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 distraught husband makes a desperate deal to save his wife!
Overall rating
4
/
5
5 of 5 found this review helpful
Where's My Chimera?
PostedAugust 17, 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
3
/
5
Storyline
4
/
5
Another in a favorite series! This Chimeras entry doesn't actually involve anything particularly chimerical, at least in the main game, but it does involve an evil Djinn granting wishes. As is usual in such a transaction, the Djinn tends to come out on top. Our hero - it's a fellow who has inadvertently put his wife into an auto-accident-related coma - intends to swap his wish for her life and it turns out that the price will be a year of his life a spectator in his own body as the Djinn does...well, it doesn't sound promising. And so how to cheat the cheater?
Pros: busy game, plenty of HOs and mini-games, straightforward plot with a rather delightful supporting character in the Fortune Teller, the best-drawn character in the story, who appears in the Bonus Game as well. Adequate to good graphics, good to very good voice acting. Nice variety of locales.
Cons: lots of back and forth, and a very useful map that is unfortunately necessary at points where the next action isn't obvious from the plot. Mini-games a little on the too-easy side for experienced players.
Bonus game: a husband and wife team of paranormal investigators hits the jackpot, only to result in him turning into a chimera. Yes! A chimera in Chimeras! I thought they were going to cheat us. Their backstory romance is actually quite charming, and it falls to the Fortune Teller to help the lady make things right. Excellent voice acting for all three characters.
Overall, a solid entry in a series that was starting to feel a little strained. It's too bad that only the CE players will actually get a Chimera, which may lead to some head-scratching for the SE players who get none. Nothing spectacular, but a workmanlike effort that is well worth playing.
I recommend this game!
Can you stop a dangerous Order from bringing back the dead?
Overall rating
5
/
5
27 of 29 found this review helpful
Nice Job, Devs
PostedJuly 30, 2021
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
At last, a solidly constructed game with more fun than poorly attempted drama! This one has a nice twisty plot involving the by now customary evil witches attempting to bring one of their own back, but our hero has to vie with another equally intent on preventing it from happening. Unfortunately, that fellow will have to kill our hero to achieve that goal. Talk about your friendly fire problems!
We play as a horror author who falls into the real thing whilst trying to find a plot for his/her latest book, which plot finds our author instead. A spooky rundown mansion - well, there would be, wouldn't there? - a wicked family, and an unlikely ally.
Pros: plenty of play, full value for the price. Lots of mini-games with both Easy and Hard modes (experienced players will want to default to Hard, available through the control panel). Nice variety of HO scenes. Beautiful graphics, smooth game play, atmospheric music and some decent voice acting round this one out. And one silly thing I found rather delightful - the player name is grafted into plenty of his/her past books, enough to make you laugh. This is even better in the Horror Books Reviews section of the Extras. It's a little touch but it's fun.
Cons: lots of back and forth is about as bad as I can think of and it really isn't all that bad.
Bonus game: Wicked sister Lilith invites nice sister Deborah to attend a reading of their grandmother's will. At midnight. In a cemetery. What could possibly go wrong? Excellent length of play in this one, it's nearly a separate game.
Overall, a complete and rather busy game - that's a good thing - with decent writing and great game length. This one touches all the bases and doesn't leave the player feeling cheated as has been all too common in the recent past. Domini should be proud of this excellent effort.
I recommend this game!
Can you find an elusive shop to save your long-lost partner?
Overall rating
2
/
5
9 of 13 found this review helpful
Rick Is Missed
PostedJuly 15, 2021
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
4
/
5
Storyline
1
/
5
Rick and Rachel visit a mysterious shop and Rick goes missing for 13 years. In the first scene. Bye, Rick, it was nice... Rachel becomes the proprietor of Paranormal Files with a team consisting of the four characters who were involved in the previous entry in the series (none of whom having aged a day, but never mind). They search unsuccessfully for Rick. End of game.
To state that this plot feels a bit truncated would not be an exaggeration, but not to worry - the ending scene of the main game is an obvious tease for the next entry. In short, it's a full game but only half a story.
Pros: the graphics really are beautiful. Great atmosphere, spooky music. Mini-games fairly easy although a couple are really challenging. Nice variety of HO scenes, excellent game mechanics. Decent length of game and it did not seem stretched to fit.
Cons: The creative direction of several games is sorely lacking this year. We have Mystery Trackers turning into Scooby Doo without the dog (literally), Grim Tales writing Ann's entertaining father Richard out of the dialog and into obscurity, and now we have the often silly, always amusing Rick Rogers written out of his own series, replaced by a bored and boring Rachel and the Four Stooges. At least in the previous entry in the series her fellow investigators had some personality and purpose, but here they wander uselessly from scene to scene adding nothing to the plot. If this really is the new cast, I'll mourn the demise of a potentially great series. What is going on here?
