JustTheFacts's Profile
Stat Summary
- Average Rating:3.9
- Helpful Votes:33,148
- Reviews Submitted:681
- First Review:December 7, 2011
- Most Recent Review:June 4, 2018
- Featured reviews0
Status:
Join the beautiful demon-huntress, Vida, on her investigation into a series of mysterious kidnappings!
Overall rating
5
/
5
107 of 114 found this review helpful
Wow! Gotta Love This, HO Gamers!
PostedMay 21, 2013
JustTheFacts
fromRural Western Australia
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Hidden Object, Puzzle
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
3
/
5
Level of Challenge
5
/
5
Storyline
5
/
5
BASED ON ONE HOUR DEMO
I loved this game almost immediately. The MAIN MENU gives you 4 ILLUSTRATED options for LIGHTING, as well, in OPTIONS you can set the GAMMA. Excellent start!
The intro was interesting and eye catching. The backstory was well told by VIDA, your character, and I was looking forward to finding out what was going on.
I have to say upfront, the GRAPHICS are NOT GOOD (on my large monitor). INTERESTING, ATTRACTIVE, but NOT HIGH QUALITY. There are also black screens between scenes. After a few minutes of playing, I just DIDN’T CARE.
This is an almost PURE HO GAME. There is an ADVENTURE COMPONENT, but it’s nothing much. The getting around is INTERMEDIATE DIFFICULTY. 90% of the game is HO SCENES. They are drawn in a fantastical style that can make it DIFFICULT to see SOME ITEMS, and the low quality doesn’t help, but it is still FUN. They are not interactive.
There are also A FEW MINI-GAMES, but they are outnumbered, so far, 2 HO to 1 PUZZLE.
What makes this game SO MUCH FUN is the CHARACTERS. There are EXCELLENT LIP SYNC’D VOICOVERS, and subtitles, BOTH of which can be TURNED OFF. But there’s no way I’d do it.
VIDA, the Huntress, and her not-so-cute COMPANION, are in a constant BATTLE OF WITS. And they are FUNNY. Other characters are also amusing. Exactly what everyone is up to is really INTRIGUING. And why do I have a bad feeling about this Count?
There is an INTERACTIVE MAP that shows you active areas and HO scenes in each location, and when an area is cleared. It is NOT A JUMP MAP.
HINT is really INTERESTING. Outside HOS, it offers you a picture of the areas around you, with ITEMS TO BE FOUND there, or TO BE USED there. Very unusual.
There are also ACHIEVEMENTS and COLLECTIBLES. The collectible stars give you AN EXTRA TYPE OF HINT.
I know many REVIEWERS will oppose me on this, saying the GAME is TOO EASY, and POOR QUALITY.
HO GAMERS, IGNORE THEM! Try this game for yourself. I’m having the best time I’ve had in a stand alone SE game since ages!
I recommend this game!
Over and over the same nightmare is following you: your sister Anna is trapped in a strange existence, begging you to help her escape. But what if these are not just random nightmares?
Overall rating
3
/
5
99 of 112 found this review helpful
Fine Game For A Coupon
PostedMay 20, 2013
JustTheFacts
fromRural Western Australia
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Hidden Object, Puzzle
Fun Factor
4
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
3
/
5
Level of Challenge
3
/
5
Storyline
3
/
5
BASED ON FULL HOUR DEMO
When the hour was up, I was immersed in an aquarium puzzle, and was surprised to see the time. Definitely signs of a good game.
This is not one of your ‘OMG!’ kind of games. It’s a STRAIGHTFORWARD HIDDEN OBJECT PUZZLE ADVENTURE, with none of the BELLS & WHISTLES we’ve seen so much of lately.
The GRAPHICS are FINE, no more. The SAME for the SOUND. There is a DIRECTIONAL HINT, a JOURNAL (that I found less than helpful), NO MAP.
The STORY is nothing new, one SISTER dreams the other is in DANGER, and rushes over to FIND SISTER GONE, and a great UNSOLVED MYSTERY from their past.
Having said all that, for those who enjoy GOOD GAMEPLAY, these things are all peripheral.
The GAME has a fair number of HOS, of 2 TYPES – interactive LIST, and what I call PROGRESSIVE SILHOUETTE, where finding one object leads to another and another until you get the INVENTORY ITEM.
