arnold1049's Profile
Stat Summary
- Average Rating:3.8
- Helpful Votes:4,545
- Reviews Submitted:555
- First Review:February 24, 2012
- Most Recent Review:December 24, 2024
- Featured reviews0
Status:
The fate of mankind hangs in the balance as a buccaneer strikes out to destroy an ancient evil intent on wiping out humanity.
Overall rating
3
/
5
11 of 12 found this review helpful
BETTER GAMES AVAILABLE
PostedApril 22, 2016
arnold1049
fromApache Junction, AZ
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Puzzle, Hidden Object, Match 3, Word, Card & Board
Fun Factor
3
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
3
/
5
Storyline
4
/
5
Based on the one hour demo, this game has one fatal flaw that will keep me from buying it, even with a coupon.
I do not like games that take you back to the same location over and over again, and this game was particularly rife with this back and forth movement.
It also used the same location at least 3 times for a HOS. I don't mean the same scene, I mean the exact same location in the scene. Of course, there were different items to find each time, but, with all the possible places to set up a HOS, why go back to the same one over and over again?
Another irritating factor was having to open the journal in order to get to the map. And with all the coming and going, the map is essential. Wasted time and effort to get to it.
This is a mediocre game and with all the other great games out there, why waste my time on one like this?
I don't recommend this game.
It's time for adventures at sea with 120 unique griddlers to make your vacation even more fun!
Overall rating
3
/
5
6 of 7 found this review helpful
BASIC GRIDDLER
PostedApril 21, 2016
arnold1049
fromApache Junction, AZ
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Puzzle, Hidden Object, Match 3, Word, Card & Board
Fun Factor
3
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
3
/
5
Level of Challenge
3
/
5
Based on playing the demo, this is a very basic griddler with nothing to make it stand out from the crowd.
Warning: You do not have to click on the hint to get it to work. Just running your pointer over the hint button uses a hint. I couldn't understand why I didn't have any hints available when I knew I hadn't used any. I always move my pointer off the board between plays to avoid any misclicks, and I was watching one time when I did this, and I moved over the hint and it used one. This is a very bad thing because the grids get hard quickly and you will need all the hints you can accumulate before you have to start buying them.
The description of the game says that for correctly filled tiles the numbers are crossed off at the side of the grid. This is not totally true. If you fill in a square that is in the middle of other squares that need to be filled in, the number is not marked off at the side of the grid. So if you have a series of 2-1-2-1, and you mark the inside 1 or 2 correctly, it will not cross off the number at the side. If you have plenty of room before and after the 1 or 2 you have marked to fill in the other squares, you have no way of knowing if the 1 or 2 you have marked off is the first 1 or 2 or the second 2 or 1.
No blank tiles are filled in automatically, even when a row is completed. So you have to click every square except maybe the last one or two at the end of the grid. I find this totally unnecessary and either means the developers are too lazy to add this additional programming or they use it as a way to make the game longer. This game will be plenty long without this tactic, with the typical 20 grids per each location and 10 or more locations.
Another irritation is that the number one and the number seven looked almost identical.
The graphics are ok and I played without sound, my usual method.
This game is not a buy for me but I'm sure it will appeal to other griddlers.
Help Saraja and Scott investigate mysterious disappearances and find a magical talisman in Mystery Agency: Secrets of the Orient!
Overall rating
4
/
5
6 of 7 found this review helpful
HOG ADDICTS ONLY
PostedApril 19, 2016
arnold1049
fromApache Junction, AZ
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Puzzle, Hidden Object, Match 3
Fun Factor
4
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
4
/
5
It took me about 4 hours to play the entire game so this isn't a very long game. There is also a lot of dialog that further reduces the amount of time I spent actually playing the game.
Positives: Lots of HOS that included fragmented as well as lists. Two levels of difficulty. Mini games varied from easy to I-had-to-skip-them difficult. A couple of them I had never seen before. Storyline interesting. HOS somewhat challenging; I used hints several times.
Negatives: Short. Locations are repetitive and the items within each location are also repetitive. Mini games were also repetitive.
This game is not worth buying at full price, but definitely worth a coupon or $2.99 IF you are a HOG nut.
I recommend this game!
Explore a dream-world filled with sweet jellies! Help Alissa and Bunbun get back home in this sweet match-3 adventure!
Overall rating
2
/
5
7 of 7 found this review helpful
GAME HAS AN IDENTITY CRISIS
PostedApril 18, 2016
arnold1049
fromApache Junction, AZ
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Puzzle, Hidden Object, Match 3, Word, Card & Board
Fun Factor
2
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
3
/
5
Level of Challenge
3
/
5
Storyline
3
/
5
At first glance, this game should be only for kids; the graphics, the cutsey rabbit, etc., says only kids would enjoy this game.
But, then the adult things are thrown in; tiles must be cleared in X-number of moves, powerups are available by matching specific types of tiles, etc. I made it to the 6th or 7th location, in the first of 8 chapters, and it appeared that the more tiles that needed to be cleared, the fewer moves were available.
