Scottar's Profile
Stat Summary
- Average Rating:3.6
- Helpful Votes:395
- Reviews Submitted:238
- First Review:August 1, 2016
- Most Recent Review:March 17, 2025
- Featured reviews0
Status:
Hidden Magic
Help a mage find the missing love of his life! Explore a dark forest and find the evil kidnappers in this Hidden Object game!
Overall rating
2
/
5
Need a better tutorial and graphics
PostedMay 19, 2021
Scottar
fromAlbuquerque, NM
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Strategy, Time Management
Fun Factor
2
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
3
/
5
Level of Challenge
3
/
5
Storyline
3
/
5
Music is bearable. You have 3 difficulty levels with 1 being casual. The graphics are like Impressionism, mid level, which make objects hard to find.
You start out in the ransacked home. You can chose a gender. You have to find the pieces of objects in the scene and complete the objects. You will find that in order to find the pieces of some objects you will have to complete others to uncover the other pieces. And some of the objects are so well blended in the scene of muddled graphics that they are next to impossible to find. Fortunately you have a hint button that will show you where any of the pieces are.
Once you complete all the objects a map opens up as a puzzle.You have to put the puzzle pieces together in order to complete the picture. After you complete the map the home scene returns and you must find the pieces to another set of objects. You then go back to the map and fight your first battle with an opponent.
You press start and you are introduced to your first opponent. You press the fight button and you are presented to a scene with various objects or ingredients for spells to fight your opponent. Finding the ingredients is a real chore as they are not very well defined or sharp against the background, and therefore not obvious to the identity on the list of 3 spells. Some are well blended in the background, some hidden behind others. When you complete 1 spell it will be replaced by another. As you progress though the game you will get more spells and more ingredients to find.
Meanwhile your opponent will periodically attack you and you suffer in health points. If you die you have the option of being resurrected and the fight occurs all over at the beginning. Some objects will partially conceal others and some objects won't appear until one spell is completed. So work on all 3 spells to reduce the clutter.
Once you win the fight you will be presented with a scene puzzle to complete. These puzzles are not too hard to complete and the pieces are all properly oriented. Once completed you are taken back to the map and the place icon appears on the map, but in-between it and you is another fight to go through. When you win that fight you are taken to the last puzzle scene on another object completion and use in the scene. The final object is a book of spells that gives you more spells to use.
So after filling in all the objects you are taken to another fight. After this fight you are presented with a puzzle box. There are various puzzles including a 3 match arcade, flip the blocks to find a twin match, and complete a cryptogram, which I never could fathom, and there was no help on that. After about a minuet or so you can skip the puzzle.
Once you complete the puzzle box you get another map location scene, and another fight, object find, etc. And so it goes- fight, object find, puzzle, puzzle scene, fight....
The best feature of this game was the wizard fight battles. The rest was kind of ho-hum or tedious or frustrating.
I don't recommend this game.
Portal of Evil: Stolen Runes Collector's Edition
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
A very challenging and intriguing game.
PostedMay 14, 2021
Scottar
fromAlbuquerque, NM
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Strategy, Time Management
Fun Factor
4
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
5
/
5
Storyline
5
/
5
The game is like an indie type with the heroine being a female. Graphics are good. You have a lot of customizations, a jump map and a hint option as well as a skip puzzle option. Mood music is OK for the game.
Most puzzles are solvable, some with effort, some are very difficult, some just screw around with. You can either skip or resort to the guide on those. The finding of some application objects is sometimes difficult and you will find yourself resorting to the jump map on where to go next. But 3-times I got left wondering what to do next as there was no good clues on the jump map.
This hidden object puzzles, or Hops as they are called, are not difficult except for a few items and many have hidden puzzles within them. They have 2 modes, pairing a list of objects with their mates and find a list of object in the scene. Some may require a lot of scrutinizing.
No easter eggs except for finding info parchments for bragging rights.
A very challenging and intriguing game.
I recommend this game!
Can you stop a maniacal murderer before it’s too late?
