Based on complete game. This is a good solid but timed game - lengthy. Storyline follows the Poirot mystery from Christie’s book of the same name. There are plenty of red herrings thrown in. Graphics are vivid and true to the time period. Some objects are very small, so the crisp, colorful and clear graphics really help. Music sounds like it is from that period.
Puzzles and mini-games are plentiful. They relate to the story and provide vital clues. There are no HOS; instead the objects are found within the location. The scenes are somewhat cluttered and objects not normal to the location are frequent. A riddle may need to be solved to determine what object you’re looking for. You also get tasks to do (like finding and putting toys into a basket) and riddles to solve in the scenes. After each scene, you get a clue card about a character. You need to pay attention to the clues because you’ll need them to match the clues to the characters several times, and they get more difficult as the game progresses. Ending: murder solved.
I recommend this game!
+24points
25of26voted this as helpful.
Agatha Christie - Death on the Nile
Hercule Poirot investigates a thrilling murder mystery and must find hidden clues, interrogate suspects, and much more.
Based on complete game. This is a good timed (no other option) and very lengthy game. Storyline follow Poirot’s adventures from a book of the same name. Graphics are very good and colorful. Adventuresome: find clues, question suspects and witnesses, and examine evidence. There are 12 investigations. Special clues found during investigations provide opportunities to ask additional questions and examine new evidence. You don’t have to question the characters until well into the investigation. As each investigation ends, a bonus round is given which provides additional clues.
HOS: some of the rooms are quite cluttered. Tasks may be involved before an object can be collected, such as finding 6 roses and putting them in a vase. Unfortunately, the game should come with a built-in magnifying glass. Developers should certainly know by now that, no matter how beautiful the scene is, no one likes to find miniscule items which are large only to ants. An enjoyable game that is not too challenging – well, tiny objects are a bit challenging, aren’t they?
Completed game. HOW I WISH I HAD BOUGHT THE CE FOR THIS GAME!!! I almost didn’t demo it because the icon/promo artwork of the red male was so unflattering. When deciding to buy, I would have liked to know if I was reading reviews of people who actually owned the game. I wish BF had a box for reviewers to check on ownership or at least whether the review was based on the demo only, especially for games with 40 or more reviews. Below “favorite game” would be a good spot for the info.
I’ll just list different attributes (everyone has a different opinion on what’s good and what’s not so make your own decision): • Can individually set brightness, music, environment, and effects however you like. Yeah! • Some spooky elements. Very, very lengthy. • Interactive map (found out by accident). Map is especially helpful due to the large number of locations. You get a new map at the beginning of each chapter. • Uses live actors, who actually look and talk like professionals. • Journal tells the story if you lose track. • Hint system tells you exactly what to do with your inventory. It's like a strategy guide. I found it helpful to keep a list by hand of what is needed in which locations because there are so many scenes in each chapter. • HOGs: hand drawn so objects are stylized but still recognizable. No small objects, but they can still be well hidden. Sometimes inventory items are needed for use in the HOS. You may also have to find what’s missing elsewhere. (I was looking everywhere and forever for gold paint). Some HOS have objects that react to the cursor (such as a car horn beeping when you touch it). • Puzzles are plenty and varied. Not too difficult if you’ve been playing HOGs a lot. I especially liked the bottle puzzle in the librarian’s office. • Graphics: crisp and colorful (with limited exceptions like a dungeon). The spiderbot was especially cute, even at rest. • My complaints: Very imprecise cursor in the first half of the game. If you play the demo, you will know what I mean. The problem miraculously clears up in the last part of the game. But then the inventory tab won’t stay put – it keeps popping up and down. My 2nd complaint is the font; fancy fonts may look nice but are sometimes hard to differentiate between letters.
This is more than a 5-star game, but that's the highest we can rate it. Fix the cursor/inventory tab, and it would be flawless. My new favorite.
Based on complete game. Storyline: Nostradamus is your guide in this story, which is interesting and easy to follow. It’s a continuation of the 1st game and again ends in a cliffhangar. Graphics are good; scenes not too dark. Experienced hoggers who want to give their brain a rest will find the game easy to middle-of-the-road, while newbies will find it more challenging. There is a wide variety of very fun minigames and puzzles.
Instead of the typical HOG junk pile, you find hidden objects in the scene, followed by several enjoyable, interesting and multi-step tasks to do. Objects may be hidden behind, or within other objects, which will have to be moved. Also many objects react to the cursor, but only for your amusement (like a swinging and tinkling bell). Hint system is unique and simply terrific. Hint charges slowly, but can be sped up by finding objects or completing tasks. There are 5 different types of hints, which consume less than 100% of your hint meter. I would like to see the hint system used in other games.
Based on complete game, relaxed mode. Storyline: easy to follow, logical (so what if it can never happen?). Interaction with co-stars is somewhat corny. You earn points and the total determines the ending. Lose points for skipping puzzles, earn extra by finding several objects fast. Fairly lengthy (you have to identify quite a few people).
Puzzles and mini-games varied from find related objects to sliders to match the scene. The memories puzzles frequently had one or two riddles that required some thinking. HOS: Lots of them of various types - standard find list of objects, FROGs, find a number of the same items and place objects to duplicate the-scene. All the HOS seemed fair (well defined, no tiny objects), though a few were cluttered in spots. Hint system refills very fast.
