Bullionist's Profile
Stat Summary
- Average Rating:4.8
- Helpful Votes:98
- Reviews Submitted:16
- First Review:December 20, 2013
- Most Recent Review:December 17, 2018
- Featured reviews0
A classic Christmas tale tail, with a whole new twist! Help the Nutcracker rescue the princess from the evil Rat King!
Overall rating
1
/
5
19 of 20 found this review helpful
Creepy content warning: Have to decapitate snowman with a cannon, etc
PostedDecember 24, 2013
Bullionist
fromOregon
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Hidden Object, Strategy, Time Management
Fun Factor
1
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
3
/
5
I played the trial version and thought this had great potential as a pretty Christmas game to give as a gift. The evil rat king was creepy but that's expected for a villain-- however, around 10 minutes after the trial version cuts you off and makes you buy the game there is a part where you come across a friendly looking smiling snowman that then becomes demonically possessed by the rat king's magic. The only solution to go forward is to decapitate the now hostile snowman with a cannon, after which you have to pick its limbs out of the pile of remains and use them to start a fire in a hunting cabin full of dead animal taxidermy. After this most of the rest of the scenes are increasingly macabre and take place in dungeon-like rooms with disturbing masks, statues, evil looking gargoyles, etc. While I've certainly seen far worse things both in games and real-life, anyone that's just looking for a nice pretty Christmas game should be warned about this content in advance -- especially if you were planning to give it as a gift to someone who might find it upsetting. You can use the official walkthrough to get a rough idea of what the scenes look like in order find out whether this is the kind of thing you want.
I don't recommend this game.
After awaking from a century long slumber, Princess Sophia finds a world that is devoid of people! Help her find her friends!
Overall rating
5
/
5
2 of 2 found this review helpful
Perfect 2nd Game in the Awakening Series
PostedDecember 23, 2013
Bullionist
fromOregon
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Hidden Object, Strategy, Time Management
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
5
/
5
Storyline
5
/
5
The story picks up right where the Dreamless Castle left off as Sophia and her faery companion enter the Moonfell Wood. The incredibly detailed painted visuals and lighting effects are mesmerizingly beautiful. The music and sound is great also and adds a lot to the atmosphere. The hidden object scenes and puzzles/games are all perfectly integrated with the locations without ever seeming random, and they were very satisfying to solve.
This is by far my favorite of the Awakenings series, and I found myself immersed in the atmosphere and very interested to seek out the mysteries in the forest and find out what happened next.
I recommend this game!
After Awakening in a mysterious castle it's up to you to collect clues and items needed to solve perplexing puzzles and escape!
Overall rating
5
/
5
3 of 3 found this review helpful
Great beginning of a magical series
PostedDecember 22, 2013
Bullionist
fromOregon
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Hidden Object, Strategy, Time Management
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
5
/
5
Storyline
4
/
5
This beautiful game series introduced me to the rich "hidden object" genre. It has a very enchanting atmosphere as you explore the castle and grounds seeking out the mystery of what happened to the people of your kingdom. The fairy companion who helps you is charming and the goblins you interact with are very amusing.
The hidden object scenes and puzzles are perfectly integrated with the atmosphere of the game and never feel like they were thrown in at random. Also, despite not being a fan of puzzles in general, I found that the puzzles in this series were very satisfying to work on and (for me) the perfect difficulty level -- however they also give you a great option to skip a puzzle that you don't want to finish, so you can just get on with the adventure if you want to.
I enjoyed the Dreamless Castle and the sequel Moonfell Wood so much that I bought the rest of the Awakening series as well. Each game could be played independently, but the story of each one in the series continues directly from where you left off in the last game, which makes it even more satisfying.
I recommend this game!
The kingdom suffers under an evil witch's curse! Help Princess Vita unravel her land's mysteries and liberate the kingdom!
