
/
5
16 of 25 found this review helpful
Slow, not challenge...
PostedMay 26, 2018
dancemom1
fromYakima, WA
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Card & Board, Family, Hidden Object, Puzzle, Strategy, Word
Fun Factor
2
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
3
/
5
Level of Challenge
2
/
5
Storyline
2
/
5
Hello friends! As usual, I review mostly on the game play and leave the story line to others who do a much better job than I. Unless my count is off, this is #7 in this series. Graphics weren't too bad, mostly clear, but there was an outline around the characters, making it seem like an overlay onto a background. Colors are very dark and heavy, meaning the pink and blues are quite bold and very tiring on the eyes. Game play was good, with no problems during the demo. Music doesn't fit the surrounding, or what is happening at the time. It just seems out of place. Voices weren't too bad and seemed age and character appropriate. I didn't notice a lot of sound FX, but we did have a few. The game had very interaction with the characters. I found that we spent a great deal of time in each location. We don't have a helper in this one, but we do have a "magic" bracelet that gives us special powers to complete tasks. Yawn...
HOPs were nothing new and very simple, with interactive lists and fragments. Items are plenty large enough to see, so no eye strain, other than the colors. I didn't see that there was something else to play, if you got tired of the HOPs. Puzzles were painfully simple and had no challenge at all. Grab your tennis shoes, because you do a lot of running back and forth to the same location. You do have a jump map, but the map itself is very bland and boring. Hint system is quite helpful and I did not run across a transport feature during the demo. I did note that you collect a lot of inventory before you use much of it, so it does get quite cluttered.
The only collectibles are morphing items, that are quite large and not easy to miss at all. We also have relics, which all look like scrolls. These aren't as large and blend fairly well into background color and scenes. Still, not that difficult to spot. Definitely no challenge here either.
This is one of those simple, 123 walk through type of games. No challenge, no difficulty finding anything, easy to follow, moved slowly and was somewhat boring. The story is very predictable and nothing new. It is a very simple game, geared more toward the true beginner than anyone else. There was nothing about this game that made me want to add it to my collection. It definitely is not CE worthy. I will recommend it for beginners only, but not for a seasoned gamer who wants at least a little challenge. No buy for me.
As always, try it for yourself and see what you think. We all have different tastes in games and you may find this one to be exactly what you are looking for. Thanks for the reviews. Play on!
I recommend this game!
The Wild Hunt has begun and you may be its next prey!
Overall rating
3
/
5
19 of 36 found this review helpful
Very blurry graphics!
PostedMay 19, 2018
dancemom1
fromYakima, WA
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Card & Board, Family, Hidden Object, Puzzle, Strategy, Word
Fun Factor
3
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
2
/
5
Level of Challenge
3
/
5
Storyline
3
/
5
Hello friends! As usual, I review mostly on the game play and leave the story to others. Graphics in this addition are very blurry, making it very tiring on the eyes. This will not be my usual review, as I could not finish the demo, due to the blurry graphics. This seldom happens, but it was hard on my eyes. Colors aren't bad, but not bright. Voices are fairly well done and seem to be age and character appropriate. Music is okay. Sound FX are not a lot, but what we had was not too bad, except for the "Viking" yell we get whenever we find an object. That was a bit much. Game play seemed to be quite good.
HOPs were nothing new or challenging. Puzzles were quite simple and took no time or thought to complete. The map is very bland, but does show you where there is something of interest to do. Hint system is helpful, but I do not know if it transports to longer locations
Collectibles are not many. We have an object that couldn't identify because of the graphics, but it looks like a document holder of some sort. We also have morphing objects. Neither is hard to find.
This story picks up where the last in the this series left off, with a brief overview to bring you up to speed on what is happening and why. This is a plus. The story isn't anything new or challenging, from what I played. Unfortunately, I just could not continue to the end of the demo, so no buy for me. I don't often not find something good about a game, in order to recommend it to others, even if I don't care for it, but this is one of them I do not recomment. I'm sure there will be those who don't mind the graphics, but...
