hatzic's Profile
Stat Summary
- Average Rating:4.6
- Helpful Votes:18
- Reviews Submitted:9
- First Review:May 21, 2013
- Most Recent Review:March 20, 2016
- Featured reviews0
hatzic's Review History
Final Cut: Fade to Black
The rivalry between two movie studios escalates into deception and murder!
Overall rating
5
/
5
3 of 4 found this review helpful
Another great Final Cut
PostedMarch 20, 2016
hatzic
Skill Level:Expert
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
5
/
5
Flipping awesome like all the final cut games! Stopped playing the demo because I’d rather buy. It ‘had me at hello’ – drew me right in – love the deco, the era, the theme, the plot, the characters. I actually gasped when I found Bernard dead because I was already drawn into the story. It starts quick and you just hit the floor running. The artwork is fantastic and the character actors perfectly cast/drawn and compelling to watch. the HOG and puzzles are ones I’ve never quite seen before. The story moves along and is fast paced and interesting. I actually watched all the cut scenes – in a demo…I never do that. I’m intrigued with the story and plot – it’s awesome! I even read all the cards and listened to all the dialog. Like watching a fantastical film noir plot about movie studios with wickedly bad men, murder, conspiracy, a supernatural projector, and thank god, no crying children being abducted-so sick of that plot line. Hope this series goes on and on.
I recommend this game!
Mystery Case Files: Shadow Lake Collector's Edition
The residents of Bitterford, Maine have fallen prey to a terrible curse. It’s up to you to unravel the series of mysterious events that led to the town’s downfall and uncover the evil that was responsible.
Overall rating
5
/
5
1 of 2 found this review helpful
Engaging - and tough
PostedNovember 2, 2014
hatzic
Fun Factor
4
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
5
/
5
Storyline
5
/
5
I too am so surprised at the low score of this game. Where are the MCF fans? The cutaway scenes are excellent - amazing quality cast - Lea Thompson as Casandra? Are there no BTTF fans either? Totally entertaining! The game was tough to figure out at times and sometimes counter intuitive (putting out a candle with a spoon). The puzzles ranged from easy to really challenging. I didn't like everything about the game - I don't like out of control inventory bars that auto-hide at the bottom of the screen and you end up in a constant battle between calling it up or leaving a room. Just not smooth play. And having to go and get the ladder from wherever you left it - that was alright, but didn't really add to the game. For instance, at one point you need it but it's not in your inventory, so you don't know that you need it and it's not there to try, and at the master detective level there is no hint at all why you can't get into the area. Also sometimes the game play was either choppy with no clear idea where to go next, or repetitive when you knew the next step in a cycle. Apparently there were morphing objects to get? I didn't see one. The HOGs were pretty tough too and sometimes impossible to see the objects. However, aside from those minor issues, the production value and acting made this game so campy and fun that I loved playing it. Really memorable characters! (Also like the little nod to Madam Fate on the game console in the town).
Gravely Silent: House of Deadlock
Save your sister from the grave! After receiving a troubling phone call from your brother-in-law, you’re off on an adventure!
Overall rating
3
/
5
0 of 1 found this review helpful
Ouch, flaw in the puzzle...
PostedOctober 22, 2014
hatzic
Fun Factor
3
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
3
/
5
Level of Challenge
3
/
5
Storyline
3
/
5
I haven't read other comments yet and wonder if there's a fix but just wanted to comment on a flaw in a puzzle (Chapter 5, Cellar Door, Move the Dots to Turn them On). You have to move 5 pieces through a grid and into a grey square to turn them on, and you are only allowed the number of moves indicated on the pieces (1, 2, 3). There was no way to win the puzzle that I could see, so I checked the strategy guide to see what the trick was. The trick was, don't reduce the number of moves allowed on a piece after you move it in the solution diagram. In the solution offered, you move the two top pieces up one move. They both start out with a two-move limit, but in the solution only one of the pieces is reduced my one move. The other piece maintains it's quota giving it an extra move to move it into an otherwise impossible-to-reach grey square. Ergh…
Otherwise, it's a decent game - tough in some spots - and keeps me on my toes. But unfortunately this flaw has annoyed me and now I won't know if a puzzle is just tough or impossible.
I don't recommend this game.
Mystery Case Files: Shadow Lake
The residents of Bitterford, Maine have fallen prey to a terrible curse. It’s up to you to unravel the series of mysterious events that led to the town’s downfall and uncover the evil that was responsible.
