dancemom1's Profile
Stat Summary
- Average Rating:3.6
- Helpful Votes:13,287
- Reviews Submitted:871
- First Review:April 15, 2012
- Most Recent Review:November 26, 2024
- Featured reviews0
Status:
Mark’s reality unravels as he discovers the truth about his life.
Overall rating
3
/
5
7 of 10 found this review helpful
Wife's missing...again!
PostedMarch 10, 2018
dancemom1
fromYakima, WA
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Card & Board, Family, Hidden Object, Puzzle, Strategy, Word
Fun Factor
3
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
2
/
5
Storyline
2
/
5
Hello friends! As usual, I review mostly on the game play and leave the story line to others who do a much better job than I. Wow, this series just keeps on going! Graphics were nicely done, very clear with no blurring when going in or out of cut scenes. Game play was excellent, with no problems during the demo. Colors were very clear and bright, but not over powering at all. We do have very bright lights when traveling to other dimensions. Voices are age and character appropriate and very well done, when we have them. During the demo, there was very little character interaction. Music was okay. This game was fairly quiet, so I didn't really notice much in the way of sound FX. Animation was excellent, including the appropriate facial movements.
HOPs were clear and clean, no junk piles. Items were easy to find, so no eye strain. As usual, we had a combo of interactive lists, silhouettes, finding pairs and straight lists. I did not see that you could switch to anything else if you got bored with the HOPs. Puzzles were not difficult, and real time or thought to complete. We do have a lot of back-tracking for items, but we have a transport feature that saves a lot of time. You also have a jump map if you prefer, but the transport is much faster. Hint system is helpful. Strategy guide is the usual and helpful if you just can't find that one last collectible.
Collectibles aren't bad and some had a little challenge to finding them. We have 27 morphing items to find. These are not difficult, but they do morph fairly quickly. We also have 20 picture pieces that can be almost anywhere. They are fairly large, so not difficult to miss if you remember to pick them up. We also collect 13 memories. Not sure why yet, as I didn't see that we could use them or look at them during the demo.
The story is nothing new, another wife, husband, sister, etc., goes missing and we must save them from the bad guys. The story started to get a bit "out there" when the demo ended, so I'm not really sure about this one. I may have to replay the demo again. This is one you will definitely need to decide for yourself. At this point, I don't think I can recommend this one, except to beginners.
As always, try it for yourself and see what you think. We all have different tastes in games and you may find this one to be exactly what you are looking for. Thanks for the reviews.
I recommend this game!
Ghastly murders in Whitechapel foreshadow the return of the Red Queen!
Overall rating
4
/
5
12 of 18 found this review helpful
Action and adventure, a superb game!
PostedMarch 7, 2018
dancemom1
fromYakima, WA
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Card & Board, Family, Hidden Object, Puzzle, Strategy, Word
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
5
/
5
Hello friends! As usual, I review mostly on the game play and leave the story to others who do a much better job than I. This makes #5 in this series...yes, I have them all. As usual, the game has excellent graphics, very clear, with bright true colors. As in all other games these days, we do have a slight blur when going in and out of close up scenes, but not enough to worry about. Game play was excellent, with no glitches during the demo and the game fit my large screen quite well. Animation is extremely well done, with realistic facial movements and fluid body movements. Voices are very well done, being age and character appropriate, and speak with emotion, e.g., anger, fear, shock, etc. Dialog can be clicked through, if you read faster than they speak, and not miss any of the story line or any clues to the game play. I did find that we had some "choose dialog" scenes in this addition. I'm not a fan, but fortunately, they were few and far between. The music was well done, not over powering and only used when needed for affect. Sound FX are nicely done as well.
HOPs are interactive lists, with multiple layers to complete, and some highlighted words. The scenes are clear and items are not difficult to find. I did not see that you could switch to something else if you didn't care for the HOPs. We do have morphing objects in the HOPs. They are not as easy to spot as you think and can be pretty tricky. Puzzles were somewhat challenging and they did take some time and thought, although we also had some that were fairly simple. Hint system is helpful, we do have the transport feature for longer locations. Yes, we do a lot of back tracking, so this comes in handy. We also have a jump map, but it is very boring. With the transport, who needs a map?
Collectibles were a little disappointing. All I found are 42 "signs" which are all the same shape and color, and quite large and easy to see. The challenge is to remember to look for them.
I really like this series, I think because they always pick up where the last one left off and give you a short overview to bring you into the new game. Very well done. The story was interesting and flowed extremely well. You are constantly on the move, so you don't get bored staying in one place long or returning to one area too many times. We have quite a lot of character interaction as well. This makes a game more realistic for me. I do not give 5 stars easily, as a game must be exceptional in all aspects for that. As good as this game is, it fell short because of the lack of extra collectibles. That said, I still gave it a 4.75. I think all levels of players would find this one challenging and fun. Yes, I am going to add it to my CE collection.
