NancySusan's Profile
Stat Summary
- Average Rating:3
- Helpful Votes:213
- Reviews Submitted:21
- First Review:June 12, 2020
- Most Recent Review:January 19, 2025
- Featured reviews0
Can you save Redwood National Park before it’s too late?
Overall rating
4
/
5
7 of 16 found this review helpful
Nice but not great game
PostedJanuary 14, 2022
NancySusan
fromNYC, NY
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Card & Board, Hidden Object
Fun Factor
4
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
3
/
5
Storyline
3
/
5
There are some excellent descriptions of this game and the gameplay, so I'm going to skip that part, because what grabbed me as a former Californian, is that the Federal and State Redwood Parks have little in common with the fictitious version in this game. No guy in an office runs it/them and there would be countless agencies and people, both on a state and national level making sure nothing illegal was going on, including of all things, logging. I mean, they know how many trees there are - no one could creep in and do logging. Totem poles are a feature of this version of the Park, but in reality totem poles were made by Native American tribes north of California. There were also no tipis, seen as toy souvenirs in one scene - those were the Plains people. And, pretty obviously, there are no high speed train lines in any part of the Parks, especially given the terrain. All that said, it's a very pretty game, although I found the gameplay to be fairly formulaic and not super interesting. I thought, at least through the demo, that it's a nice game, but the story line was, even as a fantasy, unconvincing. I haven't decided if it's a buy for me, it depends on if I have run through other things to play. I would recommend but with a lot of reservations.
I recommend this game!
A vengeful monster has found a way to stop Christmas!
Overall rating
3
/
5
19 of 27 found this review helpful
Beginner's Game
PostedNovember 19, 2021
NancySusan
fromNYC, NY
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Card & Board, Hidden Object
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
3
/
5
Storyline
3
/
5
I usually enjoy the Christmas games, but this one made me feel it was made for children with adult supervision. Great graphics, an interesting choice of an English voice actor for the sister and a North American for the missing brother, Yohan, with a sort of New York voice for the Yuleman/helper. The gameplay was pretty predictable with the usual coins to open screws (no, they don't), and few collectibles (puzzle pieces and 12 cards). The premise is that if you go back in the timeline and correct someone's experiences with acts of kindness, they won't turn out to be an evil, monstrous being in the present. Okay...... I didn't mind the almost constantly moving Glu (interesting name), but I doubt his moving all the time was particularly well-thought out. This game just didn't hold my interest and I also felt it barely qualified as a CE. No buy for me.
The secret of the fairies lies deep in the English countryside.
Overall rating
3
/
5
13 of 17 found this review helpful
Why is this set in the U.K.
PostedOctober 1, 2021
NancySusan
fromNYC, NY
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Card & Board, Hidden Object
Fun Factor
3
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
3
/
5
Level of Challenge
3
/
5
Storyline
3
/
5
Oh my, set in Gloucestershire and not a being speaks with an English accent of any kind. In fact the local pub serves burgers and fries, and the owner, as well as the mayor, not only speak with American accents, what they say is colloquially American. I thought I might be able to tolerate this, but when I uncorked a keg of ale into a mug and poured the mug over a fire to put it out, that was it for me. Ale is alcohol. You don't pour alcohol over a fire. I mean really smh here. Even if I don't mind fairies, I'd like to have at least a vestige of a sense that a game's locale means something. For those of you who don't mind all this, enjoy, but not for me.
I don't recommend this game.
Can you solve a ghostly mystery to escape a film?
Overall rating
3
/
5
19 of 27 found this review helpful
So-so game
PostedSeptember 9, 2021
NancySusan
fromNYC, NY
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Card & Board, Hidden Object
Fun Factor
3
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
3
/
5
Level of Challenge
3
/
5
Storyline
3
/
5
Let's start with Fannie's costume - a mob cap (although awfully close fitting), an external corset with a blouse underneath it ("Shirley" had a similar corset), and not a costume ever seen in 19th century U.S. or its territories, every woman except Fannie has long braided hair or long loose hair, also not seen in 19th c. U.S. Some deeply fake southern accents - you can't even call them fake southwest accents. An old diamond mine with a ghost, (except no commercial diamond mining has ever been done in the U.S.). The magic ring goes onto a male hand, even though the main character is a woman, and the same activities as in every Domini Game (use a two-pronged fork to open something, assemble tools, navigate your way across a map, I'm sure somewhere there is a coin to use in place of a screwdriver), just repetitive and disappointing. On top of this, the Collectibles section of the Strategy Guide shows only the Saloon scene, but no collectibles, so either there is a malfunction, or the game was released with certain unresolved issues. I'm giving it three stars because a lot of people won't be bothered by the costumes, hair, accents, or lack of authenticity of the story - however, I always like to follow the collectibles section in the SG, and having it be essentially blank was not a happy discovery. I'm passing on this one - another game where I feel like I've already played it - over and over.
