roaming's Profile
Stat Summary
- Average Rating:2.1
- Helpful Votes:4,416
- Reviews Submitted:473
- First Review:April 23, 2013
- Most Recent Review:April 24, 2022
- Featured reviews0
Status:
A powerful artifact is stolen, threatening to shatter time itself.
Overall rating
1
/
5
35 of 38 found this review helpful
Simply Awful
PostedNovember 12, 2018
Fun Factor
1
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
1
/
5
Level of Challenge
1
/
5
Storyline
1
/
5
I have read that there are only six or seven possible narrative plots. Here we have yet another game with the same old, tired story: a relative has been kidnapped, trapped, spirited away, Imprisoned, suffering from some mystical enchantment, and YOU, detective, are the ONLY ONE who can possibly save him or her!
(And why is it the detective is always summoned by letter to come immediately, but then must travel by stagecoach and solve at least one mini game and an HOS before gaining entrance to the house, which is always just a matter of seconds too late to stop whatever nefarious deeds are afoot?)
In this game, a banal story line is further ruined by too many stupid, annoying puzzles one right after another, too many cut scenes, too much silly, badly acted dialogue, too much you as the detective exclaiming every two minutes, "I have to save...!" whoever it is at the moment, except you keep having to stop and solve some HOS and yet another mini game at every turn.
If I wanted to play a game with the same old plot and the same old HOPS and mini games, I could draw from the dozens and dozens of older but better games in my inventory, and I often do.
I don't recommend this game.
Uncover the mystery behind an artist’s deadly talent!
Overall rating
1
/
5
1 of 1 found this review helpful
A Brush With Boring
PostedNovember 11, 2018
Slow, boring, cursor didn't work well trying to pick up some objects, dark HOS with some objects very hard to find. Waiting for the hint and skip buttons to refill took up more time than actual game play.
Story plot -- searching for a missing relative; dark, malevolent, entity; haunted and/or predictive paintings -- yawn.
I don't recommend this game.
Can you save a woman's fiancé before it's too late?
Overall rating
1
/
5
4 of 4 found this review helpful
Sorry, but no
PostedNovember 10, 2018
I tired of having to put together keys, knives, scissors, wrenches, dead puppets, cats, etc., well before the demo was over, however I did try to soldier on. I just couldn't do it. The only good thing I can say about this game is the graphics are nice and clear. I think it was the mechanical cat that finally did me in. Could they not have given it even a teensy bit more kitty cat appeal instead of looking and moving like something out of your worst nightmare?
I don't recommend this game.
Some evils are too sinister to keep contained for long...
Overall rating
1
/
5
7 of 8 found this review helpful
Easy Puzzles, Boring Game
PostedNovember 9, 2018
I managed to make it through the demo without dying of boredom, and that's saying something. However, it seemed the demo was exceptionally short, so I wonder if the game will be short as well.
Everything about this game is easy. There are fewer HOS than puzzles -- puzzles that are so easy that, while I usually skip them all, in this game I was able to solve them with no effort. Neither were the HOS at all challenging.
Although the story held out some promise, and the graphics were at times excellent, the game failed to evoke any sense of horror or dread that you might expect in a game about the threat of an ancient evil destroying the world.
I don't recommend this game.
Can you overcome your fear to save your family?
Overall rating
2
/
5
1 of 5 found this review helpful
Not For Me
PostedNovember 4, 2018
Fun Factor
1
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
3
/
5
Level of Challenge
3
/
5
Storyline
1
/
5
For one thing, the fat arrow that changed to a pointy arrow... why not just make it pointy all the time and be done with it? For another thing, the graphics were almost all dark blue. And the two guys who are supposed to be working with you but all they do is stand around and watch? I guess their special talent is moral support. Small irritations and minor annoyances, but enough to put me off. This game just isn't for me.
Explore the abandoned house and search for the missing heir!
