This game was almost just as great as "Death in Scarlet", but the gameplay was less interesting as well as the game itself. A few hidden objects scenes wouldn't have hurt, definitely.
The storyline is better than that of the previous game, no doubt about it. Some shady business is going on in a military academy and no one seems to speak the truth so it's up for our "women" to find out what it's all about. The characters are more interesting and more sinister, too. The graphics, as always, are very beautiful.
The music, in this game, turned out to be a little annoying for me, after a while. I didn't particularly liked the cutscenes. They all looked like they had been drawn by different artists, each one of them. In some, the art was beautiful, but in others it wasn't. I think that the lack of hidden objects scenes in this game made it less fun. You had a lot of locations to visit, but you could never take in the sights since sometimes all you had to do there was pick up an object or find some clues.
Overall, it wasn't as great as "Death in Scarlet", but, make no mistake, since it's "Women's Murder Club" I loved it, too! The storyline and the interesting characters are the best this game has to offer, really.
When I first played this game many years ago, I absolutely loved it, and I still love it! It's a great game to play over and over again for me. I simply adore it!
Pros:
- Everything! :) The music is amazing, the atmosphere is great, the artwork is just beautiful, the storyline is amazingly well written, the characters are interesting, and so on. Everything is well-made. This is a very polished game and you can see that the creators really like their job. The chinese decorations in the apartments is so beautiful... You actually feel like a detective in the city of San Francisco. It's that great!
Cons: - It isn't short at all, but since I love it so, I wish it had been way longer!;
This game is way, way better than most criminal tv-shows on TV nowadays. Really. But, in compensation, it's an a-m-a-z-i-n-g game. However, I wouldn't recommend it to people that aren't fans of looking for hidden objects much. I sincerely hope you will love it as much as I do!
When it first came out, I was really anxious to play this game since this developer usually provides great games for us, but I was seriously disappointed. The game feels flat and shallow and the storyline leans a bit on the ridiculous. The story seemed like it was only inserted in order for you to go through some nice locations, to see some "magic" and to meet fantastical creatures. It all feels really phony. I pratically didn't enjoy this game.
Pros: - Beautiful artwork in most locations, though is some you could see some sloppy work; - The music wasn't annoying; - I really like the "not-so-hidden-objects-scenes" where you have to put items from the inventory in the scene, instead. So this was definitely a plus for me and it was the thing I liked most in this game; - Nice character artwork;
As for the cons, they were pretty much everything else. I wrote some of them above. I am not going to waste more time in anything related to this game. The bonus chapter seemed more interesting than the main game, but I didn't have the patience to finish it. This game tasted sour, really. What a waste of a good developer... They better let go of the fairy tales theme because it's really hard to make a convincing game based on it and that feat was only achieved in the "Awakening" series. Only good looks don't make a game good. For real.
I don't get the many bad reviews this game got at all. It was such a creepy and eerie experience. I felt like I was in a horror movie. The atmosphere was just brilliant. I never needed to look at the walkthrough for this game at all. Not even once. And most of the time I usually do because I just lose my way, however, this didn't happen in "The Curse of the Werewolves" because I became completely enthralled in the game, because the map was extremely useful and also because the item interactions you were supposed to do were blantantly obvious. I have read in a review here that the search scenes can be zoomed in again even though there is nothing more to do in them, but when you pick up or interact with everything you can in such scenes, they automatically close and that's how you know there's nothing more for you to do there even though you can still zoom in.
Pros: - Almost palpable and breathing atmosphere. Just brilliant. Every little thing contributed to it. The nicely told and unfolded storyline, the effects, the artwork, the sound and the music. Un-be-li-evable. - The ambient sounds and the music were pratically always the same but they didn't bothered me not even once. That is definitely a feat. The footsteps sound effects were delightful, too not to mention the howling sounds outside. Top notch; - The effects were beautiful. The dust falling all around the mansion, the lamps or the lit candles, the moonlight. So beautiful; - The artwork is the bomb, too. The mansion is so beautiful to look at. My favorite location was the dinning room with the creepy wolf head above the fireplace. The scenes are more dark than usual but that's part of the story and the setting and enveloped everything in an incredible aura of mystery; - The hidden objects scenes weren't few but they were a pleasure for me to play and I love when that happens. Although some of the objects were very small, they were still pretty easy for me to spot. The HO scene I liked the most was the one inside Robert's house. The artwork was beautiful; - The puzzles weren't very tough but not very easy either. I was really pleased that I didn't had to skip any!; - The storyline, although not original, was a delight for me since I love the ideia of werewolves. It was also very well achieved throughout the locations (the dead bodies, the splattered blood all over, the silence...); - Ashley's voice-over (she's the only one who gets to talk apart from the wolf) was very, very good and not annoying for me at all. Very believable!;
Cons: - I really wished the game would have been longer... It wasn't very short, but it could have lasted more. I wish it did...; - The bonus chapter was really, really short. I still loved it, but when I got to the end all I could think about was "that's it?"; - The collector's (or premium) edition isn't really worth it. For me it was since I completely loved the game and wanted more apart from the main game, but, as I mentioned above, the bonus chapter is very short and all that you have left after that are wallpapers and just three of them. Not even concept art... :(;
Overall, this was one of the best games I ever played. So atmospheric and so beautiful looking... The storyline is also very good and it doesn't leave too many questions unanswered and that's great in these types of games. I'm really saddened by all the bad reviews people gave this gem but the game being absolutely awesome more than makes up for it. So much, much more!
