mizmoose's Profile
Stat Summary
- Average Rating:3.5
- Helpful Votes:1,244
- Reviews Submitted:61
- First Review:November 14, 2011
- Most Recent Review:December 1, 2024
- Featured reviews0
Status:
Uncover the identity of a mysterious woman with a message from the past!
Overall rating
5
/
5
A great addition to the MCF series & lore
PostedDecember 1, 2024
mizmoose
fromUSA
Favorite Genre(s):Card & Board, Hidden Object, Strategy, Time Management
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
5
/
5
Storyline
4
/
5
This is one of the better entries into the MCF series. The overall game is more puzzle heavy than HOG but it's still a good game play. The puzzles are reasonable in difficulty, with a few tough ones, and some original to me. My biggest complaint is that once again they don't stick the landing on the ending. They obviously were setting up the next game but the ending feels like the old trope of "A Wizard Did It!" (ie. don't pay attention to the plot hole behind the mirror.) I also miss the days when you found items and had to carry them around for a while before you use them. Today's games are so big that you only get 2-3 rooms to use at once. It's a pity. Otherwise, it's a great game. Recommended, especially for MCF fans.
I recommend this game!
A ski resort high in the mountains hides a dark past!
Overall rating
2
/
5
5 of 6 found this review helpful
Candidate for worst MCF game ever
PostedNovember 28, 2022
Fun Factor
2
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
2
/
5
Level of Challenge
3
/
5
Storyline
1
/
5
This is one of many "new" games in the past couple of years that has been a half-baked effort.
The story is trite and boring. They could have set up a whole mystery, what's the cause of the disappearance? A conspiracy? A murder mystery? Something intriguing? Instead it's yet another case of The Monster Did It. Then it becomes a mystical magic tour instead of the Whodunnit you were hoping for.
Some of the music is recognizable from the other games that have used it. Not saying you always have to make your own, but please don't use the same stuff everyone else uses.
The minigames are mostly very easy, with a few exceptions. There are a few I haven't seen before but there's a lot of easy ones that seem to be there just to pad out the time.
The HO scenes are also super easy. A lot of time you don't even have to look at the list, because everything you need is clearly there. What happened to the days of having to actually find HIDDEN objects?
This could have been a fantastic game but it's not even close to a good game. I'm really disappointed and I'm glad I bought it with points.
I don't recommend this game.
The tenacious trio takes on a master of the occult!
Overall rating
1
/
5
23 of 27 found this review helpful
How does this series keep getting worse?
PostedJanuary 21, 2022
mizmoose
fromUSA
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Card & Board, Hidden Object, Time Management
Fun Factor
1
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
1
/
5
Level of Challenge
1
/
5
Storyline
1
/
5
Remember when the first Detectives United game came out and it was so appealing and different?
Each game since gets worse and worse. I got this one with credits and, dang, what a waste. I had hoped the bad reviews were wrong but nope.
Oh, Deadly Debt, let me count the ways you are awful. Or, as others have pointed out, how this seems hastily thrown together and poorly done.
The HOs are so simple that you can usually find the majority of things without looking at the list.
There's a map, but why bother? You're not going anywhere. At most you move between two scenes/rooms and that's rare. Usually you're stuck in just one room using whatever you found there.
The puzzles are either super easy or tedious and there to pad out the time.
There are multiple errors that don't completely stop game play but do make it difficult.
The animation is so awful. I've been replaying a bunch of games from the early '10s and they're better than this! At one point a character's mouth kept moving after their voice stopped. Is this a 1960s Godzilla movie?! Worse, nobody has any real expression. Just wooden, bored faces.
And the VO actors are as wooden as their images. They sound like they'd rather be doing anything else. There's frequently no emotion in their voices which matches the wooden animation.
Come on, Elephant, you can do better. You used to be one of the best. This is an incredible disappointment.
I don't recommend this game.
Play as both members of the Fletcher family to crack the case!
Overall rating
3
/
5
100% Meh
PostedDecember 21, 2021
mizmoose
fromUSA
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Card & Board, Hidden Object, Strategy
Fun Factor
3
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
3
/
5
Storyline
3
/
5
It's not a bad game, but it's not a great game, either.
The demo version is intriguing - your spouse gets arrested and you start trying to figure out what's going on. You swap back and forth between playing the spouses.
