Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Brain Teaser, Hidden Object, Puzzle, Strategy, Time Management, Word
Fun Factor
3/ 5
Visual/Sound Quality
5/ 5
Level of Challenge
4/ 5
Storyline
4/ 5
This was offered as a Catch a little while ago, so as a Club member I reeled it in because it sounded like fun. It turned out to be a pretty decent game on the whole; some of the voice acting is a little overdramatic (but in a fun way) and the visuals were pleasing. But I was very disappointed to get to my second stint as Mercedes only to run into a bug. I needed to place two items on a particular spot, and the game would only let me place one. I checked the strategy guide to make sure I was correct, and I was, so I can only conclude that it is indeed a bug. I was enjoying myself up to this point so I'm disappointed. Hopefully the devs create a patch soon.
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Brain Teaser, Hidden Object, Puzzle, Strategy, Time Management, Word
Fun Factor
3/ 5
Visual/Sound Quality
5/ 5
Level of Challenge
4/ 5
Storyline
3/ 5
This was okay, as time management games go. The graphics were bright and pleasing, the music was enjoyable, and the challenge was decent. There is no option for a relaxed mode with the timer off, which I always enjoy, so that was a mild disappointment. I was also taken aback in places by a number of typos in the narrative, particularly the one for "Kamelot."
My only true annoyance was that there was more than one instance where my little onscreen helper was fetching a resource, but instead of bringing it back to the base, the sprite just stood in place with the resource above its head. Nothing I did seemed to fix this and it forced me to restart the level whenever it happened. I didn't mind it too much when it happened early in a level, but in one case I was very close to completing my goals when the restart was forced and I was not happy about it.
Definitely give this one a try before buying. I got my copy free (it was being offered as The Catch for Game Club members), but otherwise I probably wouldn't have gone past the demo.
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Brain Teaser, Hidden Object, Puzzle, Strategy, Time Management, Word
Fun Factor
4/ 5
Visual/Sound Quality
5/ 5
Level of Challenge
5/ 5
Storyline
4/ 5
I wasn't familiar with the first game in this series, but this looked interesting so I decided to give it a go in the recent BOGO sale. On the whole, it's a rather delightful fun-for-all-ages time management adventure. The characters are enjoyable, the story is pretty good, the music is pleasing, and the challenge is certainly there with several achievements to unlock. There's also a bonus challenge of collecting all of the wooden animals in each level in order to reveal pieces of a jigsaw puzzle.
My only complaint, which is the only thing keeping me from giving it a full five stars, is that the other side quest is a bit nerve-wracking. You have to watch for a painter's palette to appear in each scene and click on it before it disappears. It only shows up twice, and I frequently caught sight of it just before it vanished. This doesn't detract from the actual gameplay in any real way, but without all of those palettes it's really hard to earn the achievement for finishing all of the paintings, and I found it a little stressful. I play games like this on the most relaxed mode so that they *don't* stress me out - I'm blind in one eye, so sometimes it takes me a little longer than most to realize what something is. A couple extra seconds would have made all the difference.
Other than that, however, this is a really good game.
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Brain Teaser, Hidden Object, Puzzle, Strategy, Time Management, Word
Fun Factor
4/ 5
Visual/Sound Quality
5/ 5
Level of Challenge
5/ 5
Storyline
3/ 5
As a mosaic game goes, this is excellent. With 200 puzzles, you'll be playing for a long time. The background graphics are beautiful. The story is weak, but not terrible, and the addition of decorating a room with items purchased by finding coins in the puzzles is a nice touch.
I have two main complaints. One is that I bought all the items in the room when the game was less than half finished, which made the coins found in the rest of the puzzles completely pointless. The other, which genuinely irritated me at times, is that occasionally the boxes left to be filled in are the exact same color as the ones which have been determined to be wrong for that part of the puzzle. This sometimes caused me to click on those boxes with the wrong mouse button, earning me an error. I'm somewhat visually impaired and this felt like I was being punished for not being able to differentiate between two *extremely* similar shades of brown.
Other than that, however, it's a very enjoyable and pleasant game and I'd recommend it to anyone who likes mosaics.
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Brain Teaser, Hidden Object, Puzzle, Time Management, Word
Fun Factor
4/ 5
Visual/Sound Quality
5/ 5
Level of Challenge
5/ 5
Storyline
4/ 5
When I saw there was a new Daydream Mosaic game, I bought it without testing. I liked the plot of the previous game and was disappointed by the cliffhanger, so to see the story continue made me very happy. The writing is less stilted here, and the visuals are every bit as stunning. I especially like that Lucas and Raven have become friends in their own right, instead of being pitted against each other for Juliette's attention; I really hate love triangles and I appreciate the fact that this series doesn't seem to be going down that path. I look forward to the next installment to see what happens to them! (Oh, and the puzzles are good too.)
