This "Top Reviewer" is one of our most frequent game reviewers. We think you'll trust what they have to say and find their reviews helpful and informative.
This "Top Reviewer" is one of our most frequent game reviewers. We think you'll trust what they have to say and find their reviews helpful and informative.
The truth is after 10 tries it's obvious this developer will never be able to duplicate the original Phantasmat's exceptional quality or storyline. The first Phantasmat was by Codeminion and the second was by Ers. I've tried to stick by this series because I'm hoping that someday they'll realize that they're doing it wrong, and not just this series either. The graphics are getting large and lack detail and each scene has less. By less, I mean fewer zoom zones or areas of interest, less detail, way less detail, in the BC of this game one zoom zone had a tray with a single paperclip and the paperclip didn't even look real! How can you mess up a paperclip?
Remember the great games of 2011-2013ish that had creepy graphics and something to do in every nook and corner of every scene? Remember the feeling you got when you saw that creaky wrought-iron gate leading to a mansion with boarded up windows because the details were insane even though your computer was probably running XP, Vista or Win7 and more than likely had a subpar graphics card? Remember how they didn't have much of a storyline but at least the storyline was interesting? Remember how original the tasks and puzzles were? Remember how it was nearly impossible to finish a game in one, sometimes two days much less one sitting? Remember the magic, the feeling of "I can't stop playing because it's so good but it's midnight" Remember how you had to navigate through several scenes on your own without a jump-map, and sometimes getting lost or having trouble recalling where it was that an inventory item you just found belonged, because back then, the inventory item you just found didn't get placed in the same scene or the one before! I'm not asking to revert back to the games of yesteryear, I'm asking them to bring back the magic, I'm asking for games to be better than they were back then. It's almost 2019, at a bare minimum, shouldn't the graphics at least be better? I think these devs became so big so quickly that they can no longer see us on the ground waving frantically and they can no longer hear us screaming for something better. (because the other option is that they no longer care?)
As for the differences between the Collector's Edition version and this Standard Edition version, the CE version has 36 Ghostly Signs located in each scene and a Morphing Object in about half of the scenes. There are icons that show the availability of a morph or collectible. It's a good thing considering that the morphs are only in some of the scenes. unfortunately, neither is difficult to spot because a white ghost and a piece of paper with a morphing pumpkin are hard to miss. The good news is that if you do happen to miss one, it does allow you to return to the scene to search for it.
The Bonus Chapter isn't bad, but it's really short as well. It is a sequel which takes place shortly after the incident, starting back at Marcia's house, so you don't even get new scenes to investigate. There are 5 Mini-Games to play in the BC and I believe 4 Hidden Object Scenes. You will search for the remaining 8 Ghostly Signs and 4 remaining Morphs, after completing the BC you can return to 20 of the scene locations to find a souvenir. This feature is rather worthless in my opinion because you only have to find one item in each scene and it literally takes two seconds to spot the object so why bother?
In the Collector's Edition version there are 13 Achievements to earn and you can still earn achievements in the BC and in the Re-playable Hidden Object Scenes and puzzles section, a feature that's not always available after completing the main Game. This is a good, not a great game, but in my opinion, it's a very short game with a very short BC 8 scenes long. Unless you prefer morphs and collectibles, this Standard Edition version is probably the better option.
The Collector's Edition version has 6 Character pictures with before/after slider bar & dialog recordings, 8 Wallpapers, 8 Concept Art pictures, 7 Music Soundtracks, 12 Movie Video Cutscenes, a never-ending -playable Match 3 Game, 14 re-playable Mini-Game Puzzles, 13 re-playable Hidden Object Scenes, 13 Achievements to earn (some available in 3 categories) 16 Scene Location Morphing Objects (11 in Main Game, 5 in BC) 36 Hidden Ghostly Signs (28 in Main Game 8 in BC) a Souvenir Room with 20 Souvenirs (one souvenir in each of the scene locations) 4 Main Chapters +Bonus Chapter and a built-in Strategy Guide.
PHANTASMAT SERIES LIST Title***Standard Edition Release Date***Average Rating
1-Phantasmat (February 8-2011) 4.6 2-Crucible Peak (January 4-2013) 4.0 3-The Endless Night (February 8-2015) 4.4 4-The Dread of Oakville (August 7-2015) 3.9 5-Behind The Mask (January 15-2016) 4.3 6-Town of Lost Hope (May 6-2016) 3.9 7-Reign of Shadows (November 4-2016) 3.7 8-Mournful Loche (May 12-2017) 3.9 9-Insidious Dreams (October 13-2017) 3.8 10-Curse of the Mist (January 21-2018) 3.7 11-Deja Vu (August 5-2018) 12-Death In Hardcover (November 2-2018) n/a 13-(coming soon)
THE ANSWERS YOU SEEK ARE RIGHT HERE IN THE MATCH GIRL'S GARDEN
PostedNovember 1, 2018
pennmom36
fromNon-linear Cursed Objects: I'm not afraid to beg, I say to thee Please, please, please Blue Tea, Blue Tea. Bring back that amazing feature to me, me, me. Blue Tea, Blue Tea Surely you don't want to disappoint me Thank You and Please times three you see?
