catmartie's Profile
Stat Summary
- Average Rating:2.9
- Helpful Votes:585
- Reviews Submitted:43
- First Review:January 20, 2012
- Most Recent Review:January 13, 2025
- Featured reviews0
Status:
Something is terribly wrong in the toy world, and only you can help!
Overall rating
5
/
5
1 of 1 found this review helpful
Just one puzzle
PostedDecember 26, 2020
catmartie
fromManchester, UK
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Card & Board, Hidden Object, Mahjong, Match 3, Puzzle
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
I've bought the Collector's Edition and I'm really enjoying the game. Just one puzzle though: what on earth is a "crackatook"?
Even the spellchecker doesn't recognise the word. It seems to play some part in the game but what, when I don't even know what one is? There do seem to be walnuts about ...
Even the spellchecker doesn't recognise the word. It seems to play some part in the game but what, when I don't even know what one is? There do seem to be walnuts about ...
I recommend this game!
Can you and your daughter save your loved one's life in time?
Overall rating
3
/
5
17 of 19 found this review helpful
Disappointing sequel
PostedOctober 24, 2020
catmartie
fromManchester, UK
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Card & Board, Hidden Object, Mahjong, Match 3
Fun Factor
3
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
2
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
3
/
5
I have enjoyed this quirky series up till now. I rather like Richard and his helpful interventions, but apparently he's "on vacation" this time, which is a mystery to be explored in its own right, possibly a more entertaining one than this story-line. So that's the first disappointment. Worse, the voices were terrible: stilted, artificial supposedly English accents with very poor delivery. They were so awful that I had to play with them turned off, so that also considerably diminished my enjoyment. Finally, I'm quite confused by the story. I had to use a hint rather too often to work out what was supposed to happen next. I have to say that the "villain" seems to have a fairly justified grievance
I played to the end of the trial, which was OK, then It was available to buy as a special offer, so I took advantage.
Those are my thoughts; as always make up your own minds..
I played to the end of the trial, which was OK, then It was available to buy as a special offer, so I took advantage.
Those are my thoughts; as always make up your own minds..
I recommend this game!
Explore a fascinating world, save a werewolf and defeat cruel witches in this amazing hidden object adventure!
Overall rating
2
/
5
23 of 23 found this review helpful
Beware!
PostedSeptember 14, 2020
catmartie
fromManchester, UK
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Card & Board, Hidden Object, Mahjong, Match 3, Puzzle, Word
Fun Factor
2
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
3
/
5
I played the trial and enjoyed it so bought the game. Sadly, when I progressed further, I found a fault in the game play. I can't complete the HOP in the Pirate Ship cabin as the penultimate object is not present. So I can't progress beyond this point. Searching the web for clues and possible solutions I find I'm not the only one with this problem. Big Fish can't help, beyond pointing me to their FAQs: if they helped I wouldn't have sent in a request, now would I? It seems they've given up on the fault, although to be absolutely fair they have sent me a coupon for a free game.
So beware - you may be purchasing a dud version of the game. It's more than annoying when you've played through that far. I've reported the technical issue in vain, so this review is just a warning!
So beware - you may be purchasing a dud version of the game. It's more than annoying when you've played through that far. I've reported the technical issue in vain, so this review is just a warning!
I don't recommend this game.
Reprise your role as Cruise Director and enjoy the cruise of a lifetime aboard the fleet’s superb flagship, USS Liberty of the Waves!
Overall rating
5
/
5
1 of 2 found this review helpful
British policeman in Eire?
PostedAugust 3, 2020
catmartie
fromManchester, UK
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Card & Board, Hidden Object, Mahjong, Match 3, Puzzle, Word
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
5
/
5
Storyline
4
/
5
I've been enjoying this game.
I play all these, like many people. There's sometimes a little niggle, like the horrendous conspicuous consumption in the Christmas games and these same people who go on world cruise after world cruise. That's just how we get the gameplay, I guess.
So, I'm playing through this one. A modern British policeman pops up in Liverpool, then we move to a parade scene in Dublin and there's an old-fashioned British policeman standing in the middle of it. He's not part of the puzzle, just a random adornment. Someone please explain his presence before he causes a riot!
I play all these, like many people. There's sometimes a little niggle, like the horrendous conspicuous consumption in the Christmas games and these same people who go on world cruise after world cruise. That's just how we get the gameplay, I guess.
So, I'm playing through this one. A modern British policeman pops up in Liverpool, then we move to a parade scene in Dublin and there's an old-fashioned British policeman standing in the middle of it. He's not part of the puzzle, just a random adornment. Someone please explain his presence before he causes a riot!
Can you catch a magical culprit behind a string of strange robberies?
Overall rating
2
/
5
19 of 26 found this review helpful
Dublin???