In a good balance are the RELATIVELY EASY but fairly ORIGINAL and interesting PUZZLES & MINI GAMES.
This is not a game to get overly excited about, but it’s definitely solid entertainment and I expect most people will enjoy it.
(For the EXPERTS, 3 modes of play.)
WARNING: No walkthrough!
I recommend this game!
You’re drawn into a web of deceit when your train stops in Andville, where the Black Widow lies in wait...
Overall rating
3
/
5
12 of 15 found this review helpful
Decent Game, If You Can Cope With Spiders
PostedMay 19, 2013
JustTheFacts
fromRural Western Australia
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Hidden Object, Puzzle
Fun Factor
4
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
3
/
5
Storyline
3
/
5
GAME COMPLETED SEVERAL TIMES
It’s not sensational, it has no extra gimmicks or gizmos, it’s just an average HOG with decent production values.
I guess the one thing that does separate it from the crowd is the extensive use of LIVE ACTORS. This I think they did PRETTY WELL. They hammed it up a little bit, and the LIP SYNC was a little OFF, but all in, not a bad effort. There was also a LOT of REPLAYABLE VIDEOS, and they are done VERY WELL.
As you’d expect, there are SPIDERS everywhere – mostly mechanical ones though. The STORY is not going to win awards, but it was held together well enough. You find yourself stuck in a little town that’s been taken over by spiders. Yick! And now you must find out what’s going on and defeat them.
WARNING to the squeamish: there are a LOT of dead bodies in this game, although none are gory or gross.
This is primarily a HO GAME. There are some STRAIGHTFORWARD PUZZLES, but relatively few. The HO SCENES are excellent. VERY CLEAR, objects clearly visible and a reasonable size. They do make use of colour to confound you a little, but not enough to irritate. The ANIMATION really livens up the scenes.
In general, this game is autumnal (fall, for the US contingent) in colouring throughout. Which was unusual.
The GRAPHICS were GOOD, not great. And the same can be said for the sounds, although sometimes the AMBIENT SOUND included strange and creepy mutterings, and that was REALLY WELL DONE. I found myself checking behind me.
All up, good value game, even at full price.
I recommend this game!
A late-night subway ride takes a bizarre turn into a mystical cemetery. You have been summoned by a strange entity to free the cemetery’s lost souls. Will you succeed, or is this the end of the line?
Overall rating
5
/
5
43 of 45 found this review helpful
Redemption Cemetery Ups The Ante
PostedMay 19, 2013
JustTheFacts
fromRural Western Australia
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Hidden Object, Puzzle
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
5
/
5
Storyline
5
/
5
BASED ON CE GAME & WALKTHROUGH
Now all games are going to be measured by this standard, and the other most recent triumphs of ingenuity we have seen from these developers.
Redemption Cemetery is one of my all-time favourite series. The simple structure of gaining your release from the cemetery by saving 3 lost souls works very well. It is really 3 STORIES in one. The entity behind your sudden abduction seems to be different for each game, and the help you receive is different too, but there are similarities.
In this game, the ‘spirit of the cemetery’ is personified by Hina, who not only traps you, but also kidnaps your dog! Our buddy the raven is here again too, however he now has special abilities which you must recharge by solving an EASY yet INTERESTING PUZZLE.
And that is the best description of the game in general – EASY yet INTERESTING. There are plenty of both MINI-GAMES and HO SCENES. The HO SCENES are VARIED, there are 4 different types.
GRAPHICS are the famous WATER COLOURED HAND DRAWN that you either love or hate – with less pastel and more vitality, it seemed to me. The opening scene with the train is great.
There is a higher than usual COMPLEXITY in GAMEPLAY, not because individual TASKS were particularly difficult, but because there was so much to do and see.
There is a MAP, limited to the locale you are in, HINT & SKIP are both quick (on the easiest level anyway), and you have a journal.
How does it compare with the CE? Well, as a rule, I prefer to get the SE. Not in this case. If you can at all afford it, my advice would be go with the CE. As well as the usual extra play and SG, you have ACHIEVEMENTS, COLLECTIBLES, and a PLAY ROOM for your puppy, and games you can play with it that are not a part of the main game.
So it really is a different way to play.
This is still a very fun game, and I wouldn’t hesitate to buy it if CE games are not your thing.