This "Top Reviewer" is one of our most frequent game reviewers. We think you'll trust what they have to say and find their reviews helpful and informative.
Dark Parables: Curse of Briar Rose Collector's Edition
(49)
Fun Factor
4/ 5
Visual/Sound Quality
4/ 5
Level of Challenge
4/ 5
Storyline
5/ 5
The Match Girl lived in fear nearly her entire life. Her Grandmother taught her to forgive those who treated her poorly, even her abusive drunken father who fell to pieces after her mother disappeared! But the tides have changed now, she's no longer that frightened little girl who sold matches in her father's shop. Some say she's an evil forest witch casting spells of sorcery to grant peoples wishes and desires. Others say she has just Lost her way to her garden Paradise!
When I first discovered the Dark Parable series, there were already 4 games released, so I started with the original (scroll down for the series list in order) I was probably into the third chapter by the time I discovered the first Cursed Object. Sure, I was fairly new to the HOPA genre, but the reason I didn't "see" the Cursed Object was because of the geniuses programmers and game designers of Blue Tea! The first time you would visit a scene, the Cursed Object wasn't Cursed! No matter how long you stared at an object, it just wouldn't morph because it required an action to be taken in a different scene, a scene you hadn't yet unlocked. It may be 3-4 scenes later in fact, and you had no idea which action would trigger the Morph and in which scene! How cool does that sound? FOR THE LIFE OF ME, I CAN'T UNDERSTAND WHY BLUE TEA ABANDONED THIS FEATURE? (caps in case they are reading this review) When Blue Tea made a come-back with the Eipix Production Team financing their work, I thought the non-linear cursed objects would surely return now that they had no financial worries, but I was disappointed, and I'm even more disappointed that they have chosen to overlook several pleas from several Dark Parable fans to return to their roots to offer the feature that THEY created in the first place! To my knowledge, no other developer has offered this incredible feature in their games, if they have, please let me know in your review or at pf because I WILL purchase that game sight unseen!
The Hidden Object Scenes or all Fragmented Object Scenes or FROG's, made famous by Blue Tea Games. These are the ONLY hidden object scenes I've ever found to be challenging. Nobody is able to blend objects into the scene like these devs can! I wish there were more FROG scenes in this game, I actually anticipated unlocking new locations because I wanted another opportunity to find more fragments. If you aren't familiar with Blue Tea style FROGS, you may not like them at first because they are so much different than the normal HOG's. There are 3 sections located at the bottom with pictures of several fragmented objects to search for. As each fragment is found, that object will become opaque. Once you have found all fragments in a section those fragments will join together to show that you have completed that section. Once all 3 fragmented objects are completed, the 3 sections will join together to become an inventory item that you will need to proceed. Many devs have attempted this unique style, but Blue Tea perfected it back in 2010! (now if we could just bring back the non-linear cursed objects I'd be one Happy Camper)
The Mini-Games were good but could be better, for me they seemed rather easy to solve and are mostly the same puzzles we've done a thousand times, but they do have fairly good instructions. Below are brief descriptions of some of the games you'll encounter before and after the demo:
1-Guide gems in a dual screen maze to the top using individual directional arrows. 2-Swap triangular tiles to complete the image. 3-Rotate the circles to complete the scene. 4-Arrange the items to complete each character's activity. 5-Interact with the scenes decorations and place trumpets into their matching symbols. 6-Collect the gold from each character. 7-Select the center button to match the animal with the cylinder. 8-Select the button each time the slider crosses over the red marks. 9-Use red arrows to pan and green arrows to focus to find all symbols.
This Collector's Edition version has 8 Wallpapers, 6 Concept Art pictures, 6 Music Soundtracks, 9 Movie Video Cutscenes, 17 re-playable Mini-Games, 20 re-playable Hidden Object Scenes, 13 Achievements to earn, 20 Morphing Cursed Objects to earn, 28 Parable Pieces (collect 4 pieces to unlock each Parable 5 Main/2 Bonus Chapter: The Little Match Girl-The Star Coins-The Forest Witch-The Ominous Beauty-The Second Prince's Revenge-Fire of Youth-The King's New Clothes) 6 Main Chapters +Bonus Chapter. Enjoy the Dark Parables!