As always, give it a try and see what you think. We all have different tastes in games and you may find this one to be what you are looking for. Thanks for the reviews. Play on!
I don't recommend this game.
Save the people of Glenville from a supernatural killer!
Overall rating
4
/
5
16 of 36 found this review helpful
Am I dead or dreaming?
PostedMay 18, 2018
dancemom1
fromYakima, WA
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Card & Board, Family, Hidden Object, Puzzle, Strategy, Word
Fun Factor
4
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
4
/
5
Hello friends! As usual, I review mostly on the game play and leave the story line to those who do a much better job than I. We have #2 in this series. The graphics are excellent, very clear and no noticeable blur, for a change. Colors are very nice, with very little blue , as in the first game of this series. Game play was excellent, with no glitches or problems during the demo. This dev does an excellent job on animation. The movements are very fluid and realistic. Voices were age and character appropriate, and were well done, as far as the "bad guy" was concerned. Our heroine's voice was very familiar and quite annoying. It was too high pitched for me, but fortunately not constant. We can click through dialog if we read faster than they speak. I didn't really hear any music during game play. We did have some nice sound FX, but otherwise, the game was fairly quiet, except for the "ching" noise we got when we found an item. We did not have a helper as such, but we did have a camera that points out paranormal objects. That seems to give us a hint as to where to go or what to do next.
HOPs are varied and very well done, with interactive lists, silhouettes and finding pairs. The scenes are very clean and items were not difficult to find. We also have a morphing object to find. I did not see that we could switch to anything else. Puzzles were pretty simple and took no time to complete. I only ran across one that had a little challenge to it. HOPs are few and far between, as are puzzles, but close enough to break the monotony. Hint system is helpful, but it does not transport to longer locations. We do a lot of back tracking, but it is a fairly close run, so no real long distance. We have a jump map, but it is very bland and boring. Again, we have the pop out type of map. Just give me a map with a picture of the location, the name and whether I need to go there or not. Obviously not my favorite set up for a map.
Collectibles were are well done. We have the usual symbol for this developer, which is quite large and easy to find. We also have morphing items within each scene. These items morph pretty quickly, so be on the look out for them. Also found collectible cards that show picture of the characters. These are not in every scene and can easily be overlooked.
We have another interesting story in this series. It is easy to follow and flows quite well. We have a lot to do, so we don't really get bored or tired of running around. One thing I do like, when setting up my game play, I can lower the skip time to only one second. I really like this feature. Anything more than 10 seconds is a waste of time for me. There isn't really a lot of challenge to this game, but I do like the story, and all the collectibles, and find the need to play it out and see what happens. The demo ended perfectly, a well done cliffhanger, making me definitely decide to purchase the game. I think most all levels of players will find this one enjoyable for one reason or another.
I gave this one a 4.25.
I gave this one a 4.25.
As always, try it for yourself and see what you think. We all have different tastes in games and you may not care for this one at all. Thanks for the reviews. Play on!
I recommend this game!
Can you find your husband and escape an otherworldly foe?
Overall rating
4
/
5
4 of 12 found this review helpful
A bit of challenge!
PostedMay 14, 2018
dancemom1
fromYakima, WA
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Card & Board, Family, Hidden Object, Puzzle, Strategy, Word
Fun Factor
4
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
5
/
5
Storyline
4
/
5
Hello friends! As usual, I review mostly on the game play and leave the story line to those who do a much better job than I. I've lost count on this one, but I know we have a few in this series. This addition has excellent graphics, clear and sharp, for the most part. Game play was excellent, with no problems during the demo and the scenes fit my large screen. Animation is very nice, except for very choppy body movement, especially when walking. Colors are really well done and true, but not over powering. Voices are age and character appropriate, with all the emotions included, and I love the sinister sound to the "bad guy's" Voice. Sound FX are fairly nice and pretty much constant. Music is soothing and not over powering. Nothing too exciting happened during the demo, so not sure if it picks up or not. We don't have a helper, but we do have a talisman that includes a game. I found this to be quite boring and completely unnecessary to the game play.