I recommend this game!
Dive to the bottom of the sea, collect hidden items to earn cash and create your very own dream aquarium! Get hooked!
Overall rating
4
/
5
4 of 4 found this review helpful
Loads Of Fun
PostedMay 18, 2013
JustTheFacts
fromRural Western Australia
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Hidden Object, Puzzle
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
3
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
BASED ON MANY HOURS OF FUN
When I am in the mood to relax, I just cannot get enough of the Fishdom series, whether the HO Games, or the Match 3. As the name implies, this is a HO GAME, in which you can create your own fishtank screensaver.
The gist of the STORY, such as it is, is you need to create 3 masterpiece tanks for your job at the aquarium. To PAY for all the fish and accessories, you DIVE for salvage.
The DIVE is the HO SCENE. There are quite a few varieties.
• Standard list
• Multiples of
• Find all the “-“ gold, for example
• Find 1 of 3 listed items
• Standard list
• Multiples of
• Find all the “-“ gold, for example
• Find 1 of 3 listed items
As you go, the number of items you can buy increases, and the prices increase, meaning you must complete more dives to buy things.
Each tank has its own background, specialist pieces and music, which plays with the screensaver.
It's been 4 years since this game was published, so the GRAPHICS are not great, but they're still enjoyable and pleasant to look at.
There are later games with an identical format, but I still have a soft spot for this one. I own them all and swap amongst their various screensavers depending on my mood.
This game doesn’t really follow the story per se, and is therefore a very long game, taking many, many hours. I can’t even count the number of hours I’ve put into it, and I am only about halfway through.
I recommend this game!
Rita Ray, your mother and world famous film star, has disappeared! Find her before it’s too late in Film Fatale: Lights, Camera, Madness!
Overall rating
3
/
5
1 of 1 found this review helpful
Totally Zany HO Game
PostedMay 18, 2013
JustTheFacts
fromRural Western Australia
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Hidden Object, Puzzle
Fun Factor
4
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
3
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
4
/
5
BASED ON COMPLETED GAME
This sure is a LONG game. According to the GAME TIMER, it took me 5 hr 45 min to complete. This did not surprise me really; there’s an awful lot to do and a lot of ground to cover in this crazy HO GAME.
The evil dude, a once-famous movie director of the black and white era, has kidnapped your mother, his leading lady in his last, unfinished, film. Now he wants to finish his masterpiece.
This bad guy is as CREEPY as, with his sudden appearances out of nowhere, but also LAUGHABLE at times so it’s hard to take him seriously.
I’ve never been on a studio lot, but I imagine that it would indeed look a lot like the way this game portrays it. There are sets, behind which is accumulated equipment and paraphernalia, and rips in the canvas revealing that the beautiful sunset is a lie. It certainly allows lots of leeway for VARIED LOCATIONS.
This is primarily a HO GAME, there are relatively FEW PUZZLES and an obscene number of HO SCENES of the LIST type.
There is a fair amount of ADVENTURE GAMEPLAY, and without the JOURNAL & TASK LIST and the INTERACTIVE JUMP MAP, this game would be virtually unplayable, because there is just too much to REMEMBER and heck of a lot of TOING & FROING.
The GRAPHICS were OKAY. Not good, not awful. The HO SCENES were CLEAR and the HO ITEMS were easily seen. HINT & SKIP were FAST.
The AMBIENT noise was good, changing to suit the set. The VOICEOVERS were another aspect of this game’s APPEAL. Very well done, with melodrama from him and a sane pleasant voice for us.
The things I DIDN’T LIKE in this game were the number of ‘EMPTY SCENES’, where one or two actions were all that happened there, and then they were just passageways to get elsewhere. Also I found the LOOK OF THE PLACE lacking in any beauty. Although there were many different types of location – car chase, war, tropical village, science fiction – none of them qualified as eye candy.
The thing I liked best? The humour.
I recommend this game!
Halloween decorations aren’t the only things hanging around spooky Stone Farm when a group of students unwittingly open a portal to the underworld.
