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:
A game and a brain teaser in one! The new Easter Riddles is a great way to spend an evening improving your mind!
Overall rating
4
/
5
6 of 6 found this review helpful
EASY ON THE EYES, WORKOUT FOR THE BRAIN
PostedApril 6, 2015
arnold1049
fromApache Junction, AZ
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Word, Adventure, Hidden Object, Match 3, Brain Teaser, Puzzle, Mahjong
Fun Factor
4
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
5
/
5
The graphics are bright and create a great spring-like atmosphere. Really nice change from a lot of the dark, gloomy games.
I played the one-hour demo and did not get through all the levels of the first world, so I cannot comment on what might happen when one world is completed and you move onto another one. From what I gather from the description, this maybe a major part of what makes this game more than a standard mosaic.
The levels that I played got no bigger than a 10x10 grid, but they were definitely challenging. Not something that you would want to play when you are tired. I did not see very much of a picture or balanced design in the mosaics, which make them even harder. With so many levels in so many worlds, this game would be something to play over a long period of time.
I turned off the sound and music, which is my normal mode of play. No matter how good the music is, repetition gets on my nerves.
The demo was good enough for me to immediately purchase the game so I could continue on and see what happens when I finish a world,
I recommend this game!
Save the besieged alpine village of Martlet and rescue its residents from the mysterious living statues in this exciting Hidden Object Adventure game!
Overall rating
5
/
5
4 of 4 found this review helpful
GOOD GAME IN A GOOD SERIES
PostedFebruary 23, 2015
arnold1049
fromApache Junction, AZ
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Word, Adventure, Hidden Object, Match 3, Puzzle, Mahjong
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
5
/
5
Storyline
5
/
5
With 266 reviews and counting, there isn't much I can add to everything that has already been said about this game. This is a great game with all the right things expected in a CE. I played the casual mode and did not need any hints in the HOS. I did skip a couple of the puzzles, though, which kept me from winning one of the achievements. Either that, or I used a hint outside the HOS instead of using the strategy guide to find my way.
I found all the collectibles fairly easily, but I did use the strategy guide to make sure I didn't miss any.
A good, enjoyable. game.
I recommend this game!
Help Minha save her father from the gallows in this 19th century epic based on Jules Verne’s novel La Jangada.
Overall rating
4
/
5
7 of 7 found this review helpful
STORY HELD MY INTEREST
PostedFebruary 21, 2015
arnold1049
fromApache Junction, AZ
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Word, Adventure, Hidden Object, Match 3, Puzzle, Mahjong
Fun Factor
4
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
3
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
4
/
5
This game has a few drawbacks, particularly the amount of dialog that you go through. You can skip the dialog, but, to me, the story was one of the stronger parts of the game, although it was a little slow moving.
The story is about a daughter who is leaving Peru to go to Brazil to be married, but once the families reach Brazil, the father of the bride is arrested for a 23-year-old murder. The family, mother, daughter, son and soon-to-be son-in-law, must find evidence to exonerate the father.
There are a lot of HOS, which is good for a HOG. And the HOS were hard; extremely small objects extremely well hidden. Some players will find this frustrating and at times I did, too. I found myself using the hint button a lot. The hint button worked differently than most. Instead of showing you the item in the scene, it brought up a small picture of part of the scene in black and white with the item in color. In order to find the item, you have to close the picture and then try to find that small part of the scene that was shown in the picture to find the object. Even that was hard at times. So even with the help from the hint button, it was not a walk in the park.
Another thing I enjoyed about the game was the voice over. There was only one character that talked, the female heroine, and I enjoyed her Spanish accent and the way she correctly pronounced the Spanish words. This game is set in Peru and Brazil so this audio was right on.
The graphics were pretty clear and colorful, although not too realistic. The characters are wandering around the Amazon jungle, but not a hair is out of place and their clothes stay clean and look like they just sat down to a formal dinner.
It is also not a really long game and has no other bells or whistles. But it held my interest until the end.
I recommend this game!
Investigate eerie hijinks and uncover a mystery that will have you in stitches! Work your way from one funny scene to the next!
Overall rating
4
/
5
5 of 5 found this review helpful
GOOD CHANGE OF PACE
PostedFebruary 19, 2015
arnold1049
fromApache Junction, AZ
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Word, Adventure, Hidden Object, Match 3, Puzzle, Mahjong
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
4
/
5
When I first started playing this game, after buying it without trying it, I was extremely ambivalent about it, but I kept coming back to it and ended up playing to the end. Not only are the graphics different (cartoonish) but the gameplay is too.