As always, try it for yourself and see what you think. We all have different tastes in games and you may not care for this one at all. Thanks for the reviews.
I recommend this game!
It’s the find of a century, but will you live to tell about it?
Overall rating
2
/
5
6 of 10 found this review helpful
A lazy day game?
PostedMarch 5, 2018
dancemom1
fromYakima, WA
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Card & Board, Family, Hidden Object, Puzzle, Strategy, Word
Fun Factor
2
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
2
/
5
Storyline
2
/
5
Hello friends! As usual, I review mostly on the game play and leave the story line to everyone else. Graphics in this game are not bad, actually. Game play was good, with no problems during the demo. Colors were fairly clear and true. Not a lot of animation, but mostly stiff and deliberate moves. Voices sounded like the same two people trying to do all of them. Neither acted with any real emotion or excitement for any realism at all.
HOPs are nothing new, just interactive, with a morphing object tossed in. The scenes are somewhat cluttered, but items aren't difficult to find. Puzzles are quite simple and take no brain power to complete. However, one did take a little time. Hint system is quite helpful, but it does not transport to longer locations. This isn't a bad thing, since you spend a great deal of time between one or two locations before moving on.
Collectibles are very disappointing. All I found is a large symbol, the same as in all this dev's games. Definitely needed more in this department. I did find that if you did not find the collectible and moved to another location, you could not go back.
This story moved quite slowly and provided very little character interaction or action. There was no challenge to any part of it. I will recommend this to a real beginner, but not to a seasoned gamer. There was nothing to keep me interested or wanting more. Yes, I will recommend it, but no I will not buy it for myself. It would have to be a very lazy day for that to happen.
As always, try it for yourself and see what you think. We all have different tastes in games and you may find that this one is exactly what you are looking for. Thanks for the reviews.
I recommend this game!
Save the citizens of Rivershire from a terrible plague!
Overall rating
4
/
5
4 of 7 found this review helpful
Evil crystals!
PostedFebruary 26, 2018
dancemom1
fromYakima, WA
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Card & Board, Family, Hidden Object, Puzzle, Strategy, Word
Fun Factor
4
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
4
/
5
Hello friends! Welcome to another addition to this series. As always, I review mostly on the game play and leave the story line to others who do a much better job than I. Graphics are fairly clear and nice, except when going in and out of close ups and cut scenes, then a bit blurry, as usual. Game play was very nice and I had not glitches or problems during the demo. Colors are very clear and bright, without being blinding. Animation is very well done, except for a little during the opening scene, when the mouth didn't quite match the dialog. Music was quite soothing and very nice background sound. Voices are well done and are age and character appropriate. There wasn't a tremendous amount of character interaction, but enough. Yes, we still heal people infected with the crystal disease, and have the diagnosis lens. Personally, I'd prefer that we just find the written ingredients and forget the lens. I do like using the healer kit, though. I think I'm finally getting the hang of it, as I managed to only have to place items twice to get it correct. Sound FX are nice when we had them. A little more would have really perked up this game.
HOPs are varied and very well done, with silhouettes, interactive lists, highlighted words, and place items in the scene. The scenes are fairly clear and uncluttered and items are not difficult to find. You can switch to a match 3 if you prefer. Puzzles were fairly simple, and you can choose between easy and hard. This addition was not overrun with HOPs or puzzles, but had enough to break the monotony of straight game play. As usual, this game has my favorite map. Areas are clearly identified and you can choose to have it tell you if you have missed a collectible or not. The hint system is very helpful, but it doesn't have the usual transport popup. When you need to transport, the map opens and it shows you where the next area is open. There is a lot of back-tracking, so this is a big time saver. Strategy guide is the usual and easy to follow.
We have a lot of varied collectibles to find in this addition. We need to find 15 medallions, which are not all that easy to find as you think; 76 coins to buy items for our medical laboratory, which are very easy to miss, and 15 various figurines, which are fairly large but easy to overlook. Love it when we have lots of collectibles to find.
I really like how this series picks up where the last one left off. Yes, same story, but still interesting and fun. I didn't see any "inter dimensional" travel, so hopefully we don't have the bright lights we had in the last one. This game is not exceptionally challenging, but I found it interesting enough to want to play it out, and I really like the collectibles. Even at that, I gave it a 4.25 on my rate scale. I think all levels of players will find this one a nice game. Yes, I am adding it to my collection.
