Everything in this game worked. Great story and kept your interest. The only thing, wish the graphics had been a pinch less hand drawn and more like the Midnight Mysteries series; it would have perfected it.
Everything in this game worked. Great story and kept your interest. The only thing, wish the graphics had been a pinch less hand drawn and more like the Midnight Mysteries series; it would have perfected it.
This is my CE version review in case you liked this game well enough for the CE extras.
To reiterate: THIS IS BASED ON FULL GAME PLAYED AND BONUS. And I've played all the other Haunted Hotels except for #5.
SCREENSAVER in CE content: This ss deserves its own category because it is so way cool. If ONLY it would have stayed with the computer after the game was removed such as the Fear for Sale CE's!
STORY: Abraham Shadowy buys a hotel to use as a haunted attraction but people that visit there have disappeared. (NOTE: You do not save these people in segmented chapter stories, which actually would have made this game a million times better.... but rather you save them all at once at the end as a finale#. Weirdly, there is an Egyptian Goolie that runs throughout and haunts this house. So you are at odds when the house has "haunted contraptions" A. Shadowy has built for entertainment....I just wish they'd chosen a theme and gone with it. This HH is mostly based inside the hotel itself, in its basement or surrounding gardens. I wish they'd taken us more into the hotel's surrounding outside areas.
Graphics & voice overs well done. I actually liked HH Charles Dexter Ward better. -because Charles Dexter has a lot more outdoor gorgeous scenery-. This HH is mostly based inside the hotel itself, in its basement or surrounding gardens.
CE specialties: 1 SCREENSAVER....that removes with the game, Wallpapers, --- who cares for, Concept art, music. but its there- Achiev. / collect 12 Egyptian obj.
BONUS PLAY: I was bummed. The gameplay for bonus is mostly played off the area in the basement, I wasn't a huge fan, it could have used more newly drawn areas. Making this Haunted Hotel GOOD Not Great.
SIMILAR GAMES: If you liked this game try these: I really liked all of them-
1. House on Haunted Hill - story almost exactly the same- 2. Mystery of the Ancients: Lockwood Manor 3. Shiver: Poltergeist 4. Lake house: Children of Silence
DEVELOPERS: STICK TO HH 4 Charles Dexter Ward, with outside scenery to break the monotony, Add more Screensavers that stick with the computer after game removal. It will only remind Bigfishers they loved your game and buy the next one. And drop Concept art and savable music-most of us turn the music off, it isn't a LURE!- Its a detriment! Instead add content on WHO YOU ARE, AND HOW THE GAME WAS MADE, See how the game Fright CE did this to perfection. We are fascinated by YOU people behind the scenes, and love seeing who is making these awesome games for us!! Thanks! A SUPER, MAJOR, Big fish fan
To reiterate: THIS IS BASED ON FULL GAME PLAYED AND BONUS. And I've played all the other Haunted Hotels except for #5.
SCREENSAVER in CE content: This ss deserves its own category because it is so way cool. If ONLY it would have stayed with the computer after the game was removed such as the Fear for Sale CE's!
STORY: Abraham Shadowy buys a hotel to use as a haunted attraction but people that visit there have disappeared. (NOTE: You do not save these people in segmented chapter stories, which actually would have made this game a million times better.... but rather you save them all at once at the end as a finale#. Weirdly, there is an Egyptian Goolie that runs throughout and haunts this house. So you are at odds when the house has "haunted contraptions" A. Shadowy has built for entertainment....I just wish they'd chosen a theme and gone with it. This HH is mostly based inside the hotel itself, in its basement or surrounding gardens. I wish they'd taken us more into the hotel's surrounding outside areas.
Graphics & voice overs well done. I actually liked HH Charles Dexter Ward better. -because Charles Dexter has a lot more outdoor gorgeous scenery-. This HH is mostly based inside the hotel itself, in its basement or surrounding gardens.
CE specialties: 1 SCREENSAVER....that removes with the game, Wallpapers, --- who cares for, Concept art, music. but its there- Achiev. / collect 12 Egyptian obj.
BONUS PLAY: I was bummed. The gameplay for bonus is mostly played off the area in the basement, I wasn't a huge fan, it could have used more newly drawn areas. Making this Haunted Hotel GOOD Not Great.
