Skeride's Profile
Stat Summary
- Average Rating:3.8
- Helpful Votes:12
- Reviews Submitted:4
- First Review:September 15, 2013
- Most Recent Review:October 9, 2013
- Featured reviews0
Skeride's Review History
Portal of Evil: Stolen Runes
The gates to another world will open soon! You can stop the impending disaster - if you track down the stolen runes!
Overall rating
4
/
5
3 of 3 found this review helpful
Beautiful, fun game with half an ending
PostedOctober 9, 2013
Skeride
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Hidden Object, Match 3
Current Favorite:
Forest Legends: The Call of Love Collector's Edition
(94)Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
5
/
5
Storyline
3
/
5
Well worth purchasing.
Pros:
* Absolutely gorgeous gameplay scenes and cinematics (whenever humans are absent).
* Standard puzzles, but well implemented. I normally skip puzzles I've seen too often, but played through about a third of the ones here, simply because they were pretty and the challenge level was just right.
* Satisfying hidden object scenes. Nothing new, but well done. Scenes were done twice: once as list, perform-an-action and zoom in, and once as place-the-items-where-they-belong.
* Working hint and skip buttons. On the easiest difficulty, these filled quickly enough to avoid frustration, but slowly enough so that I'd at least give puzzles an honest try.
* Excellent interactive map. A now-standard jump map, but well done. Red dots showed where something could be done, a green dot where you were, half-and-half for both. Clicking on a map node teleported you there. Unavailable locations were visible but grayed out, giving you a sense of how far you were in the game.
* The ending ties up the main questline.
Cons:
* Questionable voice acting and 3d character models. (In any other HOG, the human models would be fine, but given how good the graphics are in the rest of the game, the contrast is jarring.)
* Puzzles and objects often make little sense in context. You'll be opening weird-shaped locks and dissolving things with acid just because those are the available actions given your inventory, not because any rational person would ever think of doing so as part of the quest you're allegedly on. (The game is fun and beautiful enough that I found this amusing instead of upsetting.)
* In the standard edition, the ending leaves a few important plot threads hanging.
I recommend this game!
Off the Record: Linden Shades
Something's driven everyone away from Linden Shades.
Overall rating
2
/
5
6 of 6 found this review helpful
Good for children, disappointing and unpolished for adults
PostedOctober 1, 2013
Skeride
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Hidden Object
Current Favorite:
Forest Legends: The Call of Love Collector's Edition
(94)Fun Factor
2
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
1
/
5
Level of Challenge
2
/
5
Storyline
2
/
5
I love the developer's other games, but (assuming they intended a teenage or adult audience) they really dropped the ball on this one.
* While the game supports widescreen, at 1920x1080 the graphics were unacceptably pixellated. The edges of rounded objects were sawtoothed.
* The list-based hidden object scenes were simplistic and only one step above rudimentary.
- Many objects made no sense for the setting - example: the first scene had you find fresh, unmelted chocolates that had been sitting in the sun outside an orphanage abandoned since 1969.
- As is standard for the genre, colored item names meant an extra step was needed. These extra steps seemed designed for toddlers: e.g. click on a jewelry box to zoom in and place variously shaped gems into the slots corresponding to the correct shape.
- Annoyingly, some hidden (well, fragmented) objects had to be found scattered across the entire scene, a-la the old Gypsy Tower game.
- Many objects made no sense for the setting - example: the first scene had you find fresh, unmelted chocolates that had been sitting in the sun outside an orphanage abandoned since 1969.
- As is standard for the genre, colored item names meant an extra step was needed. These extra steps seemed designed for toddlers: e.g. click on a jewelry box to zoom in and place variously shaped gems into the slots corresponding to the correct shape.
- Annoyingly, some hidden (well, fragmented) objects had to be found scattered across the entire scene, a-la the old Gypsy Tower game.
* The graphics were amateurish. It was blatantly obvious that a bunch of photographed items had been inexpertly clipped and then cut-and-pasted into the scene without regard to matching the lighting, coloring or tone of the rest of the setting.
* The plot was presented as if it were geared towards adults, while being too simple for anyone beyond elementary school age. It honestly played out like a Scooby Doo episode, and not one of the good ones.
* There was very little effort to make genre-standard gameplay (find odd-shaped keys to fit locks, find the scattered pieces of complicated puzzle locks and then assemble them, search through junk piles of improbable objects) fit the setting. This is a common pitfall of this type of games, but in this case the separation between gameplay and setting was jarring enough to destroy immersion.
In short, this is a surprisingly weak entry from the developers behind the fantastic Final Cut games. It may be worth a purchase if you have a toddler or youngster you wish to introduce to hidden object games, but I can't imagine most adults playing the game on their own would find it worth their time.
I don't recommend this game.
Lost Souls: Enchanted Paintings
After the police and FBI come up empty in their investigation, Bella turns to forces beyond our world to find her missing son!
Overall rating
5
/
5
2 of 2 found this review helpful
A beautiful, relaxing, satisfying game for all ages
PostedSeptember 17, 2013
Skeride
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Hidden Object
Current Favorite:
Forest Legends: The Call of Love Collector's Edition
(94)Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
1
/
5
Storyline
2
/
5
Despite its age, this is one of the most beautiful games I've played, and it has full widescreen support.
There's only a token nod toward a story, and it serves only as an excuse for a level-based light puzzle and hidden object game.
For an adult who has played at least one HOG before, there is no challenge to speak of. The HOG are slightly interactive and all are done twice: once as list-based with yellow words requiring an extra action to find, and once where you have to find the objects shown in full (not just silhouette).
The standard puzzles are all here: sliding, untangling, etc. They're well implemented, but easier than in most HOG.
Despite the almost non-existent challenge and story, the game is a joy to play, and suitable for all ages. The artwork is superb, the music is relaxing, and solving quest steps is incredibly satisfying in the same way that matching gems in a good Match-3 is.
If you're looking for a game to play with your children, or want a relaxing way to unwind after a stressful day, definitely pick this up.
I recommend this game!
Left in the Dark: No One on Board
Discover what connects the ship’s disappearance with Devil’s Island and a family’s unsolved murder!
Overall rating
4
/
5
1 of 2 found this review helpful
A delightful afternoon's SE
PostedSeptember 15, 2013
Skeride
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Hidden Object
Fun Factor
4
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
3
/
5
Storyline
4
/
5
A charming game that has that addictive 'one more quest step' feel to it. The plot - WHAT happens in the story - is pretty standard HOG fare. Detective, ghost, curse, mystery, etc. There's nothing unusual about the puzzles or HOGs either. Both aspects are perfectly serviceable and do not detract from the gameplay experience. Graphics are also competent, but not exceptional, and the voice acting reminds me of that in the Nancy Drew games (in a good way).
This is one game where average components add up to more than the sum of their parts. I can't quite put my finger on why, but the whole thing is just FUN. From the moment I fire up the game, there's nothing that makes me want to stop playing, and plenty of carrots that make me want to keep going, just a little bit farther, into the tale.
Artifex Mundi is quickly becoming one of my favourite developers, as all of their recent games share this kind of compulsive charm and make excellent use of modest resources. As a collector's edition, 'Of Glass and Ink' was slightly more elaborate, but I'd say that this title is the equivalent of Serpent Creek, another excellent SE.
This game is well worth the purchase price, and an absolute no-brainer if you have a spare credit or free game coupon. It's an SE that delights from beginning to end, feels complete and provides more enjoyment than most SEs.
I recommend this game!