Granny_Gruff's Profile
Stat Summary
- Average Rating:2.6
- Helpful Votes:22,850
- Reviews Submitted:883
- First Review:December 23, 2011
- Most Recent Review:November 23, 2022
- Featured reviews0
Status:
Can you save your friends from the sins of their past?
Overall rating
3
/
5
25 of 31 found this review helpful
Another Entry in a Series That Could Have Been So Much Better
PostedOctober 1, 2017
Granny_Gruff
fromLocated in a Wondering State & the city of Lost Chances.
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Hidden Object, Mahjong, Marble Popper, Match 3, Puzzle
Fun Factor
2
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
3
/
5
Level of Challenge
3
/
5
Storyline
2
/
5
You have joined Carol on a trip to an archeological dig. You are resting in the hotel before heading for the site. A young woman walks in and faints on Carol - Hey, it's more comfy than landing on the floor!
The woman has purchased the Cube Of Sins and wants you to tell her what it is. She has had nightmares ever since she bought it and needs answers.
Why didn't she take it to the dig, you ask? Let the experts on antiquities answer her questions? Why you, a newly arrived detective?
And yet I kept on through the entire demo.
Good stuff: You can turn down the music and ambient sounds. There are varied HOPs and familiar mini-games and puzzles. The art work is sometimes good.
Bad stuff: Pretty much the major problem is the disappointment in what starts out to be an almost decent story and quickly hits the skids. Despite being a detective, you will find that everyone wants you to cater to their needs. You will fetch candy, herbs, and tea, as well as being the only one who can save the victims of the Cube of Sins. Aren't you glad you came?
Most of the challenge lay in not bailing out of the demo. I stuck it out to the bitter end.
I can honestly say that this entry in the Whispered Secrets Series is an improvement on the last two tries. There is a better story and better characterizations.
If only being better made it good, the Devs would be lauded.
In this case, it makes the game relatively on the low average side, but I have to give them credit for trying - just not much credit.
Please try the demo for yourself. You may like to fetch, carry, and rescue!
The woman has purchased the Cube Of Sins and wants you to tell her what it is. She has had nightmares ever since she bought it and needs answers.
Why didn't she take it to the dig, you ask? Let the experts on antiquities answer her questions? Why you, a newly arrived detective?
And yet I kept on through the entire demo.
Good stuff: You can turn down the music and ambient sounds. There are varied HOPs and familiar mini-games and puzzles. The art work is sometimes good.
Bad stuff: Pretty much the major problem is the disappointment in what starts out to be an almost decent story and quickly hits the skids. Despite being a detective, you will find that everyone wants you to cater to their needs. You will fetch candy, herbs, and tea, as well as being the only one who can save the victims of the Cube of Sins. Aren't you glad you came?
Most of the challenge lay in not bailing out of the demo. I stuck it out to the bitter end.
I can honestly say that this entry in the Whispered Secrets Series is an improvement on the last two tries. There is a better story and better characterizations.
If only being better made it good, the Devs would be lauded.
In this case, it makes the game relatively on the low average side, but I have to give them credit for trying - just not much credit.
Please try the demo for yourself. You may like to fetch, carry, and rescue!
I don't recommend this game.
Can you keep history from destroying the present?
Overall rating
1
/
5
25 of 33 found this review helpful
Reason Died, Logic Disappeared, And Sense Crumbled to Dust
PostedSeptember 30, 2017
Granny_Gruff
fromLocated in a State of outrage and the city of Despair
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Hidden Object, Mahjong, Marble Popper, Match 3, Puzzle
Fun Factor
1
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
3
/
5
Level of Challenge
2
/
5
Storyline
1
/
5
Clarissa is arrested in her dressing room at the theater for the practice of Black Magic. Her daughter, Amber, witnesses her mother's disgrace. Poor and struggling, Clarissa dies, leaving Amber to be sent to a home.
Now, twenty years later, you, a valued agent of the Medico Imperium, have been given a special pass by your director to see a dress rehearsal of the same theater group. You swoop in on your flying steed and enter the theater in time to see the troop's director, Domenico, infected with an illness that forms green crystals on his body. The person responsible, a young woman named Amber, throws a couple of threats at you and disappears through a door. Time to waste time!
Good stuff: There are various HOPs, mini-games and puzzles, overly colored artwork, music with volume extremes, and an empire to save. Yes, that's right. To avenge Domenico's firing of her mother, Amber aims to destroy her world. Can we say: Overkill? Extreme?