SIMILAR GAMES: If you liked this game try these: I really liked all of them-
1. House on Haunted Hill - story almost exactly the same- 2. Mystery of the Ancients: Lockwood Manor 3. Shiver: Poltergeist 4. Lake house: Children of Silence
DEVELOPERS: STICK TO HH 4 Charles Dexter Ward, with outside scenery to break the monotony, Add more Screensavers that stick with the computer after game removal. It will only remind Bigfishers they loved your game and buy the next one. And drop Concept art and savable music-most of us turn the music off, it isn't a LURE!- Its a detriment! Instead add content on WHO YOU ARE, AND HOW THE GAME WAS MADE, See how the game Fright CE did this to perfection. We are fascinated by YOU people behind the scenes, and love seeing who is making these awesome games for us!! Thanks! A SUPER, MAJOR, Big fish fan
This game was so well done. I play hundreds of these games (and buy more it seems) and this was perfectly done.
STORY: You are a child investigator in SE who suspects a small boy with paranormal abilities is in an abusive situation. So you do some break in maneuvers and save him! GAMEPLAY & GRAPHICS: As you race the boy to safety (whoa, this chick drives like me...) Your paranormal buddy has the power to stop a train! You actually use his abilities (and later a little girl's in bonus play# to move and retrieve items. ie: your "helper" in this game. Kevin's coolest ability was to "place thoughts" into other peoples mind. The graphics ARE well done here, though there IS just a hint of hand drawning...not a fan. For perfected graphics see the Midnight Mysteries series, especially Houdini.
DEVELEPERS: IDEA FOR PARANORMAL PURSUIT #2: Have a child that can maneuver fire, water and air, separate the game into 3 parts like Redemption Cemetery, and have a Paranormal some cute animal, a witches familiar cat, or raccoon.
CUTSCENES AND VOICEOVERS: Deserve their own category they are that good. Good thing bonus allows us to see them again. MAPS, JOURNAL, AND HINT SYST: The best I've seen. There is a refer to journal and I like these since I play several games at the same time, Maps, are the "jump to" kind with X marks where you need to go next making a walkthough guide obsolete. SE Gameplay TIME: took me 2 hr and 10 min on EASY mode. BONUS TIME: IS EXACTLY 1 HOUR MORE. I DID PLAY THIS ENTIRE GAME IN 1 DAY. INVENTORY ITEMS: can come up close and be interacted/w Every item you collect or use progresses you in the game and relates to the story,,,,, I LOVE THIS....IT IS NOT JUST PLACING RANDOM FOUND ITEMS INTO FITTED SLOTS.
PERFECTING THIS GAME: would be, to add more HO scenes of various types because in this game they are all Progressive, find one item to open the next #except for bonus play there are a couple regular HO scenes. 2. The graphics were good but I would have perfected them as I mentioned above. And 2 items in bonus play were off, search was for Paprika, oops it was a jalepeno....and search in same scene for a belt, was a bracelet.
IF YOU LIKED THIS GAME YOU WILL PROBALBY LIKE THESE, They are similar paranormal ability and paranormal gms and all these were good enough for me to recommend.
1. Agency of Anomalies: Cinderstone Orphanage 2. Angelica Weaver: Catch me if you can 3. Reincarnations series, all are great. in one you play AS A DOG! 4. Shiver: Poltergeist
Especially, because gameplay was short, if you liked this demo, you will, in my advise, love this game. And The bonus play is a full hour on easy. Making ENTIRE game 3hr 10min
TO ALL THOSE PEOPLE THAT WORKED ON THIS, AND TO BIGFISH, I AM YOUR BIGGEST FAN....THANK YOU FOR ALL THE TIME DEVOTED TO THIS AWSOME GAME!
I am leaving my review of the CE game on the SE page because if you ever have another credit this is a good place to put it. The BONUS X-PLAY ON THIS GAME IS WORTH BUYING THE CE EDITION!
I am reviewing this game after 3 editions of the title have come out. This is by far the best.
Graphics: Are clear, perfect even on a 22" monitor. The actual gameplay consist gorgeous (a little dark..) locations. The bonus play gets even prettier.
Music: Super annoying at first/ a kids voice singing about evil trees. I shut it off. Music does improve as you go on.