As always, try it for yourself and see what you think. We all have different tastes in games and you may not care for this one at all. Thanks for the reviews.
I recommend this game!
Can you stop the townspeople from paying for a dark past?
Overall rating
4
/
5
8 of 9 found this review helpful
Anyone got a fire extinguisher!
PostedFebruary 17, 2018
dancemom1
fromYakima, WA
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Arcade & Action, Card & Board, Family, Hidden Object, Puzzle, Strategy
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Hello friends! As usual, I review mostly on the game play and leave the rest to others, although I do reserve the right to comment on the story as well. Well, we have #7 in this series. Yep, got them all, liked them all. Graphics in this game are extremely well done, and very clear when moving in and out of close ups. Animation is exceptional, with smooth body movements, and have realistic facial movements. Game play was very good, with no problems during the demo and the scenes fit my large screen quite nicely. Voices were very nice and were age and character appropriate, although we did not have much in the way of character interaction. It's easier to get into a story if the characters speak more, or if you have really great sfx. You can click through dialog if you read faster than they speak, and not miss any of the story line or clues. We had very little music, but the sfx were pretty nice, when we had them. I was surprised to see that the dev had cleaned up the colors, which were very nice and clear and we didn't have the usual blues or pinks in this addition.
HOPs are really well done, varied and different. We have silhouettes, puzzles within a HOP, IHOPs and match. Items are not difficult to find and the scenes are mostly fairly clear. I did not see that you could switch to something other than the HOP. Puzzles were fairly simple, but some did take a bit of time to complete. I do like the ability to reduce skip time down to one second, rather than 15. The hint system is very helpful and it does transport to longer locations. You do a lot of backtracking in this game, and you are constantly on the move. I did not care for the map, but we have the transport, so I didn't need to use it. It does show if you have missed a collectible in one of the areas.
Collectibles were not many, but challenging to find. We have 8 character statuettes that are large and easy to spot. We also have 23 crowns that are well blended into background colors and features. They are not as easy to see as you may think.
This story line isn't anything new, but it flowed well and had a lot of action to keep you interested and moving. I did downgrade this one because it is so quiet, and not much character interaction, but I found it entertaining and feel that it will pick up as we progress. That said, I found the game to be well put together and have given it a 4.5. I think all levels of players will find this one worth the CE price. Yes, I am going to add it to my CE collection.
As always, try it for yourself and see what you think. We all have different tastes in games and you may not care for this one at all. Thanks for the reviews.
I recommend this game!
Recover the artifact that contains the secrets of H.E.L.P.'s past.
Overall rating
4
/
5
33 of 42 found this review helpful
Espionage and intrigue...
PostedFebruary 10, 2018
dancemom1
fromYakima, WA
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Card & Board, Family, Hidden Object, Puzzle, Strategy, Word
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
5
/
5
Hello friends! As usually, I review mostly on the game play and leave the story to others who can do a much better job on that than I. I can't believe this is #14 in this series. The graphics are excellent, very realistic, right down to the muscles in a hand and hair on your face. As usual, we do have a slight blur when going in and out of closeups and cut scenes. This seems to be the norm with most games anymore. Colors are very nice, but a bit faded when traveling to another area. Animation is also very realistic, with nice mouth, eye and even eyebrow movement when speaking. I like how they breathe "normally" and not have their chest constantly rising and falling. Game play was quite good, with no problems during the demo and the scenes fit my large screen completely. The voice are well done and are age and character appropriate. The characters speak with emotion, and not just someone reading a script. You can click through dialog if you read faster than they speak, and not miss any clues or necessary information. Music was nice and moved with whatever was happening at the time, adding a little suspense now and then. Sound FX are well done and are throughout the game.
HOPs are a combination of find the highlighted word; interactive lists and straight lists. The scenes are quite clear and items are not difficult to find. There was not an overabundance of HOPs, but what we had was well placed within the game play. I did not see that you could switch to something else. Puzzles very well done, even though most were not difficult to complete. Some did take time and thought, so we did have a little challenge. Hint system is very helpful and we have the transport feature for longer jumps to locations. This comes in quite handy, as you are constantly on the move from one place to another. We have a jump map, which I did not care for at all...a blank that you need to run your cursor over to figure out which room is which.
Collectibles were not bad. We have to find 12 morphing items in HOPs, which are easy to miss. I didn't run across any outside of the HOPs, but I could have easily missed them. There are 36 hidden signs that look like a gold compass or pocket watch. I didn't find any of these difficult to find. We also have the usual fact cards tossed about, that give us information on areas and things within the game.
