MarsRose's Profile
Stat Summary
- Average Rating:4
- Helpful Votes:143
- Reviews Submitted:6
- First Review:May 22, 2012
- Most Recent Review:August 8, 2013
- Featured reviews0
MarsRose's Review History
Overall rating
5
/
5
5 of 5 found this review helpful
One of my favorites!
PostedAugust 8, 2013
MarsRose
fromItaly
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Time Management, Strategy
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
5
/
5
Storyline
5
/
5
I'm currently replaying this game and realized I didn't review it yet! This is one of my absolute favorite time management games.
You have to manage a dream resort (where 'dream' has to be taken literally), and help customers visit all 5 different areas of the resort in order to make them complete their sleep cycles, so they can wake up fully refreshed. But nightmares are going to try to get in your way and upset your customers!
The best thing probably is, unlike in other TMG where you change locations but keep doing the same things, here every location is absolutely unique, with not only a different layout but many different actions to perform. The only things that remains the same are the rooms to rent, because each locations has them. But the services (and food) you offer to your customers are always different and with each upgrades there are new and more expensive ones added. So it's really varied and never becomes dull.
Every other level you'll have to take care of nightmares by clicking on them as soon as they appear or they'll upset the customers, making them lose hearts. When there aren't nightmares, you'll have to deal with other negative events like people turning into snowmen because of the snowstorm, or being covered by falling leaves or flying balloons, etc.
The characters are funny and this make the tutorial funny as well, other than clear, as they keep interacting with each others instead of just giving you plain instructions.
The story is original and cute.
The only negative I can find is it's too short! But it has a good replay value thanks to the variety of the locations, so it's okay. But it would be great to have a sequel or similar games.
You have to manage a dream resort (where 'dream' has to be taken literally), and help customers visit all 5 different areas of the resort in order to make them complete their sleep cycles, so they can wake up fully refreshed. But nightmares are going to try to get in your way and upset your customers!
The best thing probably is, unlike in other TMG where you change locations but keep doing the same things, here every location is absolutely unique, with not only a different layout but many different actions to perform. The only things that remains the same are the rooms to rent, because each locations has them. But the services (and food) you offer to your customers are always different and with each upgrades there are new and more expensive ones added. So it's really varied and never becomes dull.
Every other level you'll have to take care of nightmares by clicking on them as soon as they appear or they'll upset the customers, making them lose hearts. When there aren't nightmares, you'll have to deal with other negative events like people turning into snowmen because of the snowstorm, or being covered by falling leaves or flying balloons, etc.
The characters are funny and this make the tutorial funny as well, other than clear, as they keep interacting with each others instead of just giving you plain instructions.
The story is original and cute.
The only negative I can find is it's too short! But it has a good replay value thanks to the variety of the locations, so it's okay. But it would be great to have a sequel or similar games.
I recommend this game!
Shop through exciting locations, meet fun and eccentric customers and craft unique and beautiful jewels in Sparkling Amber!
Overall rating
5
/
5
28 of 35 found this review helpful
Cute different game!
PostedAugust 8, 2013
MarsRose
fromItaly
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Time Management, Strategy
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
3
/
5
Why am I not surprised anymore to find that, although everyone constantly complain about not finding new TMG (including myself), everytime a new one pops up they all keep complaining about it? I suspect they're all so used to the same build-it or resource management type of game that they can't handle anymore some old style TMG...
I tried this game thinking that I probably would find it frustrating as well, since I can't really stand too fast clicking and impossible goals. But I was so thrilled that there was a new original time management game that it was impossible for me to resist so I ignored the reviews and gave it a chance anyway.