Overall rating
3
/
5
1 of 2 found this review helpful
Difficult Game to Play
PostedMay 9, 2021
Scottar
fromAlbuquerque, NM
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Strategy, Time Management
Fun Factor
3
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
3
/
5
Graphics are very good. You have a lot of customizations, a jump map and a hint option as well as a skip puzzle option. Mood music is OK for the game.
Most puzzles are solvable, some with effort, some are very difficult, some are wacky. You can either skip or resort to the guide on those. The finding of some application objects is somewhat wacky and not logical. Sometimes I got left wondering what to do next as there was no good clues on the jump map.
This hidden object puzzles, or Hops as they are called, are not difficult except for a few items and many have hidden puzzles within them.
You have 3 easter eggs to find, some are difficult spot- 1 morphing, 1 personal, and 1 coin. After completing both games you can go to extras section and buy stuff in the apparel room. If you miss stuff you have to go through the game again to find the missed items.
The game had some bugs of crashing and not updating on the location map of easter eggs found. It was very random.
I recommend this game!
Mystery Trackers: Silent Hollow Collector's Edition
There are screams heard in Silent Hollow... Trouble at the Mystery Trackers headquarters means you're called in to help.
Overall rating
4
/
5
Not a Bad Game
PostedMay 1, 2021
Scottar
fromAlbuquerque, NM
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Strategy, Time Management
Fun Factor
4
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
5
/
5
Storyline
5
/
5
It has good graphics and decent soundtrack. You have the usual companion dog. The easter eggs are various psycho enhanced animals. You also collect coins to buy thing for your pet companion and his family.
The puzzles are not that hard but challenging, solved every one. But there is one that has a bug in it as when you try to compete one item it just resets so I was forced to skip it. The find HOPs have embedded puzzles to make it harder. Along the way your detective will acquire paranormal abilities.
The progress is quite complicated and you at some point likely will be forced to use the hint button as there will be no good clues and the map will not tell you were to go next. It will be out of the box thinking. Some items where not obvious to find.
But it was not a bad game in all.
I recommend this game!
Lead the Egyptians on an epic time management adventure, defeat dangerous creatures and banish the dark forces to lift the curse!
Overall rating
5
/
5
10 of 11 found this review helpful
A Remake but Better
PostedApril 28, 2021
Scottar
fromAlbuquerque, NM
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Strategy, Time Management
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
5
/
5
Storyline
5
/
5
It's colorful with good graphics and animation and is essentially a remake of Tales of Inca 2 - New Adventures. It differs some what in interfaces. I have yet to finish the last level of Tails in 3 star time where in Heros I was able to do it the second go around although it is just about as complicated. I was able to finish all levels of Heros in 3 star time in normal mode. It was very challenging.
What's better of Heros is the mood music is much better and more motivating. There are no puzzles or easter eggs.
So give it a try, you may really like it. I hope they have a collectors version of this game in the future.
I recommend this game!
Save the town of Blackhill from an army of shadows!
Overall rating
4
/
5
A Mystery Worth Pursuing
PostedApril 20, 2021
Scottar
fromAlbuquerque, NM
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Strategy, Time Management
Fun Factor
4
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
4
/
5
Graphics are good, mood music is OK for the game. Finding objects is not too difficult, just need to do careful searching. Some objects are hidden behind other objects in the hidden find areas.
70% of the puzzles are readily solvable while the others are either tedious or confounding. 1 arcade hop was funky. Excellent guide. All the puzzles are in the bonus game.
There are 3 easter eggs, a morphing object, a piece of paper, and portraits of the dog companion elf.
Overall it's a challenging and interesting game. Check out the elf collections in the bonus section when done.
I recommend this game!
A mischievous genie keeps our heroes busy with wishes of his own!
Overall rating
4
/
5
The good gets better
PostedApril 18, 2021
Scottar
fromAlbuquerque, NM
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Strategy, Time Management
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
5
/
5
Like the last ones: humorous, challenging, and good balanced graphics. There is just more variety of obstacle features to overcome. The excellent strategy guide give you a procedure you came loosely follow. I wasn't enamored by most of the mood music although there was a good variety of it.