Overall rating
5
/
5
1 of 1 found this review helpful
Fun Faery Tale Adventure
PostedDecember 21, 2013
Bullionist
fromOregon
Skill Level:Expert
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 loved this game despite its occasional awkward moments. Generally it has a very fun and light atmosphere as you help the Princess on her quest to defeat the evil witch, and you get to travel around the map visiting different fairy tale characters and solving quests.
The graphics are very well done and the characters are amusing. I liked the use of a 3rd-person map to travel around on, and fairly early on you can solve a quest and get the help of a Unicorn who will carry you from place to place much faster. You are also accompanied by a little faery who you can ask for hints to help you figure out what to do next.
The gameplay is divided between nicely done hidden object scenes, travelling on the map, and a variety of fun little minigames (which can all be skipped on the easy difficulty setting).
I played the easiest setting for this particular game, yet I still hit a dead-end a couple times and had no idea what to do next. However I found a free official PDF walkthrough available with pictures.
The main problem I had was at the end when I couldn't get the solution to work the way it was supposed to according to the official walkthrough. I noticed several other people on forums had the same problem and some even wondered if there was a fatal bug. However, seemingly at random I did eventually get it to work and the mega-happy ending made up for the earlier frustration.
Parental warning: while this game was cute and had lots of pretty scenes, the imagery in some scenes with the witch or the bewitched characters could frighten sensitive children-- especially when the witch leaps out at you near the end. (You can see a small version of what that looks like in the walkthrough.)
Overall I loved this game and would like to find more games like it. And to be fair: Even the handful of confusing parts in this game were nowhere near as frustrating as the kind of puzzles game designers loved to foist on you in the classic PC adventure games (e.g., King's Quest).
I recommend this game!
The Fifth Gate
Brace yourself for a world of magic and potions in The Fifth Gate, a gripping Time Management game! Restore the gardens!
Overall rating
5
/
5
1 of 1 found this review helpful
Enchanted Flower Gardening
PostedDecember 21, 2013
Bullionist
fromOregon
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Hidden Object, Strategy, Time Management
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
5
/
5
Storyline
5
/
5
Beautiful flower gardening game very similar in basic gameplay to Magic Farm, but with more beautiful graphics and music and terrific design overall.
I was nervous about buying this game without a trial version, but it looked so good that I bought it anyway and found it ran perfectly under Windows 7 with the most recent Flash installation as of Dec. 2013.
The visuals and atmosphere of all of the flower gardens were beautiful and the gameplay was a lot of fun. You use your harvested blooms to create various potions to sell or give to Morgana in exchange for new plants or special items, and you can upgrade water fountains, storage areas, and later build pedestals so you can cast spells. You can also plant special types of helper flowers that can provide extra water, help capture garden pests, or make plants bloom faster.
The plot is very light but the faery Morgana is frequently very amusing when requesting you to create exotic potions for her for various reasons.
This was by far my favorite of the magical gardening games (and I would easily select it as my current favorite game of all categories if not for Aerie: Spirit of the Forest). I wish the same developers had created many sequels to The Fifth Gate! If they did I would happily buy them all.
I recommend this game!
After a natural disaster, Shangri-La lays in ashes. Aerie and the will-o-wisps are called upon to bring the land back to life!
Overall rating
5
/
5
14 of 14 found this review helpful
Beautiful game
PostedDecember 20, 2013
Bullionist
fromOregon
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Hidden Object, Strategy, Time Management
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
5
/
5
Storyline
5
/
5
Beautiful graphics and music, great gameplay. You get to heal the forest using mana, will-o-wisps and quite a few different kinds of animals who help you. The forest scenes and especially the lighting effects look great.
The atmosphere is always so pleasant that the game isn't stressful, but it can be fairly challenging in later levels. You have to choose your strategy carefully if you want to finish healing the forest during the right moon phase so that you can get the moonstones to restore the nature temples. However, it was always fun to replay the same levels over again and it never felt frustrating.
I finished this game some time ago and still enjoy replaying it. I wish there were more like it!
I recommend this game!