Rescue a young girl from the Penumbra Motel. Solve puzzles, unravel a long standing mystery of death and disappearances in this heart-pounding adventure game!
"Penumbra Motel" sure was creepy at times, but only due to the environment. That's what I liked more about this game, the artwork. Overall, although a bit different from the regular casual game (no hidden objects scenes), it was pretty average.
Pros: - Nice artwork, it helped to build the ambient perfectly; - The music wasn't really annoying; - Professor's Duke voice-over was pretty good; - Interesting storyline (in the beginning, at least);
Cons: - The music had nothing to do with the story and the setting, in my opinion; - The storyline, in the end of the game, takes a laughable turn. In the beginning of the game it was pretty interesting, what with a whole family being murdered in a creepy motel. But when you find Monica, somebody else is holding her captive and turns out he is sort of an evil scientist who only wants to live forever... Cliché all the way; - As I mentioned before, except for the professor, I thought all the other voice-overs were pretty bad; - I hate live-action in video games so that's definitely a con for me; - I felt that the game started to drag along by the end. I was always thinking "when will this be over?"... - The films you collect along the way are supposed to be pretty important to the game, right? Since the case has a special place in the inventory and all... But, apparently, no. Apart from allowing you to solve a puzzle, the films show you nothing worth for the storyline and are a bore; - It is never mentioned what the medals meant and why the murderer committed the crimes; - The bonus chapter was nothing special, it only showed new locations;
I think that's it. The storyline has more holes that the moon itself. Although sometimes that doesn't bother me, in this game it did because the story seemed really promising. Nothing great here, but a fun and relaxing game with nice artwork, nonetheless.
I'm surprised I really liked this game since its not very famous around here. Not only was the storyline really interesting, but the artwork was one of the most beautiful I've ever seen in a HOG!
Pros:
- Bee-uhh-tee-ful graphics! It was amazing to look at all those beautifully drawn locations. The best one in my opinion was the entrance to the Gale castle. Just wow; - The music was actually pretty nice, but only in the piano parts. The heavy orchestral part annoyed me since it didn't fit well with the investigation; - The ambient sounds were beautiful. Really soothing to listen to; - There were a not-so-little amount of hidden objects scenes, but I didn't grow tired of them at all! What a feat!; - The storyline managed to keep me on the edge of my seat to find out who the murderer really was. The witch or someone very alive? - This game is huge! It took me alot of time to finish and that's amazing since I really liked it and it didn't drag along; - I really felt like a detective reading all those files regarding the background story of the families and bumping into all those dead bodies!; - There were a lot, and I mean a lot of beautiful places to explore!;
Cons: - I felt a bit disappointed and curious because it's never mentioned what happened to Samuel after all...; - The bonus chapter was a little disappointing to me since it didn't offer anything new despite some new small locations. The main game is much better;
And that's it! I loved playing this game and I spent a lot of time on it. It's an amazingly created game with interesting characters and it offers you not only a mysterious and well crafted story but also a beautiful visual experience. Pure art.
At the beginning I was really into "Secrets of the Seas: Flying Dutchman", but then I lost my interest. I didn't play the game until the end since I got bored of it and so I can't comment on the extras. There is nothing original here nor great. A very average if not less than average game.
Pros: - Nice graphics, probably the most average I've ever seen, but cartoonish, so I liked them; - Beautiful artwork; - The Captain voice-over was good; - The music was great, one of the best things, really. Not annoying, pleasant to hear;
Cons: - The whole game and the storyline is not original at all. Been there and done that a hundred times, so after a while of playing it, I started to get bored by the second and gave up on playing the game;
Overall, this game is nice to spend some leisure time, but nothing else. That's why I'll still recommend it.
I recommend this game!
+2points
3of4voted this as helpful.
Castle: Never Judge a Book by Its Cover
Solving murder has never been so much fun!