You have to manage a jewelry shop, which is a pretty new idea (although I don't mind even overused ideas in TMG). I usually find annoying having to drag and drop customers, but it wasn't a problem here, at all. The first 5 levels were pretty easy and relaxed. Around the sixth level I couldn't achieve more than one star score, so I had to try another strategy: serving the most customers possible at once to make long chains of combos. This not only made me gain 3 stars in all those levels but I was able to sometimes triplicate the expert score! I beat one level with a 15500 score while the expert/three stars score was 5000. So the trick is to make a lot of combos! Serve the most people you can at a time (including greeting them and collecting their payment)! Forget their hearts/patience, it won't make much difference whether they leave with one or five hearts (the difference is 15-20 points maybe? While just by making 4-5-6 or more combos you can gain around 300-400 extra points!), the important thing is they don't completely run out of patience because I suppose you would lose the customer then. But you even have coffee for that!
There is a thief who once in a while try to rob the shop. He was able to steal only once from me, it wasn't that difficult to stop. Just try to never queue too many actions at a time (never more than 4-5 for example), because they can't be cancelled. By doing this you will most likely have the time to stop it even if you are in the middle of other tasks (the thief takes some time to be able to steal, he doesn't steal anything right away, and if you are attentive, you’ll be warned of his arrival in advance).
The upgrades were also another major complaint among players. Well they're not technically 'upgrades' but more like bonuses that you can buy and use during the level to make things simpler. Honestly you don't even need them to achieve 3 stars if you use the combos strategy. I buy them just because at the end of each level I have a lot of money to spend and then apply them during the level just for fun, not really for necessity -sometimes I even forget to use them (the only one who in my opinion is really useful is the showcase extension since more jewels means the first one will be very expensive); so I'm not really sure why people complain that they're not permanent, the game would be much too easy if they were. Sometimes there's even a sale so I suggest you stock up when they cost less if you really need them (they're cumulative and will remain in your inventory even after you change location, while money always restart from zero).
It’s true that in addition to that, they could have also added some permanent upgrades to the shop, I love upgrading each location/place in a TMG.
You can use the stars you gain by completing each level to craft different necklaces for the king, although that part wasn’t that exciting.
In each location you also have around 5 awards/bonus goals to win/achieve (making a certain number of combos, a certain number of happy customers, sell many expensive jewels etc).
The cursor didn't have any problem for me, it never missed one click so maybe it depends on your computer or the fact that you are rushing too much, if you have issues with it. Having the custom cursor wasn’t a problem either. I didn't even notice what cursor I was using.
As a final note, I suggest you follow the tutorial well, it's fast and really, it tells you everything you need to do (including where to throw items you don't need, since someone claimed that the game didn't explained that, and it even gives you suggestions like the combos strategy). Honestly, this is a nice, original, enjoyable game.
Oh, I forgot to mention the graphic and music which were good as well. Not much of a storyline from what I saw but the characters are cute. Some spelling mistakes here and there (like 'expansive' instead of 'expensive' or 'patient' instead of 'patience') but nothing too bothering (at least for me since I'm not an english speaker).
This is not a perfect game, but a nice, much needed change! That's why I give it 5 stars.
Thank you developers for a new and different game! I wish all developers would start doing more different types of games! But I guess with this kind of ‘reception’ they will stick to the My Kingdom for the Princess genre probably for a long time yet, and play it safe. :\ Which means I’m going to keep playing old games instead of buying new ones :P
You have to manage a jewelry shop, which is a pretty new idea (although I don't mind even overused ideas in TMG). I usually find annoying having to drag and drop customers, but it wasn't a problem here, at all. The first 5 levels were pretty easy and relaxed. Around the sixth level I couldn't achieve more than one star score, so I had to try another strategy: serving the most customers possible at once to make long chains of combos. This not only made me gain 3 stars in all those levels but I was able to sometimes triplicate the expert score! I beat one level with a 15500 score while the expert/three stars score was 5000. So the trick is to make a lot of combos! Serve the most people you can at a time (including greeting them and collecting their payment)! Forget their hearts/patience, it won't make much difference whether they leave with one or five hearts (the difference is 15-20 points maybe? While just by making 4-5-6 or more combos you can gain around 300-400 extra points!), the important thing is they don't completely run out of patience because I suppose you would lose the customer then. But you even have coffee for that!