Then there are special tiles that clear a row/column, a couple of other ones that I never could figure out what they were used for or how to set them off, and a special "angle" move that was a little unusual. The game really needs a "how to play" section.
The board is really busy, with lots of flashing tiles for one reason or another. Suggested moves come very quickly, too quickly for an adult trying to strategize the next, best move. And the suggested moves almost always pointed to moves that did not clear a tile, so were misleading. They also flashed.
The background for the tiles that need to be cleared is blue, a shade lighter than the backgrounds of all the other tiles. I spent a lot of time looking for them and it was very frustrating. They flashed also, but with such a dim light that all the other flashing tiles almost completely hid them. They should have been some stand-out color that could be easily seen. This was the biggest factor for me in deciding my rating for the game.
I don't think kids could play this game very long without adult help, and I think adults would find this game tedious at best. So is it for adults or kids? I don't know and neither does the game.
I don't recommend this game.
Discover the secrets of Riverside, the abandoned town without memory. Save your love and avert the catastrophe facing the doomed town!
Overall rating
4
/
5
0 of 3 found this review helpful
BOBBLE HEAD DOG DROVE ME CRAZY
PostedApril 14, 2016
arnold1049
fromApache Junction, AZ
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Puzzle, Hidden Object, Match 3
Fun Factor
4
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
3
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
4
/
5
I liked this game; it has a lot of great features, like a jump map, unusual in SE games. It is a fragmented HOG, with some of the pieces in the same scene and others having to be found in other scenes and used from inventory to complete the match. This was a little confusing at first.
The dog attached to the hint button had a bobble head that actually gave me a headache and made me slightly nauseous, kind of like motion sickness. His head never stopped moving, except when the hint was recharging or I was in a scene that didn't have a hint option. The constant motion out of the corner of my eye almost made me stop playing the demo a very short way into the game.
But I decided to continue and played the complete hour. I was hoping that I would get used to the constantly-moving head and it wouldn't bother me. And I did, sort of, but not enough to make this a sure buy for me. I still have the headache and, although I enjoyed the game and thought it was well done, I'm not into pain when I play games. It would have been better if the head moved while charging and then stopped moving the rest of the time.
Try it and see if the dog bothers you as much as it did me. Hopefully not.
I don't recommend this game.
Explore a fantastical world and save the King in this innovative new match-3 experience!
Overall rating
3
/
5
29 of 33 found this review helpful
A LITTLE TOO MUCH
PostedApril 12, 2016
arnold1049
fromApache Junction, AZ
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Puzzle, Hidden Object, Match 3
Fun Factor
3
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
3
/
5
Storyline
4
/
5
This is way more than a Match 3 game. It is an Adventure Game centered around Match 3 play. The one hour demo just barely scratched the surface of this complex game.
I had seen many of the characteristics of this game in other games, so my learning curve was shortened accordingly. There are still some unusual aspects, like having a set number of moves available to clear the grid of all the usual items, red tiles, grass, dirt, etc.
The graphics are great, bright and lush. I particularly enjoyed the tiles as the images were big, clear and easy to identify. The voiceovers, the only sound I left on, were spot on and the graphics of the characters were complex and colorful. Great job here.
Every positive has a negative, and the complexity of the game is a little overdone. Picking a horse, naming it and taking care of it is a little over the top for an adult game, which this clearly is. I remember my granddaughter addicted to a game that had a similar "take care of the horse" side plot. That was when she was a kid and she is now 27 with two kids of her own. That tells you how long this "horse keeping" has been around and it is still pretty annoying to this adult. So much for "innovation".
This game is not innovative; it has just taken various aspects of a lot of other games and tried to put it all in one package. I think this game tries to be everything to everybody and in the process, fails. In fairness to the game, I'm staying silent on the Recommend/Don't Recommend question. But don't take my word for it; try it yourself.
Refill four magic runes and help the poor wizard return back home.
Overall rating
4
/
5
4 of 7 found this review helpful
NO HAND HOLDING HERE
PostedApril 11, 2016
arnold1049
fromApache Junction, AZ
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Puzzle, Hidden Object, Match 3
Fun Factor
4
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
3
/
5
The storyline has a wizard making a mistake in one of his spells for prediction and ends up lost in Adrianne's kingdom (a character from a previous game in the series?). In order to return to his own time, you must help him restore the runes with the 4 key elements; earth, wind, fire and water. The demo starts with water.
The storyline is a stretch for me. The prediction potion became a time travel one? What has the refilling of magic runes with the 4 elements have to do with anything? But then, who buys this kind of game for the storyline? Not me. In a mosaic game, they are superfluous and just slows down the game.
One of the things I like about this game is there is no hand-holding that makes me grit my teeth in other games. There is no brain-numbing instructions on how to play a mosaic grid, just a few navigational items like click here to change colors, collect coins to upgrade the castle, etc. And once this information is given, it doesn't repeat itself mindlessly.
This game is a nice, tri-color fill-in grid that does not start out with too easy grids that are boring. I think there was one 10x10 before jumping into the 15x15. I played the entire one hour demo and completed 5 grids and was on my 6th out of 20 grids for the water element, so I have no idea what happens when an element is completed. Nothing much would be my guess.