DARK PARABLES SERIES LIST Title***Collector's Edition Release Date***Average Rating
1-Curse of Briar Rose (March 11-2010) 4.3 2-The Exiled Prince (February 2542011) 4.3 3-Rise of the Snow Queen (December 1-2011) 4.6 4-The Red Riding Hood Sisters (September 20-2012) 4.6 5-The Final Cinderella (May 23-2013) 4.4 6-Jack and the Sky Kingdom (February 6-2014) 4.2 7-Ballad of Rapunzel (June 26-2014) 4.3 8-The Little Mermaid and the Purple Tide (November 13-2014) 3.7 9-Queen of Sands (May 21-2015) 3.5 10-Goldilocks and the Fallen Star (November 19-2015) 3.4 11-The Swan Princess and the Dire Tree (July 7-2016) 3.8 12-The Thief and the Tinderbox (September 22-2016) 3.4 13-Requiem for the Forgotten Shadow (February 23-2017) 3.0 14-Return of the Salt Princess (March 15-2018) 3.9 15-The Match Girl's Lost Paradise (November 1-2018) n/a
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This series never gets old! This is one of the few Match 3 Games that requires you to use strategy to beat the levels, and one of my top 5 favorite M3 game series. This game is all about the coins, nothing else matters, but getting to those coins isn't as easy as you may think
They have added a High Difficulty mode (which I haven't attempted yet!) and a Casual Difficulty mode and both modes can be played in a Timed Mode, a Limited Moves Mode (which I recommend) or a Relaxed Mode and you can switch between modes on different levels to help you beat difficult levels. Eventually, you will be given the option to skip a difficult level without penalty, after several replay attempts, and in the Bonus Levels, you will receive interactive hints after 10 replay attempts.
The Cursed House, which is actually a Cursed Town this time, is filled with evil spirits, that can only be banished by an ancient Amulet. The Amulet can only be powered by collecting hundreds of coins, so once again, this cursed house needs a cleansing of its domain of evil spirits.
Large matches will give you a Power-up, and power-ups are critical because most coins are blocked by obstacles that require a power-up to destroy them. A match 4 will give you Dynamite to explode by moving it or by double-clicking. A match 5 will give you a Morphing Power-up to choose either a Rocket which targets obstacles, Lightning which destroys all identical tiles match with, or a Dynamite Barrel. You can choose the power-up by clicking on the power-up as it morphs, and if you chose the wrong one, you can cancel it by right-clicking.
Levels with Trunks require you to collect Trunk Coins and when all trunk coins have been found, you need to make a match adjacent to the trunk or trunks that will vibrate to alert you that all trunk coins have been located. Once the trunks are opened, you receive bonuses and other parts of the board are unlocked.
Some levels have Cannons that require you to make matches next to the wick to fire the cannon to start a chain reaction, some cannons are locked and you must make matches in front of the key to allow the key to move towards the lock. Firing the cannon also opens up other parts of the board.
There are several types of coins besides the gold coins and trunk coins, Dusty coins that need two matches, coins that are split in half requiring matches in front of the pieces to join the two halves. Coins that need to be filled in by collecting falling drops of liquid or gold by dropping them off the board to fill a vial. Bug coins need to be collected to get rid of pesky bugs that annoy you, and Red bugs need to be pushed off of the board because they are invulnerable to power-ups.
Some tiles have obstacles such as chains or boarded tiles, some boarded tiles have shields that require matches made on the sides without the shield for more challenge, or a power-up. There are Stone tiles, Lava tiles, Chained tiles, ice tiles, Rock tiles and Fog tiles that require either a match adjacent to them, most but not all obstacles can be destroyed with lightning explosions or bombs. There are even Green and Red Hot Stone tiles that require matches on top to destroy them. Torches will spread the flame as adjacent matches are made, which needs to reach frozen tiles or flameless torches. The Ray of Light shoots a beam of light to destroy the Darkness, but a path must be cleared first.....the not so easy scenario!
After playing a few levels, you get to play a Mini Game such as Higher/Lower Solitaire that has an extra slot to store any face-up card to use in a match later and unblock cards on the board. There are also Hidden Object Scenes and one of my favorite games, Spot The Difference which has very subtle differences and isn't as easy as you'd expect.
This is the kind of Match 3 game that can be purchased before playing it because FRH Games doesn't bring duds to the table and I've never been disappointed with any of their games, enjoy!
CURSED HOUSE SERIES LIST Title***Release Date***Average Rating
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Kids of Hellas is a new Time Management series brought to us from the creators of 12 Labours of Hercules, Alicia Quatermain and most recently, Archimedes. The graphics are really good, the game mechanics are fluent and the tasks require some strategy in order to beat the levels and earn all 3 Stars or Gold Status. There are 30 Achievement Trophies to earn and the music is pleasant although it is basically the same music that is offered in all of Jet Dogs TM games. There are 3 difficulty modes to choose from, Easy, Normal or Difficult and each level in this CE version has a hidden Puzzle Rune piece to find.
I played the demo in the Normal mode and easily passed the levels with flying colors, therefore, I personally don't have a need for the Strategy Guide, and will wait patiently for the Standard Edition version. I don't want to pay twice as much money for this CE version just to get 6 Wallpapers, 50 Hidden Puzzle Pieces that unlock 5 Bonus Chapter levels and a Strategy Guide that I probably won't use. Other than the fact that I personally don't prefer these particular CE offerings, I think this is a really fun Time Management game. The game itself is worthy of 5 Stars, but this is just my personal preference and as others have already stated, the game itself is a fantastic TM game that I'm certain most will enjoy!