Bonus Game: one of the characters in the main story needs some additional closure in order to pass on, which Rachel provides unassisted. Lots of play in this one, quite a bit of it back and forth but the scenes are richly drawn and well worth looking at.
Overall, the writing devolves into an achingly stock Wizard Tries To Beat Death trope but the game play is really quite adequate despite that. We won't get to find out what happened to Rick Rogers until the next game if at all but he's apparently still around somehow. That plot hasn't advanced one whit and it makes this entry very skippable. I'll be hoping the high production values present in this one find some decent writing in the next one and perhaps the series can be salvaged. Would I purchase this one again? Nope.
I don't recommend this game.
The oracle’s strange vision portends cataclysmic destruction!
Overall rating
5
/
5
2 of 3 found this review helpful
Interesting Sequel
PostedJune 14, 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
Those expecting this to be a straight sequel to the previous entry may be surprised to see Lucia and Ulf nowhere in sight until mid-game and then only briefly. Who we have instead (and play as) is a bit of a mystery, a woman in purple who appears to be a witch and claims to be an agent, but of whom? Clearly she is sympathetic to The Resistance - it isn't mutual - but are they even really the good guys? Full marks for an interesting premise.
Pros: truly beautiful graphics, which is what previous games by this Dev have come to make us expect. Smooth motion, atmospheric music, and...mini-games. Yes, if you like them (I do), this is your game. If you don't, their frequency is enough to appear to slow the game down. Very good to outstanding voice acting - The Ancient's patient, soothing baritone supplies a contrast to the mayhem of the game and Ulf is his usual loquacious self (his sole line, "Rrrrrrgh", is at least sincere). Lots and lots of play in this one. Underneath it's really a pretty straightforward quest theme but the multiplicity of interests keeps the plot from going flat.
Cons: only some minor complaints. The difficulty level of the mini-games is all over the charts and might have benefited from the Easy and Hard level choices that are becoming common these days.
Bonus Game: a prequel with a very unusual POV, we play as the Arch-witch's long-suffering warrior who has to get her, despite herself, through a series of obstacles in search of ancient artifacts. She's a great character, well-drawn enough to tempt you to strangle her through the screen, annoying at first and then tremendously amusing, so awful you're tempted to root for her.
Overall, just a great game. The real issue of The Resistance vs The Witches is left unresolved, which leaves us hoping for a sequel. As it should be.
I recommend this game!
Can you stop Taleville’s newest criminal from destroying the city?
Overall rating
3
/
5
6 of 6 found this review helpful
A Good Start At Least
PostedMay 27, 2021
timothya
fromSandpoint, Idaho
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Hidden Object, Puzzle
Fun Factor
3
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
3
/
5
Storyline
2
/
5
Definitely an acquired taste, this series requires the player to suspend disbelief - well, actually to shoot it into orbit - and recast Cinderella's Fairy Godmother (hereinafter FGM) as a Raymond Chandler detective and her fairyland environment into Taleville, a gritty film noir dystopia. That's not too much, is it?
Pros: the premise, for one - you either love it or hate it. FGM must navigate the all-too-familiar bureaucracy of the Ministry of Discipline in the beginning to replace a magic wand stolen by a purse snatcher. Puss In Boots is, of course, a cat burglar. Taleville possesses seedy gambling dens populated by unsavory characters. So far a great setup...but...
Cons: the plot settled into a relatively mundane chase 'em down format with characters interchangeable with half of the crime genre, the magic wand turned into a gadget similarly replaceable, and Puss in Boots is just another unimpressive minor bad guy with a weird, inexplicable name, who shuffles off scene when his plot function is done. And just like that the magic is gone.
Bonus game: the Little Mermaid's wedding is spoiled by evil-doers and FGM must run them down. A good bit of play with a plot more interesting than the main game.
Overall, the game showed a very amusing tongue-in-cheek beginning that faded rapidly as the mystery (such as it was) began to take itself too seriously. It's a playable, entertaining game for the most part but loses the charm when FGM ends up riding motorcycles and acting more like Indiana Jones than a Mum with a wand. Three stars, a qualified recommendation, and a sigh.
I recommend this game!
Can you stop a dangerous order from abusing time for their nefarious plans?