HOPs pretty much just lists with a few extras thrown in with them. Scenes are clear and items are not difficult to find. There isn't another game that you can choose, if you do not wish to play the HOPs. Be on the lookout for morphing items in the HOPs. I usually accidentally find them, but they are not hard to see. Puzzles are not bad at all. They actually had some challenge to most of them, and some took me a bit of time and thought to complete. Hint system is helpful, but it does not transport to longer locations. You do back track quite a lot in this game, but you have a jump map that is fairly clear and easy to use. The map is rather plain and boring, but it works well for quick jumps.
Collectibles are not many. You need to find 29 skulls. These are outlines and not easy to see. They are blended well into the background and being an outline makes it even more difficult to find. I admit I had to look at the SG to find one of them. This is our challenge. So far, I only see one in each scene. Each scene also has a morphing item to find. These morph fairly quickly, so be on the lookout for them.
This addition is much better than the last in this series. We did seem to spend a lot of time running back and forth in this one, which seemed to slow the story a bit, but the story was easy to follow. I think I liked this one because of the challenge to the puzzles. I much prefer HOPS over puzzles, but these were nicely done. Even though it is the usual story of the lost husband, I found myself drawn into the game fairly quickly. When I beta tested this one a few months ago, I gave it a 4.5, and I think it deserves that much. I believe all levels of players will find this one interesting and somewhat challenging. Yes, I am adding this one to my collection.
As always, try it for yourself and see what you think. We all have different tastes in games and you may not care for this one at all. Thanks for the reviews. Play on!
I recommend this game!
Can you and your trusted companion escape with your lives?
Overall rating
4
/
5
17 of 33 found this review helpful
Interesting story...
PostedMay 10, 2018
dancemom1
fromYakima, WA
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Card & Board, Family, Hidden Object, Puzzle, Strategy, Word
Fun Factor
4
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
3
/
5
Storyline
5
/
5
Hello friends! As usual, I review mostly on the game play and leave the story to other who can do a much better job than I. We have another addition to this series. Graphics were quite nice, until you flew into a close up, then again, we have the blurring. Game play was very good, with no problems during the demo and the game fit my large screen very nicely. Animation was well done and fairly smooth movements. Voices were fairly nice, being age and character appropriate and showed some emotion, with surprise, urgency, anger, etc. For the most part, nicely done, but occasionally we did have some rather silly dialog from our heroine. You can click through most dialog, if you read faster than they speak. I didn't see that you missed anything of importance if you did. I didn't notice much in the way of music during the game play, but we had very nice sound FX throughout. We can choose to have our little "pumpkin head" helper for those hard to reach places, or not.
HOPs are varied, interactive lists, straight lists, riddles. They are well done and the scenes are fairly clean and clear. Items are not difficult to find. The puzzles were painfully simple. This was surprising, as I chose the most difficult case to play. Maybe we can play all three. Hint system is very helpful and gives you a hint when asked for one. We also have the transport feature to longer locations. This is very helpful, as we do a lot of running back and forth to the same locations. However, it doesn't come into play unless the run is a long one, so you still use the back button a lot.
We do have a jump map, which is quite boring, but it does indicate where you may have missed a collectible.
We do have a jump map, which is quite boring, but it does indicate where you may have missed a collectible.
Collectibles are 6 character figurines, which are fairly well hidden. You also need to find 24 owls. These are quite large and not difficult to see. Some are a complete body, some are not, so watch for them.
This addition isn't too bad. I did like the story, which was a little different. I really don't care for the "blurry eye" that we have when the poison is working it's way through our body. Makes me dizzy. There really isn't any challenge to this game, and not a lot of character interaction, but it flows well and is easy to follow. I think this game will appeal to all levels of players. Not quite sure why, but I got into the story and want to see where it goes, so I am going to add this one to my CE collection.
As always, try it for yourself and see what you think. We all have different tastes in games and you may not care for this one at all. Thanks for the reviews.
I recommend this game!
Can you save Dupin from a malevolent murderer in time?
