sereneorchid's Profile
Stat Summary
- Average Rating:3.6
- Helpful Votes:6,145
- Reviews Submitted:156
- First Review:November 13, 2011
- Most Recent Review:March 4, 2021
- Featured reviews1
Status:
Spruce up your Christmas with this charming, seasonal Match 3 game. Help a little pine tree become the perfect Christmas tree!
Overall rating
4
/
5
76 of 86 found this review helpful
Happy holiday matching game
PostedNovember 28, 2011
Fun Factor
4
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
3
/
5
An entertaining match 3 game with good-looking, cheerful icons, just right for setting a holiday mood. Power-ups magically appear on the board as you’re playing, but there are no tools to help you if you get stuck with a tile in a tricky spot. Just keep playing, and a power-up will appear, or you’ll finally get the match. With the points you win, you can buy bulbs to decorate a Christmas tree. This was somewhat disappointing. The tree, bulbs, and landscape are cartoonish and jarring in contrast to the rest of the game, and the bulb selection very limited and unattractive. So I just kept skipping this part. But the matching game is beautiful, relaxing, and fun.
I recommend this game!
Watch Charles Dickens` masterpiece, A Christmas Carol, unfold as you play this unique and challenging puzzle game.
Overall rating
5
/
5
52 of 54 found this review helpful
Unique matching in all directions
PostedNovember 28, 2011
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
A highly entertaining and unique kind of matching game where you draw a line (link) between at least 3 matching icons. And what’s fun is that instead of being limited to just horizontal and vertical matching, you can match in any direction, and double back on yourself, ending up with long chains for bigger bonuses.
It took my brain a minute or two to get the hang of it (as instructions are seldom as comprehensive as they can be), and it’s now become one of my favorite kinds of matching games. Start with the normal matching of 3 or 4, but notice that the "string" linking the tiles can go in all directions, including diagonally, and that you can head off in one direction to link, say candy canes, double back, and continue the string in another direction to make a giant match. That's what really tickles your brain and makes this intriguing, but not hard. Your links--matches can swoop through the playing board like a giant "C," "S," or any other shape. Can't do that with your average matching game.
There are power-ups to help out if you get stuck, as once in awhile you get that one tile that's in a tricky spot. Each level has a slow timer, but I found the time given sufficient. As to the title of the game, while it started with a condensed review of the book “A Christmas Carol” about Ebenezer Scrooge, the matching games didn’t seem to have anything to do with the story except for the background artwork.
Great holiday entertainment value. I'll still play this after the holidays because of the unusual linking--matching game play.
Intergalactic chickens are invading Earth, seeking revenge for the oppression of their earthly brethren!
Overall rating
5
/
5
138 of 148 found this review helpful
Love it, but hate starting back at the beginning
PostedNovember 27, 2011
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
5
/
5
If you're a sharpshooter with a sense of humor, you'll have a lot of fun with this game.
Amusing graphics, sound effects, and a humorous storyline launch the invasion of the Santa-suited chickens from outer space. You are to shoot them down as fast as possible while avoiding dropping eggs, because chickens get nervous, you know. And while you’re busy shooting, you are also trying to collect power-ups, plus falling chicken burgers and chicken legs from the chickens that have been blasted into lunch.
It’s fast-paced and fun, as the Chicken Invaders games are. But when you’ve lost your 5 lives running into an egg, a chicken, an alien, or other space hazard, you have to start back at the beginning of the game. And I’ve only got so much patience for playing the same levels over and over. So while I love ya, Chicken, especially in your Santa suits, I’ll live to fight another day in another game where I can actually get somewhere.
Game designers: there should be “safe” levels in the game so that you once you reach them, you return there when you lose your lives, rather than to the very beginning of the game.
I recommend this game!
Explore the lands of the Pharaohs and the Cradle of Egypt! Enjoy the miraculous constructions in this awesome Match 3 game!
Overall rating
5
/
5
84 of 113 found this review helpful
Gorgeous, relaxing game
PostedNovember 26, 2011
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
This is the first game I've played of the Cradle series, and I was very impressed with the gorgeous graphics and animations. I'd call it a "top of the line" game. When you've played a lot of matching games, it's easy to be blase, and one of the things that really appealed to me about this one is that you match with a purpose: to collect food, money, and bricks to build your own animated civilization. Generally I avoid anything with a whiff of history, but a good game is a good game, and I thoroughly enjoyed my "time" with this one.
I recommend this game!
Nick Jr. Bingo
Join Dora and her friends for a fun game of Bingo, as you learn to identify numbers and letters. It's "fantastico"!
Overall rating
5
/
5
320 of 425 found this review helpful
Great fun, kids may need help to play
PostedNovember 24, 2011
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Colorful, entertaining, and educational, plus an opportunity to learn or review colors, shapes, and numbers. But an adult’s help will most likely be needed to get the game set up and to help the child walk through how to play the game, especially if the child hasn’t played bingo before. (The game makes the assumption the player knows what to do.)