Overall rating
2
/
5
7 of 9 found this review helpful
Grim Tale
PostedMarch 31, 2021
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
3
/
5
Storyline
1
/
5
It baffles me how a developer can have a golden egg and toss it away. Anyone who read 20 games worth of reviews would realize that Anna is a colorless, "Gray" figure in the absence of her Dad Richard, who provides humor, sanity, and every bit of uniqueness that the series possesses. Turning him into a cardboard villain wasn't a good decision.
Pros: The graphics - they're gorgeous. Some excellent mini-games. The writing up to a point - this is Richard's back story and the origin of his struggle with his daughter Anna. He loves her, of course, he bequeathed his heart to her, after all. Here she opposes him to rescue a victim of his reckless ambition. This is good stuff - her travel in time reveals that yes, there are risks, one of which ends her up in an entertaining disguise, opposing her allies and allied to the opposition. It's a beautiful twist. And then...
Cons: And then it simply ends. All of this setup squandered, and we are left with only half of Richard's story and no closure on anything. If the Devs intended this to be a cliff-hanger, it isn't, it's only frustrating. So much potential...
Bonus Game: Here we play as Aubrey, one of Richard's intended victims, who finds herself reversing her role and sallying forth to rescue Anna from villains who - wait a minute, if the events detailed in the main story prevailed, that organization wouldn't even exist. That's what Anna was trying to fix, isn't it?
Overall, a disappointment, mostly because of half realized, hence half wasted, potential. The game is rich, beautiful in graphics, but simply incomplete.
I don't recommend this game.
Can you save your hometown from the Headless Horseman?
Overall rating
3
/
5
5 of 6 found this review helpful
Below Par For The Series
PostedMarch 25, 2021
timothya
fromSandpoint, Idaho
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Hidden Object, Puzzle
Fun Factor
3
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
3
/
5
Storyline
2
/
5
Not really the best of a series I've come to enjoy. This one had a mechanical feel to it, from the by now customary search for items unaccountably hidden in weird places to some that made no sense at all. Historical period was all over the place - our male POV Kane is supposed to be an agent for a bureau that won't exist for a couple hundred years, female POV Katrin is dressed like a refugee from the Victorian era. It works in fantasy gameland, I suppose, but it's jarringly unconvincing.
Pros: Nice graphics, atmospheric interiors. A straightforward plot, HO scenes were better than the mini-games but both were nicely playable.
Cons: Lifeless characters, both the principal characters and the supporting cast. With a well-written POV-swapping game the characters are developed such that you know who you're playing as without reminder; not so here, and we never really do come to care much whether the dearly beloved do get back together. No character development at all on the most potentially interesting one, the Horseman himself; instead of the literary Hessian soldier we have a random victim of a witch's spell. Dull.
Bonus Game: To agree with another reviewer, it was better than the main game. Here we play as Katrin, with Kane taking the role of damsel in distress. Plenty of play, and a villain who at least knew what she was about. Over the top voice acting but I loved it. Whatever spirit was missing in the main game was fully present here.
Overall, three stars is the best I can do on this one. It wasn't bad, it was just sort of bland.
A routine flight becomes a perilous adventure as you struggle to survive the dangerous way of life inside the Bermuda Triangle!
Overall rating
5
/
5
4 of 5 found this review helpful
Collins Saves The Day! This One's For Gamers
PostedFebruary 25, 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
5
/
5
The secret is that it's really two games - there, I've said it. I had the good fortune to beta test this one and I can attest that the demo doesn't even give the player a clue where the thing is really going. Our POV heroine endures a by-now customary plane crash in the Bermuda triangle and is off to save her friend from...wait, what's that, a ship floating in the air?
Pros: Nearly too many to mention. The atmosphere is exotic, especially the vertiginous cloud city our heroine begins in (and leaves too soon). We have a zip-line paradise, an aircraft carrier turned into a bazaar all floating among the clouds, and a weird island that is the source of overpowering magnetic effects that have entrapped an entire population. It's a fairly conventional adventure game from this point on, with a nicely-developed cast and some excellent voice acting. Puzzles are a high point. Music is really good on this one. The writing is fairly ordinary so far, but pretty soon it won't be.
Cons: Some tedious sequences that don't really work very well - our heroine finds herself dangling in the air and must talk her friend into building a trampoline contraption in a sequence that makes no sense at all, in a rolling-viewpoint environment that is clumsy at best. I'm guessing this might be the source of the bad reviews. Some other small things - why, for example, everyone at the bazaar speaks a subtitled native language but on the island everyone is speaking fluent English. Language lessons from the interlopers, perhaps? Mid-game scenery is elaborate and colorful but shamelessly junkpile. And one item that isn't really much of a Con, but it's true - don't bother with the SE version, you'll miss out on the fun.