But there's nothing special about either of them, nothing that makes one person stand out over the other. Neither has a special skill or ability or knowledge that makes changing back and forth interesting.
The HO scenes are reasonable; no too tiny things hiding in the dark. They're lit well enough and things aren't frustratingly hard to find. HO scenes have morphing objects.
The puzzles are reasonable, too. Nothing too outrageously hard, although some are more time-padding than actual puzzles.
The plot is, well, meh. So-so. Not boring but not exciting.
You're looking for a little present in each scene. They're usually hard to find and as the developer does with most of their games, if you forget one you can go back at the end and find it.
The bonus game is a decent size but also "meh."
Do I recommend this game? I'll put yes, but this is another time I wish there was a "maybe." If you're looking for something that's not "Save my sister from the evil monster from the fiery pits of you-know-where!" you might like this. But if you're looking for an interesting plot and stuff to keep your attention, this might not be it.
I recommend this game!
What if everything you knew about your life, everything your family ever told you, turned out to be a lie?
Overall rating
5
/
5
3 of 3 found this review helpful
Easily the best game I've played in years. Where is the sequel?
PostedNovember 4, 2021
mizmoose
fromUSA
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Card & Board, Strategy, Time Management
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
5
/
5
Storyline
5
/
5
This game came out in 2014 and I somehow missed it.
Warning: This game is not for everyone. There is gore and violence (mostly implied) and has jump scares. This is a thriller and a horror.
This is a game made from hard work. There are no shortcuts in the making of this game. It very much shows.
The game play: this is everything I've wanted in a game. The artwork is excellent. You keep things in your inventory to reuse - no having to find a wrench or tweezers over and over and over again. When there's a repeated HO scene, the stuff you found last time is still gone and not magically replaced. Cut scenes are not overbearingly long and drawn out, nor are they too frequent.
Puzzles: Not too shabby. A few are more difficult than others, but very few are very simple. There is no setting for "skip minigames quickly" but that's OK. If you keep poking at it, you'll often find the solution before the Skip button becomes active.
And, geez, let me gush about the extra game play you get for the CE version. It's worth the extra money; it's a game unto itself. It's a lead in to the first sequel. (This is a trilogy; they're almost done with the third game, apparently.)
First, you'll find you've kept the items you already found in the main game. Amazing! But the best part is the little computer you get to work with. It's absurdly realistic, and even changes the hint, diary, and menu buttons to fit within. You get to type REAL WORDS into this game. Absolutely brilliant.
I have one and only one complaint for this game: The music sometimes gets too repetitious. You don't need to annoy the player to increase tension. The game does it well enough by itself.
Amazing game. I cannot recommend it higher and BFG needs to get that sequel.
I recommend this game!
In the next great time management adventure, help the Inca save their homeland from a merciless god!
Overall rating
5
/
5
Good game, but occassionally confusing
PostedOctober 12, 2021
mizmoose
fromUSA
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Card & Board, Hidden Object
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
4
/
5
First time through playing the game, I really enjoyed it. Even though I played with the tutorial on, there were times, even at lower levels, where I was hunting around trying to figure out what I had to do next.
It was a bit frustrating but since I wasn't playing in a timed mode, it wasn't a big failure. I'm never going to be a time management expert, thanks to grouchy hands that never move fast enough. But now that I have the hang of how the game works, I may try again in a timed mode.
Overall, it's a good game.
I recommend this game!
The most perfect town in the world hides a terrible secret!
Overall rating
4
/
5
28 of 32 found this review helpful
Not as bad as I'd feared. Not as good as I'd hoped.
PostedJanuary 2, 2021
mizmoose
fromUSA
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Card & Board, Hidden Object, Strategy, Time Management
Fun Factor
4
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
3
/
5
Level of Challenge
3
/
5
Storyline
4
/
5
The first Detectives United game was terrific. It really broke new grounds in HO games. I got to beta test it & snapped it up when it went for sale.
The second game wasn't as good and I really disliked the third one. Based on the reviews of this one, I didn't buy it without playing the demo first. When I ran out the demo time I promptly bought the game.
The Pluses: The storyline is a lot better. The switching between characters is a lot more natural [in the 2nd & 3rd games it felt clunky]. There was less reliance on Special Magical Powers and more on solving a mystery & helping Brown. The puzzles were of reasonable difficulty and what HO scenes existed were pretty good. Overall it kept me interested and entertained. I have a real problem with having to play HO games in little half hour chunks and this one I would have played all the way through in one sitting had I not had to stop to buy it.
