JovanTancic's Profile
Stat Summary
- Average Rating:4.3
- Helpful Votes:41
- Reviews Submitted:3
- First Review:July 15, 2015
- Most Recent Review:January 16, 2023
- Featured reviews0
JovanTancic's Review History
Revisit Moonfell Wood in this stunning remaster of the hidden object classic!
Overall rating
3
/
5
10 of 11 found this review helpful
Awakening Remastered: Moonfell Wood Was Generally Just Lazy
PostedJanuary 16, 2023
JovanTancic
fromSerbia
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Hidden Object, Puzzle, Time Management
Fun Factor
3
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
3
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
5
/
5
So after my last review on The Dreamless Castle remastered, which I found way more better than this, with only flaws such as the game's overall design, this one really proved how much more time they needed to make an actual quality 2023 HOPA game. This was lazy to its finest.
I respect how they didn't retouched the characters (well, most of them) and how they kept the locations to their core as they did with the previous one, however, the game meets with a lot of glitches such as items randomly disappearing from the inventory, the inventory keeps switching the side with the items just as you go to the next location, the map doesn't tick every location you 100% completed, sometimes even the whole inventory or game's bars such as skip/back just... disappear. So you have to go to the main menu again and resume the game in order to fix it. Even the ambient sounds disappear when you revisit the locations. At least, that happened to me after I completed the game, and went back into it. By the way you have to make a new profile in order to replay the game, you can't replay it with your already used profile, you can just revisit the locations; which I find nice to be honest. As I said before, they really do outstanding job with redrawing these locations (for the most part). I noticed they didn't used all of the locations from the original, but those were minor ones, still, would've been better if they did.
One of the biggest flaws to me was the fact that they used the OG Mira's model for some cutscenes, that was ODD, the music was glitchy in some of them. Again, they are going way to fast, they are not staying longer for the players to appreciate the view, the music; nope, they just keep going on the moment narrator finishes her sentence. I hate that, I hated it in The Dreamless Castle remaster as well. That kills the narrative soooo much. I also noticed how they didn't even bothered with some of the animations the original had, such as destroying the crystal right after the bear's location, the beatiful moon bridge that was poorly redone, they didn't even made it visible after you made it happen. You go back to the pavillion's garden where the fountain is, and you don't see it. It is nonexistent, but you do see it in the original. As well as going through the Sun/Moon gate, the teleporting animation the original had is nonexistent here. Folks, this is made on Unity engine, in 2022. Who knows on what the original was made on, yet, they had it great in 2010. Can someone explain, for real, what happened?
I do wish they payed more attention to the old game's beautiful aesthetics and made the designs of game bars/inventory a little bit more to their root instead of just giving us the basic green color over that, making it look dull, childish, and most of all - LAZY. I do appreciate that kind of stuff because you can tell through them that the devs really gave their hearts, time and knowledge into the project. And of course, this is all what really mattered to the fan of Awakening series such as myself.
The puzzles were redone the same way as in the Dreamless Castle, added some new ones, expanded the time you'll need to finish hidden object scenes... These ones were definitely a lot harder than in the Dreamless Castle. Those are great things.
(SPOILER ALERT! DON'T READ IF YOU HAVEN'T FINISHED THE BONUS CHAPTER!!!) Bonus Chapter was interesting, definitely a way better one than in the Dreamless Castle, that one was quite odd and added nothing to the story, just more confusion to me. So we finally found out that Sasha was indeed Sophia's mother. That wakes the need for a new Awakening title to me. Now that we know her mother's backstory, it would be great to see a new adventure waiting for Sophia in this Awakening world.
The Final Conclusion:
The game was OK, despite all these issues, but I wouldn't recommend it. Stick to the original. I am glad that they are looking into their old games and giving them a new look, touch and feel. Is it good though? In some ways, yeap, it's great, in some other ways... nope. As a fan of Awakening series and especially Moonfell Wood being one of my favorite Awakenings, I found this remaster just lazy in many ways, and they are mentioned above. Generally, this is good for killing time. If you want a true Awakening experience, unfortunately, in my opinion, these remasters won't be it. Play the originals first. Not because they came out first, but because they truly are a far far better experience that sadly these today's standards obviously can't bring back, mostly because of developer's given creative freedom and choices. I'd always replay the originals, been doing that for more than past 10 years. That tells a lot. These stand far from replay values, but at least I can still enjoy the view with the sceneries. I do hope developers read these and see from where some of us are coming from and where they did wrong.
