SilverBranch's Profile
Stat Summary
- Average Rating:3.5
- Helpful Votes:2,308
- Reviews Submitted:102
- First Review:November 15, 2011
- Most Recent Review:February 22, 2024
- Featured reviews0
Status:
Become the head of the biggest toy factory in the world as you race to save Christmas!
Overall rating
1
/
5
17 of 19 found this review helpful
Sounds make this game unplayable!
PostedJanuary 14, 2015
SilverBranch
fromCandy Mountain
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Word, Time Management, Hidden Object, Strategy
Fun Factor
2
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
1
/
5
Level of Challenge
2
/
5
Storyline
2
/
5
This game reminds me of something a developer must have dreamed up while deeply feverish and on the verge of hallucinating. It's really odd. I won't even go into the simplistic and childish gameplay aspects themselves here because they were hard to focus on with the 1980s tinny music (complete with barely audible vocals in the background that remind me of subliminal messaging laced in music. lol ) Shut off the music and every action you do results in a tinny sheep "baaah!" noise and the occasional "moo!" This isn't a farming game! Where did they get the idea these sounds were great for a christmas TMG? Why would reindeer drive motorcycles and dress like members of a bike gang? The elves have no point to them other than to get sloshed with drinks. Like I said - feverish dreams, no doubt. Playing the game completely silent is an option - but no fun either. This was a no go game for me.
I don't recommend this game.
Make the world a better place - build your own planet!
Overall rating
2
/
5
28 of 40 found this review helpful
Not that fun at all
PostedJanuary 5, 2015
SilverBranch
fromCandy Mountain
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Word, Time Management, Hidden Object, Strategy
Fun Factor
1
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
2
/
5
Level of Challenge
2
/
5
Storyline
2
/
5
Based on less than half the demo time played. Maybe it's just me, but I found this game to be very crudely made and extremely boring. It took almost an entire half hour to download - the longest of any BFG game I've played - so I expected so much more. The graphics are blocky in places, like an out of date game. There is no real tutorial and I don't see any gripping point to the game. You combine 2 elements to create and discover new elements. Discover all the elements to complete the level? I guess. There's no explanation to let you know what exactly the aim is. If you've ever played Tales of Lagoona 2, this game seems to be exactly the same as one of the mini games to create new elements. There are coins to purchase hints or to show you where an unknown element is going to be located - In the short amount of time I played before I realized I was on the verge of falling asleep, I never learned how you get a coin. I only learned by pressing random menu buttons how to spend them. lol
This would be a mediocre game for a child learning about the environment in school.
I don't recommend this game.
Solve crosswords to find the hidden objects! Enjoy the sequel to one of the most successful mix of word and hidden objects game genre!
Overall rating
3
/
5
10 of 14 found this review helpful
Great idea - needs more challenge!
PostedDecember 4, 2014
SilverBranch
fromCandy Mountain
Favorite Genre(s):Word, Time Management, Hidden Object, Strategy
Fun Factor
4
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
2
/
5
The lack of challenge seriously hurt this game in my view. This game is a great idea but it is VERY easy. I bought the game thinking that as the levels progress, it would be harder to get the 3 star rating. Alas - I'm over halfway through the game and it's still as easy as it was on level one. I'd say it would be great for smart kids (especially with a moody "twinkle twinkle little star" looping constantly in the background), but there are liquor references and smoking references I should hope many children wouldn't know. The game's appeal is more in the novel gameplay - try to figure out the crossword puzzle by cross-referencing the hidden object scene, their "this or that" clues for the word or by playing a minigame. You can type in the word, or you can find the item in the hidden object scene and click it. Cool idea! I did find a couple of scenes where there were doubles of the object I wanted and, my luck, I would click the wrong one they wanted me to click - but even with multiple wrong clicks, my score has never gone below 3 stars. There's just no challenge to this game!