The hardest thing to get used to was Moxie's high, whiney voice. I turned all the sound off except the voiceovers, and I guess I could have turned that off, too, but I like seeing how the voiceovers match the characters. Again, Moxie's was a little over the top. It was hard for me to realize that she was a girl, until she kept bending over and I saw her underpants. That was a little off-putting to me.
Back to game play. Each location is a combination of HO and minigames. I know that is true of most HOG, but this game does it a little differently. They are so interrelated that they flow together seamlessly. And you don't leave that location until everything is done, a real selling point for me, as I really dislike jumping from place to place, even with a map,
This game requires you to think and use logic to figure out what to do and how to do it. I did use a few hints, which worked well. There are no achievements, bonuses or extras of any kind. The game is not too long, but I enjoyed it and have purchased the other game in the series. I will play it when I need a break from the usual format of HOGs.
I recommend this game!
Overall rating
4
/
5
2 of 2 found this review helpful
SIMPLE HOG
PostedFebruary 15, 2015
arnold1049
fromApache Junction, AZ
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Word, Hidden Object, Match 3, Puzzle, Mahjong
Fun Factor
4
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
3
/
5
Level of Challenge
3
/
5
Storyline
4
/
5
This game is a cute, short, uncomplicated HOG. The storyline is interesting but predictable. The graphics are not the greatest. I had to laugh at the heroine's messy hair and the hero looked like a cadaver.
Even playing the hardest mode, the puzzles were fairly simple and easy, as were the HOS. The hints were often misleading or wrong. There is no walkthrough so at one point I had to go to the Forum to find the letter seal stamp. The hint button kept saying to look in the library, I think, when it was actually found after playing a mini-game with a doll in the bedroom. That was the only time I had to leave the game for help. After that, I pretty much quit using the hint button and just kept looking around until I found the next action.
This is just a little fluff to keep you entertained when you want to relax and not think too hard.
I recommend this game!
Take a wild ride into terror and trickery to rein in a ghostly secret! Discover the truth from the ghost stories before it's too late!
Overall rating
2
/
5
2 of 2 found this review helpful
HARD TO PLAY WITHOUT A LOT OF HELP
PostedFebruary 15, 2015
arnold1049
fromApache Junction, AZ
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Word, Hidden Object, Match 3, Puzzle, Mahjong
Fun Factor
3
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
3
/
5
Storyline
4
/
5
This is the 3rd or 4th Nancy Drew game I have played and this is the 2nd one that I have quit after several frustrating attempts to complete it. I am really disappointed because I love games set in the American West and there aren't many out there.
The game has no useful hints; if you get stuck, your only alternative is to exit and go to the walkthrough or buy the strategy guide, which still means you have to exit the game to get help. This ruins the game as far as I'm concerned. I consider myself an Expert at HOG's and the logical flow of the game play in this one completely escapes me. The 360 degree movement also adds to the frustration, making it like the kind of games where you meet yourself coming and going.
As you can see, I think the game is OK or Good on all levels, but the time-consuming, frustrating way it takes to figure out where to go and what to do completely ruins the game for me.
I don't recommend this game.
Free the frog princes from the clutches of an evil witch! Return them to their princess brides, and find out if the kiss of love can break the witch’s curse!
Overall rating
4
/
5
2 of 3 found this review helpful
CUTE FAIRY TALE
PostedFebruary 12, 2015
arnold1049
fromApache Junction, AZ
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Word, Hidden Object, Match 3, Puzzle, Mahjong
Fun Factor
4
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
4
/
5
This game consists of two fairy tales about a witch turning princes into frogs because they wouldn't marry her and the frogs having to find princesses to kiss in order to turn back into princes. One princess is Snow White.
The graphics are bright and really cute. The expressions and poses brought lots of smiles. There are not a lot of HOS but there are a lot of things to do throughout the game. There are a lot of puzzles, several of which I had to skip. I would have liked to have had a chance to go back and try them again, but this is a SE, not a CE so that was not possible. Other puzzles were relatively easy.
There are 12 achievements to win, 6 for each story. I won 10 of them, missing out on the 2 for not skipping any puzzles. It appears that you can save some of the frog poses as an avatar, but I didn't really get into that.
The game is not very long, but just a light-hearted, fun twist on the "kiss a frog to find a prince" story.
I recommend this game!
Unravel a tale of murder on the RMS Titanic. Help Professor Magnusson solve puzzles and expose clues to piece together evidence of a dark conspiracy!
Overall rating
4
/
5
3 of 3 found this review helpful
WAS THE TITANIC SABOTAGED?