Overall rating
4
/
5
5 of 5 found this review helpful
Interesting & Engaging
PostedMay 18, 2013
JustTheFacts
fromRural Western Australia
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Hidden Object, Puzzle
Fun Factor
4
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
5
/
5
FROM GAME JUST COMPLETED
A HALLOWEEN party goes horribly wrong, and you are left to pick up the pieces. It is a BOARDGAME that releases the EVIL SHADOWS that have kidnapped your friends, but there is much more to discover. Find out why the farm has been CURSED, help the ghosts of the people who once lived here to move on, and SAVE YOUR FRIENDS.
There’s a lot to learn and a lot to do in this adventure, and I found it a very long game to play. There is a LOT OF (OPTIONAL) STORY, presented mostly in diary pages, with some conversations with the several ghosts you help.
There are also a lot of HO SCENES with LISTS where about half the items require EXTRA STEPS. The locations for each segment of the game, and therefore the HO SCENES, vary tremendously from each other, giving the game a lot of VISUAL VARIETY.
The PUZZLES were mostly fairly EASY, some of them quite unusual.
The game is well put together, with CLEAR GRAPHICS, a INTERACTIVE JUMP MAP, HELPFUL HINT, and JOURNAL.
The SOUNDTRACK includes FORGETTABLE MUSIC and INESCAPABLE CRYING & MOANING. This was interspersed with dogs barking and other farm related sounds, but it was the child crying that drove me nuts. She kept it up even when we found and rescued her doggie!
VOICEOVERS were not used for all the conversations – usually it was dialogue boxes – but when it was it was very well done.
The boardgame at the centre of all this is an interesting and fun approach, and is great at helping to structure the game.
I can’t give you a logical explanation, but the feel of this game was quite different from other games, and worth a trial just to check that out.
I found it a very entertaining game.
I recommend this game!
The entire town has been put into a deep, dark sleep by a mysterious evil force. Now young Lillian must find allies and uncover the dark secrets of voodoo in order to save her master and free her friends before it is too late.
Overall rating
3
/
5
4 of 4 found this review helpful
I'm Already Hooked
PostedMay 18, 2013
JustTheFacts
fromRural Western Australia
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Hidden Object, Puzzle
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
1
/
5
I've barely begun, just into the second chapter and already it's clear this is a keeper. Not as flashy (ie. good but not spectacular artwork) as the rest of my favourites, this game has a lot of original features as well as an interesting story.
There are a few special attractions :
A grimoire plus mortal & pestle that help keeping track of your ingredients for spells, as well as just being cool.
A magnifying glass in the HO scenes is a wonderful innovation.
The HO scenes are particularly good - relevant objects, crisp and clean, no distortions, The puzzles are innovative twist on common ones.
Difficulty:
Two levels available. I chose "regular'. The level of difficulty in all three aspects - HO, puzzle, quest - are all roughly the same and just about right for a goodish player. Put the thinking cap on, but no need to stock up on valium.
STORY: Just finished and have to re-evaluate this review. Everything is still true, but they blew it by ending with a "to be continued", and we very much are a long way from the finish of the story.
If a game can stand alone, a "to be continued" doesn't have to be bad. Not the case here.
Two star demerit, developers!
I don't recommend this game.
Save the kingdom and reunite Princess Isabella with her prince in the exciting conclusion to the Princess Isabella trilogy!
Overall rating
4
/
5
7 of 17 found this review helpful
I Had Such Fun!
PostedMay 18, 2013
JustTheFacts
fromRural Western Australia
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Hidden Object, Puzzle
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
3
/
5
BASED ON ONE HOUR DEMO
This is a charming game, full of wonder and excitement and fun. You are the DAUGHTER of the previous Princess Isabella (games I’ve never played, so this review is based on this game as a stand-alone, and the backstory is covered well.). You must rescue your mother from the witch’s curse. You have your Dragon and Fairy to help you, and YOUR TASK is to find your 3 fairy godmothers, imprisoned by the witch, before you confront her yourself.
All these allies, and more you meet along the way, mean there are MAGICAL ABILITIES you can use on your quest. These are so many and varied, and require different ways of drawing on them, that they are a challenge in themselves.
The game is BEAUTIFULLY DRAWN in a fantasy style. Once an evil influence has been REMOVED from a scene, it is TRANSFORMED into something so splendid... Ah! Simply gorgeous. Everything about this game is OTHERWORLDLY, even the music in some parts.
I really enjoyed the VOICEOVERS, except for the fairy, whose high pitched voice was a bit irritating. To be expected from a fairy, though.