Help the adorable grim reapers Grimm and Rose defeat monsters, ghosts, evil bunnies and more using the power of words!
Overall rating
4
/
5
45 of 54 found this review helpful
A good word game
PostedOctober 20, 2014
SilverBranch
fromCandy Mountain
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Word, Time Management, Hidden Object, Strategy
Fun Factor
4
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
3
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
It's not as good as Bookworm Adventures in graphics and music (the arcade music of this game is highly annoying after the first level), but the game play is almost exactly the same. Spell words from letters on a board, each letter has varying levels of power behind it to inflict damage against your enemies. This game has an advantage in that there are more exacting challenges within each level. This keeps it interesting. However, some of the challenges are more about the luck of the letters on your board than your skill at wordplay. Some challenges even want you to take a dive and lose health in order to reach a star - as a proud lexicon champ, this hurts!
The story line eludes me. In one moment, you're asking your iphone for a pizza location, the next minute, you're in a haunted house and battling baddies with words. At least in bookworm adventures, there was a great storyline to follow.
I'm using a credit on this because - yay! - it's not a cookie cutter HOG for once!
I recommend this game!
Your Uncle Tony needs you now more than ever! He's just spent all his savings on his lifetime dream: running his own gas station!
Overall rating
4
/
5
25 of 32 found this review helpful
A more complicated "Airport Mania"
PostedOctober 1, 2014
SilverBranch
fromCandy Mountain
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Word, Time Management, Hidden Object, Strategy
Fun Factor
4
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
3
/
5
I love the Airport Mania series so I was excited to see that this is very similar. However, upon playing the demo, I find it's a lot more difficult and there are a lot more variables to winning gold and not winning gold. Cars drive down the street, you direct them to different gas pumps and stations, trying to get color bonuses and keeping their patience meter high for optimal money. However, this is soon complicated by traffic jams, rush hour, random repairs needed around the lot, not enough stations, more colors, slower and faster cars - you name it! You eventually have the choice of many bonus items to help you, but it's frustrating that you can only choose two per level to aid you. Sometimes, making gold means making the right choices of bonus items before you even play a level. It's a pleasant game and challenging, so I'll drop a credit on it - but it's definitely a game that has made me growl with frustration before the hour demo was up. I much prefer Airport Mania!
It's time to open your own fashion boutique! Discover the wonderful world of fashion in the new Bella Design game!
Overall rating
3
/
5
14 of 21 found this review helpful
simple, standard TMG but harder to get gold than most
PostedSeptember 29, 2014
SilverBranch
fromCandy Mountain
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Word, Time Management, Hidden Object, Strategy
Fun Factor
3
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
2
/
5
Level of Challenge
5
/
5
Storyline
3
/
5
The graphics are outdated and cheesy and the premise and gameplay are well played out in previous games, but this game is little more difficult for those obsessed with not moving on without a gold star than most predecessors and that's a plus in my book. Drag clients to various stations and play simple match-up mini games to fulfill their needs. Like previous games of this ilk, station mini games are more annoying than fun. The addition of collecting hidden hearts to help bolster sad clients is a nice touch to an otherwise normal game. I did like the level of challenge, however, as the game progressed.
Follow our intrepid investigators as they explore this unique Paris setting that combines fantasy and the Crazy Years.
Overall rating
3
/
5
20 of 25 found this review helpful
No Professor Layton...
PostedSeptember 16, 2014
SilverBranch
fromCandy Mountain
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Word, Time Management, Hidden Object, Strategy
Fun Factor
3
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
3
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
3
/
5
Based on Demo: This game is a lot like the old Professor Layton games - even right down to the cartoon style. I love puzzle games and the graphics are nice paper cutout-shape style graphics, which I find whimsical. The downside to this game - the music during the dialogue scenes (which are pop ups and there are MANY) is highly annoying. At first, I thought of it as cheery, jaunty parisian music, but I heard it more and more throughout the game, I felt like there were 101 mini 1920's flappers dancing in my head and it grew highly annoying quickly! I do not like that you don't have much choice in the adventure. You have to talk to certain people and go to certain places and there's really no deviating from that path. So it's not much of an adventure game, but more a "read this and solve a puzzle here and there" game. The puzzles are standard mind teasers, many of which you would have played if you played minigames in HOGs.
