fromExperts Don't Play on Casual Level or Skip Puzzles. That is What Makes Us Experts.
Skill Level:Expert
The two Leaves games are outstanding, but I don't know why BFG keeps suggesting games like Leaves 2: The Return that are not 64-bit games.
Sure, there are people with old computers, but they are few, surely.
For the last several years, computer processors have changed to require only 64-bit games. You keep recommending games that cannot be played. I wish you would stop doing that.
Also, BFG kept us all with baited breath waiting for this new platform and all the great things. You lost many members because of the total mess that change was, and when you finally got it right, there is nothing – nothing – good about it.
Where are the great new games we were supposed to be able to play? Every day I go back to the BFG website to find a new game and every day it has the same, boring games to offer. It takes days before a new game pops up, and even then the games are often NOT 64-bit games.
Talk about much ado about nothing. The new BFG DEFINES that phrase.
And would you please, PLEASE, take down that awful pop-up window with which people have to agree to be able to see if you are actually offering anything of value. It is infuriating. It has been up for more than a year, so ENOUGH ALREADY.
Would have loved Leaves 2 if I had been able to play it, but since it isn't a 64-bit game, I cannot. However, I am happy to encourage those who can play it to get it without doubt. The Leaves series is innovative and beautiful, and I believe almost anyone would enjoy it. I absolutely recommend it.
However, to me, this is so frustrating. I think I'll go read a book.
fromExperts Don't Play on Casual Level or Skip Puzzles. That is What Makes Us Experts.
Skill Level:Expert
Fun Factor
1/ 5
Visual/Sound Quality
5/ 5
Level of Challenge
2/ 5
This is a long review, but please read it and join me in my polite revolution!
So, the developers included images of how we use our smart phones these days. Big deal.
This is nothing but a dressed-up regurgitation of every hidden-object game we have all been playing since 2012 or earlier.
I could list all the parts of the game, but you already know them. A cabinet doesn't have a handle, so look in a drawer and presto! There's the handle. A zipper is broken so you must find a paper clip to unzip the bag.
Get the picture?
Please listen to me: stop giving these carbon-copy, interchangeable games four or five stars and start demanding innovation! I fear you have all been lulled into complacency. Enough!
Play the demos. If it is more of same, please DON'T BUY THE GAME.
If we stop buying these games, BFG will have no choice but to stop distributing these regurgitated games and start releasing games that are fresh and new. Unless we band together we are NEVER going to get anything new and innovative.
Think about it. Elephant Games, for example, hasn't even changed its achievements list since 2009. The exact same "complete one hidden-object game in 10 minutes." Really? I have to sit there for 10 minutes and stare at the screen? I usually just sit my laptop on my bed and fold laundry for 10 minutes. How is that fun?
I have to believe there is at least one developer out there ready to shake up this industry. Where are the disrupters?
I am going to start this very polite revolution by vowing that I will NEVER AGAIN purchase one of these cookie-cutter hidden-object games and will purchase only games with true creativity and innovation. Please, take the pledge with me.
fromExperts Don't Skip Puzzles. That is What Makes Us Experts.
Skill Level:Expert
Fun Factor
5/ 5
Visual/Sound Quality
4/ 5
Level of Challenge
2/ 5
I have played every game in this series so I will detail here what has improved and what needs to be improved. I will start with the bad so we can end on a positive note.
NEEDS IMPROVEMENT:
1. The developer includes a disgusting-looking robot in every game. The robot appears to be a mascot. I am not opposed to robots, but this one is hideous and boring, reflecting the work of an uninspired designer. If this robot appears in the next game in this series, it will be the last Art by Numbers game I will buy. That is how much I detest that repulsive thing.
2. There are too many pictures of animals and scantily clad women. The way the women are posed suggests the designer is a 12-year-old boy.
3. For at least the first two or three levels, there are ridiculously easy pictures. This happens in every game in this series. These easy pictures rob players of getting full value for their money. I have complained about this before, but will repeat my reproach: this game is about COLORING and EVERYONE knows how to color. NO ONE needs entry-level pictures. If people cannot figure out how to color, there is no way they figured out how to get on a computer, download the game, open and play it.
IMPROVEMENTS MADE:
1. The developers listened on complaints about the thick, muddy colors we have been forced to use in every game in this series. The colors in this game are beautiful, vivid hues and are delightful to use. They are crisp and very enjoyable. Pictures come out lovely. Thanks to the developer!