The reason for not giving an otherwise delightful game five stars is its treatment of WIDESCREEN. There is only the FULL SCREEN or WINDOWED options and the game looks stretched on my WIDESCREEN. Worse, the CUTSCENES, and there are an awful lot of them, end up covering only a third of the vertical on my screen, leaving thick black areas top and bottom. REALLY irritating, and it detracts from the fabulous look of these videos.
This quest you’re on DOESN’T REQUIRE much in the way of TYPICAL ADVENTURE action. You bounce from PUZZLE TO HO SCENE most of the time. The PUZZLES are VERY EASY, and the HO SCENES are standard LISTS. So I see NOTHING FOR EXPERT ADVENTURE players.
For the rest of us, this is a really fun game that won’t require too much head scratching, although I did need advice from the STRATEGY GUIDE a couple of times. HINT is also USEFUL outside HO Scenes. The game does have some imaginative ways of solving problems, and I certainly did enjoy that.
There is NO MAP, NO COLLECTIBLES, NO ACHIEVEMENTS, but LOTS of CUTE COMPANIONS.
Unlike its predecessors, which were unhappily short I gather, this game looks okay on length. It took me exactly ONE HOUR to complete the FIRST TWO CHAPTERS, of a total of 7, with a BONUS CHAPTER.
BONUS CONTENT
Nothing here to grab attention, and I assume the CUTE SIDEKICKS are INTEGRAL to the game and therefore NOT EXCLUSIVE.
There’s the STRATEGY GUIDE and BONUS CHAPTER of course, plus CONCEPT ART, WALLPAPERS, VIDEO GALLERY & MUSIC.
For me, it’s a MUST HAVE, but the SE version, not CE.
I recommend this game!
The lighthouse fails and darkness invades Willow Ridge. Your husband runs into the forest for answers, unaware of the shadow hunting him.
Overall rating
5
/
5
206 of 219 found this review helpful
Never Been So Excited About A New Game!
PostedMay 16, 2013
JustTheFacts
fromRural Western Australia
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Hidden Object, Puzzle
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
5
/
5
Storyline
5
/
5
BASED ON ONE HOUR DEMO
This game is awesome!
I'll let the other reviewers go into the details of the mechanics, how many difficulty levels etc. (3 + custom btw), let me tell you about the playing of this one.
First, everything is gorgeous. The GRAPHICS, the MUSIC, the CUTSCENES. FABULOUS. Intro is really good. VOs are used sparingly but are WELL DONE.
There are acorns to COLLECT, and you actually have a tree to put them in as you go along. And ACHIEVEMENTS, accessible from the game.
What's got me so excited, though, is the HO SCENES & INVENTORY PUZZLES. They come in different types. I encountered a FRAGMENTED HOS. And 3 of LIST types. The LISTS are EXTREMELY INTERACTIVE, with about half the items requiring extra steps to find them.
When found, an item does not disappear, it moves so you can pick up the piece of puzzle hiding behind it. At the end, you must solve the puzzle (simple jigsaws so far) to complete the scene. I LOVE IT!
Outside HOS, items you pick up may go into your INVENTORY showing a PLUS SIGN. This MAY mean they need to be combined, but just as likely, you will need to PERFORM more ACTIONS with it before it is USEFUL. For example, a wire coat hanger will need straightening. Another very cool idea.
There are also cute critters in this one, but the one that won me was a hamster, who takes off when you open its cage, and leads you into a HO SCENE, in which it keeps popping up! Again, a wonderful idea.
There were a few PUZZLES, in the GAME and in the HOS, none of which presented even PUZZLE DUNCE me with any trouble.
If you encounter a problem, there is an INTERACTIVE JUMP MAP, DIRECTIONAL HINT, & of course, the STRATEGY GUIDE. HINT & SKIP are very QUICK.
All sorts of options on the options menu too.
BONUS CONTENT includes:
BONUS GAME
REPLAYABLE HOS & PUZZLES
REPLAYABLE HOS & PUZZLES
WALLPAPERS, CONCEPT ART, MUSIC
TROPHY ROOM
TROPHY ROOM
Another GAME Called OLD LADY about which I know nothing.
POSTERS of the characters, which you need to piece together from a simple jigsaw.
I absolutely LOVE this game!
I recommend this game!