I'll stick with the good professor and give this one a pass - I can't stand flappers.
Open up Cake Shops around the world as you expand your global empire in this fast-paced Time Management game!
Overall rating
3
/
5
1 of 1 found this review helpful
A little mind numbing after a while
PostedSeptember 10, 2014
SilverBranch
fromCandy Mountain
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Word, Time Management, Hidden Object, Strategy
Fun Factor
3
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
3
/
5
Level of Challenge
3
/
5
Storyline
3
/
5
A standard conveyor belt style TMG. Stacking layers of cakes, refillling consession machines and ovens and serving them all to awaiting customers. It's ok in maybe 20 minute intervals. But I find beyond 20 minutes, it's very repetitive to play and it becomes mind numbing and automatic to just click and click and click and click on matching foods without thinking much. I wouldn't buy it, but some people might like this.
Do you have what it takes to manage a successful farm? Find out on this amazing farm management adventure.
Overall rating
3
/
5
20 of 26 found this review helpful
Better than the safari game, but not by much
PostedSeptember 3, 2014
SilverBranch
fromCandy Mountain
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Word, Time Management, Hidden Object, Strategy
Fun Factor
3
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
2
/
5
Level of Challenge
3
/
5
Storyline
2
/
5
I'm not a fan of cheap 3-D graphics - they make me queasy. This game has just that. Like its safari themed predecessor, this game is about raising animals, cleaning them up and selling their produce or "fattened" animals to make money. Feeding animals is a real chore - understandable in real life, not so fun in a game. When you have 20 chickens and you're trying to pick out which ones need food (because you can't afford to waste food on satiated chickens) but they stand practically on top of one another... well... you can imagine some frustration that you can't just throw down the feed and let them peck as a flock. Making money is VERY slow as you start with selling eggs and duck feathers for low coinage, but it's not as slow as the safari game. Try to get goats fast because their milk will earn you better money. Ok, that being said, Both games require the player to have restraint in buying animals and pens (restraint is not a forte of mine in resource management games) or else you cannot afford feed and your animals will not produce. There is no screen rotation that I can find, so sometimes animals can be hidden. There's an annoying bell sound throughout most of the game like you're wearing a cow bell (and no, I didn't get cows yet). It's just an average game and I'd expect to see this more 10 years ago than today with its developmental style.
Manor Memoirs Collector's Edition
Help Scarlett write her next novel!
Overall rating
5
/
5
124 of 140 found this review helpful
Gardenscapes Lives On!
PostedAugust 23, 2014
SilverBranch
fromCandy Mountain
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Word, Time Management, Hidden Object, Strategy
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
5
/
5
Storyline
4
/
5
After seeing in the preview screens that this game looks just like a new addition to the Gardenscapes series, I bought it right away - that's something I never do, but I loved all the Gardenscape games. If you enjoyed any of the previous Gardenscapes, especially Mansion Makeover, then you'll love this one. It's a nice, cheery HOG in which you search for items in rooms of your home that people wish to buy in order to raise money for upgrades to your main living area in the mansion. Although I miss our loveable butler and his quirks, Scarlet and her cat (who apparently loves to play fetch like a dog?) are fun and new personalities. The hidden object scenes are just as enjoyable as the previous games and now with added challenges at times like silhouette searches, flashlight searches, etc. There are also variations to items themselves beyond finding straight items - like finding the word "Book" printed on a newspaper instead of finding an actual book. There are a lot more options for customizing your new mansion as well. It's just a win win for a cheery weekend game.
I recommend this game!