I really like this series. This addition give your action, adventure, travel, intrigue and a good story line that is easy to follow and flow very well. It also give us a little challenge now and then. I was drawn into this one from the beginning and disappointed when the demo ended. I think all levels of players will find this one interesting and fun and yes, I am going to add it to my collection. I do not give 5 stars easily, a game has to be exceptional throughout to get them. As much as I like this game, it fell a bit short. Still, I gave it a 4.75.
As always, try it for yourself and see what you think. We all have different tastes in games and you may not care for this one at all. Thanks for the reviews.
I recommend this game!
Save the town and free your husband from a witch's vengeance.
Overall rating
3
/
5
29 of 48 found this review helpful
Slow, but not bad...
PostedFebruary 8, 2018
dancemom1
fromYakima, WA
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Card & Board, Family, Hidden Object, Puzzle, Strategy, Word
Fun Factor
3
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
3
/
5
Level of Challenge
2
/
5
Storyline
2
/
5
Hello friends! As usual, I review mostly on game play and leave the story line to others. However, I do reserve the right to comment on the story as well, now and then. Is this really #14 in this series? The graphics are somewhat blurry in all scenes, but worse in close ups, and sometimes made it difficult to look at the screen. If they'd clean them up a bit, they would be awesome. This series started out with great graphics, need to get back to basics. Game play was very good and I had no problems during the demo. Colors were actually fairly nice and true. Voices were not bad, when we had them. There was very little interaction with any of the characters in the game, which made it seem like more of a walk through than a real story. Makes the story slow and boring. Very little action at all. Hardly any sound FX, which makes a game more realistic and interesting. Music was okay. Yes, we have another lens to find symbols hidden by magic. This has been so over done, slows a game down and is boring.
HOPs were somewhat varied, with lists, silhouettes and highlighted words. Nice combination and fairly well done. They were clean and items were not difficult to find. We could switch to a match three (rocks) if we wished, but I found the HOPs to be more fun. The puzzles were mostly easy, but I did run across a couple that made me stop and think, and took some time to complete. Hint system is quite helpful and there is a transport feature for longer locations. This is a good thing, as we do a tremendous amount of back tracking in this one. The transport is also much better than using the bland map. SG is the usual and standard version.
Collectibles are few, 34 signs in the shape of a heart. These are not as easy to spot as you may think, as they have them blended well into background colors and some are a little small. We also have 17 morphing object, which are not as easy to spot either. Even though we don't have a lot of collectibles, we do have challenge in spotting them, so be on the lookout. Of course, you can also find their locations by looking in the Strategy Guide.
The story line in this was was sort of choppy and hard to follow. It just didn't seem to flow well, more like a walk through than story. To be honest, I have already forgotten what the story line was...not a good sign. I found that we had a number of items in our inventory that needed another or other parts found before they could be used, and they added up to a lot of inventory before anything was used. Not a deal breaker, but made for a jumbled mess and made it easy to forget what you were doing and why. Too much running around before you got to use anything. The only challenge was in finding the collectibles. All that said, it really wasn't a bad game, just needed a little more detail from the developer. I am sure there will be those who find this one fun and a bit challenging. This is a nice game for a rainy day, nothing better to do day. I have a number of those games. If a really good sale comes along, I will probably get this one as a CE, only because of the collectibles.
As always, try it for yourself and see what you think. We all have different tastes in games and you may find this one to be exactly what you are looking for. Thanks for the reviews.
I recommend this game!
Can you save the young starlet from the wicked doll's curse?
Overall rating
2
/
5
17 of 27 found this review helpful
Time for a retirement party!
PostedFebruary 3, 2018
dancemom1
fromYakima, WA
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Card & Board, Family, Hidden Object, Puzzle, Strategy, Word
Fun Factor
1
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
2
/
5
Storyline
2
/
5
Hello friends! As usual, I review mostly on the game play and leave the story to those who do a much better job than I. We have so many of these in this series, that I've lost count! This addition is exactly the same as all the others, with nothing new or exciting. Graphics are pretty nice and clear. Colors seem a little clearer and not as much of a haze as in others in this series. Voices were okay, but sometimes annoying, depending on the character. Very little character interaction. Game play was very nice, with no problems during the demo and it fit my large screen very nicely. We rarely had any music, except when something was about to happen and no real sound FX. It was a very quiet game. Again, we have a helper who helps get into dark, small and high places. She is a creepy "cursed" doll.
HOPs are okay, not much of a variety, but scenes are fairly clear and items are not difficult to find. You have to "correctly place this item," match an item to a color/texture, and interactive HOPs. I did not see that you could switch to something other than HOPs. The puzzles are extremely simple and nothing new. I especially do not care for the "follow the line" puzzles..they are boring and old. Hint system very helpful, but does it transport? The map is put together fairly well, areas are well identified with picture and it does show if you found the collectible.