Overall rating
5
/
5
4 of 4 found this review helpful
Great Atmosphere
PostedSeptember 17, 2014
hatzic
Skill Level:Expert
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
5
/
5
Storyline
5
/
5
I was so surprised to see the less than stellar 3-star rating for this game. MCF have been some of my all time favourite games. I think I avoided trying it because of that, but I recently played the demo and I'm buying it. I do loath those out of control inventory bars at the bottom of the screen that auto-hide so you are in a constant battle with calling it up when you are just trying to leave the room. But there's a strange kind of play to this game that I like, different and innovative and not easily boring. The video cut-aways and acting are really good for a pc game. Almost over the top. Has all the cheese of a Saturday afternoon mystery game with live acting. the graphics drew me in, like the old white wooden house with the fresh tree fallen through the roof, and the strange eerie look of the upstairs with a gaping hole to the sky and this tree laying there, while the sedate family pictures hanging undisturbed on the remaining walls. I played the demo out which ended at a puzzle that stumped me in a good way, and so I'm buying now that they have a good sale on.
Mystery Case Files®: Fate's Carnival Collector's Edition
Something wicked has taken over Fate’s Carnival!
Overall rating
5
/
5
3 of 10 found this review helpful
OMG!
PostedNovember 26, 2013
hatzic
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
5
/
5
Storyline
5
/
5
I had to write a review and I've not even downloaded the game yet! IMHO, Mystery Case Files: Madam Fate is the best HOG ever. Maybe because it was one of the first I ever played (and therefore spoiled forever), or maybe it was the crazy hard puzzles, the changing atmospheres, or the fabulous "Find 50 hearts" screens, or the iconic artwork, and creepy characters, and their bad behaviour. Forever after buying this, and replaying it for years, I've adored this game. Definitely other MCF were right up there, but there was something special about Madam Fate. When I switched to a Mac and tried to get this in Mac version, it wasn't available - sob! So I accepted my 'Fate'.
When I opened my game manager tonight, I gasped and stared!! OMG!!! Madam Fate Returns!!! And would it be in a Mac Version?? OMG YES!
Thank you! I guess I'll check if they've Mac-afied the original too….oh be still my heart!
Snark Busters
Join Kira Robertson as she sets out to find the Snark, an elusive creature few people have seen and no one has caught!
Overall rating
4
/
5
1 of 1 found this review helpful
Quirky and Fun
PostedSeptember 5, 2013
hatzic
Fun Factor
4
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
3
/
5
I like the name first of all. I tried this game ages ago on a PC and liked it, so I got it for my Mac. It is fun and engaging and different, sometimes challenging. What was weird was I got right to the end, and I still had stuff to do, like open the safe, etc. and yet I was able to finish the game without doing that. Weird. It said I didn't catch the Snark that time but there were more adventures ahead...I don't know if I didn't 'win' the game, or it says that no matter what? Anyway, that was strange. But still a fun game and I will probably buy and try the others in the series.
I recommend this game!
Nancy Drew: The Captive Curse
Everyone is frightened by the sights and sounds of something large stumbling through the darkness. Can you solve the mystery before the monster adds another chapter to this legend?
Overall rating
4
/
5
5 of 5 found this review helpful
Loved it. Hated it.
PostedJuly 9, 2013
hatzic
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
5
/
5
Storyline
5
/
5
My dislikes of this game had nothing to do with the length of, or inability to skip, dialog. In fact, I found the voice talent to be really good, fun and refreshing and really hamming up their roles. This game plays like curling up to watch your favourite mystery movie or read a novel. Put on the popcorn, sit back and take over the investigation as you wander a castle, exploring the rooms and grounds and meeting people and finding clues. What else?! I decided to play Junior Detective, as I've played other ND games and knew I'd probably get frustrated at some point - don't have to use the clues, but nice to have in case. The game gave you a journal, a task list, and a phone with a hint feature. This was a game I couldn't wait to get back to playing at the end of the day. OMG I had so much fun playing this game! At first.
Then at some point, just as the game was rolling along it just stalled. I got to a part when I wasn't sure what to do next and I tried to get a hint, and there wasn't anything. I had exhausted every conversation, played every game, re-explored every area, phoned every person. I looked everywhere in my tools (inventory, journal entries, phone numbers, tasks, suspects, notes, etc.) for some sort of clue of what my next objective was, and what I needed to move in that direction. But there were no hints and only vague objectives (Look For Something Dealing with The Frieherr's Daughter). ?? I expected that if I clicked on a super vague task like that, perhaps it would open up more and more specific hints, but there was nothing. And unfortunately the phone Hint feature was mostly blank(!) and only has hints available for certain puzzles in the game. The dossier, journal, task list, suspects, observations were all kind of lame and also became static about mid-game. There was a point in the game where every single task in the game was checked off, and no hints available. So after running down every hunch what do you do next?