Kids of Hellas is a cute light-hearted Greek Mythology based story that takes place after a spiteful curse was cast upon the children of Zeus. Seems Uncle Hades was the instigator behind the spell that dumped the Kids of Hellas to fend for themselves here on Earth. As if the spell itself wasn't bad enough, the kids quickly discover that Zeus has no recollection of them, but I have a feeling that all will end well for the kids, and Uncle Hades will feel the wrath of his brothers' thunderous fury when all is said and done...let's find out, Time Management style :)
There are the usual Time Management tasks, collecting resources, repairing pit holes, cutting down trees, removing wood, repairing bridges and fixing various buildings to get a more consistent supply of food, wood, stone gold, mama wells etc. There are also unusual tasks, one in particular that I enjoyed, shaving the sheep for their Golden wool!
As you progress you will receive Bonuses that will recharge by collecting Stars left behind on some of the tasks you complete. These are the usual tasks that speed up workers or quickly refill resources or allow the kids to store more resources in their backpacks. The Bonus Icons are located on the right side and usually have more than one type of resource available. You can click on the first Bonus that refills or wait for the second one to fill, it just depends on the level goals as to which one is more important, in other words, there may not be a need for faster workers if you don't have enough resources to assign a worker to a task that requires resources that aren't ready at the time.
I realize I'm the odd man out with my opinion here, but I will definitely buy this game when it's released as a Standard Edition version :)
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I clearly remembered playing the original Save Halloween game, but I didn't remember all of the details, I just knew it was better than this game. After completing this demo I downloaded City of Witches and sure enough, it was an awesome Match 3 game that was a Timed Mode game which moved at a very fast pace, and unlike this game, it was delightful!
They have completely overhauled the game style and mechanics with the same features as one of my favorite Match 3 game series that they recently released on October 9th. That didn't go over so well for fans of that well-known series. Because this is only the second game in this series, it very well may have a positive outcome, if you like Limited Moves, M3 games. For me personally, I don't like playing a Match 3 game that you can't win without earning a ton of bonuses and power-ups, that's not winning because of your skills, that's winning because you destroyed every tile on the board with an explosion of some sort! This game is more like a mobile game than a PC/Mac game, in my opinion, and probably would have been more appealing as such. It is a colorful, extremely animated, quest driven Match 3 game that's geared more towards teenagers than adults.
There are 140 Levels, 14 Trophy awards to earn (you must "claim" your reward by going into the Trophy section after earning an achievement.) and Collectible Cards to earn in 3 Categories, Obstacles: as you progress you will encounter Obstacles that block you from continuing to the next level such as a Zombie or evil Storm Clouds sent by Lucifer. Some of the Quests require you to replay a specific level or levels to collect items such as Skulls or Dynamite (drop them off of the bottom) There is a Quest tab on the right side that will show you which levels you need to replay, which level must be completed or what resources you need to complete the quest.You will also unlock Character Cards as you help various Characters as well as Cards for each Building constructed.
Although this is a colorful game, it's exactly like all the other Limited Moves Match 3 games that have been released lately, where you choose a bonus to start each level, with the same goals of collecting a specific number of specific tiles, as well as making matches over all of the Gold or Silver cells or destroying various obstacles such as Crates, Double-boarded Crates or making matches of tiles that are blocked behind Bones or Double Bones.
The tiles are large and cartoon animated and it's so easy to make large Matches so you're constantly acquiring bonuses on the board which makes it seem like the game is playing itself! Just like the other frequently released Match 3 games, it takes forever for all of the extra moves to be played through at the end of each level. Before the level begins, you are given the opportunity to choose a Bonus that will be added to the start of the level such as a Combo Bonus or a Bat Bonus that when included with at least 2 other tiles of the same color, will fly off the board and destroy an important tile such as an icon located on a Gold Cell. There are also bonuses to use at your discretion such as a Hammer to take out a single tile.
Large Matches will earn Bonuses on the board and must be included in a Match to detonate such as, a four tile Square gives you a Bat Bonus, a Match 4 in a row gives you a Horizontal or Vertical Line Destroyer Bonus (depending on which direction the match was made originally) a Match 5 in a T or L shape gives you a Bomb, a Match 5 in a row gives you Lightning that turns all tiles to whatever it is matched with, including other bonuses, a Match 6 gives you a Cauldron that puts several Bats of various colors on the board. All of the Bonuses must be matched with specific colored tiles to activate them, and any Bonus can be combined to create a bigger impact.
I'm just not a fan of Limited Moves Match 3 games, and I'm definitely not a fan of the "cutsie" overly-animated cartoon style Match 3 games that you can't win without constantly creating and activating Power-ups to win. In fact, I usually try to make it through an entire game without using Bonuses or Power-ups, to rely simply on speed and skills. This is just one of those games that you should definitely try before you buy!