I don't recommend this game.
Can you stop a maniacal murderer before it’s too late?
Overall rating
3
/
5
5 of 6 found this review helpful
Forget Verisimilitude
PostedMay 1, 2021
NancySusan
fromNYC, NY
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Card & Board, Hidden Object
Fun Factor
3
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
3
/
5
Storyline
3
/
5
I betaed this game and, I won't say loathed it, but wasn't happy with all kinds of things. After playing the truncated demo (60 min.), it seemed that they fixed some of the things I'd complained about with game play, and I found it smoother. For some reason, the young "agent" seems weirdly bossier to his boss, the player-agent, and there's the utter unbelievability of allowing a violent, delusional, serial killer out of his cell - and he's being held in the worst kind of lock-up with no attendants, which is just unreal - but allowing the guy to hang out, even handcuffed, while everyone investigates is absurd. In evaluating the beta, I pointed out that no local police force uses the term "Agent," but they went ahead with Agent rather than Detective anyway. Per this developer there was a clothespin to open a broken lock despite having what looks like pliers in the inventory, the investigating "agent" has a task which actually erases evidence instead of preserving it, and back to the serial killer (and they went to a lot of trouble in the first game to show how truly twisted this man is) who is removed from his cell and allowed to help conduct the current investigation. The unnecessary (and loud) huge red "X's" continue in HOPs - why? Totally unnecessary. I did not experience glitches, but I forgot to check the collectibles to see if I'd get locked in per another review. I'm still on the fence about this one. If you don't care about anything realistic in a game, there are certainly good mini-games and the HOPs are fine. Music is okay, a lot of purple color again, but I don't mind that. The last game I played by this developer had a lot of glitches, and I was stuck in a scene and couldn't return to a prior scene to collect objects, and was unable to finish the game, so this makes me nervous about buying, but I'd say I'd recommend with reservations.
I recommend this game!
Rampant fires could burn the Brussels Secret City to ashes!
Overall rating
2
/
5
6 of 8 found this review helpful
Very glitchy game
PostedApril 18, 2021
NancySusan
fromNYC, NY
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Card & Board, Hidden Object
Fun Factor
3
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
4
/
5
I found this game to be glitchy, not only with errors in the meaningless room where you buy things with coins (virtually every item I purchased showed a different price after clicking on it), an error in an early mini-game, and a glitch late in the third chapter, so that I wasn't able to proceed with the game. I discovered after blowing up the rubble, that nail clippers and the third colored leaf-like item which I should have found in the prior scene, were never collected (per the SG), and there was no way to backtrack to the prior scene to collect them, because the prior scenes were locked. An early mini-game also had a glitch: colored cylinders were moved around and sometimes inverted so the colors at the ends matched the color above and below - one cylinder had the wrong colors, but the game acted as if I'd done the whole thing correctly, so at least I didn't get stuck. I've had a lot of complaints about Domini's repetitiveness of tasks - endless items to unscrew things, from cards to coins, shapes fitting into "locks," etc., the same kind of mini-games in each game, but at least before this I could finish the whole game. I just came away from this thinking that no one properly checked this game before it was issued. It would be nice if something were done about this. I didn't like the game enough to start over, so unless there's an update, that's it for me.
I don't recommend this game.
Help save the forest from a mysterious disease in this classic solitaire fantasy adventure!