Storyline: I liked it a lot, you wanted to know what happens next. Its about a young boy dreaming about a summer camp he once attended where other children ostracized him to the degree he has nightmares into adulthood which cause him to seek a counselor. All characters based and look realistic....so its not all that acceptable when trees come to life in the dream state.... It might have worked in another game but this one was too dark for "cutsie" Because some of this story takes place in dream state, some of the gameplay is ridiculous and unworthy of the totality of the game...meaning there are trees that come to life and that was just stupid when most of the game was "reality based".
Bonus CE xplay: This game is worthy of purchasing the CE on the Chapter alone. Rarely in CE do we see ALL new areas to go into and these areas actually trumped the actual game. Whoever was assigned this task....bravo. It would have been nice to have a SCREENSAVER, but there were none. All other CE content typical. XPLY, WTG, Wallpapers, Concept Art (Developers....I do not know of one Bigfisher that is lured into buying CE by concept art OR music. I personally play these games all day, due to illness, and I actually WILL buy a CE for Screensavers that save to computer AFTER the game is removed. It reminds us how much we liked the game (every time our screen is in sleep) and to buy the next one!! I really was so impressed by this game I wanted to come back and review it. So far I like it better then its counterparts.... Crossing my fingers the 4th will be the best.
I am reviewing this game after 3 editions of the title have come out. This is by far the best.
Graphics: Are clear, perfect even on a 22" monitor. The actual gameplay consist gorgeous (a little dark..) locations. The bonus play gets even prettier.
Music: Super annoying at first/ a kids voice singing about evil trees. I shut it off. Music does improve as you go on.
Storyline: I liked it a lot, you wanted to know what happens next. Its about a young boy dreaming about a summer camp he once attended where other children ostracized him to the degree he has nightmares into adulthood which cause him to seek a counselor. All characters based and look realistic. Because some of this story takes place in dream state, some of the gameplay is not worthy of the totality of the game...meaning there are trees that come to life and that was just stupid when most of the game was "reality based".
Bonus CE xplay: This game is worthy of purchasing the CE on the Bonus Chapter alone. Rarely in CE do we see ALL new areas to go into and these areas actually trumped the actual game. Whoever was assigned this task....bravo.
It would have been nice to have a SCREENSAVER, but there were none. All other CE content typical. XPLY, WTG, Wallpapers, Concept Art & music.(Developers....I do not know of one Bigfisher that is lured into buying CE by concept art OR music. I personally play these games all day, due to illness, and I actually WILL buy a CE for Screensavers that save to computer AFTER the game is removed. It reminds us how much we liked the game (every time our screen is in sleep) and to buy the next one!! I really was so impressed by this game I wanted to come back and review it. So far I like it better then its counterparts.... Crossing my fingers the 4th will be the best.
This game is designed for a 7-10 yr old female. I have to admit, I did not even make it through the demo. Most of the way, not all the way. I spent a lot of time just being frustrated.
1. PLEASE NOT ANOTHER EVIL QUEEN! 2. Hate Gears, of ANY KIND. First HO puzzle is collecting silohettes of gears then first mini game is fitting them so they all rotate. Been there SO many times. Done that a million times.
CE offers: NO SCREEN SAVERS....whats the point. What it does offer you can't even preview, under lock. Wallpapers, 16- Music (5# Relay HO scenes, a puzzle if you reach 500points, WTG, and Xplay, Acheivments, Treasure hunt and Collectables, Looks like alot but No lures for me. I only want Screensavers. DEVELOPERS: Screensavers ALWAYS make sense, it reminds customers to buy the next game you put out! Especially ones like from FEAR FOR SALE which stay in your computer upon removing the game.
All houses #and town# unrealistic. Typical badly drawn statue in town center with childish 1700's style wooden homes. #and yet aren't we in the future?, my character has a tablet...# I did like the diary. The tablet has a diary a, map and tasks. I play SO many of these games I love a good diary that reminds me games story and the hint system and WTG here are very well done.
My final beef then I will stop.... gameplay did not make sense. I approach a lamp that needs screws removed, and yet ONE screen before I had a screwdriver. UH, oh, its GONE from inventory.... ok moving on... Oh good! here is a tool kit, I go back to lamp, and uh, oh #again) there is NO SCREWDRIVER IN THIS TOOLKIT, SORRY! I was so frustrated. Fixing the bird helper "Gears" worked better in game # 1 ; This time I was just annoyed. Oh, and get rid of Gears.... Lets have that little puppy instead, he was cuter.