Overall rating
2
/
5
16 of 22 found this review helpful
Zzzzzz!
PostedMay 4, 2018
dancemom1
fromYakima, WA
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Card & Board, Family, Hidden Object, Puzzle, Strategy, Word
Fun Factor
2
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
3
/
5
Level of Challenge
1
/
5
Storyline
1
/
5
Hello friends! I usually only comment on the game play and leave the story to others, but this time, I have to comment. This is not my usual type of review, not because I didn't finish the demo (I had to force myself), but because I just couldn't get into the story enough to be interested in the game. I love Poe. As I have said with all of these EAP games, if you are going to call it a Poe, then you better stick a heck of a lot closer to the story. This one doesn't even come close! That said, the graphics weren't bad, not as blurry as most these days. Game play was good. Colors not bad at all. Voices were okay, but why do we need to keep changing character voices for Dupin? I keep hoping that the next in this series would be much better, but have consistently been disappointed.
HOPs were nothing new and the puzzles were painfully simple. I do not care for the "trace" game. It's old and boring. Hint system is helpful and we do have the transport feature. The sound you hear when finding an object is quite annoying.
Collectibles? I didn't even see any. To be honest, the story was so boring, I didn't even look for them. I couldn't even find a strategy guide!
The story was muddled, slow and boring. Yes, we have a twist at the end of the demo, but there was nothing in this game to make me want to play any further. I'm sure there will be those who find it fun, but I am not one of them. I try to find something good about a game so I can recommend it, even if I don't care for it, but all I can say about this one is...maybe a beginner would like it, as long as they haven't played any of the first couple in the series. No, there is no buy for me and I can't bring myself to recommend it even to a beginner. Personally, I think this one either needs some serious updating, or a retirement.
As always, try it for yourself and see what you think. We all have different tastes in games and you may find this to be what you are looking for. Thanks for the reviews. Play on!
I don't recommend this game.
Can you prove that the town’s creatures are innocent?
Overall rating
4
/
5
17 of 28 found this review helpful
Chimera...where?
PostedMay 4, 2018
dancemom1
fromYakima, WA
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Card & Board, Family, Hidden Object, Puzzle, Strategy, Word
Fun Factor
4
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
3
/
5
Level of Challenge
3
/
5
Storyline
4
/
5
Hello friends! As usual, I review mostly on the game and not much on the story, as others do a much better job than I. Looks like this is #7 in this series. Graphics are fairly well done in this addition, but we do have a little blur now and then. I don't know if it's actually the graphics, or the colors. For some reason, the color seems faded and we have a lot of oranges in this one. That color really dulls a scene for some reason. What happened to bright clear colors? Animation is smooth and well done, but I did note that they don't blink very often. Music was monotonous and seemed like only about 5 notes throughout. Voice overs are well done, but Edora's voice was much younger for someone of her obvious age. Astrid's voice was a bit over the top and quite high pitched, even for a child. Even at that, not too bad. Game play was very good, with no problems at all during the demo. There isn't much in the way of sound FX, but we did have some. This game was fairly quiet, except for the music, and not a lot of character interaction.
Hops were a nice combination of silhouettes, interactive lists, pairs, straight lists and picture pieces. Scenes were fairly clear and items were not hard to find. I don't see that we can switch to something else if we don't care for the HOPs. Well done. Puzzles were not difficult, and so far, had no real challenge to them. Hint system is quite helpful and it does transport to longer locations. As in others in this series, we are constantly backtracking for one item or another. There is a jump map, but it is very bland and boring, so the transport is handy and faster.
Collectibles are nicely done. We need to find 48 jigsaw pieces, to complete 4 different puzzles. These pieces are fairly large and quite easy to see. We have 12 cards with various information on them, but nothing that is needed to continue playing the game. These are not in every scene, so remember to watch for them. Again, we have 28 morphing objects, which are various flowers. Be on the lookout, as these objects morph quickly and really have no color to make them stand out.