SAVE HALLOWEEN SERIES LIST Title***Release Date***Average Rating
1-City of Witches (October 14-2015) 4.3 2-Travel To Hel (October 29-2018) n/a
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A lot of reviewers complained about this game not having any challenge when it was first released as a Collector's Edition, but I find that there's just the right amount of challenge to make it fun. I played in the Multi-click mode, and I had to play several levels a second time to earn all three stars, and I consider myself to be pretty good at Time Management games, so I guess the only way to find out if the game is challenging enough for you, is to give it a try before you buy.
The Blooming Forest is a beautiful sanctuary reserve, famous for its rare collection of Flora and Fauna. Tourists and Journalist have arrived from all over the world to attend the opening ceremony, but not everyone has good intentions. That low-life poacher Pietro Mangula and his band of merry thieves have joined the celebration! Their devious plan is to create chaos throughout the reserve and slip out undetected with their cargo of wildlife. There's just one problem...They weren't counting on the fact that Rescue Team was attending the ceremony! I'm on my way!
There's a difficulty mode available for everyone including a Relaxed mode with no Time constraints, as well as a Normal mode that only allows you to assign available workers, and a Multi-click mode which allows you to queue tasks for workers to complete once they become available. There are 27 Achievements to earn, 50 Main Levels and 20 Bonus Levels available in the Collector's Edition version which also has a built-in Strategy Guide. The Strategy Guide is actually quite useful because this is definitely a Strategy-based Time Management game!
If you haven't played any of the previous 7 Rescue Team games before, you're in for a treat because unlike most TM games, Rescue Team is all about rescuing people after Natural and Man-made catastrophes. The people may be trapped simply because the roads are destroyed or blocked by fallen debris, others may be trapped under collapsed buildings, and those jobs call for specialists Larry and Barry who are the Rescue Team's adorable, but hard-working Saint Bernards.
Eventually, the Team will rescue people using boats, ski lifts, ATV's etc. requiring unusual TM equipment like Generators, Pumps, Lighting sources and even Cranes. Naturally, all that equipment uses a ton of fuel, so you need a constant supply of fuel as well as Food sources and Lumber sources. Hospitals, Veterinarian offices, Pet Shops, and Housing need to be built or repaired before Medics, Doctor's or Veterinarians can treat the victims. Because this is a strategy-based game, it may take a replay or two, to determine which tasks and which buildings are more important and in which order they should be queued.
There are still the usual tasks available in most TM games, to collect resources such as food, money and wood, clear roadways of debris, fix potholes, repair bridges and damaged buildings, and strategically construct and upgrade Sawmills, Cafe's, Houses, Pet Shops to feed Barry and Larry, and Gas Stations that will produce the required resources.
If you earn 3 Stars on a level, you will receive coins that can be used in the Shop to purchase Bonuses. There are also Bonus chips on some of the levels that will make the rescue workers run faster, or produce gas, food, wood etc. faster, but for a brief period of time, so you'll want to decide when to collect a chip to give you the most benefits and at the right time.
You can purchase items in the Shop to help you achieve the level goals. These are available in 5 different Categories, Tools which speed up the rescue team workers, speeds up construction or road repair work. Medical supplies help victims remain warm or prevent diseases from spreading, and to keep fires from spreading. Emergency items speed up machines such as water pumps, and makes medics treat patients faster, and also speed up Larry & Barry when they search rubble for victims. in the Vehicle category, planes deliver freight faster and make the Crane and water pumps work faster too.
The Collector's Edition version has 27 Achievements to earn, 12 Music Soundtracks, 10 Character Pictures with Bios, 9 Concept Art pictures, 50 Main Levels +20 Bonus Levels and a Built-in Strategy Guide. What are you waiting for? Start rescuing, team 11!
RESCUE TEAM SERIES LIST Title***Standard Edition Release Date***Average Rating
1-Rescue Team 1 SE only (May 6-2011) 4.0 2-Rescue Team 2 SE only (December 14-2018) 3./9 3-Rescue Team 3 SE only (May 6-2013) 2.9 4-Rescue Team 4 SE only (October 5-2014) 4.0 5-Rescue Team 5 SE only (November 3-2015) 3.7 6-Rescue Team 6 SE version (December 7-2016) 3.6 7-Rescue Team 7 SE version (July 12-2017) 4.4 8-Rescue Team 8 SE version (October 28-2018) n/a
FOLLOW THE BREADCRUMBS OF VICTIMS TO CATCH YOUR BROTHERS KIDNAPPER BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE!
PostedOctober 27, 2018
pennmom36
fromCharles Lindberg became famous for making the first solo nonstop transatlantic flight & even more famous when his baby was kidnapped from a 2nd story nursery & murdered. Richard Hauptmann was found guilty with no evidence linking him to the crime.
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There's a madman on the loose tonight at the University and he's taking great pleasure at watching you play his cat and mouse game. As you follow the breadcrumbs left behind as clues, they lead you to one victim after another. Each victim, you find has a recorded message of clues to taunt you onward. The stakes are high in this who-dun-it mystery, the grand prize is the final victim, your brother! Why has this madman chosen you to play his twisted game? How does he know you? Why is he so desperate to destroy you? The biggest question is, will you find out all of the answers a little too late?