Overall rating
1
/
5
1 of 9 found this review helpful
Total Clinker, Just Awful
PostedOctober 30, 2018
It's beyond me to understand why anyone would give this clinker four- and five-star ratings, but like my mother used to say, there's no accounting for taste.
My impression is that somebody scraped it off the bottom of a barrel in a deep underground dungeon where it had been kept hidden for many years in a brain-dead condition. In fact, that's pretty much how the beginning sequences looked!
I don't recommend this game.
Can you stop a dangerous specter from destroying the opera?
Overall rating
3
/
5
3 of 3 found this review helpful
Some good stuff and some bad.
PostedOctober 28, 2018
Good stuff I liked: The artwork was clear and colorful if uneven in some scenes. Thankfully, there were no phony accents even though the game takes place in Russia. The hints and skips could be set to 10 seconds. Unfortunately, I was just getting interested in the story when the demo ended.
Other stuff I could have done without: Running back and forth to the same locations multiple times damaged the forward progress of the story line. I get suspicious when this happens that there might not be much thought given to the story. I also would've liked to see some of the "that would never happen in real life" stuff paid more attention to, like hypnotizing someone with a few flicks of a watch on a chain while they're standing up in an alley. But at least it foreshadowed somebody has been playing mind games with our little dancer.
I sometimes hate to recommend or not recommend, because everyone has different tastes. I think this one sits right about in the middle.
All Hallow’s Eve - a night for tricks, treats... and terror!
Overall rating
1
/
5
58 of 89 found this review helpful
Based on playing the entire demo
PostedOctober 25, 2018
roaming
fromTexas
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Hidden Object
Fun Factor
1
/
5
Storyline
1
/
5
Two missing persons, one dead body. They should've called the police. Then we might've had a real game instead of doing stuff like finding a gauge we need in order to turn off steaming hot water from the machine room, putting pumpkin lids back on pumpkins to get a key, matching up cupcakes to make them disappear, and the ever popular sword and whetstone bit.
Like in how many games have we done Exactly The Same Things? I'm surprised there wasn't a broken zipper on the medical bag, because doesn't every game have a medical bag or a purse that you can't get into without finding just the right thing needed to get into it?
I actually thought the best part was at the beginning when deciding what costume to wear to the party. It reminded me of playing paper dolls when I was a kid.
But hey, try it. You might like it.
It's up to you and your canine companion to save the city!
Overall rating
1
/
5
6 of 7 found this review helpful
Silly, Adolescent Fantasy Game
PostedOctober 22, 2018
So awful I couldn't finish the demo. Maybe I'm just not into fantasy games, but I got hooked in because there was a dog in it. (Note to developers: Adding a dog to a bad game won't make it a good game.)
When demoing this game, I became bored and disgusted with having to suffer through constant voiceovers, cut scenes, and over-long story telling. Not even the HOS were fun -- mostly either too easy or needing a hint to know where to look.
I dislike puzzles and always skip them, except in this game some were embedded in the gameplay. In one, it took me several tries just to figure out the code to a lock. Even in the gameplay, it wasn't clear what to do at least half of the time.
I have read numerous reviews of a variety of different games that complain the newer games aren't as interesting, story lines are illogical and/or too far out, and less care is taken in their creation. I've been playing HOGs on Big Fish since 2009, and I agree. Lately I've been replaying my old games and buying fewer new ones.
I don't recommend this game.
Can you uncover the secrets hidden in the Alexander Valentine Hotel?
Overall rating
2
/
5
2 of 4 found this review helpful
IF
PostedOctober 21, 2018
If this game had more HOS and fewer puzzles, and if the devs had nixed the talking ghost catcher gimmick, and if there had been a glimmer of a real mystery to solve as the story developed during the demo instead of nothing but finding dead bodies and looking for shaped keys, I might have been inclined to give this game a higher rating.
Because so many reviewers have given this game a high rating, I might get it when it goes on sale for $2.99, or if I have a credit. I might. But then again, I might not.