Once you choose your playing card (shapes and colors, Diego friends and colors, or BINGO letters and numbers), then you get to choose an amusing Deigo friend as a playing companion. During the game, another Diego friend will be playing his own bingo card, for a little friendly competition. Both characters add encouraging and helpful commentary to the game, and I think would make it more fun for the child.
In between the bingo games are mini-games which are age-appropriate, i.e., preschooler. However, I’d say kids in primary grades could still be playing this game, because bingo is bingo. There are a few minor technical quirks adults will notice in the game, but younger kids should have a wonderful time playing this happy version of bingo!
I recommend this game!
Dip into the world of good moods and magic with this expansive holiday game. Celebrate imaginations!
Overall rating
3
/
5
37 of 43 found this review helpful
A holiday hum-drum
PostedNovember 19, 2011
Fun Factor
2
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
3
/
5
Level of Challenge
3
/
5
An ordinary, run-of-the-mill match 3 game with four variations: match 3, which has special tiles and power-ups and is time-based; quads, which matches blocks of four tiles; puzzle requires you to completely remove all icons from the board; and relax mode, in which you keep matching 3 until reaching a particular score.
Graphics and playing experience were just average. I kept getting the same handful of icons each game, so there was not much visual interest. In puzzle mode, you have to match 3 in a way that removes all tiles from the board. But there are no hints to help you figure it out. And you can't progress to the next puzzle until you get that one right. So that may eliminate one-fourth of the game right there.
If you are looking for a holiday game, I'd definitely try this before buying. There's not much here that could be considered highly entertaining or creative.
I don't recommend this game.
L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
Join Dorothy, the Tinman, the Scarecrow, the Cowardly Lion and even Toto as you travel through the wonders of the Land of Oz!
Overall rating
2
/
5
87 of 105 found this review helpful
Great way to get a headache
PostedNovember 19, 2011
Fun Factor
2
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
3
/
5
Level of Challenge
3
/
5
Someone tried hard to make this a decent game, with good art and good narration for the handful of people who don't know the story of the Wizard of Oz. But...this is a hidden object game, and that's where the problem lies.
The hidden objects are very small, obscure, and don't necessarily look like what they represent. They are also not in proportion to the other elements in the scene. I had to use a hint to find a watermelon, which was nestled in the seed head of a sunflower. Another requested item was a turnip, however the vegetable was growing in the ground, and you had to identify it by the leafy stem.
A third item was a handle. The handle of what? Could be a hundred different things. And so it went scene after scene. It's a great way to get a migraine. And when you can't take anymore, you'll find the game won't save your level in progress, so you have to finish the level or lose what you've done so far.
I don't recommend this game.
Take a journey through Oz with Dorothy! Match gems, break bricks and save your friends in this exciting spin on a classic story.
Overall rating
5
/
5
101 of 111 found this review helpful
What a hoot
PostedNovember 19, 2011
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Kids will love this match 3 game, and so did I. Trapped inside some of the matching icons are munchkins, waving at you to let them out. As you make matches, the munchkins are released and drop down to the bottom of the screen, where they scurry off cheering. An amusing concept.
The power-ups are creative and entertaining, like exploding pudding and keys to open locked tiles, and are introduced one at a time so you can get a handle on them. But pay attention because you won't find them in the Help section when you need to refresh your memory.
This is a fresh, amusing approach to the standard match 3 format. Easy for novices to learn, and a hoot for experienced players. There's much to love in this land of Oz.
I recommend this game!
Blossom
Become a master gardener in Blossom, the Puzzle game that challenges you to irrigate your way to a bright, happy garden!
Overall rating
4
/
5
12 of 13 found this review helpful
Didn't get it, but it's still worth 4 stars
PostedNovember 18, 2011
Fun Factor
3
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
5
/
5
Sometimes you "get" games, and sometimes you don't. This is a "don't" for me. The game has a great premise, great graphics, and it's fun to see the flowers pop open when the water pipes align just right to deliver water. But I just couldn't get all the pipes organized so that all the flowers would open at the same time. Hints help, but they don't fill quickly enough (for me) to keep the game moving when you are stuck. But if this kind of puzzle does align with your brain cells, you'll enjoy the graphic appeal and original concept.
I recommend this game!
Help the creatures of Christmasville discover the truth about missing Santa Claus in this eye-popping Hidden Object Christmas adventure!
Overall rating
2
/
5
15 of 22 found this review helpful
A holiday let-down
PostedNovember 18, 2011
Fun Factor
2
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
3
/
5
Level of Challenge
2
/
5
This might be a game for young kids. I found the story line and dialogue to be silly. The hidden objects lists in the scenes are short and the objects not very hidden. Again, this might make it better for kids than adults. Considering that this is a Christmas game, I was surprised that so many HO were everyday items, rather than holiday-related. I got bored, and didn't finish out the hour trial.
I don't recommend this game.