Yes, there is a gadget, possibly two if you count the fact that there's a device that morphs you to the Crime Lab, as a gadget. The first device is a Magic pair of sunglasses that allows you to find evidence in a room after a crime took place. No, this gadget was NOT necessary and should NOT have been used. As I'll explain in the HOS section, the end result of finding evidence HOS style was an excellent concept, but Magic Glasses took away all credibility. They should have stuck to just being a regular detective doing a regular investigation and this would have been an exceptional game, a memorable game. There is a Morphing Handprint in each location that morphs at a nice pace and is a perfect size, not so large that it's impossible to miss, but not so small that you need a pair of magical glasses to search for it.
This is a good game, yes, the graphics are kind of "old-school" and the game seems a bit dated, but there is a reason for it. The last Punished Talents game was released two years ago, the beta for this game was released last year, so it probably sat on a shelf for a while for unknown reasons. Blam Games has recently been acquired by a new dev who undoubtedly dusted the game off and decided to let it take a spin around the gaming block to see what happens. I'm certain that the new devs are going to read every review to see what we liked and didn't. I'm not going to slam this dev because the storyline piqued my interest, I love a good who-dun-it, and this is a great who-dun-it. I want to continue playing so I can find out why me, how do I know you, why do I know you, why are you leaving a trail of clues and taunting me every step of the way? I have explained the reason's for my own personal likes and dislikes in this review, and I have given some suggestions, but I want to encourage them to continue. We have a unique opportunity to help mold this dev into creating games the way WE like them, and I really hope everyone writes their own review to tell them how you feel and ways to improve it.
The Hidden Object Scenes are all Listed Item finds with slight Interactions. One of the reason's I only gave this game 4 stars was because some of the listed items had multiple items that fit the description, such as coins. There were 2 different piles of coins but only one was acceptable. One HOS listed item was a screwdriver, but no matter how many times I clicked on the screwdriver, it wasn't accepted. Out of frustration, I clicked the hint, and the hint led me to the same screwdriver. It wasn't accepted until I clicked on a small, very specific area of the screwdriver! I wouldn't normally care but forcing me to use a hint or clicking the wrong object will knock you out of earning a couple of Achievements as well! There were items in the scenes that were small and blurry and unidentifiable. On the brighter side, I loved the HOS that involved finding evidence in a room. As you found an item from the list, the item would have a pop-up window that explained how the item was used in the crime or how the clue related to the kidnapper or victim. To me, this makes the HOS relevant, especially in a who-dun-it crime, and in my opinion, all of the HOS in this particular game should have been that same way.
The Mini-Games could have been better but they aren't horrible games either. I actually found the video surveillance clue game rather interesting, and it would be beneficial for these devs to run with that type of game. If it was tweaked a tad bit to make it a little more complicated, such as jumbling up the numbers and leaving spaces blank so you had to figure out which numbers went into which placement, it would be a really fun way to allow us to "solve" problems rather than just practically give us the answer. Below are brief descriptions of some of the games you'll encounter during the demo portion:
1-Select directional arrows to navigate the ball through the maze with a flashlight. 2-Choose details to match the victim's photo, face shape, nose, hair etc. 3-Use clues found to enter the correct word to open the door. 4-Use directional arrows to move the drone until both heartrate windows match. 5-Watch the surveillance video and find the numbers that are entered for the same 3 products.
This Collector's Edition has 9 Wallpapers, 8 Concept Art pictures, 11 Music Soundtracks, 17 Movie Video Cutscenes, 14 Achievements to earn, 15 re-playable Mini-Games, 25 Morphing Handprints, 3 Main Chapters +Bonus Chapter and a built-in Strategy Guide, enjoy the mystery!
PUNISHED TALENTS SERIES LIST Title***Collector's Edition Release Date***Average Rating
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Fallen Sky is an excellent game that I thoroughly enjoyed from start to finish. Personally, I prefer the Collector's Edition version over this Standard Edition but that's because I love 4Friends collectibles and morphs, but if you can live without them, this version is perfectly fine, and this is a must-have game!
As I mentioned in my CE review, I was somewhat disappointed in the quality of graphics, I don't know if it was a "hazy look" they were trying to achieve to mimic what life would be like living high in the sky, or if they just didn't spend as much time perfecting the graphics as they did in their last release of a different series. I went back to the previous games in this series to see if I was imagining awesome graphics, and sure enough, they were indeed pretty amazing. Even looking at the screenshots of Ice Rose from 2012, they looked amazing, so I'm not sure of why they chose to go with hazy looking graphics.
Unfortunately, there is a Gadget used in Fallen Sky, a Wooden Box with a wooden talking cat named Basil. He will help remove curses so you can collect all the stolen treasures and return them to their rightful owners in the Sky Kingdom of Giants. I found him to be rather creepy, but not in a good creepy way, like in a wicked scary way, but rather in a creepy-creepy way. I really didn't care for him because he wasn't cute so he didn't add an "awe" factor, to the game I just think they should have made him more appealing or at least cuter. The good news is that Basil's services are only used to lift four curses, which, unfortunately, isn't the case when it comes to the repetitive Chain type, Match 3 games that follow. The Match 3 games didn't present much of a challenge and because they were so simplistic, it was just a waste of time, including a Hard difficulty mode would have been much appreciated.
