timothya's Profile
Stat Summary
- Average Rating:4.3
- Helpful Votes:1,143
- Reviews Submitted:192
- First Review:June 24, 2012
- Most Recent Review:December 27, 2024
- Featured reviews0
Status:
A breathtaking voyage through dreams, reality, and places in between!
Overall rating
5
/
5
5 of 6 found this review helpful
Where Have You Been All This Time?
PostedMarch 22, 2022
timothya
fromSandpoint, Idaho
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Hidden Object, Puzzle
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
5
/
5
Storyline
5
/
5
Very different and very, very good. Whimsical might be the best description for this world - we are charged with determining who or what stole the Heart of the Kingdom, and why. Along the way we have wonderful companions, an airship, and a fantasy environment that is always amusing and occasionally downright hilarious.
Pros: No hand-holding, hurrah! Yes, you actually have to think in this one, but the solutions are logical. Spectacular graphics, with colorful surroundings for some beautiful and sometimes challenging HO scenes. Sympathetic characters that actually develop past the cardboard-cutout status that has been so boring of late - there is a side-character romance that I found rather charming - supported by excellent voice acting. Scene-thematic music that at one point has a character humming tunelessly in the background that had me laughing out loud. A couple of mini-games are of the sequential Rube Goldberg variety and they're all good.
Cons: Not much. The voice volume is very uneven, at times low and for a period altogether inaudible. But you could read it - who cares, on with the game!
Bonus Game: Our drunken ghost friend Todd jumps into a quest of his own in a surreal world with a surprising ending, or is it actually the beginning of a sequel? Great mini-games in this one.
Overall, five stars for originality and a complete breath of fresh air. It was one of those strikingly artistic games that I'd like to wander around in just to take in the atmosphere. Looks like a replay is in order! This is, apparently, the second of two, the first one (that I missed) having been released - gasp! - 10 years ago. The copyright date on this one is 2020, so it's been percolating for a couple of years and was released just as I thought the entire genre had been played out. So glad to be wrong about that!
I recommend this game!
Can you uncover who's trying to destroy the Osmont family in time?
Overall rating
4
/
5
8 of 9 found this review helpful
Weddings Always Make Me Cry
PostedMarch 9, 2022
timothya
fromSandpoint, Idaho
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Hidden Object, Puzzle
Fun Factor
4
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
3
/
5
Storyline
3
/
5
Count Victor Osmont and his beloved Adele are to be wed, a private ceremony involving the two, a priest, and some serious complications in the form of a kidnapped bride, a mysterious fire, and a mentally disturbed brother. Fortunately we, the Detective, have happened by at an opportune time. There is a derelict mansion, and perhaps even a ghost - but really, is this any time for a wedding?
Pros: Beautiful graphics, lush interiors in slightly oversaturated colors, and a plot that spaces its reveals out like a proper mystery, and like a proper mystery it's a little confusing at first. Adequate to good voice acting, especially in younger brother Simon. Much less than the usual back-and-forth, with a map that gives a good idea of overall game progress. Game's emphasis is on varied HO scenes which are detailed without being junkpile. Mini-games on the easy side with directions it is best to pay attention to.
Cons: We had a very serviceable mystery going until the very end, when things became rushed and the resolution more than a little abrupt. Suddenly there was magic, amulets, and a surfeit of perfectly alive young ladies in caskets who didn't expect to be there any more than we expected to find them there. Frankly, it felt contrived, as if somebody were told to close the show before they were really ready.
Bonus game: Here we play as young Annabel in a prequel that is apparently intended to fill in a few blanks, notably how what we discovered in the main game were even possible. It begins minutes prior to the ceremony with Victor telling Annabel that her wedding dress has been stolen by naughty Simon and oh by the way, he has a couple of things to take care of, meet you at the altar. Come on, now, really? There are no guests, no witnesses, no flower girl, no canapes - is this even legal? Annabel makes her escape...or does she?
Overall, a better than average mystery that could have been brought to a landng a little more gracefully, because there are enough loose ends to weave into a wedding dress. The villain finds a comeuppance, the ghost a rest, and the young ladies wander off wondering what the heck happened to them, a sentiment the player can relate to. Not the best GrandMa has offered us but far from the worst.
I recommend this game!
Can you save your kingdom from a malevolent creature in time?