So far I own all of the Grim Tales titles but only played 3 completely. I will be purchasing the CE of this. I've played Bigfish games for yrs and know what all the Developers have to offer by now and it just doesn't get much better than this.
I tend to like darker games so this was much darker than Grim Tales 4 Stone Queen (a kingdom complete with Queen tale better fit for a 12 yr old girl., this one was WAY better. #
SIMILAR GAMEs: 1. Dark Dimensions City of Fog- The story and graphics almost identical. 2.Brink of Consciousness: Dorian Gray Syndrome #if you liked this Grim Tales you will lk. Dorian G.) 3. Mystery of the Ancients: Lockwood Manor 4. Haunted Hotel: Charles Dexter Ward
WELL DONE: Good job DEVELOPERS with the CE part, I almost always buy a CE that offers a screensavr. You could have added "Behind the scenes how this game was made but this CE had alot, PERFECT MUSIC actually worth saving and only 4 Concept art, not a fan of Conc Art but you put the games title on it so it could still be used as wallpaper. GAMEPLAY: I LOVED the "artist option" where every so often you bring a picture to life. The scenes in all gamplay PAN to make a larger room. Really liked it. More 3d. They used creepy scare music if you touched a painting on the wall, and you could touch on items and effect them such as flowers in a vase and switching on lamps.
HO SCENES: Some were normal and some were find 5 keys in scene, ulock 4 words and find those, one of the words had an extra thing to do like match dog to dog. Next HO scene had a hidden piece of a mirror behind it so when you find all items you put the mirror together and collect it. I LOVED them.
Puzzles: Wow. I have played probably 1000 puzzles in the last few yrs. and this was my favorite, it opens a door. The game FRIGHT also had great puzzles,especially the Coll editon. The puzzle I'm talking about is featured in the games description by Bigfish, 2nd picture in. SO CLEVER!
I usually like Elephant games manner of gamplay but this game nailed it. There wern't TOO many collecting odd items to fit them into a gadget to move on. Sometimes thats too much bouncing between areas. There were enough breaks in this to not make it repetative.
HINT SYSTEM & MAPS: Perfectly done. If you get lost in this game, then you are just lost in more ways than one.
MY ONLY COMPLAINTS: I missed the diary. I have SO many games in my collection that sometimes I don't come back to a game in over a month and can't remember gamplay without it. I also play several games at once. I missed REPLAYABLE CUTSCENES. I need those to remember as well and so much effort goes into them they should always be accessable straight from the inventory the way they were in the game MCF RAINCLIFF.
& DEVELOPERS.......There are 2 game developers that gives 7 or 8 SCREENSAVERS AND THAT IS A HUGE LURE FOR ME TO BUY A CE. Especially ones that save in the Screensaver window of the computer itself. Its best to make ones that stay after the game is removed because it is a constant reminder...."Oh, yea...I loved that game, NEED TO BUY THE NEXT!" All in all this was a terrific game and everyone that worked on it should be proud of themselves. Typical to Grimm Tales, the graphics were great. Thankyou Elephant and Bigfish, I really am SUCH A HUGE FAN!
Due to illness, I play these games all the time. I see how all the developers have to give and I test almost every game.
I know how much work goes into these so I hate when I have to leave a bad review. This is only based on 45 min of demo. I'd had enough when she enters a castle with monsters. Ugg.
DIDN'T LIKE: the "devil looking" horned, fork tailed imp with glowing eyes....I named him "hatethisimp". Creepy, and oddly, he was in another game, and turned me off that game too. Also did not like the graphics. They were grainy and cartoonish. I prefer more realistic graphics. We have had enough castles filled with monsters, it has been done to death, and better than this. A shame, this game did have potential. DID LIKE: THIS GAME OFFERED 4
SCREENSAVERS....BRAVO! Members DON'T CARE FOR CONCEPT ART AND MUSIC. But a saveable screensaver reminds us to buy the next version of this game! I almost always buy a collectors edition that gives them, but not this game, unfortunetly. We also like to see how the game was made, behind the scenes, so that could have been used instead of concept art. I also liked the perfect map/hint system. And the match game option to the HO scenes. These ho scenes were too full for non realisticly drawn items and they become too hard to find when the object doesn't look like what you are looking for. So I loved the match instead of the match 3 option.