2. Although the picture choice still needs a lot of improvement, it truly has been upgraded. When the pictures aren't animals or scantily clad women, they are really lovely. I hope the developer continues this trend of improving picture choice.
3. As always, the user interface is perfect and second to none. For the two or three people who complain about some coloring spots being too small to see at normal range, I have two words: ZOOM IN!
To the developer I say: get rid of the easy pictures, animals, girls in suggestive poses, and the disgusting robot, but keep up the good work on the crisp colors and picture choice improvements. Oh, and hurry to get Art by Numbers 18 to BFG!
fromFORMERLY CHOCPEN BEFORE BFG WRECKED MY ACCOUNT.
Skill Level:Expert
Fun Factor
1/ 5
Visual/Sound Quality
1/ 5
Level of Challenge
1/ 5
My title says it all, but I am happy to explain further.
Art by Numbers is getting continuously worse with each release. Let's start with the colors.
The colors used are thick, ugly and muddy. Each image seems to start with promise, but then as it begins to take shape I see that, like the image before it, the colors are horrible.
I have developed video games before, so one thing I do not understand is why each game in this series uses the same color scheme for every picture. For example, why, in this game, are ALL the colors thick, ugly and muddy? Why not use pastels for one picture and, maybe, primary colors for another?
It makes me wonder if there is not one developer in the company who, in frustration, does not feel the need to finally scream "is there an artist in the house!?"
As for the pictures, I really don't get it. A few releases ago I even went to the trouble of gathering vital statistics for this company about its target audience, in hopes it would use that information to choose interesting images.
But, no! Either no attention was paid to that valuable information or this developer just doesn't care.
Awigor: WE ARE PREDOMINANTLY WOMEN BETWEEN 50-80 YEARS OLD! Not all of us, of course, but ALMOST all of us.
We don't want images of scantily clad women on motorcycles, large robotic creatures, or anime. And, we are EXHAUSTED by all the leaves we have to color. Throughout all of your releases, most of your images are pictures with leaves. SO MANY LEAVES.
Have you no imagination? Cityscapes, landscapes or pictures of items found in a home. A fireplace scene, a lovely bedroom, famous locations throughout the world - there are any number of interesting pictures you could offer, but you offer the same, tired pictures of foxes, owls and other animals, as well as the pictures I mentioned above.
So, Awigor, feel free to ignore your demographic. I cannot speak for all of us, but as for me, I will play your free demos, but if your future releases continue to be more of the same, I will never buy another one again. Without significant change in your offerings, you will never receive another penny of my money.
fromFORMERLY CHOCPEN BEFORE BFG WRECKED MY ACCOUNT.
Skill Level:Expert
Fun Factor
5/ 5
Visual/Sound Quality
5/ 5
Level of Challenge
5/ 5
When I read the bad reviews for this game, I saw something between the lines and decided to give it a try. I am so glad I did!
This game gives me everything I have ever wanted in a game: one mini-game or puzzle after another without having to sit through the same tired, boring, repetitive storylines that exist only to get the gamer from one action to another.
I have never understood the clamor here for storylines. These are games, not storybooks. If you want a storyline, read a book!
What should we think of those who complain that all BFG games are the same and then give bad reviews and criticize developers when they publish an innovative game?
Yes, this game is different, and vive la différence!
C'mon! I fear my fellow gamers have been programmed to expect a game where we: 1. Are met with a crisis that will require us to save someone or the world. 2. Have to go pick up the same clues (locks that will need to be picked, zippers that will require a paperclip to open, chains that will require a chemical to break, some formula that will need to be made, carts that will need wheels, bridges that will need wood and nails, etc) 3. Stumble upon a HOG where we have to discover three in three seconds, five in five seconds and 10 in 10 seconds. 4. Lose control of the game and have to sit through a storyline that bores us with basically the same dialogue we have been hearing since 2005. 5. Finally get to play a mini-game, only to discover it is the same mini-game we have been playing since 2005. 6. Try to get all the achievements, including finishing three HOGs in less than a minute, then five HOGs and 10 HOGs in less than a minute. 7. Must endure the most insufferable goal of having to sit for nine minutes looking at your screen after we have spent one minute completing a HOG so we can get the awful "finish a HOG in 10 minutes" achievement. 8. Finish the game far too soon, then play the Bonus Game which is only more boring dialogue, maybe six more HOGs and four more mini-games. 9. Finish it all only to realize we are just as unfulfilled as we were when we started the game.