Overall rating
4
/
5
13 of 13 found this review helpful
Really Fractured Fairy Tale
PostedMarch 1, 2022
timothya
fromSandpoint, Idaho
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Hidden Object, Puzzle
Fun Factor
4
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
3
/
5
Storyline
4
/
5
I love fractured fairy tales, and this is a good one. For many years now we've heard Snow White's saga from her point of view, but what if the "wicked" stepmother were actually the good guy? But that means...and we're off! We play as the stepmother Queen, back after a lengthy diplomatic mission to find the castle empty and her sweet stepdaughter very happy to see her...just as a wolf is happy to see a lamb. Fine welcome home. There is, of course, a poisoned apple, but no dwarves in sight. Or are they?
Pros: Really excellent graphics, lots of purples and golds as is becoming customary for fantasy games but not enough to hurt the eyes. Good to very good voice acting. Game moves along at a good pace, plenty of diverse scenes, mini-games on the easy side, and a clever conclusion but way too soon.
Cons: It's short. Really short, and that's too bad because the otherwise excellent writing could have supported some expansion of the supporting characters, who seemed more interesting than the normal cardboard placeholders but we never really got to know them. Plot is a little intense for younger players (but nice and shivery for us oldsters). We had a bit of a Halloween mystery going on for a very brief time that could have been extended a few scenes for further play - the reveal on Snow White was front-end-loaded and that, I think, was an editorial mistake.
Bonus Game: Here we play as a master detective brought in by the Dwarf King to try to determine who is attempting to ruin his annual ball. Dwarves are well-known for being excellent detectives but are occasionally lacking somewhat in the social graces, and that's gotten our King into a bit of a pickle. Plenty of play in this one and very suitable for younger players - actually, it's non-violent and cute. More detail would risk spoilers, so let's just say all comes right at the end.
Extras: Oh, did you think we'd get away without any of the Seven Dwarves? Turns out you've been looking for them all along. Hope you found all the collection items! If you haven't, you can go back to look again in the Expedition Room. This feature is becoming customary in top-tier CE's and I like it a lot.
Overall, the brevity of the game cost it a star in an otherwise excellent performance. A long Bonus Game doesn't really make up for a too-short main game and the losers are the customers who waited for the SE. That aside, I'd love to see a few more cursed fables in this series.
I recommend this game!
A mysterious bartender gives extraordinary guidance to those in need.
Overall rating
5
/
5
2 of 2 found this review helpful
It's Just A Bar - What Could Go Wrong?
PostedJanuary 10, 2022
timothya
fromSandpoint, Idaho
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Hidden Object, Puzzle
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
5
/
5
Storyline
5
/
5
Oh, my, this one is really good. Been waiting such a long time... Crossroads is a bar, a very special bar wherein the confused and conflicted can find...well, more confusion and conflict. Doesn't seem fair, does it? But it's for your own good. Keep telling yourself that. Scary lady Mistress Eve is the owner, bartender, story tender, and you'd better pay attention...or else!
Pros: spectacular graphics, smooth and convincing. Considerable intensity, and certain decisions are timed, which leaves the inattentive (that would be me) at the mercy of default decisions that sometimes aren't very good. This decision tree is displayed between chapters right in front of the player, which is something I've never seen before and leads toward the holy grail of game developers, the replay. Voice acting is uniformly excellent, and the music is top notch creepy.
Cons: I honestly can't think of a thing. Some of the imagery is on the gruesome side but the players were warned, weren't we?
Bonus Game: we play as our new friend Mistress Eve, who has had her quill - the one that writes the stories we're living - stolen, and the culprit is one of the players! He's really only teasing but his game risks all of the written worlds, and we have to get the quill back. Great play in this one, fully another evening for me, which is what a CE ought to be.
Overall, this is the one I've been waiting for. It's not only good on its own, it offers the player the chance of rethinking certain decisions that turn out to be pivotal in the game. The bonus game hints at a sequel, and I'm already salivating. Wonderful job, Devs!
I recommend this game!
Can you uncover who’s behind the haunting of the McKirk estate?
Overall rating
2
/
5
8 of 8 found this review helpful
Ritual? What Ritual?