Bad stuff: You get to find a cure for each person infected with the crystal disease - a completely different potion that will have you running in circles to acquire the ingredients each time. There will be all of the now standard/required "puzzles."
The smoker and the bee swarm are just the beginning.
Yes, I know this is a fantasy game, but there has to be some way to proceed, a method of working through the puzzles and problems to find the ending. When little to nothing makes sense and you spend most of your time scratching your head in confusion, logic has died and you are left playing this game!
It starts as you land outside the theater. Your bag has been tightly sewn shut! The only open pocket contains a lit bee smoker and your missing Healer's badge. Hand over the badge to the automaton at the door and proceed. eventually you'll pick up different versions of the same tool to solve problems, often in sequential scenes - a carpenter's hammer you carry around to the society's headquarters and use to nail up a sagging hinge, followed minutes later by the reflex hammer you use to break the bottom of a giant hourglass.
There are a lot of "Say what?!" moments also: You find Amber's diary and in between the pages? An oven mitt.
Amber had written about the only thing she had from her mother - a music box with a figurine on top. You find the figurine encased in a glass box that you have to break to get the ballerina out. You restore the dancer to the top of the music box - which is locked in Domenico's office.
There's more, but I'll just suggest you play the demo.
I finished the trial, but can't imagine why.
See what you think.
Now, twenty years later, you, a valued agent of the Medico Imperium, have been given a special pass by your director to see a dress rehearsal of the same theater group. You swoop in on your flying steed and enter the theater in time to see the troop's director, Domenico, infected with an illness that forms green crystals on his body. The person responsible, a young woman named Amber, throws a couple of threats at you and disappears through a door. Time to waste time!
Good stuff: There are various HOPs, mini-games and puzzles, overly colored artwork, music with volume extremes, and an empire to save. Yes, that's right. To avenge Domenico's firing of her mother, Amber aims to destroy her world. Can we say: Overkill? Extreme?
Bad stuff: You get to find a cure for each person infected with the crystal disease - a completely different potion that will have you running in circles to acquire the ingredients each time. There will be all of the now standard/required "puzzles."
The smoker and the bee swarm are just the beginning.
Yes, I know this is a fantasy game, but there has to be some way to proceed, a method of working through the puzzles and problems to find the ending. When little to nothing makes sense and you spend most of your time scratching your head in confusion, logic has died and you are left playing this game!
It starts as you land outside the theater. Your bag has been tightly sewn shut! The only open pocket contains a lit bee smoker and your missing Healer's badge. Hand over the badge to the automaton at the door and proceed. eventually you'll pick up different versions of the same tool to solve problems, often in sequential scenes - a carpenter's hammer you carry around to the society's headquarters and use to nail up a sagging hinge, followed minutes later by the reflex hammer you use to break the bottom of a giant hourglass.
There are a lot of "Say what?!" moments also: You find Amber's diary and in between the pages? An oven mitt.
Amber had written about the only thing she had from her mother - a music box with a figurine on top. You find the figurine encased in a glass box that you have to break to get the ballerina out. You restore the dancer to the top of the music box - which is locked in Domenico's office.
There's more, but I'll just suggest you play the demo.
I finished the trial, but can't imagine why.
See what you think.
I don't recommend this game.
Help a young woman dig up her past and face her fears in this hidden object adventure!
Overall rating
4
/
5
31 of 36 found this review helpful
Love it? Or hate it?
PostedSeptember 27, 2017
Granny_Gruff
fromHow refreshing - the demo ended before I finished it!
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Hidden Object, Mahjong, Marble Popper, Match 3, Puzzle
Fun Factor
4
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
3
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
2
/
5
You are on a plane. You have a stigmata on each palm. You do not know where they came from. You do not know where you came from. You are on a quest to find answers.
And then the plane crashes....maybe.
And you are back in the past....maybe.
But you've reached your destination....maybe.
Does all this sound mysterious? Confusing?
Then you are playing Crossroads Mysteries: The Broken Deal.
As penmom36 noted, this is a game you hate or you love. There is no room for middle ground.
The artwork is good, but dark and hazy. There are lots of mini-games/puzzles, not all of which work as intended, or their instructions are faulty. There are some HOPs, with a bit of variation in each one. The ambient sounds/music were almost absent.
I liked it.
I can not tell you why! The story is scant. The puzzles that didn't work were frustrating. The game is definitely old school in look and play.
But when the demo ended, I was all ready to buy!
I suspect the pacing and lack of silliness helped.