The Minuses: The main storyline is fairly short. The CE is a reasonable length, which makes up for it a bit, but if you're not a CE person I wouldn't get this game without a free game ticket or other drastic sale. A lot of the puzzle &/or HO scenes are replaced with "find the pairs" where you have to find 6 pairs of things, and it feels very lazy. Having one or two in a game is fine, having 5 or 6 [I lost count; this includes the Bonus game] is too many. The developer still has the issue where something is obviously needed to fix/add to/change an item/scene but it won't let you do it until something is done first, and they don't make it clear that you need to do something first - they just don't let you do it.
Also: The music for this game was horribly monotonous. At the very least I expected the music to switch between detectives.
I'm going to put that I recommend this game but beware of the issues I've mentioned, and read the other reviews, before you buy.
I recommend this game!
Master Detective must face the greatest challenge – time itself!
Overall rating
3
/
5
16 of 20 found this review helpful
Disappointing addition to the MCF series
PostedNovember 24, 2020
mizmoose
fromUSA
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Card & Board, Hidden Object, Strategy, Time Management
Fun Factor
3
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
2
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
2
/
5
I usually like retrospective games. I really liked MCF: Rewind, a flashback to the style of the original MCF games with some characters that ranged from older to newer. I also don't understand why people disliked the last MCF game, Harbinger, so much. I even like Shadow Lake, one that many declared "the worst MCF game ever!!" when it came out.
Crossfade had a lot of promise but just didn't deliver. Most of the HO and puzzle games were very easy, with a few that were instead very hard; I found very little in between. On top of that, there were occasional puzzles with no instructions, such as simple ones that required you to quickly click your mouse to activate something. Very annoying to have to guess what's going on.
The storyline was convoluted and at times very forced. Who were you dealing with? Why did that person keep changing? Why did you have to go back to specific times? What was really going on? Nothing was ever really made clear past the old "Bad guy wants power!" plot device that gets used over and over and over. The "let's wrap it up" ending felt tacked on to finish things off.
The Bonus Game wasn't bad but didn't really add anything to the experience.
This is the first game in a long time where I found the music bad. Usually the MCF games have a soundtrack that fits in with the mood of the scene but the music here was just grating.
I typically find the MCF games good for replays but this is not one I think I'll pull out again. By the end of the [main] game I was skipping some of the last puzzles because I was just tired of the whole thing.
I don't recommend this game.
Can you stop a mysterious monster terrorizing a new amusement park?
Overall rating
1
/
5
9 of 16 found this review helpful
Looked interesting but was badly disappointing
PostedMay 17, 2020
mizmoose
fromUSA
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Card & Board, Hidden Object, Strategy, Time Management
Fun Factor
1
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
1
/
5
Storyline
2
/
5
I played about 2/3 of the demo before I couldn't take it any longer.
The game sounded like fun. There are very few HO scenes and the puzzles [at least in the demo] are easy. The plot line isn't awful but trite - more 'save your friend/client/pet lizard/etc.' But the situations are silly or simplistic and the "fear" is just oh, no, something bad is going to happen from a monster.
Boring and trite. I wonder if this game was rushed through development.
I don't recommend this game.
Can you traverse the Underworld and make it out alive?
Overall rating
3
/
5
4 of 6 found this review helpful
I love cats but this one has to GO
PostedApril 27, 2020
mizmoose
fromUSA
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Card & Board, Hidden Object, Strategy, Time Management
Fun Factor
3
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
3
/
5
Storyline
2
/
5
Most of my opinions about this game are echoed by previous reviews. The "logic" of the game is bonkers. The one character waits for the detective to show until calling for help for her collapsed fiance? The items you use to solve or fix things are choices nobody would make in real life. You go through FOUR corkscrews because of course you use one once and never take it with you to use it again. Why am I using a coin on these screws? Because I discarded the screwdriver I had 7 scenes ago. None of this makes any sense as basic logic goes.
The cat is super annoying, but you can click his babbling away. If a game is going to have an animal side kick at least let it be a dang animal and not some magical noise box.
Otherwise, the plot is your typical save-the-princess style tale with the usual twists of 'is the bad guy/girl really bad after all?'
Not sure why I bought this, and it may be the last in the series I buy.
I don't recommend this game.