PostedJanuary 6, 2022
timothya
fromSandpoint, Idaho
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Hidden Object, Puzzle
Fun Factor
2
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
2
/
5
Storyline
1
/
5
I so wanted to like this game. Our heroine at last finds herself in a genuine mystery and is able to do some genuine detecting. She is variously MS Holmes, perhaps more appropriately for a Victorian scenario Miss Holmes, and Sharlotte to men who have apparently barely met her. More of this in a moment. She is, however, a heroine worthy of the name who avoids some of the silliness of the previous entries in this series.
Pros: Beautiful graphics and a plethora of mini-games and HO scenes. The plot advances in a rather jerky fashion due to poor writing but it does advance, and there is a legitimate mystery with clues ("clews" to true Baker Street Irregulars) and reveals timed to a logical conclusion, at least in the main game. Good to very good voice acting.
Cons: The weird anachronistic nature of this world is dizzying. Sharlotte rides a 40's vintage motorcycle in a Victorian culture during an explicitly post-WWII era. No one would be surprised if something as silly as a fax machine made a sudden appearance in this weird alternate world - oh, wait, one does, in the Bonus Game, and it's critical to the plot. What? Several of the mini-games suffer from imprecise directions including a rather delicious lock puzzle that is ruined by them - I enjoyed replaying this one in the Extras once I figured out what they hadn't told me (and where the Mini-Games were; they're under Archive for some reason). Far too much "what do I do next?" that could be smoothed by a more logical game flow. And wait - wasn't there supposed to be a ritual of some kind involved?
Bonus Game: An absolute mess. There is no introduction, no idea of what the mystery is, and a cast of characters whose identity begins and remains a complete unknown. Nice puzzles but nothing in this makes any sense at all. It's as if the middle were torn out of another game, the middle, mind you, and not the conclusion. And that's a real shame because the environment is nicely laid out and the graphics excellent.
Overall, a game that had all the pieces but not the continuity to put them together. It is actually better on many points than its predecessors and one would like to see a succeeding entry with a little more care to a believable - I'd even take understandable - narrative. I can't recommend this one.
I don't recommend this game.
A vengeful monster has found a way to stop Christmas!
Overall rating
4
/
5
2 of 2 found this review helpful
Sweet But A Little Strange
PostedDecember 20, 2021
timothya
fromSandpoint, Idaho
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Hidden Object, Puzzle
Fun Factor
4
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
3
/
5
A different plot for Christmas, hurrah! Well, actually not, it's a hash of multiple classic Christmas stories, but off we go anyway. We play as Asdis in a sister-to-the-rescue game when the Scrooge-like Trapp comes a-calling. The latter is an evil slave-driving factory owner who forces his workers to endure overtime on that special night instead of celebrating. A thrall of a Narnian Snow Queen, he is bent on making everyone about him suffer for no particular reason except for her own inexplicable malice. Anyway, we're off to rescue little brother and redeem the irredeemable.
Pros: strikingly intense holiday colors and sugary Christmasy music, and a plot of simple rescue and redemption. Voice acting is good, hidden-object scenes abound, and a relatively straightforward plot make this a game one might sit down to with the young ones...
Cons: but wait, the HO scenes require a bit more precision than small hands are capable of and the mini-games are far beyond the capabilities (or interests) of young players. And frankly, the plot is a mess - we have a Snow Queen whose motives beyond simple malice are never explained in the main game. Lost in all this is, well, Christmas itself. We have several hours of pure nastiness on the part of Trapp, the villain, with a few miserly moments of redemption squeezed out of the story at the very end. Dickens did it better.
Bonus Game: Excellent resolution to both Trapp and Snow Queen enigmas - unfortunately, it has to wait until the Bonus Game, which makes it unavailable to anyone purchasing the SE. But yes, we play as Trapp himself and we do get to save the Snow Queen from herself. Her story doesn't really make a lot of sense but all is well in the end.
Overall, an incomplete story until the Bonus Game, but we do finally get to understand where everyone is coming from. It's a little difficult to understand who, exactly, the game was pitched to, because the sweetness of the scenery and the ease of the puzzles are fine for little ones but the mini-games are not, although I'll have to admit I enjoyed them.
I would have recommended the game but for the fact that little brother is playing his flute backwards in the opening scene. OK, kidding. Merry Christmas all!
I recommend this game!
Pendle Tower was once a lavish high-rise hotel, but a new renovation has awakened a long-dormant secret within its foreboding halls.