Overall rating
3
/
5
16 of 19 found this review helpful
Pleasant Game with Terrible Music
PostedApril 12, 2021
NancySusan
fromNYC, NY
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Card & Board, Hidden Object
Fun Factor
3
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
3
/
5
Level of Challenge
3
/
5
Storyline
4
/
5
The music was tinkly, repetitive and monotonous, and I had to turn down the music sound, but it was still annoying. This is a pleasant up-down solitaire game, with, at least through the level I stopped at, level 16, not a lot of challenge and very few extras you can buy, although Jokers turn up without having to pay for them. I usually replay when I don't get all three stars, but with this I only replayed twice. A lot of dialogue as text, no voiceovers, with animal characters trying to save the forest, all drawn as silly cartoons. The only way to find out the total coins you've accumulated is to go into the market, because your total coins are not shown anywhere else, and the coins needed for extras are quite high - over 6000 for the first two. I'd say this is a beginner game and definitely not for me.
I don't recommend this game.
A frantic distress signal uncovers a mysterious disappearance at Misthill!
Overall rating
3
/
5
26 of 39 found this review helpful
Not very interesting
PostedApril 8, 2021
NancySusan
fromNYC, NY
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Card & Board, Hidden Object
Fun Factor
3
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
3
/
5
Level of Challenge
3
/
5
Storyline
4
/
5
As others have noted, this game now involves three characters recently graduated from Mystery Trackers school, two guys and one woman, some (or all, I don't remember) from the prior game set at the MT school. Elf is gone, and there are few collectibles and a few puzzle pieces. The game takes place at a college which has a headmaster, which is appropriate since the place looks and feels like a high school but with students in their teens and early 20's. The graphics are rather cartooney, not clear and crisp, and the game is methodical, not terribly challenging, and I gave up on it with maybe 12 minutes left in the demo. I'm an Elf fan, and while I don't need him there, the use of the three really young protagonists will probably entertain some, but I didn't find that particularly interesting either. I'd say this is a game for beginners and maybe some intermediate players, but I got bored. Sorry. I recommend this game with a lot of reservations.
I recommend this game!
Can you save your hometown from the Headless Horseman?
Overall rating
3
/
5
8 of 14 found this review helpful
Not my cup of tea
PostedMarch 13, 2021
NancySusan
fromNYC, NY
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Card & Board, Hidden Object
Fun Factor
3
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
4
/
5
I wanted to like this game, but gave up after two tries to see if it improved at all. This is a typical game by this dev., with great visuals and virtually no authenticity to it at all. Costumes spanning several hundred years, anomalies galore (matches in a box, mid-20th c. hats and photograph, typewritten letter, a modern wristwatch, reference to lipstick, very long and loose hair on women), bizarre names including Anro (?) and Kane Varvick, from Sleepy Hollow, NY, a place that was a village (still is) and yet has a massive stone European style hotel smack in its middle. No one, not even her own father, knows how to pronounce Katrin, and another character calls Varvick (not a name you'd find in Sleepy Hollow by the way), Varick, and at that point as dire things were about to happen to Det. Varvick, I exited the game, never to return. I'm also pretty tired of the whole witch thing.
I don't recommend this game.
The most perfect town in the world hides a terrible secret!
Overall rating
3
/
5
4 of 4 found this review helpful
Disappointing
PostedJanuary 11, 2021
NancySusan
fromNYC, NY
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Card & Board, Hidden Object
Fun Factor
3
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
4
/
5
I betaed this game, and the same things that bothered me about the beta bothered me about the full game. We have a brother and sister set of twins - he speaks with a fake NYC (or Philly) accent, she speaks with an undetermined middle of the country American or even Calif. accent, but also with not a lot of emphasis, not the greatest voice acting. This appears to be set (per the use of slim, modern cell phones) in the more or less present, yet he graduated from police school in 1990, I believe it is. She calls a theater for its address, ignoring her readily available cell phone with its inexhaustible mini-computer abilities. Finally, I'd love to have purple or fuchsia electrician's tape, or even turquoise, but unfortunately I've never seen any in real life. I've recently been purchasing Domini games, and the tasks seem identical game after game, including this one: a pleated fan to disperse smoke/fumes; coins to use on screws (ever try using a coin to turn a screw?), endless shapes to unlock anything from someone's wallet, bag, backpack, etc. And the idea for the dead person is taken (unattributed) from the movie Adaline. After a while I just gave up. If these things don't bother you, you might like the game, it's not uninteresting, but I'd just had enough.
I don't recommend this game.