The graphics of the grid backgrounds are lush and beautiful, adding significantly to the enjoyment of the game. I did not play with music; I never do as the repetition gets on my nerves very quickly.
The numbers along the sides of the grid are color-coded with the color that your are using at the time, and changes every time you play a different color. I don't remember this in other games, and it is a nice touch except for one thing. Some of the colors blend into the background too easily, making viewing them very hard and frustrating. Perhaps if the numbers had white backgrounds, it would have worked better. Or the use of white numbers would have worked against most backgrounds. If the color of the numbers can be changed so easily, then they could be adjusted from black to white and back again according to the background of the grid. Of course, white numbers against a background with big white clouds wouldn't cut it so black would be necessary.
This is a nice, solid mosaic game but nothing that really makes it stand out. Try before you buy.
I recommend this game!
Experience the Travels of Marco Polo - a historical Point & click Adventure for the whole family!
Overall rating
4
/
5
LOVE CONQUERS ALL
PostedApril 9, 2016
arnold1049
fromApache Junction, AZ
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Puzzle, Hidden Object, Match 3
Fun Factor
4
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
5
/
5
Storyline
5
/
5
This game held my interest the whole time I played it. It was worth the effort to find a walkthrough so I could get past the harder parts in order to finish the game.
Marco Polo is in prison in Venice and the man in the cell next door records Marco's memories of his many world travels and exploits. To get the full impact of the game, a familiarity with Marco Polo's is helpful but not essential. The game moves all over the world with excellent graphics depicting the exotic locations Marco visited.
In the game, during his many travels, Marco meets several women who play a big part in his life. His relationship with the great Kublai Khan is cemented when he finds a love potion that allows a beautiful princess to love the Khan instead of Marco. Another rescues him and his friend from the Venetian prison.
I played without sound as usual. This was an issue with the game, as the sound would not stay off. The audio controls in the game did not work and I had to turn off the sound on my computer.
I kept coming back to the game over a period of several days but it still let me with the feeling that it is not that long a game. Having to completely exit the game to access the walkthrough was also annoying.
I found the game to be a nice little gem in all the other cookie-cutter games currently available. But always try before you buy.
I recommend this game!
Big Kahuna Reef 2 - Chain Reaction
Come back to an underwater paradise as creative designers from around the world deliver over 750 levels of spectacular excitement!
Overall rating
2
/
5
3 of 3 found this review helpful
OTHER "FISH" GAMES HAVE SPOILED ME
PostedApril 7, 2016
arnold1049
fromApache Junction, AZ
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Puzzle, Hidden Object, Match 3
Fun Factor
2
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
2
/
5
Level of Challenge
3
/
5
This is an average Match 3 game. The graphics are simple with the various reefs used as backgrounds for the grids starkly empty.
Various fish are released by playing 3 grids to completion. Where these fish go is anyone's guess. I certainly didn't see them showing up in the grid backgrounds. They just seemed to sit around the edges of the menu screen between levels.
The tiles are very small and hard to see against the dark backgrounds. It was not always easy to tell what still remained to be matched. I played relaxed mode, as usual. Trying to beat a clock is never enjoyable for me.
After playing some of the fish aquarium games, the graphics in this game pale in comparison. But try it as I seem to be the odd person out as far as rating this game is concerned.
I don't recommend this game.
Follow the rabbit into its rabbit-hole and help Alice find her way in a wonderful world, populated by whimsical characters!
Overall rating
4
/
5
WORTH THE EFFORT
PostedApril 6, 2016
arnold1049
fromApache Junction, AZ
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Puzzle, Hidden Object, Match 3
Fun Factor
4
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
3
/
5
Level of Challenge
5
/
5
Storyline
5
/
5
I agree with a lot of the other reviewers; the items are very small and often difficult, if not impossible to find. There was one item in particular that I don't think anyone could have found without a hint, at least with the naked eye, even with the scene zoomed in. It was a white butterfly on a white cloud.
Hints are limited to a maximum of 6 unused at any one time (not for the whole game). The game starts with 3, but when you find a gold star in a scene, that adds a hint. Once you have accumulated 6 unused hints, no more stars will appear, but as soon as you use a hint and drop below the 6 maximum, another star will appear, usually in the next scene. I didn't find out this information right away, so at first I was leary about using a hint at all. But once I used the first one and figured out the system, then I used a hint sooner rather than later.
Even some of the mini games were difficult. At the end of the hour, I was stuck on a jigsaw puzzle that had so many options to it that I was just about ready to skip it. You could swap pieces, you could rotate pieces (or the whole puzzle) and you could slide the rows and columns back and forth and up and down. I was never able to find that one piece in the right place so that I could build from there. If I remember correctly, the skip button becomes available after 3 minutes (or was it 5), so my frustration would not have been limitless.
So, enjoy the story and don't be intimidated by the hardness of the game or the limited hints. But be sure to play the demo just in case looking for tiny items is not your thing.
I recommend this game!