In the Collector's Edition version each Location has 2 very well-hidden Opaque Cats to find (56 total-40 in the main game and 16 within the Bonus Chapter) that will shatter 7 different Crystal Glass Cats to reveal a different cat breed (5 in the main game, 2 within the Bonus Chapter) In the CE version, each location also has a Morphing Object to find. There are 28 total Morphs, the final 8 Morphs are located within the CE Bonus Chapter which takes you back several years earlier to the beginning when Giants were first discovered.
The Hidden Object Scenes are mostly Interactive List Finds, especially towards the end, but there are also Multiples of the same item finds, Keywords in Sentence finds, finding areas that match Swatches and Matching Pair finds. Many of the scenes are repeated in the same location, a feature I'm not particularly fond of because it's just boring the second time around. The scenes are clear and the items are recognizable, although one of the scenes had partially hidden objects. There is a total of 17 Hidden Object Scenes throughout the game, 4 of which are offered within the CE Bonus Chapter.
The Mini-Games are rehashed versions from other games by this dev, and nothing new is offered, however, they are fairly entertaining puzzles and they are all "frustration-free" (no puzzles where clicking one affects others, which I really hate) There is a total of 18 Mini-Games throughout the game, the last three are within the CE Bonus Chapter. Below are brief descriptions of some of the games you'll encounter during and after the demo:
1-Select & drag feathers to create an unobstructed path for a key. 2-Select various weights to grow all bean stems to the top. 3-Chain type Match 3 game to collect a specific number of each gem. (repeated throughout the game) 4-Adjust joints of metal clock hands to point to specified times. 5-Select Bears to push each other along tracks to their matching slots. 6-Click arrows to select plates to show all symbols correctly. 7- Remove all icons by selecting them in a specific sequence. 8-Swap tiles to recreate 2 pictures using empty slots to move tiles to the opposite picture. 9-Swap fish bones to recreate the image. 10-Swap the order of fish & select play to check your solution. 11-Find the right way through the map in the same order. 12-Select adjacent sections to paint the picture correctly. 13-Swap fan sections to recreate the image. 14-Align the decoder until the correct codes appear inside the holes. 15-Move beans to their matching slots using the beans to recolor other bean paths. 16-Capture opponents pieces by touching or jumping the ball, yellow spaces add more pieces.
The Collector's Edition version has 10 Wallpapers, 10 Concept Art Pictures, 4 Screensavers, 5 Music Soundtracks, 30 Movie Video Cutscenes (26 in the main game, 4 in the CE Bonus Chapter) 24 Achievements to earn, 17 replayable Hidden Object Scenes, 18 re-playable Mini-Games, 56 Hidden Opaque Cats, 7 Crystal Glass Cats to unlock with the Hidden Cats, 28 Morphing Objects, 5 Main Chapters +Bonus Chapter and a built-in Strategy Guide, enjoy the climb!
THIS HALLOWEEN-THEMED GAME IS NEITHER CREEPY NOR FRIGHTENING BUT IT IS SCARY BORING
PostedOctober 25, 2018
pennmom36
fromMost people agree that The Winchester Manor is really haunted. Sarah Winchester bought the 8 room farm house in 1884, haunted by the souls who died from the Winchester rifle, Sarah continued to expand the Manor for 38 years because "they told her to!"
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Haunted Manor: Lord of Mirrors Collector's Edition
(14)
Fun Factor
1/ 5
Visual/Sound Quality
1/ 5
Level of Challenge
1/ 5
Storyline
1/ 5
Not even I can write a synopsis of this game that will make it sound remotely interesting! I loved this series when it was developed by someone else, now it's ruined...again! It's not scary, it's not creepy, it's not original, it's just another game about a scorned wife who comes back to haunt her husband, and she doesn't even haunt! Here's an idea devs, go play the first Haunted Manor, pay attention to the graphics, pay attention to the plot, pay attention to the tasks. Then go back to work and recreate that magic. Make the graphics look like they did then, creepy, realistic, not large, bright rooms with the sun pouring through the windows. If I were simply bored with games because I'm burnt out, why is it that I can dust off a game like Lord of Mirrors and enjoy every second of it? How many of my fellow gamers/reviewers feel the same way? I'm better it's a staggering number!
To me, this game looks like it was just going to be another Eipix version of Haunted Manor, and at the last minute, they decided to make it a Halloween-themed game. Other than a few pumpkins here and there, there's nothing Halloweeny about it, it's just another boring story about a single ghost haunting a regular Manor. This particular story has been told every which way but loose, and just recently by another developer I might add! The first wife returns from the grave to haunt wifey number 2 because hubby is responsible for first wifey's untimely death, blah, blah, blah. Top Evidence did an amazing job with the first three games in this series, but now its just another epixified G-rated game that you'd never suspect was a Haunted Manor series game if you didn't read the title! I'm not sure how others were able to finish this game so quickly? because I've had a hard time dredging through just 2.5 chapters so far, but I'm willing to bet that there's going to bee glitter involved, and quite possibly a unicorn by the fourth chapter.
