Great graphics in this game; the screenshots don't do them justice. The matching is a little different. Your primary task is to create flower matches that correspond with bordered tiles. For instance, making a match of pink flowers that includes a tile with a pink border. To do so, you have to finagle the right flowers onto their corresponding tiles, and that is what makes the game more challenging than the average matching. The secondary task is to turn the tile backgrounds green, although you don't have to complete that to finish the level. Some levels have you dropping a magic tool down the game board. At the beginning of the game, the fairy is standing before an empty landscape, but as you win each level, the fairy takes a step forward along the path, and various parts of a town start to appear out of nowhere. Characters also appear magically. It's that part of the game that can be addictive, at least to me. You want to keep playing to see what will pop up next! An entertaining game for anyone, kids and seniors included.
Of the couple of Dream Day games I've tried, this was my favorite. The graphics are beautiful and provide a real sense of experiencing Italy. (I presume, since I've never been there.) I was also impressed with how the storyline and sequence of HO scenes offer a realistic feeling of traveling and completing tasks as a wedding planner. I like birds, so I'm always entertained by finding the three bluebirds in each scene that add extra hints, but I was also amused as the bluebirds swooped across the screen to turn the pages of the "storybook." There are a lot of different scenes to explore; the garden is a little tricky if you aren’t good with identifying plants. The mini-games and mini-puzzles can be skipped immediately without penalty, which is helpful. In one mini-game, I just couldn't see all the differences between two wedding bouquets. After playing this, I would love, love to visit Italy.
I've only tried a couple of Dream Day games, and this was my least favorite. The hidden objects can be VERY small and hard to find, including the very small gold die which earn you an extra hint. The graphics are nice, but items can be drawn so small that it can be hard to tell what they are. You do get to start designing a reception early in the game with casino credits, which you earn with mini-puzzles, playing black jack, as well as the HO games. There are a few unexpected events, like a storm damaging the reception area, and a local con woman stealing some of your credits. For me, the difficulty in seeing the HOs knocked this game out of the winner's hand.
I've only tried a couple of Dream Day games, and they differ in quality. What drew me to this one was the 70th anniversary and true-life romance of the game designer's grandparents, with real love letters, photos, and mementos. What a lovely tribute to create for one's grandparents, and it's a really nice game, too. Graphics are well done, and the hidden objects are intriguing, but not impossible. I always enjoy finding the three bluebirds in each scene that add extra hints. And the mini-puzzles had some real thought and creativity behind them, although finding the hidden flowers in the flower shop could be challenging. But the story behind the flower shop was absolutely lovely. A must-play game for anyone with romance in their soul.
I recommend this game!
+32points
35of38voted this as helpful.
ABC Cubes: Teddy's Playground
Help Teddy collect all the ABC Cubes and clean the Appleberry Family’s house before they return from vacation!
This game is misleading. The bright, cheerful graphics make this look like a preschool age game, but there is so much text and reading, that an adult would have to play this with the child. And a child that can read would have little interest in playing a "little kid's game." The game also runs slowly on my Vista machine, and when the congratulatory words pop up over the game board, you can't click through them. You have to stop playing until they disappear, then continue. The designers of this game had good intentions, but they should have worked with some teachers on what would be age-appropriate. Right now the graphics are preschool, while the game play is for much older kids.
Graphics are bold and beautiful. But the instructions assume that you have played this type of game before -- which I haven't. I fiddled with it for 10 minutes and gave up. There just didn't seem to be much variety or point to the game had I pursued it. Game designers: always, always provide detailed directions to sell games.
If you are looking for a simple matching game, this isn't it. But if you'd like a challenge for a change, this might do it. Flipping over purple tiles unlocks an exit door on the game board for the champion to go through. The second task is to get the champion to the door by matching and removing tiles beneath the champion. Sometimes this involves rotating the game board so you can match up the champion with the door. Other times, you will have an additional challenge to get the champion to a treasure chest for a key to unlock the exit, then maneuver the champion back to the exit. And then the enemies are introduced onto the game board. It just all got to be a little too much work for me. But the graphics are great, and if you fancy yourself as a medieval knight, give this a try.
I found the storyline dragged, especially since this is promoted as a game with a story. The graphics were pretty good, but some of the hidden objects were on the small, impossible-to-see side, and many of them had nothing to do with the story. So you have to wonder: what was the point? I also prefer HO games where the objects in the scene make sense. In these scenes, there was an oddball assortment of items. For example, a fancy hotel hallway contained a car muffler, sea horse, tomahawk, Swiss cheese, bowling pins, and gas mask. Huh? It just felt like the whole game was a mishmash of things thrown together. A book editor would have demanded a rewrite!!
Mahjong is only represented in the layout of tiles. Otherwise, it's using letters to form words, like Scrabble. The game started off locking by up my Vista computer, and ran on the slow side after that even after adjusting the options. The other issue for me is the timer, which runs out pretty fast and ends the game. If you aren't good at Scrabble, I don't think you'll enjoy this or find it easy.
I didn't get very far in this game, and I wanted to because there are lots of things going on. The matching icons had interesting animations, like the oysters opening to display pearls, and the sea anemones "blooming," but the matching tiles just have a fuzzy, unattractive look about them. And when you spend a lot of time looking at the tiles during game play, that kind of thing becomes annoying quickly and impossible to overlook.