This wasn't a bad addition to this series, but seemed to move a little slow. Hopefully that picks up as the game progresses. As stated above, we don't have much in the way of character interaction, but we are constantly on the move, so we don't really get bored. The story seems a little different and I found it interesting enough to want to play it out and see what happens and why. When I beta tested it, I only gave it a 4.25, mostly because of the colors. I think most all levels of players will find this one worth the CE price. Yes, I am adding it to my collection of CE games.
As always, try it for yourself and see what you think. We all have different tastes in games and you may not care for this one at all. Thanks for the reviews. Play on!
I recommend this game!
Just beyond human sight lies an ancient city of magicians, giants, and dwarves. Now you must solve a murder mystery that threatens to destroy it.
Overall rating
4
/
5
17 of 27 found this review helpful
Yikes, four amr!
PostedApril 30, 2018
dancemom1
fromYakima, WA
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Card & Board, Family, Hidden Object, Puzzle, Strategy, Word
Fun Factor
4
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
5
/
5
Storyline
4
/
5
Hello friends! As always, I review mostly on the game play and leave the story to those who can do a much better job than I. Graphics in this game are beautiful, but we still have blurring when going in and out of close up scenes. Wonder why this Dev can't fix that. Excellent colors, very clear and true, but no bright and over powering. Animation is very realistic and body movements are quite smooth. Voices are age and character appropriate, when we have them. You can click through dialog without missing any hints or earned objects to help throughout the game. I always turn the music down so all I get is background sound, but I seldom heard any music at all in this one. That would be okay, if the sound FX were constant. What we did have was quite well done and very realistic.
HOPs are varied and well done, with highlighted words, silhouettes and very interactive HOPs. Some scenes are quite cluttered, but items are not difficult to find. If we didn't care for the HOPs, we could switch to a March 3 game. We had a few simple puzzles, but most were a little challenging for a change. I found that a couple took more time than I figured..very nicely done. The hint system is very helpful, but I did not see that we had a transport feature. Since we have the perfect jump map, we really didn't need it. We do a lot of running around and back tracking in this one, but the map makes it easy to figure out where we needed to go. Areas are clearly identified by name and picture, so we don't have to do a lot of clicking to figure out where we need to go. It also indicates where we may have missed a collectible. I love this map!
Collectibles are very well done and varied. We have 55 crystals to find, which will let us buy items for our boudoir. These are not large, but are easy to see if you remember to look for them. We also have 15 various artifacts. I found these to be quite small and often hard to find. There are 15 newspaper stories that give us more info on the city, which are large enough to see and fairly easy to find.
This game was fairly quiet and character interaction was minimal. Even with the newspaper articles and story boards, the story didn't seem to flow very well and left me sometimes wondering why I was doing this or that, but hopefully it picks up as the game progresses. All that aside, we are constantly on the move and doing something other than just running around in circles. I like this Developer and love the collectibles, and for some reason, I have the need to see what is really happening in this one and why. I think this will appeal to most all levels of players. When I beta tested this one, I gave it a 4.5 and I'll stay with it. Yes, I am adding this one to my CE collection.
As always, try it for yourself and see what you think. We all have different tastes in games and you may not care for this one at all. Thanks for the reviews. Play on!
I recommend this game!
Can you stop a strange disease from another world?
Overall rating
3
/
5
16 of 35 found this review helpful
Move on already!
PostedApril 26, 2018
dancemom1
fromYakima, WA
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Card & Board, Family, Hidden Object, Puzzle, Strategy, Word
Fun Factor
2
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
3
/
5
Level of Challenge
2
/
5
Storyline
2
/
5
Hello friends! As always, I review on the game play and let others review on the story line, as they are much better at that than I am. Looks like this might be #6 in this series. I don't have them all, but I do have a couple. This one started out promising, but quickly seemed to go downhill. The graphics weren't too bad and I didn't notice much in the way of blurring in the scenes. The colors were somewhat muted with hints of blue and purple, which is quite tiring on the eyes. Game play was good, with no glitches or problems during the demo. Voices were well done and fit the character and age, with some emotion as well. I did note that we could not click through dialog, most of the time, if we read faster than they speak. Some dialog was much too wordy, and not necessarily all that helpful. Sound FX were quite well done when we had them. Seemed to have a lot of bird noises. Animation was very good. Again we have a helpful owl goes to locations we can't reach.