There were only two Hidden Object Scenes I found to be even remotely interesting, and none of them had objects that were actually hidden. Just like the Mini-Games, none of the objects were Halloween related. (although they did change the HO "sparkles" to jack-o-lanterns I do believe that the beta version just had regular sparkles) Most of the scenes were Interactive Listed Item finds or Silhouetted Shape finds and there are several smaller Zoom Zone HOS's. The only two I found to be somewhat amusing was one where you had to find leaves with a specific pattern chewed out by caterpillars, and another that required swapping sections and rotating sections to line up different animals and Hindu gods. There is a Morphing Object in 11 of the Hidden Object Scenes in this Collector's Edition version.
Mini-Games were decent but they were just normal run-of-the-mill games. They didn't even bother to tweak them to be Halloween-themed, or at the very least, Haunted Manor themed! Below are brief descriptions of some of the games you'll encounter both during and after the demo:
1-Place quests around the table using clues and related riddles. 2-Serve each guest the correct meal using clue descriptions. 3-Swap Key tops to match the key bottoms. 4-Place location tags on the completed keys using visual clues. 5-Adjust pressure on gauges to push the ball past the holes. 6-Use a tray to defend attacks by anticipating the hand movements. 7-Use directional arrows to slide and push up lock sections. 8-Select the joints to move claws until they grasp all pin gems. 9-Rotate sections of tokens to match the pattern shown on the clue x2. 10-Swap token images to match the partial clues indicated. 11-Arrange swords in the correct order & click the button to check the solution.
This Collector's Edition version has 8 Wallpapers, 8 Concept Art pictures, 9 Music Soundtracks, 7 Movie Video Cutscenes, 17 re-playable Mini-Games, 14 re-playable Hidden Object Scenes, 11 Hidden Object Scene Morphing Objects (you can pick up any missed Morphs by re-playing the HOS in the extras menu) 12 Achievements to earn, 35 not so hidden Witch Signs, 20 Souvenirs within the Souvenir Room, 4 Main Chapters +Bonus Chapter (current time-frame playing as Marianne) and a built-in Strategy Guide.
HAUNTED MANOR SERIES LIST Title***Collector's Edition Release Date***Average Rating
1-Lord Of Mirrors (March 25-2010) 4.3 2-Queen Of Death (November 20-2011) 4.5 3-Painted Beauties (May 24-2014) 3.2 4-The Last Reunion (May 24-2018) 3.6 5-Halloween's Uninvited Guest (May 25-2018) n/a
by: Top Evidence (games 1-3) by: Eipix Entertainment (games 4-5)
This "Top Reviewer" is one of our most frequent game reviewers. We think you'll trust what they have to say and find their reviews helpful and informative.
I still love the penguin-themed mosaic series but the tile skin choices and colors offered in the Rainbow Mosaic series has them beat hands-down! (flippers down?) again there are 12 different types of tiles offered (only 10 choices previously offered in games 1-7) I always choose the Lego style because it's easy to tell where one tile left off and the other begins, not to mention that it looks really cool.
I love the colors Awigor uses, they are always bright colors with amazing contrasts. Unlike the game offered a couple of days ago, the grid backgrounds don't have black dots plastered all over, making it difficult to easily spot where the available cells are. In Rainbow Mosaics, they use the perfect shade of tan with small white dots! I also love that each square cell is outlined with the color you are using whenever you scan the cursor over each individual cell. They are puzzles that are easy on the eyes, and therefore, easy on the brain. The best part, however, is that they are puzzles that are solved by using logic, you don't ever have to guess or use a power-up, they might not be easy to figure out logically, but they can be solved without using "props"
Once you complete a puzzle, the completed image is shown and labeled so you'll never have to guess at what the end result is. You can also choose to play in an Expert mode which only crosses off the numbers once the entire row and column have been correctly filled in, AND the power-ups are disabled.
There are 120 levels, and as you play each level, it unlocks those levels in the Free-play section. As you correctly fill in squares, you will earn coins that can be used to purchase decorations for the Garden or purchase upgrades for the Power-ups which are hint forms that will increase in the size of coverage with each upgrade. The Eye opens a random right square, Lightning opens up a chosen square with no negative outcome, and the Grid power-up opens a chosen grid area without a negative outcome. The power-ups can be upgraded twice, each upgrade offers a larger area of coverage.
For those of you who have never played this type of game before, don't let it intimidate you. When I first started playing games I passed Mosaic puzzles up because they looked so complicated but they really aren't, but they are extremely addicting, once you start playing, it's hard to stop!
RAINBOW MOSAICS SERIES LIST Title***Release Date***Average Rating