There is a thief who once in a while try to rob the shop. He was able to steal only once from me, it wasn't that difficult to stop. Just try to never queue too many actions at a time (never more than 4-5 for example), because they can't be cancelled. By doing this you will most likely have the time to stop it even if you are in the middle of other tasks (the thief takes some time to be able to steal, he doesn't steal anything right away, and if you are attentive, you’ll be warned of his arrival in advance).
The upgrades were also another major complaint among players. Well they're not technically 'upgrades' but more like bonuses that you can buy and use during the level to make things simpler. Honestly you don't even need them to achieve 3 stars if you use the combos strategy. I buy them just because at the end of each level I have a lot of money to spend and then apply them during the level just for fun, not really for necessity -sometimes I even forget to use them (the only one who in my opinion is really useful is the showcase extension since more jewels means the first one will be very expensive); so I'm not really sure why people complain that they're not permanent, the game would be much too easy if they were. Sometimes there's even a sale so I suggest you stock up when they cost less if you really need them (they're cumulative and will remain in your inventory even after you change location, while money always restart from zero).
It’s true that in addition to that, they could have also added some permanent upgrades to the shop, I love upgrading each location/place in a TMG.
You can use the stars you gain by completing each level to craft different necklaces for the king, although that part wasn’t that exciting.
In each location you also have around 5 awards/bonus goals to win/achieve (making a certain number of combos, a certain number of happy customers, sell many expensive jewels etc).
The cursor didn't have any problem for me, it never missed one click so maybe it depends on your computer or the fact that you are rushing too much, if you have issues with it. Having the custom cursor wasn’t a problem either. I didn't even notice what cursor I was using.
As a final note, I suggest you follow the tutorial well, it's fast and really, it tells you everything you need to do (including where to throw items you don't need, since someone claimed that the game didn't explained that, and it even gives you suggestions like the combos strategy). Honestly, this is a nice, original, enjoyable game.
Oh, I forgot to mention the graphic and music which were good as well. Not much of a storyline from what I saw but the characters are cute. Some spelling mistakes here and there (like 'expansive' instead of 'expensive' or 'patient' instead of 'patience') but nothing too bothering (at least for me since I'm not an english speaker).
This is not a perfect game, but a nice, much needed change! That's why I give it 5 stars.
Thank you developers for a new and different game! I wish all developers would start doing more different types of games! But I guess with this kind of ‘reception’ they will stick to the My Kingdom for the Princess genre probably for a long time yet, and play it safe. :\ Which means I’m going to keep playing old games instead of buying new ones :P
I recommend this game!
Get land to build cities with houses, schools, markets, farms and a network of roads to improve the quality of life and the economy of the Roman Empire.
Overall rating
4
/
5
1 of 1 found this review helpful
Good strategy game
PostedJune 21, 2013
MarsRose
fromItaly
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Strategy
Fun Factor
4
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
5
/
5
Storyline
3
/
5
I'm writing this review not only to say that I enjoyed this game, and that it was a nice change from the usual games I find here in the last months which are basically all the same (be them HOGS or resource management games). But also because I find it funny that people seemed to have such a hard time putting up with the fires in their city. This is a STRATEGY game, so whenever you see a problem you have to use strategy! It's not one of those game where it's all a matter of clicking super fast so, if you don't succeed or find it frustrating, you just quit and decide it's not your type of game. I suppose none of those people have ever played Caesar or Pharaoh games. That's the same principle: usually, when you build a building, in order to work and affect the other buildings, it has to be near them. So if you don't want all the fires to start and automatically expand to all your buildings, to the point where it's impossible to put out all of them before they destroy everything, you have to build roads and buildings in an efficient way: I always create a single long road, with the fire station as the first top building of each road and then all the others. The fire man will then walk the only road there is and pass by every building without making many deviations, and it will prevent them to catch fire and burn down (or he will put out existent fires automatically). If your roads have a lot of intersections, your fire men will never visit all of your buildings, and with time, they will constantly catch fire. Doing this I never got a single fire in a whole level anymore (except when there are brigands, but if you have enough soldiers, like 10-15, you should be fine with that either). So it wasn't really a bug or error, it was manageable if you use the right strategy. Just create a single road for every type of buildings: a road for the production buildings, one for houses and all the buildings they need, and preferably don't connect them to the MAIN road, or the fire man might still get lost and walk where it's not necessary. On the main road you can build other types of buildings like the trade posts and the barracks for soldiers.