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Brain Teaser, Hidden Object, Puzzle, Strategy, Time Management, Word
Fun Factor
3/ 5
Visual/Sound Quality
3/ 5
Level of Challenge
4/ 5
I'm not sure why the devs bothered putting the story of Cinderella into this game. Maybe half - at most - of the mosaic puzzles had anything to do with the fairy tale; there are puzzles of the godmother and the glass slippers and things like that, but there are also dollar signs and playing cards. I certainly don't remember a wheelbarrow in the story. Many of the puzzles also don't look all that much like what they're supposed to be depicting.
As a mosaic puzzle game, it's fine. But it's such a mishmash of images that calling it Cinderella feels pretty pointless.
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Brain Teaser, Card & Board, Hidden Object, Puzzle, Strategy, Time Management, Word
Fun Factor
4/ 5
Visual/Sound Quality
5/ 5
Level of Challenge
4/ 5
Storyline
5/ 5
These days I'm always interested in a new series from Elephant, as they've become one of my favorite devs. And as a writer and a lifelong book nerd, the idea of being able to literally enter the worlds of stories was fantastic to me.
The game did not disappoint. It was twisty enough to keep my attention and full of interesting details. The characters were engaging, and as usual for Elephant the illustrations were beautiful and the voice acting was excellent. The majority of the puzzles were intriguing and sufficiently challenging. The bonus chapter was also very well done and really rounded out the story.
I hope to see more from this series and look forward to another adventure with Megan and Renegade!
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Brain Teaser, Hidden Object, Puzzle, Strategy, Time Management, Word
Fun Factor
4/ 5
Visual/Sound Quality
5/ 5
Level of Challenge
5/ 5
Storyline
4/ 5
I've played all of the HOTK games and was waiting patiently for this one to come to Big Fish. I was not disappointed!
I like that they took the usual formula and mixed it up by giving us a female protagonist. Her relationships with the people around her felt chiefly authentic and the story was well crafted. Some of the details were a real challenge to me, and it was really interesting to realize that the "Lost Tales" are actually prequels to the main trilogy and that it's not a coincidence that there's a guy named Brent in every installment!
My only complaint, if you can even call it that, is that unlike in the other games, there isn't anything to do after the end of the game. The other installments have what's called 'playable epilogues', in which you can keep adventuring after the end of the main campaign; there are even some quests that don't get offered until after the main game is finished. This one allows you to continue playing, but if you've already earned all the trophies (as I did) then there really isn't anything else to do.
That's honestly my only nitpick though. Otherwise this is a good addition to a wonderful series - if you enjoy these games, you'll enjoy this one too.
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Brain Teaser, Hidden Object, Puzzle, Strategy, Time Management, Word
Fun Factor
3/ 5
Visual/Sound Quality
5/ 5
Level of Challenge
4/ 5
Storyline
4/ 5
This game's description caught my attention because I'm a writer who lives in Pennsylvania. I had hoped that maybe it was based around one of our many *actual* unsolved mysteries; but no, they made one up for the game. All right, that's not a deal breaker in itself, I still went ahead with the demo.
For the most part it was fine. I was a little confused by the collection identified as "utensils" - I was searching for things like knives and forks, when what I was actually expected to find were implements of the writing trade. That's really not what I think of when I hear the word utensils. The bookmarks and ghost portraits were a bit more straightforward. I appreciated that several of the puzzles had a Match 3 alternative.
It lost me right at the end of the demo, when I was supposed to rotate the angles to make sets of three red symbols in the escape mirror. That made no sense (one of the angles only connected two symbols) so ultimately I opted to skip it. The game then solved the puzzle itself, let me out of the puzzle, and then... reset it. I had to skip it a second time in order to finish the demo. Between this and the glitch described in someone else's review, I think this needs a little bit of bug fixing.
Not a bad game on the whole - I probably won't spring for the full thing, but definitely give it a try for yourself.
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Brain Teaser, Hidden Object, Puzzle, Strategy, Time Management, Word
Fun Factor
5/ 5
Visual/Sound Quality
5/ 5
Level of Challenge
5/ 5
Storyline
5/ 5
This is probably my favorite time management series of them all, and a new installment is an automatic buy for me. I really thought the series was done after the tenth game, so it was a happy surprise to see a new one drop.
What a delight this game is! The storyline is engaging (and based on one of the more obscure Arthurian myths, so A+ for that alone) and full of twists and turns and surprises. I like that they've now started to animate the figures of the characters which adorn the dialogue boxes, that's a nice little extra. New to this installment is the side quest in which we collect pieces of treasure maps to unlock extra levels - completely optional, but a great addition in my opinion.
Honestly, I just think this is a wonderful game; it might be my favorite in the series to date.