Cubanabop's Profile
Stat Summary
- Average Rating:3
- Helpful Votes:156
- Reviews Submitted:6
- First Review:September 22, 2012
- Most Recent Review:June 13, 2016
- Featured reviews0
Cubanabop's Review History
Find and match pairs as you immerse yourself in a mysterious Egyptian atmosphere.
Overall rating
2
/
5
17 of 17 found this review helpful
Ho hum solitaire game
PostedJune 13, 2016
Cubanabop
fromBerkeley, CA
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Time Management, Match 3, Strategy
Fun Factor
2
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
3
/
5
Played only the demo but made it through two whole sets.
There is not much challenge here, and only goal is to collect all special cards in the deck by finding matching cards. Other than earning coins to buy shuffles/mulligans/jokers there is no progress to be made, is the same thing over and over again.
There is not much challenge here, and only goal is to collect all special cards in the deck by finding matching cards. Other than earning coins to buy shuffles/mulligans/jokers there is no progress to be made, is the same thing over and over again.
Additional quibble about gameplay that would prevent me from buying this game: the clicking action is awkward; you have to be very precise to click one card, make sure it turns blue, then click its pair, and the first one you click doesn't always stay selected. I found myself clicking more than once just to get a pair.
On the positive side: the visuals are clear and the music is fine; it is not an unpleasant experience, I just think there are better and more interesting solitaire games out there.
I don't recommend this game.
Seek the help of Lemuel Barnabas and unravel the mystery of what happened to Halloween in this ludicrous and imaginative hidden object adventure.
Overall rating
3
/
5
39 of 51 found this review helpful
Mixed-[Halloween Candy] Bag: this won't appeal to everyone
PostedOctober 13, 2014
Cubanabop
fromBerkeley, CA
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Hidden Object, Time Management
Fun Factor
3
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
3
/
5
Storyline
4
/
5
I decided not to buy after trial but there's lots good here, not the least of which is a Halloween-themed game that is neither too childish for adults nor too gruesome for young people. Perhaps if i had understood the dev's logic for task order better, I would have enjoyed it more.
This is a game for adventure story fans only: if you are the kind of person who likes more tasks to complete than HOG scenes you might like this one, but if you get annoyed by large inventories full of items or long to-do lists, you may get totally aggravated about 20 minutes into the first section.
As you try to unwrap (no pun intended) the mystery of Halloween in your town, and what your father is doing, you also are collecting candies in various scenes to buy Halloween swag and decorations for your achievements page. On Casual Mode, the sparkles are too plentiful (I started going in and out of rooms randomly bc everything sparkled!) but one saving grace: the help button refreshes at a very quick pace, and lights the way all the way until you found what you need. Music and background sounds were fine, and the deeply saturated colors are nice--it trends a bit towards cartoony, but in a way that I think is appropriate for this game.
I prefer adventure games & FROGs over HOGs, and I'm a big fan of all things Halloween, so I *really wanted* to like it. Devs had lots of clever details in and around the scenes (you pick up achievements by clicking in the most unexpected places). However, became exasperated towards the end of my trial time for having to ask the help each step of the way, and for the pixel-hunting clickfest that is required to advance to the next task. HOGs were pretty but standard fare (I have a minor quibble on dev's labeling of items, like calling what looks like twine a "ball of yarn", but you'll have no problem finding items) and puzzles were very easy overall (I personally like a good hard head-scratcher, but lots of people skip puzzles anyway, so this may not matter to you)
The elements of this game that made me choose not to buy it:
-No jump map (that drives me personally crazy with adventure games). It is possible that you can build one eventually, but you don't have one when you start
-Vague directions on how to accomplish your task list in your journal
-Holding such a large amount of items in your inventory at once, without knowing what to use when
-Super-annoying voice-overs. The voices were awful and didn't seem to match the character, but it was utterly gratuitous for this story anyway.