HOPs were a mixture of silhouettes, place object in scene and interactive lists. Items were not difficult to find. Again, we play the same HOP multiple times and don't seem to move to new areas very quickly. This gets very boring very quickly. You can also switch to a match 3 game if you get tired of the HOPs. Puzzles were extremely simple and took no time or thought to complete. Hint system was very helpful, but I spent so much time in just a couple of locations, I don't know if we have the transport feature or not. However, there is a jump map just in case.
Collectibles were very disappointing. We only need to find "love" letters, which are actually envelopes with a red heart on them. So far, I have found three in each scene. They are plenty large enough to see and quite easy to find. Definitely needed more in this department.
I try very hard to get completely through a demo before I comment on a game. However, I just couldn't do it this time. The story moved so slowly, and we spent so much time in one or two locations, that I got bored and couldn't go on. This game is nowhere near challenging. If I don't care for a game, I at least try to find something positive about it for others who might like it. I think I did that above. However, if you are looking for a good story with enough action to keep you interested and moving, this is not the game for you. I'm sure this will appeal to beginners, but I doubt a seasoned gamer would care much for it. When I beta tested this one, I gave it a 3.5 on my scale, but think it's more like a 3.0. I will recommend for beginners, but this one has nothing that makes me want to get it for myself. No purchase for me.
As always, try it for yourself and see what you think. We all have different tastes in games and you may find this to be exactly what you are looking for. Thanks for the reviews. Play on!
I recommend this game!
Unlock the secrets of the moor to save your niece from the banshee!
Overall rating
3
/
5
2 of 9 found this review helpful
Same old story!
PostedApril 21, 2018
dancemom1
fromYakima, WA
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Card & Board, Family, Hidden Object, Puzzle, Strategy, Word
Fun Factor
3
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
2
/
5
Storyline
2
/
5
Hello friends! As always, I review on the game play and not the story line, as others do a much better job than I. Looks like this is #3 in this series. The graphics are very well done, with no blurring during cut scenes. Animation is fairly nice, but sometimes we have very weird expressions and eye movements. Body movements are a bit stiff. Game play was quite good, no glitches or problems during the demo, but sometimes felt a little old school. Voice overs were age and character appropriate and showed emotion. The colors were a bit blue in the beginning, but cleared up as the game progressed and were very clear and nice. Music was okay, but got annoying. Sound FX were were excellent and realistic. We don't have a helpful friend, but we do have an amulet that lets us dispel cursed creatures by playing a silly game.
HOPs are a variety of interactive lists, highlighted words and straight lists. The scenes are fairly clear and items are not that difficult to find. I did not see where you could switch to something else if you didn't care for the HOPs. Puzzles were quite simple, not challenging and nothing new. Jump map was well marked with areas of interest and identified by area name. Hint system is helpful, but it does not transport to longer locations. You do a lot of backtracking in this game, so the transport feature would have been a welcome addition. I found that we collect an unusual number of items in our inventory before we actually use any of them.
Varied collectibles, but not many. We have pumpkins of various shapes. These are quite large and easy to find, but not in every scene. You also have various morphing items. The only time you can collect one is during the morph in. When it morphs out, you have to wait quite a while for it to come back to collect. No real challenge here either.
This game had some pretty creepy things happening now and then and the story was a bit creepy as well. Be aware that things do jump out at you. I did like how our name was incorporated into the game play, making us a character. It is not a challenging game, and the story wasn't anything new or exciting. It seemed to move slowly. Personally, I feel this is more for a beginner than for a seasoned gamer. It did not make me want to purchase the game, but I will recommend it for beginners or anyone who just wants a simple game.
As always, try it for yourself and see what you think. We all have different tastes in games and you may not care for this one at all. Thanks for the reviews. Play on!
I recommend this game!