In most levels you have an easter egg puzzle peace that goes to complete a picture accessed at the main start page. Once found you don't have to refind if you decide to restart the level without completion. Level info in Map mode will tell which ones have a puzzle piece and it you found it.
After going though so many levels you get a bonus enhancement choice to give you advantages in the game.
Good detailed strategy guide. Good resolution in window mode.
After playing in casual mode, I switched to normal timed mode and was able to complete every level, although many were tough and some just in time. But in the awards section it referenced 1 award to hiring a number of workers and mercenaries, I could not find that possibility in any level.
It has 4 arcade games types along the path that are optional. A battle ship type game, a matching game, a pacman type game, and a joust game that I found very difficult and aggravating to win.
I recommend this game!
Secrets of the Dark: Eclipse Mountain Collector's Edition
Challenge yourself in the role of the scientist-historian-scholar of ancient civilizations and mystical legends and save your friend from the Demon of Darkness!
Overall rating
3
/
5
Challenging Adventure Game
PostedApril 18, 2021
Scottar
fromAlbuquerque, NM
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Strategy, Time Management
Fun Factor
3
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
3
/
5
The graphics are good but rather bland, it make finding objects rather hard. You have 2 kinds of hidden object finds, one is find the object from a word list an another is place a bunch of object to where they belong. Its not always obvious where some objects belong. Sometimes object are partially covered. With the final object you are aided with a grasping hand.
Many puzzles are solvable for the average schmo like me, but there are 4 or 5 that are real mind twisters for the puzzle freaks. 1 is an arcade like challenge that drove me to the skip option, I hate arcade like stuff in these games. For the rest of the game you will be challenged and traveling all over the place looking for needed items. Some solutions are abstract.
No easter eggs in this game. You have a good strategy guide for bailout. Story line is OK. The music is redundant and gets old not even halfway through the game. Tutorial is good. Good options.
I recommend this game!
An expedition to an Aztec temple awakens a true force of nature!
Overall rating
3
/
5
OK in Paridise
PostedMarch 27, 2021
Scottar
fromAlbuquerque, NM
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Strategy, Time Management
Fun Factor
3
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
3
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
3
/
5
This game is like the other more up to date Hidden Expedition games. You have a lot of customizations, a jump map and hint option as well as a skip puzzle option. Graphics are par with the most up to date games. Mood music is OK for the game. The scenario is similar in the other game series in that you have to stop a villain from using an artifact for a deitie's agenda.
Most puzzles are solvable with effort, 2 are very difficult, 3 are wacky. You can either skip or resort to the guide on those.
This hidden object puzzles, or Hops as they are called, are not difficult except for a few items and many have hidden puzzles within them.
You have 2 icon easter eggs in each scene to find, some are difficult spot.
I recommend this game!
Mystery and betrayal at Rosings Park darken an alternate version of Jane Austen’s classic!
Overall rating
3
/
5
2 of 2 found this review helpful
OK Vampire Game
PostedMarch 26, 2021
Scottar
fromAlbuquerque, NM
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Strategy, Time Management
Fun Factor
4
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
5
/
5
The graphics are good if somewhat fuzzy. You have a basic jump map.
Most puzzles are not overwhelming but 2 are wacky, 2 hard. I got hung up on a maze map because the navigation was not top down related but to the plays perspective on the map as to which way you are facing in relation to left and right.
Half the objects to find are related to hidden objects in the scene related. Parts are easy to find, if not seen, as the cursor turns into a grasping, gloved hand. This is not true to all hidden object scenes, but you do have sparkles to help you find needed objects. Finding one object can open up another place to find stuff. Sometimes you have to be right on to where you try to place an object in order for it to be taken.
Most scenes have easter egg bats to find, most are obvious. Don't worry if you don't find them all right off, at the end of both games you can go back and find the ones you missed in the bonus section.
Some obstacles are not so easy to solve, they take some out of the box thinking. On one scene the solution find was not very obvious and I had to use the hint button after fruitless searching, I was moving the cursor too fast to indicate the location to act with.
At the end of the main game you have 2 choices, neither won't effect your continuing to the bonus game.
Story line is OK.
I recommend this game!