-No jump map (that drives me personally crazy with adventure games). It is possible that you can build one eventually, but you don't have one when you start
-Vague directions on how to accomplish your task list in your journal
-Holding such a large amount of items in your inventory at once, without knowing what to use when
-Super-annoying voice-overs. The voices were awful and didn't seem to match the character, but it was utterly gratuitous for this story anyway.
I will continue to be on the look-out for other games by this developer, since there was a lot of potential here, but there are much better Adventure/HOG games out there now.
Hold back the Ancient Menace, before it's too late!
Overall rating
3
/
5
14 of 17 found this review helpful
Perhaps it is the Mac version, but first time I ever regretted buying a game from BF
PostedNovember 17, 2013
Cubanabop
fromBerkeley, CA
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Hidden Object, Strategy, Time Management
Fun Factor
3
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
3
/
5
Level of Challenge
5
/
5
Storyline
1
/
5
This has potential to be a fantastic game experience, but I'm totally stopped at the second level and can't get through. I wanted to like this game, but the Mac version is missing elements that would assist the player to form a strategy for the various waves of enemies: no options for choices of difficulty, the tutorial is very slight, and there are no help pages or info sheets within the game. This makes it impossible to look up details on what each of the icons means/does for the upgrades on your weapons, or what kinds of enemies you are going to face. Instead of me actually planning things out (knowing that certain kinds of enemies will be felled by certain weapons) I was frantically building and re-building things in the moment with no clue as to what would happen.
Having to move quickly to tear down and build up new weapons in the moment is actually the most fun part of this game, but I don't like total guessing. While I love the challenge of the various waves, without decent info I can't have a fair fight. If I defeat a wave of enemies by pure dumb luck, how can I actually make a strategy for the next wave?
The tip on the mines that was shared in these reviews here made me annoyed at the game developers: I had no idea what that "house" icon meant or what it was doing until I read about it here. I also still have no idea what would allow me to earn 3 vs 2 stars on a level or what that means. This missing info may be present in the PC version, and that may account for the different reactions between me and the other reviewers.
Game would have been great, and I would have recommended it, had there been a better tutorial and/or help section or info pages on each of the weapons and enemies faced, so we could make informed decisions on how to spend our gems.
I don't recommend this game.
Several young women have gone missing in Paris. Now only you can stop a maniac's murderous trail of fragrance and deception!
Overall rating
5
/
5
35 of 36 found this review helpful
Nice game. Would love to see more from this developer
PostedApril 13, 2013
Cubanabop
fromBerkeley, CA
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Word, Adventure, Hidden Object, Time Management
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
4
/
5
A solidly designed HOPA with good mix of adventure tasks and hidden object scenes (ye-olde-junkpiles with some interactive tems; no penalty for missed clicks and no need to hurry and finish them). Very few puzzles, and most were on the *easy* side, but also skippable in very short amount of time in casual mode.
As other commenters noted, the added element of the scent-catcher/perfume box is a nice new addition to the basic HOPA repertoire without feeling gimmicky. I liked this feature better than just searching for random morphing objects in other games that try to .
Loved the map feature: not only can you go directly to new locations but also lets you know when there's a new task to do there. I rarely needed to use the hint feature, which in casual mode refills quickly.
Story is fun, and neither totally central nor expendable to gameplay. Great feature these developers added: if you skip dialog, you don't miss anything that could hamper your ability to complete adventure quests but the journal lets you replay any skipped scene at a later time in case you want to refresh memory on story or see why you're doing a task.
I recommend this game!
Nightclub Mayhem
Join Brooke in her exciting career as a nightclub manager in this highly addictive and fun-filled time management game.