Does any of that sound familiar?
So, in this game we don't get storylines that have been done over and over again, ad nauseam. Why do we need them? I think it is only because we have been programmed to expect them.
In this game, the mini-games and puzzles are quite challenging. So what if we have seen them before?
I submit to you that we have ALL seen EVERY mini-game, puzzle and HOG in EVERY game before, not just this one. I submit to you that we have all read and/or experienced every storyline before.
I don't care if these games have been used before. I enjoyed them here, in this format, where they came one after the other with minimal dialogue in between – especially since I could hit "Return" and fly through the dialogue without having to read it.
So, why pick on this game?
Of course, everyone is different, so you should try the demo first. If the lack of a storyline bothers you, don't buy the game. Buy a book.
The developer adds bombs and other explosive devices to assist the player in clearing a level.
But, c'mon!
The first 160 levels are SO incredibly easy that I try to clear them in my own patterns so as to make them a bit more challenging. However, the challenge that I definitely DO NOT LIKE is having to work around all those awful level helpers.
Save the helpers for the last couple of sections. In the first two sections, which contain 80 levels each, the game is far too easy and helpers are not only NOT required, they are in the way.
If someone is truly unable to clear the first two sections without those awful helpers, then I question whether they even have enough knowledge to turn on their computers.
Since that is unlikely, then please - stop adding the bombs, explosions and bouncing balls on the first two levels, at least. I'd rather not have them at all until the last two levels.
I wanted to give this game a chance, but I knew I was in trouble when I read the Achievements before I got started. We all do that, right? Read the Achievements before we start so we don't mess them up before we begin playing?
There were two of them that were problematic. One was "Watch 23 cinematic scenes without skipping." The other was "Listen to 30 monologues without skipping." What? Instead of playing the game I have to sit through TWENTY-THREE cinematic scenes and THIRTY monologues? Are you kidding me?
That has always irritated me. For years I have wanted to scream to developers to stop insisting we sit through boring cutscenes or dialogue (or monologues) to gain an achievement.
I don't come to games for a story. If I want a story I will read a book. I come to games to play.
And besides, what POSSIBLE difference does it make to the developers if we sit through those mind-numbing cinematic scenes and dialogue? What do they get out of that?
If people want a storyline and want to sit through the scenes and story, let them do it. For those of us who insist our fictional stories be written by actually talented writers who have editors and are published by an actual publishing house, then let us play the games.
The one thing all of the people who play these games have in common is competitiveness. We want all those achievements. It is not right to force us to sit through your dribble and listen to people who can't act their way out of a paper bag to be able to get all the achievements.
Again, and I can't say this enough, what POSSIBLE difference does it make to you? What do you get out of forcing us to sit through that garbage?
In other aspects, this game likewise fails. The graphics are thick and muddy. The scenes are long and boring. The monologues are endless. The player gets stopped at every turn to have to relinquish control over to the game.
The game is slow and clunky. It is exactly like the games that were made after 2014. There was a great time between 2008-2012 when games were amazing. Then came 2014-2018 and the games became slow and cumbersome, like this game. After that, the games just became repetitious.
This game failed at every level. The sadness is, so many people give awful games like this 4-5 stars because, I think, they have become programmed to accept mediocrity because there just aren't any good games any more.
Yes, this is identical to the previous games and yes, it is still frustrating how the developer has so transparently manipulated the horrid Match Game to determine if you get the right cards or not (no Queens in 46 cards?). But that is not what is important here.
It's the music. Oh, my heavens, the music! This is NOT the same music as before. I start the game, put on my headphones, lay my head back, close my eyes and float away on the orchestral brilliance that is this music. I imagine myself in the room when this incredible orchestra recorded these sounds of perfection. Wait, is there a card game going on, too?
So many reviewers here are caught up in the ins and outs of the card game that accompanies this music, but they are missing the point. A dozen paragraphs to describe a card game? Really?
Why even add the card game? Publish this soundtrack. I would pay more for that then I ever would for a card game.
I'm not surprised so few people have mentioned the music and I even read where someone wanted to MUTE the music! There has always been what attracts the masses and what attracts true lovers of art.
Art can be found anywhere. I found art in a card game. Trust me. Put on your headphones, lay your head back, close your eyes and be transformed.