PostedFebruary 10, 2015
arnold1049
fromApache Junction, AZ
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Word, Hidden Object, Match 3, Puzzle, Mahjong
Fun Factor
4
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
3
/
5
Level of Challenge
3
/
5
Storyline
5
/
5
This game has a storyline that raises questions about why the Titanic hit the iceberg. This is the best part of the game.
The HOS are pretty easy and fairly common with only a few having any interactive items. The minigames are repetitive and extremely easy. SPOILER: Don't over think the puzzles; they are really simple and if you look at them for a few minutes before making a move, you can usually solve them with only a few moves and very quickly.
The only bonus item is screensavers. This is a very plain SE game with few bells and whistles, although it does have a journal and a jump map which shows the active areas by having only those areas available to jump to. A nice touch was a little icon at the upper right of a location when everything had been completed there.
There are a lot of HOS, which makes it a nice game for HOG lovers, although many will probably find it too easy. It is not very long, but, again, the storyline was extremely well done and kept me guessing until the end.
I recommend this game!
When a casual fling turns steamy for a brilliant wedding photographer, Mackensie decides to try to capture the romance!
Overall rating
4
/
5
2 of 3 found this review helpful
ROMANCE NOVEL HOG
PostedFebruary 7, 2015
arnold1049
fromApache Junction, AZ
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Word, Hidden Object, Match 3, Puzzle, Mahjong
Fun Factor
4
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
4
/
5
This game's storyline is based on a romance novel written by the best-selling author Nora Roberts who also writes the futuristic mystery novels, whose protagonist is Eve Dallas, under the name of J.D. Robb . The romantic interest is part of a group of women who run a wedding party service called VOWS. I'm not a big fan of romance novels but this game promised lots of HOS and it delivered.
The graphics are bright but at times a little blurry. The HOS are somewhat cluttered and the items are small. I did not play with sound. There are no extras.
There are two levels of play, timed and untimed. I played timed and I had to start a couple of chapters over again because I did not finish them in the allotted time.
There are several HOS in each chapter and the allotted time, usually 25 minutes, covers all of the HOS, so if you spend too much time on one of them, you may end up not having enough time for the following ones.
The HOS are tough. As I said before, the items are small, some extremely so, and blend into the background almost to the point of invisibility. The HOS are straight lists with no interactions. I used a lot of hints.
Hints have to be earned, so they are limited, and are not based on recharge time. Hints are earned by completing the minigames or by finding hidden letters (always V,O,W,and S) in each HOS.
There were four types of minigames so they were repetitive and not too challenging. In one you had to add flowers to create a bouquot, in another you had to decorate a cake, another had you escorting people to various tables and the fourth was taking and cropping pictures according to certain criteria. The puzzles could be skipped. I enjoyed the cake decorating one the most.
This game is not overly long, but is a good, solid HOG.
I recommend this game!
Stop a madman from taking over a city using a mind control device!
Overall rating
5
/
5
1 of 1 found this review helpful
A CE AT AN SE PRICE
PostedFebruary 6, 2015
arnold1049
fromApache Junction, AZ
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Word, Hidden Object, Match 3, Puzzle, Mahjong
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
5
/
5
Storyline
4
/
5
I will not review the storyline, as I'm sure there isn't anything I can add to this topic that hasn't already been covered by other reviewers. For me, the storyline is not vital to a game. The actual HOS and puzzles are the meat for me.
This is a little gem that has all the bells and whistles of a CE but is priced as an SE. It has a bonus chapter plus a secret room, wallpapers, music, sketches, achievements, secret symbols, a built-in strategy guide which includes the locations of all the secret symbols, and a jump map. What more could you ask for?
I thought about giving this game a 4 star rating because of the huge amount of back and forth the game requires, but I talked myself out of it because of the jump map. Quite early in the game I gave up on trying to remember where I needed to go and how to get there. I just clicked on the map icon and went to the next active location. Of course, by doing this, I failed to gain one of the achievements, but this reduced my frustration level and allowed me to enjoy the game. My pet peeve with games is this unnecessary running back and forth between scenes. If there isn't a good jump map included, the game is a bust for me.
The HOS were good but not too hard. They included HOS within HOS as well as interactive items. The puzzles were challenging and I skipped several, There was a good number of HOS and a good mix between puzzles and HOS.
The game is very long and adding the bonus chapter and secret room makes it an excellent buy at $6.99. If you get it for a coupon, you've won the jackpot. The main game is actually in two parts. The first part is in the real world, the second part in a fantasy world. The bonus chapter fits nicely into the main game as a continuation of busting the bad guys.
This game is a steal and any HOG lover should have it in their collection.
I recommend this game!