More: So there we are, approaching the climax of a short, colorful game that is getting all too common these days. Then the valiant explorer - he wouldn't fib about that, would he? - Andrew Collins shows up and the game kicks into overdrive. So many games of late with so little humor, but it's here in abundance. The interplay is excellent - our heroine uncorks a few tart remarks she's probably been suppressing out of politeness all game long, and what was borderline ordinary turns into a hilarious romp. The A writing team has taken over and the rest of the game is a love letter to gamers from the Devs. The Fourth Wall is not only broken but shattered. I won't give away a single joke but they're plenty and they're good.
Bonus Game: After some really wild riffs the game ends very satisfactorily, some leaving the island, some staying...including one Andrew Collins. He's after his love Julie and it's been a three-year wait, and he won't be denied. We have a return to the floating city and its less reputable inhabitants, and Collins proves somewhat difficult to kill - when he swims out of disaster and started poking buttons for the player I will admit to laughing long and loud. Now that's a hero!
Overall, a weird, beautiful, and quirky adventure game. This one's for experienced gamers who will get the in jokes. There are flat spots, but it doesn't matter, it's really good.
I recommend this game!
A detective meets a mysterious stranger in her first case!
Overall rating
5
/
5
48 of 50 found this review helpful
Strange Case - Awesome First Entry
PostedFebruary 2, 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
5
/
5
Best-written mystery game I've enjoyed in a long time, although it has a disturbing beginning and a brilliant but somewhat ambiguous end. This one is definetely not for the kids - the premise of this story is very, very dark indeed. Our heroine is a grieving, wounded young woman who questions her own sanity, and with reason. What is she seeing? Is it real? No magic here, no amulets, just a gritty cinema noir treatment of a stubborn detective and her cinema noir case.
Pros: Mystery readers will love this one. Plenty of play, plot twists, red herrings, false trails, and a narrator who questions her own reliability. Great graphics, nice mix of puzzles and various flavor HO scenes, but the story's the thing.
Cons: The time sequence is a little difficult to track at the beginning of the game. Dana is attempting to recall her original tragedy, what she thought was a resolution, and her subsequent history up to the present, all at once. It does make sense but leaves the player a little uncertain where he or she is entering the sequence. No spoiler, but it's 1966 and Dana has a lot of pain behind her, and some challenges ahead.
Bonus game: Some bittersweet back story here along with the play. Mr. Freeman's grocery store seems to have attracted a haunt, and he asks for Dana's help. Dana has a fan. It's rather sweet, really, but there are echoes of darkness that won't go away. Great atmosphere throughout. Mini-game difficulty kicks up a level here, beware!
Overall, a terrific and very adult game, and a very strong entry into what I hope is a new series. Can the Devs keep this level of excellence up? We shall see. If I could give this one six stars, I would, but I certainly will give it a whole-hearted recommendation.
I recommend this game!
Can you uncover a murder victim's past and find her killer?
Overall rating
3
/
5
9 of 10 found this review helpful
Liked the Characters, Game Was Only OK
PostedJanuary 16, 2021
timothya
fromSandpoint, Idaho
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Hidden Object, Puzzle
Fun Factor
4
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
3
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
3
/
5
A new spin on the multiple POV approach, with fresh characters and a nicely twisty plot. Eleanor's is a much more finely drawn character but they show enough difference to be credible, and you don't really need the ID indicator the Devs provide in order to know who you're playing as.
Pros: Intricate plot with a fairly distributed set of reveals. Decent voice acting, puzzle difficulty level is all over the place but offers the option of an Easy mode that helps make up for it.
Cons: Graphics are nicely drawn but a bit glaring and the main game is quite short. Some of the object searches seemed overly specific - why, for example, Eleanor tells Randall to find something that will handle the villain when her brother has a three-foot crowbar in his hand is a bit of a mystery. Yes, I know, no violence, but still...
Bonus game: Here we play as Eleanor only, Randall being off on an undercover mission of some sort. Very generous game play unlike the main game, with plenty to do and places to go. I was disappointed to encounter a fatal glitch on the last scene, the confrontation between our heroine and the villain, one of those things that are always irritating but come on now, on the very last scene? Can't comment on the Extras because I couldn't finish - sooo close. Grr.
Overall, I think that the main game should have been expanded to fit a better than average plot that would have supported much more play. Enjoyed the characters and I hope to see them again in the future. Three stars and a conditional recommendation for the fun.
I recommend this game!