You will just have to try the demo for yourself.
And then the plane crashes....maybe.
And you are back in the past....maybe.
But you've reached your destination....maybe.
Does all this sound mysterious? Confusing?
Then you are playing Crossroads Mysteries: The Broken Deal.
As penmom36 noted, this is a game you hate or you love. There is no room for middle ground.
The artwork is good, but dark and hazy. There are lots of mini-games/puzzles, not all of which work as intended, or their instructions are faulty. There are some HOPs, with a bit of variation in each one. The ambient sounds/music were almost absent.
I liked it.
I can not tell you why! The story is scant. The puzzles that didn't work were frustrating. The game is definitely old school in look and play.
But when the demo ended, I was all ready to buy!
I suspect the pacing and lack of silliness helped.
You will just have to try the demo for yourself.
I recommend this game!
Explore the streets of Paris as you track down the Strangler!
Overall rating
3
/
5
12 of 18 found this review helpful
An OK Game With An OK Mystery
PostedSeptember 24, 2017
Granny_Gruff
fromDo those mystic signs predict or preordain?
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Hidden Object, Mahjong, Marble Popper, Match 3, Puzzle
Fun Factor
3
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
3
/
5
Level of Challenge
3
/
5
Storyline
3
/
5
Donna gets off the train in Paris, expecting to be met by her uncle. She is instead met by Uncle Andre's friend, destined to be the next victim of the Paris Strangler in a matter of minutes. Donna makes it to her Uncle's apartment only to have him flee as the mystic marks that appear on each victim's body moments before they are killed, appear on Uncle Andre! Donna will have to find out who - or what - is killing off only the members of the Golden Circle Club, not only for Uncle Andre's sake, but for her own safety as the marks popped up on her body as the demo ended.
Good stuff: Lots of mediocre and sometimes good puzzles; good HOPs, a few furthering the plot by leaps; art deco stylized artwork; and a fairly good mystery.
You'll have your father's amulet to help you - add a special item to it and you get a flashback that helps move the mystery forward - better still, you don't have to play the same puzzle over and over to get to that cut scene!
Bad stuff: That stylized artwork can come off as cartoon like and sometimes did. The puzzles were OK, with a couple of stand-outs - I thought the Club door puzzle was a nice take on a matching puzzle. The five cup and a ball challenge in the alley was more challenge than a three cup version would be.
The HOPs that furthered the story were well done, but some clues were obscure.
Bottom line: The story was not the obvious, we-all-saw-that-coming mystery that we've seen too much of lately. Better: no small children have to be rescued! Best: No cutesy animal helper.
I recommend that you play the demo. I thought the game was OK, maybe even good, but not great.
Judge for yourself.
Good stuff: Lots of mediocre and sometimes good puzzles; good HOPs, a few furthering the plot by leaps; art deco stylized artwork; and a fairly good mystery.
You'll have your father's amulet to help you - add a special item to it and you get a flashback that helps move the mystery forward - better still, you don't have to play the same puzzle over and over to get to that cut scene!
Bad stuff: That stylized artwork can come off as cartoon like and sometimes did. The puzzles were OK, with a couple of stand-outs - I thought the Club door puzzle was a nice take on a matching puzzle. The five cup and a ball challenge in the alley was more challenge than a three cup version would be.
The HOPs that furthered the story were well done, but some clues were obscure.
Bottom line: The story was not the obvious, we-all-saw-that-coming mystery that we've seen too much of lately. Better: no small children have to be rescued! Best: No cutesy animal helper.
I recommend that you play the demo. I thought the game was OK, maybe even good, but not great.
Judge for yourself.
Can you stop a ghost bride and save the city?
Overall rating
2
/
5
24 of 32 found this review helpful
Ghost Bride Bleeds and Bounces Back!
PostedSeptember 23, 2017
Granny_Gruff
fromAmanda should sue the undertaker - her body looks awful only a few months after her death!
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Hidden Object, Mahjong, Marble Popper, Match 3, Puzzle
Fun Factor
2
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
3
/
5
Level of Challenge
3
/
5
Storyline
2
/
5
You are the detective called to the small town of Anzio to help find a murderer. The local citizens believe it is a ghost bride committing the crimes, a young woman named Amanda who died recently. The local police have sent for you.
There are a couple more murders committed before you can even get your bag unpacked. And the murderous ghost bride may be coming after you soon.
Good luck, detective!
Good stuff: VO's are well done, artwork is well drawn, puzzles and HOPs are present, and there is CE bling and collectible roses.