Overall rating
5
/
5
10 of 12 found this review helpful
Thank You GrandMa
PostedDecember 3, 2021
timothya
fromSandpoint, Idaho
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Hidden Object, Puzzle
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
5
/
5
Storyline
4
/
5
Count me in on the positive side of the reviews. I liked nearly everything about this game with a couple of exceptions noted below and I won't let the perfect be the enemy of the good. It's head and shoulders above some of the more forgettable MCF efforts we've been seeing the past few years.
Pros: very high production values throughout: the graphics are spectacular, excellent voice acting, lush atmospheric music (but no sign of the traditional MCF theme), and for me the biggest pro is the mini-games. The full-screen ones are gorgeous and challenging and the Rube Goldbergs are what I so love this series for. Certain mirror worlds lend an air of surrealism to an already compelling game. And yes, even a nod to the clacky typewriter.
Cons: good but not outstanding writing with an engagable plot and a satisfactory resolution, but certain of the secondary characters were interesting, original, and sadly undeveloped. A good deal of this was rectified in the Bonus Game, where we learn about the formidable Millicent Keaton but alas, the characters of the boy Bobby Reilly and Terry, the construction worker who accompanies the Master Detective throughout are barely touched. No spoilers, but the ending would have been much more satisfying with a little character development in their regard. Contrast them with Rose and the tragic twins of the Ravenhearst series to see what I mean.
Bonus Game: thank heaven. Here we play as the redoubtable Millicent and find out just how the hotel came to be the spirit-haunted place that it is. Great length, great mini-games, and fully worthy of the CE status. The extras allowed a second chance at the elusive morphing objects and puzzle pieces enjoyable enough to tempt me to pass one I'd found just to be able to revisit the scene.
Overall, it's the best shot for quite a while at the quality and originality of the old MCF games - good heavens, 15 years now? - and worthy of inclusion in the series. Developer GrandMa can take a bow after this one.
I recommend this game!
An investigation into a disappearance reveals ghostly secrets in a mountaintop hotel!
Overall rating
4
/
5
3 of 3 found this review helpful
A New Paranormal Detective Takes Flight
PostedNovember 20, 2021
timothya
fromSandpoint, Idaho
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Hidden Object, Puzzle
Fun Factor
4
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
3
/
5
A promising beginning to a new series. We have yet another paranormal detective agency whose owner's friend disappears whilst investigating a spooky ski hotel. Naturally she must go to the rescue and in so doing plunges into a serious haunting and a murder mystery.
Pros: plenty of game here for the money, lots of scenes following lots of plot twists. It's puzzle-heavy, so be warned, but if you like that sort of thing (I do) you'll like the frequency and variety of the mini-games. Excellent graphics, good to very good voice acting, atmospheric music.
Cons: reminiscent of a trend we saw a few years ago the cast is small, with super-women protagonists versus men who are either stupid or villainous. This got old the first time through and worse, telegraphs the plot way ahead of the reveals. A mystery of this length and complexity deserves a larger, more varied cast.
Bonus Game: this really excels - it's nearly a full game of its own and makes the package fully CE worthy. Our heroine's uncle has left her a mansion and wouldn't you know it, it's haunted! She's soloing it this time and the ghosts are more than just plot devices.
Overall, a solid beginning and a nice, varied diversion from these snowy winter evenings. Full marks for game length and general production values. Looking forward to the next entry in the series!
I recommend this game!
Can you stop dangerous specters from destroying the city in time?
Overall rating
4
/
5
3 of 6 found this review helpful
Zoot Allors! A New Detective!
PostedOctober 28, 2021
timothya
fromSandpoint, Idaho
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Hidden Object, Puzzle
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
3
/
5
Another Dark City to explore! This time it's Paris, and our Detective is no longer a mysterious man with a top hat and a booming voice but a young woman named Agatha with a booming voice. More of this later. The arch-fiend Nikola Tesla is attempting to ruin the Paris Exposition with electrical phantoms, and it is up to our Detective and...wait a minute...Nikola Tesla to stop him? What is this, a doppelganger, or something worse?
Pros: a decent mystery game at last! The art is good and in some scenes rather spectacular, and the music is familiar but once again very nice. This entry is HO heavy with less in the way of mini-games, which tend toward the easy side. Good plot pacing with natural reveals. Game flow is logical with little need for recourse to the excellent map.