I don't recommend this game.
In this remastered classic, reawaken in that mysterious castle, and solve perplexing puzzles to escape!
Overall rating
5
/
5
29 of 37 found this review helpful
Awakening Being Remastered IS Worth It & I Want More!
PostedJuly 8, 2022
JovanTancic
fromSerbia
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Hidden Object, Puzzle, Time Management
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
3
/
5
Level of Challenge
3
/
5
Storyline
5
/
5
This remaster was a pleasant surprise. Where to begin? I'll start with things I didn't quite like.
- So, as of fairy Mira, I'm not a fan of her remastered look. They kinda made her look older and gave her a darker green skirt, changed the white flower for a blue one... Her blue eyes are conspicuous. She doesn't have cute little cheeks she had in the OG, yet her body in the remaster looks bigger. I liked how she at least moved a bit and not just stayed frozen like in the OG. The inventory style and the dialogue look could have also been as the OG ones, I think they just had more details. The remaster on this point felt flat. I hope the developers will keep that in mind in the next remaster/s.
- Same music. I at least hoped that they would add more tracks that would keep going but they left it the same. I am okay with it, but I expected more. at least for Bonus Chapter then but... all are the same there, too.
- No background sounds, just as the OG, which is fine, but I wish we could have had those. In Moonfell Wood, that would be a must, since the OG game has a lot of those. No voice-overs though. For some reason I thought we would have those. But it's fine even without them.
- Cutscenes could have been a bit slower, they could have been going more slowly and let the player decide when to click and continue.
- I put "OK" for the "Level of Challenge" because the OG is no different either, they kept many same puzzles and added some new ones, or reimagined ones also, which were easy, which is fine for me, probably because I played the OG a thousand times by now and they really really kept 90% of the things the same, which I admire, but for this section I'm afraid it goes 2/3 out of 5. I'm sure the ones who never played this game before will find it harder. But an advice to you folks, play the OG first.
- Same music. I at least hoped that they would add more tracks that would keep going but they left it the same. I am okay with it, but I expected more. at least for Bonus Chapter then but... all are the same there, too.
- No background sounds, just as the OG, which is fine, but I wish we could have had those. In Moonfell Wood, that would be a must, since the OG game has a lot of those. No voice-overs though. For some reason I thought we would have those. But it's fine even without them.
- Cutscenes could have been a bit slower, they could have been going more slowly and let the player decide when to click and continue.
- I put "OK" for the "Level of Challenge" because the OG is no different either, they kept many same puzzles and added some new ones, or reimagined ones also, which were easy, which is fine for me, probably because I played the OG a thousand times by now and they really really kept 90% of the things the same, which I admire, but for this section I'm afraid it goes 2/3 out of 5. I'm sure the ones who never played this game before will find it harder. But an advice to you folks, play the OG first.
Everything else is just fine! I love how they kept the OG look in every location and in some just improved the whole look and bought more life into it. I love how they kept the same look for Sophia, really appreciated! That "pin" option inside the diary is awesome, totally new in this genre.
(SPOILER, DON'T READ IF YOU HAVEN'T FINISHED THE BONUS CHAPTER!!!) Bonus Chapter left me in curiosity. It was kind of random to see Sophia's daughter in the picture. How is that possible if this Bonus Chapter takes place right after Sophia leaves the Dreamless Castle? She has a daughter after the events in the Redleaf Forest. Was she there just randomly because she's a part of the series?
Anyways, that would be about it. I enjoyed this game very much and I am happy remaster came along. This was one of my first HOPA games I played, and probably one I mostly played out of all, so just seeing something like that is coming back to life was a dream to me. I am hoping the developers will bring us great remasters in the future of their amazing games, and, in their support, I give this product five stars! Thank you BoomZap Entertainment.
I recommend this game!
A doctor has mysteriously vanished from a psychiatric clinic, and it’s up to you, hypnotist Maya Anderson, to solve the mystery!
Overall rating
5
/
5
2 of 9 found this review helpful
amazing game
PostedJuly 15, 2015
JovanTancic
fromUSA
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
5
/
5
Storyline
5
/
5
Its realy amazing game,and music from theme main,soryline,but only what i don't like-is that when you have a Doctor Maya,that name,i guess,i see her a blue and green eye,and that for me was been a little stupid,but when i played a whole game,and finished it,i just forgot that fault...realy amazing game!And its realy instructive!
I recommend this game!