And Ned! You have some sort of stupid fight with him for some reason, then you make up, really quick in the beginning of the game. He offers you lots of hints (optional dialogs) when you call him. At first. I chose not to use them at the beginning of the game. Then later, when I called Ned desperate for a hint, he had nada, and basically petered out on all conversation after that.
So I was stuck so bad, frustrated and annoyed, I had to step out of the game and find a walkthrough, which ruined the enjoyment of the game for me. The logical detection I was successfully engaged in in the first half of the game, just dissolved. The smallest of hints would have probably sufficed. The things I got stalled on (as I discovered by the walkthrough) were so obscure that I wondered how in the world I was supposed to figure that out? Especially without little hints to propel me at least in the right direction, or a hint that I can deduce the answer from. I don't want to be told the answer, I just want another clue.
Another thing that was strange about the game was it seems to take place all in one dark and dreary evening, so it is perpetually dark out. Later you see a static image of the courtyard in daylight and it's beautiful! I would have loved to explore it in the daytime.
Anyway, because a graduated hint system was not part of this game (as I think other ND games offer?), nor was the Hint Feature of any reliable help, this great game kind of let me down. However I did guess the Whodunit correct in the end. And the voice actors were pretty awesome.
All in all I'd have to recommend, because it was so much fun to play (at first) and if you are smarter than a Junior Detective you won't have the issues I had!
I recommend this game!
Final Cut: Death on the Silver Screen
Save your brother and try to solve the mystery behind the silver screen in Final Cut: Death on the Silver Screen, a thrilling game set in the 1950's!
Overall rating
5
/
5
Everything I love
PostedJune 20, 2013
hatzic
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
5
/
5
Storyline
5
/
5
What a beautiful, thematic game about old cinema, mixed with astrology, and a world from a long gone era. Loved the art deco buildings, autos, and rooms. Enjoyed the abandoned movie sets to explore, and the interesting things to find and do (clicking on the cat in rapid succession for some meow rapping), and the story. The game moves along at a good pace, with a good balance of 'do now' and 'do later', and offers just enough support in expert mode for when you are stuck. I enjoyed referring to the manual for clues now and then - often they don't offer anything except a rehash of what you already know, but for this game I searched the manual as part of my play and found it had what I needed. I do wish now that I bought the CE because this is my favourite type of game and I loved playing it. However I was completely satisfied with the gameplay of the SE version, and am not partial to games running overly long anyway. I even enjoyed the actress who played the 'sister' and her crazy eyes, especially at the end. Fun, engrossing, great game!
I recommend this game!
Mystery Legends: Sleepy Hollow
Enter the legendary town of Sleepy Hollow, search for clues to uncover the mystery of the Headless Horseman once and for all.
Overall rating
5
/
5
1 of 1 found this review helpful
Highly Entertaining (Mac users, there is a version!)
PostedMay 21, 2013
hatzic
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Word, Arcade & Action, Adventure, Hidden Object, Large File, Brain Teaser, Puzzle
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
5
/
5
Storyline
5
/
5
I love this game and have replayed several times. I got a Mac a year ago and some of my Big Fish PC games (like Sleepy Hollow) didn't have a Mac version. I recently had a craving to play this game again (it's like that) and I found it on the Mac Games Store, for anyone looking for it. I'm so happy I found it.
I love everything about this game. The total emersion into the Legend of Sleepy Hollow, the sharp slicing sword sounds, the excellent and chilling voice acting, even the evil looking pumpkins - this games drips with dread and shuddering terror, as the wicked victims get their gratifying comeuppance. Beautiful, gruesome and mesmerizing. The artwork is unique and the game doesn't rush and you don't feel like rushing through. You want to step through Sleepy Hollow. I find the HO scenes challenging in a good way - clever and satisfyingly difficult. Also, I like those mini-games where you need to find a single item in one screen (like, find 25 buttons) - Those screens break up a game and gives you a quick challenge to beat against the clock, and this game delivers those. And the slicing sound of the sword with each action, ahem, executed, is delightfully sinister.
Everything is in theme and effective. It's like sitting down to your favourite ghost story, and you can't wait for the next chapter.
So glad I found it for my Mac!
I recommend this game!