PostedMarch 13, 2020
catmartie
fromManchester, UK
Favorite Genre(s):Card & Board, Hidden Object, Mahjong, Match 3, Word
Fun Factor
2
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
3
/
5
Storyline
1
/
5
I have, like many others, been desperately waiting for a good HOG. I really wanted this to be it: I tried it, and I tried to give it a fair go. No use, despite my determination I soon gave up about the time I left the tailor's shop (I don't think this is a spoiler.)
Why?
There is little fun to be had in the allotted tasks. The HOGs are fairly good, as far as I encountered them, the puzzles/mini games less so. Why run around to find a jug, to get water from a hot water tap, to put out a fire, when there must have been an extinguisher present? even in a fantasy I like things to make sense.
Mainly it's just tiresome to keep playing through a game with such a ridiculous scenario. We have been invited to Dublin by "the Constable": WHO? When we encounter this character we see that he is indeed a lowly constable. The city of Dublin is policed by just one single officer, of the lowest rank! There isn't even a police station, just an "office". No wonder there's a wave of robberies being committed that he can't cope with.
We appear to be working at the end of the 19th century from the clothes. The local newspaper states that many "citizens" will not take part in the annual parade: the first St Patrick's Day parade in Dublin did not take place until 1931. No local character has an Irish accent, mainly they are American. The "Constable" comes closest in that he does not have an American accent; one of the female characters occasionally veers into something from the Scottish Highlands - and out again. Then we have the cab driver who asks for and gets £2 for a fare in an era when the annual salaries of even many professional men were often as little as £100.
It's very difficult to continue playing through so much nonsense when the game-play offers little compensation.
Why?
There is little fun to be had in the allotted tasks. The HOGs are fairly good, as far as I encountered them, the puzzles/mini games less so. Why run around to find a jug, to get water from a hot water tap, to put out a fire, when there must have been an extinguisher present? even in a fantasy I like things to make sense.
Mainly it's just tiresome to keep playing through a game with such a ridiculous scenario. We have been invited to Dublin by "the Constable": WHO? When we encounter this character we see that he is indeed a lowly constable. The city of Dublin is policed by just one single officer, of the lowest rank! There isn't even a police station, just an "office". No wonder there's a wave of robberies being committed that he can't cope with.
We appear to be working at the end of the 19th century from the clothes. The local newspaper states that many "citizens" will not take part in the annual parade: the first St Patrick's Day parade in Dublin did not take place until 1931. No local character has an Irish accent, mainly they are American. The "Constable" comes closest in that he does not have an American accent; one of the female characters occasionally veers into something from the Scottish Highlands - and out again. Then we have the cab driver who asks for and gets £2 for a fare in an era when the annual salaries of even many professional men were often as little as £100.
It's very difficult to continue playing through so much nonsense when the game-play offers little compensation.
I don't recommend this game.
Travel with Ben in his journey through dreams and unravel the mystery of his late wife Elizabeth.
Overall rating
4
/
5
1 of 1 found this review helpful
Enjoyable, challenging, but ...
PostedApril 11, 2019
catmartie
fromManchester, UK
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Card & Board, Hidden Object, Mahjong, Match 3, Puzzle
Fun Factor
4
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
5
/
5
Storyline
4
/
5
I played the game through to the end and quite appreciated the story line. It had the style of HO puzzle that I quite like: finding lots of fragments to put together objects which then interact to complete the puzzle. I very much liked the helper, which is usually not the case at all. Finding things for him as I went along kept me feeling optimistic in some very dark scenarios.
The puzzles/mini-games were interesting and challenging. This is where the game doesn't get five stars from me: I lost count of how many of them I had to skip because I simply couldn't get them to work!
The puzzles/mini-games were interesting and challenging. This is where the game doesn't get five stars from me: I lost count of how many of them I had to skip because I simply couldn't get them to work!
I recommend this game!
Can you stop an ancient menace from taking over the city?
Overall rating
4
/
5
9 of 12 found this review helpful
Fairly entertaining
PostedMarch 9, 2019
catmartie
fromManchester, UK
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Card & Board, Hidden Object, Mahjong, Match 3, Puzzle
Fun Factor
4
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
3
/
5
Having played the free trial, I liked the game enough to buy it on special offer, but not to use a precious full credit on. It's good but not brilliant; pleasant entertainment to spend time on after a few days of intensive personal business matters.
The story line is a bit flimsy but is a useful vehicle for finding and solving a succession of games and puzzles.
One thing that really jarred, and I was glad to get past that sequence, was the voice for the character "Nessie". Now Nessie is a Scottish mythical creature, so-called because it's believed to live in Loch Ness. In this game however the character has an extremely grating and unpleasant "Mockney" accent.
The story line is a bit flimsy but is a useful vehicle for finding and solving a succession of games and puzzles.