Overall rating
2
/
5
1 of 1 found this review helpful
Diner Dash series does it much better
PostedOctober 5, 2012
Cubanabop
fromBerkeley, CA
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Word, Adventure, Hidden Object, Strategy, Time Management
Fun Factor
2
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
3
/
5
Level of Challenge
3
/
5
This is a "drag character to spot" kind of TM game, and I admit those are not my favorite anyway, but this one gets overly clunky and repetitive--with a lot of time spent waiting for characters to finish what they're doing. I wish there were better kinds of upgrades (e.g. being able to carry more than two items eventually, or control over if you want more or less seats at the bar) and abilities to hire more staff, and a bit more variety in the kinds of tasks or flow of events. I also hated the dj mini-game (one of those hard-for-Mac-track-pad-swiping things).
The characters are not interesting or compelling in any way (neither humorous nor cute) and the main one does have the Where's Waldo meets Harry Potter kind of look.
Other minor quibble: there's only one song that ever plays so either you'll love it or hate it by the end of the game (I came to hate it)
I don't recommend this game.
Rescue your daughter, Hannah, from the clutches of an evil witch before it's too late in this chilling Hidden Object adventure game!
Overall rating
3
/
5
50 of 52 found this review helpful
For adventure game lovers who hate HOPAs
PostedSeptember 22, 2012
Cubanabop
fromBerkeley, CA
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Word, Adventure, Strategy, Time Management
Fun Factor
3
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
3
/
5
I'm a big fan of "adventure" games, and was glad there were no junk-pile HOPAs to wade through. Beautiful graphics, and this game had a lot of potential, but a few issues keep it from being a 5-star, especially the lack of assistance in the "help" (it was so non-helpful, it actually made me aggravated, and I had to close out and look at the BFG Blog walkthrough several times). :
The good:
-HOPA-free adventure game
-Nice graphics and a fine soundtrack--no extra weird sounds to distract you while playing
-You never hold too many inventory items at one time, so you can more easily keep track of
-For selected (and honestly random) moments, when you collect an item required to complete a task, a ghost shows up and makes a portal to jump right to the location. I LOVED that part and wished they had more of those.
-Lots of different types of mini-games, and none is too annoying. I was only felled by one, so that's not bad
-HOPA-free adventure game
-Nice graphics and a fine soundtrack--no extra weird sounds to distract you while playing
-You never hold too many inventory items at one time, so you can more easily keep track of
-For selected (and honestly random) moments, when you collect an item required to complete a task, a ghost shows up and makes a portal to jump right to the location. I LOVED that part and wished they had more of those.
-Lots of different types of mini-games, and none is too annoying. I was only felled by one, so that's not bad
The "meh"
-story line is tired, and quite silly
- you are not always able to skip through dialog (sometimes are, sometimes aren't)
-I must be the only BFG player who finds the live actors annoying in these games...if you like 'em, what I can say is that the acting isn't as ridiculous as other games
-Mini-games were way too easy overall, so if you like a challenging brain-teaser for your mini-games puzzles, be warned that you won't find them here
-story line is tired, and quite silly
- you are not always able to skip through dialog (sometimes are, sometimes aren't)
-I must be the only BFG player who finds the live actors annoying in these games...if you like 'em, what I can say is that the acting isn't as ridiculous as other games
-Mini-games were way too easy overall, so if you like a challenging brain-teaser for your mini-games puzzles, be warned that you won't find them here
The bad:
-totally useless help system
-weird map that doesn't always keep track of outstanding tasks (there were things I knew I still had to finish but marks wouldn't appear on the map)
-no ability to jump to locations on the map--you had to wait for a ghost to open a portal for you if you wanted to jump
-a LOT of running back and forth, and of long distances between locations, so be prepared to use your mouse-clicking finger
-totally useless help system
-weird map that doesn't always keep track of outstanding tasks (there were things I knew I still had to finish but marks wouldn't appear on the map)
-no ability to jump to locations on the map--you had to wait for a ghost to open a portal for you if you wanted to jump
-a LOT of running back and forth, and of long distances between locations, so be prepared to use your mouse-clicking finger
I don't regret getting this game, but it isn't one of my favorites. That said, I hope they make more games like this in the future, since I loved the fact that there were no HOPA junk piles, and I don't usually mind the back-and-forth of most adventure games.
I recommend this game!