Bad stuff: While all the game elements are present and reasonably executed, I have very little story to make me care about the people and the town. A young girl, daughter of a gambler who had lost his fortune, has died. Murders are being committed. As Amanda surely knew her father was a gambler, why would she be taking out his disregard for her future on the townsfolk?
I'm passing on the CE, but I'll revisit the SE when it comes out. Maybe I'll see something more then.
Please try the demo for yourself.
There are a couple more murders committed before you can even get your bag unpacked. And the murderous ghost bride may be coming after you soon.
Good luck, detective!
Good stuff: VO's are well done, artwork is well drawn, puzzles and HOPs are present, and there is CE bling and collectible roses.
Bad stuff: While all the game elements are present and reasonably executed, I have very little story to make me care about the people and the town. A young girl, daughter of a gambler who had lost his fortune, has died. Murders are being committed. As Amanda surely knew her father was a gambler, why would she be taking out his disregard for her future on the townsfolk?
I'm passing on the CE, but I'll revisit the SE when it comes out. Maybe I'll see something more then.
Please try the demo for yourself.
Antiques from Rosen's Workshop are coming to life!
Overall rating
2
/
5
9 of 13 found this review helpful
Revenge is a Dish Best Served With a Flying Flightless Bird!
PostedSeptember 22, 2017
Granny_Gruff
fromAt least we don't have to dress our helper or furnish his cage.
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Hidden Object, Mahjong, Marble Popper, Match 3, Puzzle
Fun Factor
2
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
3
/
5
Level of Challenge
2
/
5
Storyline
1
/
5
Thomas's wife, Emma, has asked for your help as Thomas is unexpectedly claiming to be his own Great Grandfather, Finn Rosen. Even more puzzling are the odd incidents related to items bought in the Larsson's antique shop, originally owned by Finn.
You will play as Brenda Gale, the detective summoned by Emma. You will be examining items and areas in the village in an effort to solve the problem of the ghostly green fog that is suddenly associated with the purchased antiques and bedeviling the residents. Some how this will all tie into an old doll that Finn himself build and which has recently reappeared. Good luck, Miss Gale.
Good stuff: all the usual game elements are here, HOPs, mini-games and puzzles, collectibles and morphing objects and the least bit of story you will find in any demo. There is also assorted CE bling.
Bad stuff: I missed a puzzle piece early on and could not go back to get it - even though it was still clearly visible in the scene. Tough luck on me as it was crucial to finishing the demo. Luckily by the time I figured out I'd need to start over, I was done trudging through the demo. I could have forgiven the odd accents and stoic VOs, the mundane HOPs, and the same old mini-games. I can't forgive the minimalist story. There is a murder in the opening animation - with no apparent provocation. There are reported "incidents" with items from the shop, with no actual description of these incidents. And your interview with a Grandmother, Mrs. Meier, and her granddaughter, Chloe, doesn't furnish you with much more than another glimpse of the green fog and a word spelled out in blocks.
On top of the MIA story line, you have a "flying" Kiwi bird helper - We all know they are flightless and hail from New Zealand but the story doesn't seem to be set there - although that might explain the unidentifiable accents.
This helper is just a sad addition to the disappointment of this entry into the Spirit Of Revenge series.
Please try the demo for yourself.
You will play as Brenda Gale, the detective summoned by Emma. You will be examining items and areas in the village in an effort to solve the problem of the ghostly green fog that is suddenly associated with the purchased antiques and bedeviling the residents. Some how this will all tie into an old doll that Finn himself build and which has recently reappeared. Good luck, Miss Gale.
Good stuff: all the usual game elements are here, HOPs, mini-games and puzzles, collectibles and morphing objects and the least bit of story you will find in any demo. There is also assorted CE bling.
Bad stuff: I missed a puzzle piece early on and could not go back to get it - even though it was still clearly visible in the scene. Tough luck on me as it was crucial to finishing the demo. Luckily by the time I figured out I'd need to start over, I was done trudging through the demo. I could have forgiven the odd accents and stoic VOs, the mundane HOPs, and the same old mini-games. I can't forgive the minimalist story. There is a murder in the opening animation - with no apparent provocation. There are reported "incidents" with items from the shop, with no actual description of these incidents. And your interview with a Grandmother, Mrs. Meier, and her granddaughter, Chloe, doesn't furnish you with much more than another glimpse of the green fog and a word spelled out in blocks.