I found this game original (although very similar to the 2 games that I previously mentioned) for a casual game, it was challenging but it was a great satisfaction to have finally everything under control as you find the good strategies for everything. With every level done you even gain points to use and build your estate, which is a nice bonus instead of just going from a level to the other. The graphic and sound was good. Not much of a storyline but all in all, a good game. Too bad there aren't more developers who think about different types of game anymore, these days. :(
I found this game original (although very similar to the 2 games that I previously mentioned) for a casual game, it was challenging but it was a great satisfaction to have finally everything under control as you find the good strategies for everything. With every level done you even gain points to use and build your estate, which is a nice bonus instead of just going from a level to the other. The graphic and sound was good. Not much of a storyline but all in all, a good game. Too bad there aren't more developers who think about different types of game anymore, these days. :(
I recommend this game!
Your home has been raided. Your father is missing. Set off on a dangerous journey to save him, and become the Hero of the Kingdom!
Overall rating
5
/
5
83 of 86 found this review helpful
Finally a different game!
PostedJanuary 29, 2013
MarsRose
fromItaly
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Strategy, Time Management
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
3
/
5
Storyline
4
/
5
An awesome game, I'd keep playing for ever, it is very addictive. Finally something different! Finally! I almost don't even check in here anymore since I know it's all hidden object games or builder games. This one is more like a RPG however, but very different from others I played; you 'walk' through a huge map (new places become available only as game progresses) while on search for your kidnapped father; during your journey you'll have to do a lot of different things, mainly quests for other people you encounter along the way. There are several skills that you can learn and master (like fishing, hunting, herb and flowers collecting and so on) and also a lot of achievements from collecting things such as treasures, mushrooms, to becoming a soldier, making a lot of money etc. Plus, you can raise your 'popularity' with every task you complete (which in return unlocks other tasks and actions)
Performing each action requires strenght, which you can recover by sleeping and eating. There are a lot of different types of every item (many kinds of foods/weapons/tools/potions) to either find, create or buy/sell.
While exploring each screen on the map, keep your eyes open because you can find a lot of hidden things that you can click and collect but that aren't indicated (your cursor doesn't change so you have to click on every little thing you can recognize - eggs, golden eggs, mushrooms, lobsters on the shore, etc). I found this a lot of fun because some things are really little and hard to spot!
It's not very challenging and frenetic, but rather relaxing, which I also find a good change (you don't always have to be in a rush to have fun!), so don't be surprised if it looks a bit slow at the beginning.
I love everything of this game, it has so much freedom and variety, something I haven't seen in any game recently because they all always have pretty much the same dynamic (be them HOG or TMG). A nice fresh change!
I wish there were more of these. And I'm GLAD I didn't pay attention to all the negative reviews there were at the beginning and tried it, really glad.
(And some people actually rated it as bad because it wasn't the genre it was labeled to be...?! Be a little more serious while writing a review, please.)
Performing each action requires strenght, which you can recover by sleeping and eating. There are a lot of different types of every item (many kinds of foods/weapons/tools/potions) to either find, create or buy/sell.
While exploring each screen on the map, keep your eyes open because you can find a lot of hidden things that you can click and collect but that aren't indicated (your cursor doesn't change so you have to click on every little thing you can recognize - eggs, golden eggs, mushrooms, lobsters on the shore, etc). I found this a lot of fun because some things are really little and hard to spot!