The only collectibles I found various flowers. These are extremely easy to find, as they are very large and practically jump off the page at you. Collectibles are so disappointing. Definitely need a major upgrade.
I used to really enjoy this series, but the last 5 or so have been so boring, I haven't purchased them. The stories are slow and predictable, HOPs are the same and there is no challenge. I do not care for choosing my dialog at all. That alone will usually always keep me from buying a game. I want to play, not read! I had to make myself finish the demo. This may be an interesting game to a beginner who has never played any of the others in the series, but to anyone who has, it is way past time to call it a day on this one. I will recommend this only to a beginner, but I'm sure there will be some who find it fun and challenging. I am not not one of them, so no buy for me.
As always, try it for yourself and see what you think. We all have different tastes in games and you may find this to be exactly what you are looking for. Thanks for the reviews.
I recommend this game!
Can you survive the island and save your brother?
Overall rating
4
/
5
25 of 34 found this review helpful
That's my brother!
PostedFebruary 1, 2018
dancemom1
fromYakima, WA
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Card & Board, Family, Hidden Object, Puzzle, Strategy, Word
Fun Factor
4
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
4
/
5
Hello friends! As usual, I review mostly on the game play and leave the story to those who can do a much better job than I. Looks like we have #3 in this series. This addition has excellent graphics, right down to the wrinkles on fingers, and I didn't notice any blur when going in and out of scenes. Animation is very smooth and realistic, with no glitches or stiff body movements. Voices are very well done, age and character appropriate and actually show some emotion, e.g. urgency, fear, excitement, etc. Colors in this one have been cleaned up a lot, no blues or oranges floating around, very clear and true. I always turn the music down about half way, to just a bit of background noise, but I rarely heard any during the play. However, when we needed sound FX, they were there and extremely well done.
HOPs were mostly the same as other games, but still quite well done. We have the usual highlighted words, silhouettes, interactive lists and occasionally had a HOP within a HOP. Scenes are clear and items are not difficult to find. Be aware that there are morphing items in the HOPs. These morph fast enough to easily miss. Puzzles were interesting, but not difficult. I usually don't like the "add up the numbers" game, but this one was fairly simple..it just took me a few minutes to do it. The hint system is very helpful when needed, but it does not transport, at least not during the demo. The map does have the jump feature, but the way it is set up, you have to hover over each location to actually see what it is. Just put it all out there to see and leave the boring maps at home.
Collectibles are extremely disappointing. Again, we have the same old same old symbol to find. It is quite large and very easy to see. Definitely could have used more, even if all they did was add more morphing items, or character statuettes. Downgraded for this.
Yes, we have our heroine saving her brother, again, but with a bit of a twist. Are these guys alien ghosts or what! What I liked the most was that we have a lot of character interaction for a change. I found myself drawn into this one from the very beginning. There is enough action to keep me interested and wanting more. I believe all levels of players will find this one fun. I don't give 5 stars easily, a game has to be exceptional throughout for that. This one fell off in the collectible department, so it only gets a 4.75. Still, I have the need to play this out and see where it goes. Yes, I am adding this one to be collection of CE games.
As always, try it for yourself and see what you think. We all have different tastes in games and you may not care for this one at all. Thanks for the review.
I recommend this game!
When a Myth Seekers agent goes missing, you’re called in to discover the truth in this hidden object adventure!
Overall rating
2
/
5
24 of 40 found this review helpful
Where's the action!
PostedJanuary 30, 2018
dancemom1
fromYakima, WA
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Card & Board, Family, Hidden Object, Puzzle, Strategy, Word
Fun Factor
2
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
3
/
5
Level of Challenge
2
/
5
Storyline
2
/
5
Hello friends! This review is going to be short because I just couldn't finish this game...almost, but not quite. The story and play moved very slowly, which makes a game a bit boring. Graphics seem a bit old school in design, but still nice.
HOPs nothing new. Puzzles extremely simple. Map plain and no transport feature. Did a lot of running around in this one too.
Collectibles just okay, but quite simple as well.
It was just too slow, not much character interaction or action. The growling ogre was quite annoying. I'm not even sure a beginner would find this one fun. It certainly was not challenging. I'm sure there will be those who like it, and that's okay, but I was not one of them. I rarely do not recommend a game, even if I don't care for it, but this one fits the bill for no recommendation, no purchase by me.
As always, try it for yourself and see what you think. We all have different tastes in games and you may find this one to be exactly what you are looking for. Thanks for the reviews.
I don't recommend this game.