There were so many puzzles, the story could hardly move forward without having to solve another puzzle, but even so the story development itself seemed extremely shallow. I played the demo on custom settings, so the puzzles could be skipped quickly. Nevertheless, there were so many puzzles doing nothing to advance the plot, as my mother would have said, just busy work. I doubt the devs even thought much about a story line. They definitely didn't do Poe any favors.
There were so many puzzles, the story could hardly move forward without having to solve another puzzle, but even so the story development itself seemed extremely shallow. I played the demo on custom settings, so the puzzles could be skipped quickly. Nevertheless, there were so many puzzles doing nothing to advance the plot, as my mother would have said, just busy work. I doubt the devs even thought much about a story line. They definitely didn't do Poe any favors.
Return once more to the haunted grounds of Ravenhearst Manor to uncover new details about this poignant saga. What you find could very well be the final chapter of this riveting story-if you escape.
In this game you only get hints after you find all the ghosts' morphing objects. The first morphing object hunt was easy, because the ghost was showing you what to do. The second morphing object scene is under the bridge, but I used up all the hints looking for the stupid morphing objects. That left me just wandering around trying to figure out what to do next.
At that point, I closed the game and found the walkthrough in the old Forums. (I really, really miss the old forums. Oh, well.) So the walkthrough tells me what to do next with the large rock I found. So I do it. And then, just as before, I'm left wandering around trying to figure out what to do with the thing I got when I did what the walkthrough told me what to do with the large rock.
So now I have to get out of the game again and go look at the walkthrough. Nope, not going through that again. I just got out of the game to come here and write this review.
I own Return to Ravenhearst which came out in 2008. Why I bought it, I have no clue, but it suffers from a different issue with the hints which I won't go into here, but you still have to get out, look at the walkthrough, get back in, etc. etc. etc.
Apparently this is a well-loved game so you might like it. As always, try before you buy.
Yes, as one reviewer noted, this game has you doing some of the same old, same old, but that's exactly why I often wind up playing older games that I've already purchased.
However, the storyline and timeline were IMO a little -- or a lot -- sketchy. The girl, who acts and looks to be maybe 17 or 18, is from the future and is Anna's daughter-to-be. She's the only surviving Grey, because in the future something has been killing them off, including Anna. But then, in the future, they're exploring the deceased Billy Grey's mansion, and the girl says Billy is her nephew. But how does she have a nephew that's older than she is? I couldn't work that out. I even started the demo over to see if I missed something that would clear it up, but there wasn't.
I never buy CEs, but I couldn't wait to play the demo of another Grim Tales. I'll demo it again when the SE comes out to see if I can get the timeline through my dimwitted brain! Ha.
This one didn't blow my hair back with excitement. The order of game play seemed disjointed and illogical. Even after completing the demo, I still don't know why it was necessary to repair the gnome. The cut scenes didn't do much to clear things up.
Step into the shoes of a Private investigator with short-term memory loss and uncover the shocking truth about his involvement with a serial killer called The Executioner.
I gave this game two chances, first with the CE which I bailed out of after a few minutes, and then because of all the high ratings, I played 53 minutes of the SE demo, hoping it would get better. For me it didn't, although I agree that the graphics and coloration are top notch.
The story moves so slooowly and therefore is so boooring. The character you play as, the private detective, keeps talking to himself... or maybe you're hearing his thoughts. Doesn't matter. It gets old after awhile.
And there are too many puzzles. I dislike puzzles. I'm terrible at them and have no patience for them, but that's no reason to downgrade a game if they can be skipped quickly. In this game, however, there are puzzles that can't be skipped, puzzles within HOS, and hidden objects within puzzles.
And then there are the banners that keep popping out from the side. I couldn't find a way to turn those off.
For those who enjoy this game, happy gaming, but it's not for me, and games like it are why I keep going back to play older games that I own that are more fun and not as tricky.
Step into the shoes of a Private investigator with short-term memory loss and uncover the shocking truth about his involvement with a serial killer called The Executioner.
I gave this game two chances, first with the CE which I bailed out of after a few minutes, and then because of all the high ratings, I played 53 minutes of the SE demo, hoping it would get better. For me it didn't, although I agree that the graphics and coloration are top notch.
The story moves so slooowly and therefore is so boooring. The character you play as, the private detective, keeps talking to himself... or maybe you're hearing his thoughts. Doesn't matter. It gets old after awhile.
And there are too many puzzles. I dislike puzzles. I'm terrible at them and have no patience for them, but that's no reason to downgrade a game if they can be skipped quickly. In this game, however, there are puzzles that can't be skipped, puzzles within HOS, and hidden objects within puzzles.
And then there are the banners that keep popping out from the side. I couldn't find a way to turn those off.
For those who enjoy this game, happy gaming, but it's not for me, and games like it are why I keep going back to play older games that I own that are more fun and not as tricky.
Statues coming to life? Haven't we seen that at least a couple of times in other games? But this was a bit different in that the statues weren't drawn as hideous creatures of your worst nightmares.
What I liked:
The charming, clear graphics were done in real-world colors.
What I didn't like:
(1) It was very, very simple and easy. (2) Every HOPA cliche, e.g., shaped keys, wheels needing replaced, something needing to be glued once you find a recipe for making glue, etc. etc. etc.
But in fact, while I didn't like it, I didn't hate it. I think this would be a fine game for a youngster (presuming it doesn't get too scary after the demo) or someone very new to the HOPA genre.
I thought this was an okay game. I liked that the graphics were in natural colors (e.g. no neon pink and cyan), but if you're expecting realism, no. They reminded me of a well-illustrated children's book, but not at all cartoonish.
There are no surprises in the plot, at least not during the demo, nor was there any innovation in HOS or puzzles. I would expect an evil, conniving villain to make an appearance shortly.
So nothing we haven't seen in many other games, but nothing that really turned me off either. I'm going to recommend it, but as always, before you buy.
The huge, clunky, triangular pointer, the gears on the pointer during HOS, and the rotating arrow when backing out of a scene were so annoying, I didn't want to deal with it through a whole game.