Cons: we grew accustomed in past entries to a fellow who spoke in a normal tone of voice in the game and in the between-chapter analyses boomed out of the speakers like a foghorn at close range. FF studios hasn't apparently solved the imbalance between the voice levels by changing to a female POV, because between chapters Agatha sounds like a track announcer trying to make herself heard over the din at the Talladega raceway. It isn't a big thing unless you don't own speakers with a volume control of their own.
Voice Acting: this gets a separate entry because it depends on how one feels about native Parisians speaking with painfully American accents (Louvre does not rhyme with "Hoover", nor is Monsieur pronounced "Mon-sewer"), and one is tempted to apologize to genuine French ladies and gentlemen here - no offense intended. But surely at least some of them could have faked it a little more? That's why it's called "acting", after all.
Bonus Game: the Louvre is under attack by animated exhibits! Well, so we are given to believe, and Detective Agatha must sort the whole thing out. Writing a little sketchy here as we encounter a device in the wrong century, but it's all in fun after all.
Overall, a solid ride this time. Nothing terribly innovative but what is there works very well and for once the reviews section isn't peppered with complaints about dead ends and other technical issues. Applause to the Devs for that is due. The switchover to a female POV was handled very smoothly although I will admit to missing the old fellow a little. Nevertheless, on we proceed with Agatha at the helm. I'm looking forward to the next edition.
I recommend this game!
The twin detectives are back on the case!
Overall rating
4
/
5
3 of 5 found this review helpful
Be Careful Who You Trap
PostedSeptember 8, 2021
timothya
fromSandpoint, Idaho
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Hidden Object, Puzzle
Fun Factor
4
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
4
/
5
Nice twisty plot. Our protagonists happen across a kidnapping that is more than it seems. The villain is intent on bringing back a lover at someone else's expense (this never works. Don't these people play any of these games themselves?) Twins Eleanor and Randall actually do love one another, which has a sort of gentle charm to it, but it makes them vulnerable to the very same thing that trapped the couple they're trying to save. However, trapping them is rather a different thing from trapping the original couple, rather like catching kittens in a cage and finding out that you have full-grown tigers on your hands. Our villain had better watch out!
Pros: Excellent graphics, both in play and cut scenes. Good variety of HO puzzles, nothing new in the mini-games but all are very nicely presented - experienced players will want to play them at the selectable Hard level. Very likeable protagonists for a change with enough personality to keep from fading into cardboard cutouts. Their interplay is much better developed in this game as opposed to the previous entry in the series. This is one of the better two-POV games in recent memory, and you don't need the portrait in the task bar to know who you're playing as. Atmospheric music, very good voice acting. And a ghost who, for a change, is pretty fed up with the whole thing.
Pros: Excellent graphics, both in play and cut scenes. Good variety of HO puzzles, nothing new in the mini-games but all are very nicely presented - experienced players will want to play them at the selectable Hard level. Very likeable protagonists for a change with enough personality to keep from fading into cardboard cutouts. Their interplay is much better developed in this game as opposed to the previous entry in the series. This is one of the better two-POV games in recent memory, and you don't need the portrait in the task bar to know who you're playing as. Atmospheric music, very good voice acting. And a ghost who, for a change, is pretty fed up with the whole thing.
Cons: Some of the most glaring spelling and translational errors in any game of recent memory pepper the game throughout. A screwdriver is called "shears", for example, which makes the player wonder if he or she should attempt to cut something with it (the answer is, thankfully, no) - so many that it's a source of unintended humor. Come on, Dev, hire an editor! Oh, and there was that one awkward spot where Randall apparently got shot, but then in the next scene he was fine again. Was that supposed to be a stun gun? Scratching my head a bit on that one.
Bonus Game: Eleanor solos this one, a mystery involving family relationship difficulties and revenge. We have an encounter with an entertaining Spirit Of The Lake, who, far from approving of murder in its watery demesne, proves helpful in tracking down the culprit. Fair amount of play, fully CE worthy.
Overall, a very workmanlike effort with a good plot, timely reveals, and enough personality in the player characters to make up for a bit of repetition in the game itself. Production values suffered from persistent linguistic sins - I got the impression that the game was released one step short of that all-important final review for consistency and coherence. Nevertheless, a nice whodunnit and well worth the time to play.
I recommend this game!