Overall rating
2/ 5
2 of 5 found this review helpful
For "Castle" fans only alright.
PostedMay 5, 2013
Polisuco
fromOporto, Portugal
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Hidden Object, Large File, Time Management
I thought I was going to enjoy this game, as I usually do with other games of the criminal investigation type, like "Women's Murder Club" and "Special Enquiry Detail", which both series are just amazing, but I didn't liked this one. I didn't finished it, I only played till the part where the second body showed up. I'm pretty sure this game can only be liked by fans of the tv-show only and since I'm not one...
Pros: - Nice, polished graphics. Very modern; - Nice music. Typical of a criminal game, but nice; - Nice character artwork and very similar with the actors of the show;
Cons: - Boring pace. - Typical criminal tv-show storyline. - Typical puzzles. I've done them all before;
Nothing else to add here. I just didn't liked it. Just like criminal series television, it's all been done before and what you get, unless you are a fan of "Castle", is a very boring experience. I will still recommend it just because of that.
I really liked playing this game, however I can't give it a 5 star rating and I'm not yet sure why, because it really is a great game and my second favorite of the "Shiver" series.
You character travels to a grove at night in search of his lost adoptive father only to live a gripping and gruesome adventure by the light of the moon and discover the dark secrets of a mysterious sect.
Pros: - The graphics are unbelievably real but still beautiful. The rain, the thunder, the water reflections and the tree branches moving with the wind are very, very beautiful and creates a pulsating atmosphere, not to mention the stars and the moon, very mesmerizing; - The combinations your character does to assemble some objects are so well thought sometimes I found myself laughing at this because this is really a very thoughtful game and sometimes I had no idea what to do... :P ; - The storyline is wonderful and scary, too. You have to experience it for yourself. "The Master" was a very creepy character as well as the man with the blank eye; - The ambient sounds as well as the music is just beautiful. The wolves howling is just magical and the track that played in the cutscenes when you found a note was very beautiful, too; - The overall environment of the game is exceptionally well built and it immersed me completely in the story. These developers really know how to make environmental magic!; - The interactions you did with certain objects where you could see the hand of your character were very well made and a pleasure to watch;
Cons: - Certain puzzles were a complete frustration and almost impossible to get done. Examples being the ones were you had to interact with the hands of your character: the one where you had to throw a stone at a grating to get a key to fall through a hole and the one where you had to throw rocks at a barrel to make a tree fall down. In the first one everytime I hit the key, it would go farther from the hole and it was always like this. I had to skip the puzzle. The other one I miraculously managed to throw 5 rocks into the barrel though I'm sure I wasted 20 minutes or so in that puzzle. Very frustating; - I think that the main game was pretty short. Maybe the shortest of the series; - The bonus chapter, although it offered nice new locations, was nothing great;
Overall, I really liked "Shiver: Moonlit Grove", but I was still disappointed. Maybe it's because this game is not very mysterious when in comparison with the others of the series. This game is really creepy, but it offers the type of "in-your-face" action and it seems that the story unfolds at a very rapid pace. I don't know what else to say about this game, only that it could have been much better, since we know these developers are capable of such. Had the game been longer and had the story been more explored and not so rushedly advanced, I think I would have liked it more
"Witch Hunters: Stolen Beauty" was a game that I did not enjoyed playing and I don't even know how I played it till the end and also the bonus chapter because overall the game is boring. Besides the graphics, nothing else is interesting. I only kept on playing it because of the artwork and also because a lot of people here complained that the extras were only the wallpapers and the sketches, but there was a bonus chapter after all and I wanted to see if it was really extra gameplay. I must say, though, that it was well hidden in the extras menu.
Pros: -The artwork was the best of all. Beautiful and detailed rooms, buildings and décor with Gothic style. The presention was equally beautiful (the menus, the inventory/hint bar). The cutscenes were lovely, too and the characters well drawn; -The bonus chapter was quite nice actually. The final cutscene with the two sisters embracing each other was lovely;
Cons: -No journal. I was a little disappointed with this because it's always interesting to read about the story of the game and also because, besides the cutscenes, you ain't got no way to get involved in the storyline; -Back, back, back and forth. Way too much, I must say. This game made me pray for a map with the ability to jump to locations; -Uninsteresting and not very well exploited storyline; -The background sounds were annoying and the music as well, not to mention it had nothing to do with the "evil-witch-stalking-you" theme;
Not much to say about this game, really. I didn't liked it, oh no I didn't, but I don't hate it either, go figure. Very, very plain, except for the artwork. I think some people will like it, though, since it has beautiful graphics and a nice amount of hidden objects. Moving on...