One thing that really jarred, and I was glad to get past that sequence, was the voice for the character "Nessie". Now Nessie is a Scottish mythical creature, so-called because it's believed to live in Loch Ness. In this game however the character has an extremely grating and unpleasant "Mockney" accent.
I recommend this game!
Turn back the hands of time to free the Lost Lands!
Overall rating
2
/
5
9 of 14 found this review helpful
No thanks
PostedAugust 30, 2018
catmartie
fromManchester, UK
Favorite Genre(s):Card & Board, Hidden Object, Mahjong, Match 3, Puzzle
Fun Factor
2
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
2
/
5
I tried .. I've played and enjoyed the other "Lost Lands" games. Not this one. Most disturbing is the ploy of using human ashes: rob a grave, burn a corpse. That's already a sickening turn off. However, if that were not enough to put me off continuing, the English is very wobbly; this is annoying in itself and also makes some of the plot unclear, For example "use a sword" actually means "use the special sword you have journeyed to acquire."I really don't know what the developers thought they were doing this time.
I don't recommend this game.
These free TVs may be too good to be true...
Overall rating
2
/
5
9 of 12 found this review helpful
What? Where?
PostedApril 24, 2018
catmartie
fromManchester, UK
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Card & Board, Hidden Object, Mahjong, Match 3, Puzzle
Fun Factor
1
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
3
/
5
Level of Challenge
2
/
5
Storyline
1
/
5
Other reviewers have taken the trouble to describe their problems with this game, and I agree with them. My - possibly additional - problem is that I can't settle to enjoy a game if the most basic elements jar with me. So, where is this story supposed to be taking place? The characters all have American accents, there is an American mailbox at the scientist's house, there is a Police "Department", complete with guns lying around - as well as the unfortunate hamster, of course, with his frozen dry food, there are various landmarks seemingly to be found in an American town with an American name, yet we have a right hand drive car and police officers wearing a pretty close approximation of British uniforms; this is most likely why trying to contact them by dialling 911 didn't work. No, sorry, I can't achieve any suspension of disbelief on top of everything else.
I don't recommend this game.
Journey through fantastic landscapes and complete many interesting tasks and exciting puzzles.
Overall rating
1
/
5
13 of 18 found this review helpful
Oh dear!
PostedMarch 28, 2017
catmartie
fromManchester, UK
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Hidden Object, Mahjong, Match 3, Puzzle
Fun Factor
2
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
3
/
5
Level of Challenge
1
/
5
Storyline
2
/
5
There were no reviews posted for this game when I trialled it yesterday; today I'm amazed to find three people have given it 5 stars in the meantime.
Personally, I don't know where to start with just how bad this game is. First off, I realised there was going to be a problem when invited to "enter the name" - not "your name"; I wasn't wrong, the English is terrible. Ar best, this grates, at worst it leads to incomprehensible instructions or incorrect names for things. Second, if you are going to produce a story-line about time-travel - and I've seen this one before - you need to be very careful about including anachronisms. No wonder our protagonists couldn't work out where they'd landed up when encountering a young man in 18th century costume standing near an 18th century coach (and a 17th century shoe appears randomly at one point) to be informed that they're in Italy in 1468. Then the devs actually include a puzzle which involves spotting what they think are anachronisms!
The puzzles are quite interesting, though very simple, the HOPs are also simple and were getting pretty boring by the time I finished the trial. The actions and puzzle solving required were simply not logical. Annoying pointless noises are made when you are completing them. By that stage I could no longered be a**sed to go to the settings and try to turn them off. I was playing with the music turned off, but I could still hear it.
Finally, this appears to have been dug up out of some archive: games have moved on a lot since we had a picture of a character pop up with dialogue written underneath.
Clearly, other Fishes will have to decide for themselves whether they like the game.
Personally, I don't know where to start with just how bad this game is. First off, I realised there was going to be a problem when invited to "enter the name" - not "your name"; I wasn't wrong, the English is terrible. Ar best, this grates, at worst it leads to incomprehensible instructions or incorrect names for things. Second, if you are going to produce a story-line about time-travel - and I've seen this one before - you need to be very careful about including anachronisms. No wonder our protagonists couldn't work out where they'd landed up when encountering a young man in 18th century costume standing near an 18th century coach (and a 17th century shoe appears randomly at one point) to be informed that they're in Italy in 1468. Then the devs actually include a puzzle which involves spotting what they think are anachronisms!
The puzzles are quite interesting, though very simple, the HOPs are also simple and were getting pretty boring by the time I finished the trial. The actions and puzzle solving required were simply not logical. Annoying pointless noises are made when you are completing them. By that stage I could no longered be a**sed to go to the settings and try to turn them off. I was playing with the music turned off, but I could still hear it.
Finally, this appears to have been dug up out of some archive: games have moved on a lot since we had a picture of a character pop up with dialogue written underneath.
Clearly, other Fishes will have to decide for themselves whether they like the game.
I don't recommend this game.