If you only played the demo, got to the point that you identified someone and liked it, you will like the game as the process of identifying people is repeated for each person. I did not have any technical issues expressed by a few others and I've had the game for some time. Newbies might want to play to advance their game skills and that is the basis for giving it 3.6 stars, rounded up.
• More an adventure game. As in prior games in the series, you pick up dream pieces – found everywhere, including the puzzles. But this time, they have a purpose . • Many locations and scenes to visit. Great graphics. Pleasant music. • Journal records clues for puzzles, notes from Tangle (so pick them up) and the story. No misclick penalty. • Puzzles: varied and were not particularly difficult. I did find a couple that were rather thinky, particularly where I had to go to get all the pieces. • Hint system has been improved over prior games. Now you get a magnifying glass to show where something is. • Ending: Abrupt. Somewhat short.
WHAT’S COOL - OR - NOT COOL (matter of personal taste): • Generating fuel before embarking on journeys by picking up colored stones from piles you encounter. Consider picking them up whenever passing a pile and know you are out of fuel. • Using the spell jewels. The Reveal Jewel is used whenever you go to the map to get the coordinates for your next destination. Then you have to set the coordinates after you’ve fueled up. There were other jewels, such as one to illuminate and one to make it rain.
I recommend this game!
+1point
2of3voted this as helpful.
Dream Chronicles
Surreal clues and puzzles come alive in this breath-taking adventure game where the line between reality and fantasy no longer exists!
Based on entire game. PROS: • Visuals were good – plenty of scenes and things to do. Music is relaxing and nonintrusive • Gameplay is lengthy (but I take my time) and challenging – new obstacles magically appear and disappear as you enter scenes (or shortly after you’ve entered the scene) throughout the game • Puzzles range from easy to intermediately challenging – became more thinky later in the game • Gems are collected and used to create brooches. Finished brooches don’t have a purpose in the gameplay. (I didn’t find all of them and you can’t go back to look). • No misclick penalties; replay possibilities
CONS: • Visual comments appear when passing over items and were sometimes very annoying. It was somewhat difficult to search for something behind the dialogue box. • No hint system per se, but inactivity will create a sparkle to get your attention somewhere (sometimes, it seemed to take a long time)
Based on complete SE. Graphics are crisp; music is not intrusive; characters are great. There is a notebook, but you can get the gist of the story from the dialogue, which I found engaging. There are scenes which seem somewhat sinister or spooky, but not too scary. Artwork looked appropriate to the times and was not too dark. Scenes are visited several times. You get a map that comes in quite handy. The characters and dialogue made the storyline better than usual.
HOS were relatively easy because the objects were well defined. Plus, they are not the common junk piles; they are merely cluttered. They do require occasional interaction. The randomness of the HOS make the game replayable. Puzzles and mini-games were varied, ranging from assembling an item to spotting differences. [I’m not crazy for the latter, but the developer did add a twist, which I did like.] It was the norm to encounter puzzles whenever a key was needed to open a door.
One thing I did not like was closing the popups. I prefer the popup to close when you can either click the close button or "X" or just click outside the popup. You could not close it by just clicking outside of it.
Enter the world of Drawn. Explore the Painted Tower and unravel its mysteries on your quest to save the hope of the kingdom. Can you reach the top of the tower?
Based on entire game. Loved the game. Don't think I'll ever get tired of it. I seem to like games where people disappear into pictures for a period of time as I have others and like them all. It’s a good escape or vacation from the world while in a picture. I really liked the notes between the characters, especially those from Franklin to Iris. She was a real little imp. Graphics were colorful, interesting, clear and crisp for the most part. Music was okay; it did add to the atmosphere. Sound effects were appropriate to the activities and scenes. Adding the weather sound effects was a really good touch
The game seemed to be one large ongoing puzzle. There were always pictures needing repair, some of which required a lot of thought. Determining all the activities required for the performance in the theater and again in the hall just before the end were quite challenging, but really enjoyable and entertaining. There is back-and-forth traveling, but I didn’t think it was excessive. Having the sketches that Iris drew come alive was a great touch.
Ending was unusual and had quite a twist. It really brought the story to a good climax without finding a definitive conclusion. You know there will be a sequel, which I already have. 6 stars all around, but I can only give it 5.
Completed in casual mode. Good length. Challenging; requires some thought. Many, many tasks to do in this adventure-HOG game. Visual effects are beautiful. Relaxing play - music changes to suit scenes. Has circles showing what items you need to find and put into the circles to get an object (don’t recall what that type is called). You can’t take items until they are needed. The gnome, goblin, deer and fairies were terrific. I especially liked the challenge of making and using some of the potions.
Unless you need a lot of exercise, find the crystals in every scene because they will unlock a piece of the interactive map. Puzzles are middle-of-the-road – most aren’t too easy but not too difficult. If you don’t know what to do or where to go, check your task bar. If that’s not enough help, there is a hint system, but it isn’t the most helpful. It might be easier to just revisit rooms and click the hint button.
Looks like there will be a sequel, but I haven’t seen one yet. About a 4.6 stars (because I got stuck a few times), so I rounded up because it was just a beautiful and pleasant game to play.