It's not very challenging and frenetic, but rather relaxing, which I also find a good change (you don't always have to be in a rush to have fun!), so don't be surprised if it looks a bit slow at the beginning.
I love everything of this game, it has so much freedom and variety, something I haven't seen in any game recently because they all always have pretty much the same dynamic (be them HOG or TMG). A nice fresh change!
I wish there were more of these. And I'm GLAD I didn't pay attention to all the negative reviews there were at the beginning and tried it, really glad.
(And some people actually rated it as bad because it wasn't the genre it was labeled to be...?! Be a little more serious while writing a review, please.)
I recommend this game!
Help Farm Girl establish a farm at the edge of the pyramids!
Overall rating
2
/
5
24 of 27 found this review helpful
Could have been good
PostedAugust 8, 2012
MarsRose
fromItaly
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Strategy
Fun Factor
1
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
3
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
I played this game time ago. I love farm games and I love Egyptian themed games so I was very eager to try this one. The graphics are pretty cute, the music is not horrible even if after a while it become a bit too repetitive. It started fine, there are a lot of instructions and the game is easy to understand. For each level you can get 3-4 result if I remember correctly (normal goal, bronze, silver and gold). After the first few levels however, I found that the game kept asking you the same things, which was pretty boring after a little while. There's no story or interactions, only that girl that instructs you on each level's goal, which are basically the same: collect an amount of goods or collect an amount of money. The levels can be quite challenging but not really entertaining: you plant things, you water them and wait for them to grow, you collect them and send them to the factory to produce other goods. While doing this you have to find the correct order in which to perform each action if you want to achive a gold time. Between each level you can only visit a screen where you can buy and upgrade your structures, in your field you can grow 3 types of plant and create products with them, later you'll also have a couple of animals. Overall that's why I started to dislike it:
-Repetitiveness of the levels, they just keep asking you for a bigger number of products so they're either boring or frustrating.
-When wild animals appear on the screen and I try to cage them, they don't even slow down so they always end up eating/scaring away my animals (which take a lot of time to 'recharge' -no, you don't have to buy them, just wait that they recharge)
-Instead of having multiple buildings in your field, some of them need to be 'converted' from one into another by spending quite a lot of money. So you first have to collect all the required products of the same type, and only THEN convert your factory to produce another product type, cause if you missed some products, you'll have to convert the building back, spending the same amount of money. This was probably the most annoying thing of the game. I don't like being forced to do actions in a certain order, or not being able to complete tasks simultaneously.
-From a certain moment on, to advance on each further level you need to buy many upgrades for your buildings, otherwise you can't even start them. I found myself more than once without any money to buy those required buildings and had to repeat 6-7 older levels in order to gather the money needed... just to find out that for the next level, 3 further upgrades were required that I couldn't afford and I had to restart some levels again. That's where I definitely stopped playing. It came to a point where to advance to every new level I had to replay at least 5 older ones in order to have enough money and buy the upgrades needed.
Overall I must admit it was a pretty frustrating experience, I'm really disappointed since I was expecting it to be at least good as other games of the same type and I honestly wanted to enjoy it.
-Repetitiveness of the levels, they just keep asking you for a bigger number of products so they're either boring or frustrating.
-When wild animals appear on the screen and I try to cage them, they don't even slow down so they always end up eating/scaring away my animals (which take a lot of time to 'recharge' -no, you don't have to buy them, just wait that they recharge)
-Instead of having multiple buildings in your field, some of them need to be 'converted' from one into another by spending quite a lot of money. So you first have to collect all the required products of the same type, and only THEN convert your factory to produce another product type, cause if you missed some products, you'll have to convert the building back, spending the same amount of money. This was probably the most annoying thing of the game. I don't like being forced to do actions in a certain order, or not being able to complete tasks simultaneously.
-From a certain moment on, to advance on each further level you need to buy many upgrades for your buildings, otherwise you can't even start them. I found myself more than once without any money to buy those required buildings and had to repeat 6-7 older levels in order to gather the money needed... just to find out that for the next level, 3 further upgrades were required that I couldn't afford and I had to restart some levels again. That's where I definitely stopped playing. It came to a point where to advance to every new level I had to replay at least 5 older ones in order to have enough money and buy the upgrades needed.
Overall I must admit it was a pretty frustrating experience, I'm really disappointed since I was expecting it to be at least good as other games of the same type and I honestly wanted to enjoy it.
I don't recommend this game.
The Brooks family boarded the Neptune hoping for a relaxing family vacation, but what they got was an incredible adventure!
Overall rating
3
/
5
2 of 2 found this review helpful
Had a great potential... as an adventure game
PostedMay 22, 2012
MarsRose
fromItaly
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Hidden Object, Strategy, Time Management
Fun Factor
4
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
5
/
5
I must admit, since the first minutes of play, I was really impressed by the incredibly realistic atmosphere, the movie-like cutscenes and the immersive storyline... you really feel like you're racing against time to find your family trapped somewhere in the sinking ship, hoping to find them alive to finally escape this nightmare.
There isn't any unnecessary and inappropriate music in the background, just the sounds of the ship and storm, and sometimes voices calling for help, coming from other parts of the ship, or the music that keeps playing from some of the places like the casino, bar etc.
Graphic is very realistic as well, nothing super artistic or fairy-tale like, just the real awful view you would expect to see, being in a sinking ship, with water flooding rooms, objects floating, some parts of the ship upside down etc.
The voice acting is good as well, you can really feel the fear and anxiety in the woman's voice.
Now, to what turned me off.
First, the first hour gave me the idea it is a very, very short game. I think after the first 40 minutes I already got to half game (judging by the chapter list) and I found her son in the very first 10 minutes I believe? I imagined the whole game would have lasted not much more so I don't think I'll buy it.
Also, I find it so unfit for a HOG. As I said it is a very immersive game, which put you in a real distress as if you actually were in a rush to save your family, while other HOGs rarely make you feel this way. That's why having to do a lot of HOS kind of "broke" this atmosphere; it really made me feel like wasting time searching for absolutely useless objects and seriously put down all my excitement. They were too many, and distracting from the story.
If it was an adventure game and was overall longer (like requiring more searching of the ship and more obstacles to find the members of your family or other survivors) then I would absolutely give it 5 stars because it has the potential to be a great game.
But I still recommend at least to try it, and then decide if buying it or not.
There isn't any unnecessary and inappropriate music in the background, just the sounds of the ship and storm, and sometimes voices calling for help, coming from other parts of the ship, or the music that keeps playing from some of the places like the casino, bar etc.
Graphic is very realistic as well, nothing super artistic or fairy-tale like, just the real awful view you would expect to see, being in a sinking ship, with water flooding rooms, objects floating, some parts of the ship upside down etc.
The voice acting is good as well, you can really feel the fear and anxiety in the woman's voice.
Now, to what turned me off.
First, the first hour gave me the idea it is a very, very short game. I think after the first 40 minutes I already got to half game (judging by the chapter list) and I found her son in the very first 10 minutes I believe? I imagined the whole game would have lasted not much more so I don't think I'll buy it.
Also, I find it so unfit for a HOG. As I said it is a very immersive game, which put you in a real distress as if you actually were in a rush to save your family, while other HOGs rarely make you feel this way. That's why having to do a lot of HOS kind of "broke" this atmosphere; it really made me feel like wasting time searching for absolutely useless objects and seriously put down all my excitement. They were too many, and distracting from the story.
If it was an adventure game and was overall longer (like requiring more searching of the ship and more obstacles to find the members of your family or other survivors) then I would absolutely give it 5 stars because it has the potential to be a great game.
But I still recommend at least to try it, and then decide if buying it or not.
I recommend this game!