On top of the MIA story line, you have a "flying" Kiwi bird helper - We all know they are flightless and hail from New Zealand but the story doesn't seem to be set there - although that might explain the unidentifiable accents.
This helper is just a sad addition to the disappointment of this entry into the Spirit Of Revenge series.
Please try the demo for yourself.
I don't recommend this game.
Can you defeat dangerous creatures and find your grandfather in time?
Overall rating
2
/
5
52 of 66 found this review helpful
Logic Has Died; The Nightcallers are the Pall Bearers!
PostedSeptember 17, 2017
Granny_Gruff
fromI'll see your demon and trump your weak logic. Time to find another game!
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Hidden Object, Mahjong, Marble Popper, Match 3, Puzzle
Fun Factor
2
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
3
/
5
Level of Challenge
2
/
5
Storyline
1
/
5
There is Kate, Grandpa, and demons called Nightcallers in the story.
The story is a “save my family member” rehash so Kate will be saving Grandpa.
There is a game with the usual game elements, including the odd little swirl that Madhead uses as a collectible and also morphing objects in the HOPs.
The game may be scary, but I'm not sure about that. I spent the Demo being too appalled at the mistakes the Devs made to pay much attention to the pink smoke or the Nightcallers that appeared shortly after the smoke did!
Logic is quickly wounded at the beginning of the demo.
**Spoiler Alert**
(I'm not sure if I'm spoiling anything, but just in case.)
Kate is down in the subway station, watching the guy she came to meet fighting a Nightcaller. She walks behind him at the edge of the platform to get some glue and a rubber glove.
She passes behind him again and crosses the train tracks to get a poster off the wall. There is broken glass around the poster. Does she use the rubber glove?
Of course not.
She pulls the huge shards of glass lose with her bare hands. Eventually the fight is over and the guy is down. Kate rifles a first aid box and finds smelling salts – st least that’s what the screen says after she picks them out of the stuff in the box, as only one of the other items was labeled.
Eventually she hops on a train and a Nightcaller is hanging from the speeding train as she runs around the car playing puzzles. She fixes an electrical panel to open a door, to find a raging fire, puts out the fire to play a HOP, finds the Brake handle, and stops the car.
Naturally she now has to fight the Nightcaller.
This involves a child-like puzzle where you drag the outline of a rune figure across the screen till it covers the rune it matches. Do it twice and you win! (Possibly the booby prize.)
Once she gets out of the Subway tunnels, she finds herself locked behind a gate as a taxi sent to pick her up waits outside in the street. This must be the time to climb a pipe using a purse strap. Jump down to fish a rusty saw out of the sewer. Clean the saw with the salt stolen from the guard shack in the enclosure and the handy cut lemon up on the AC unit at the second floor shuttered window next to the pipe. Now Kate vandalizes the park bench nearby, climbs back up the pipe, props the shutter up with the piece of wood from the bench, and plays a HOP for a set of lock picks. Back she goes to the guard shack and uses the lock picks on the safe/locker and gets the keys to the gate just in time to jump in the taxi. (Obviously the guard was not on duty as he must have locked himself out!) (Housekeeper’s note: Lemon juice and salt will scrub away a lot of things, but you need more than the lemon peel to scrub with.)
She exits the taxi only to be sent into a nearby house to get a special book. Does she go in the house?
Heck no.
She has to run toward the dark forest, boil water, solve puzzles, and dig in the garden. Eventually she solves enough puzzles to get the pieces to the door puzzle to get inside.
Upon entering, she finds the place a wreck. She quickly spots the book in a locked glass-front bookcase. She has quite a few puzzles to get through to get the multiple bits that will open the case. As she is searching to dramatic music, she finds pieces that let her into the attic. There's a HOP up there. She finds a diamond in the attic to cut the glass top on a display case to get pieces to other parts of the HOP up there.
Does she trot downstairs and cut the glass front on the bookcase as quickly and easily as the display case? Does she throw any one of the dozens of objects on the floor at it? Heck no.
She just keeps looking for those pieces for the lock.
I dutifully finished the demo. Things did not get better. Logic died.
I object to the demons, mostly because they looked so cartoon-like. I can't object to the story, as I must have more than a hundred games with a similar theme. I just expected some sense in a fabricated world, no matter how odd.
The Rite of Passage Games have been a hit or miss proposition in the past and this one is no different.
Please try the demo before you buy.
The story is a “save my family member” rehash so Kate will be saving Grandpa.
There is a game with the usual game elements, including the odd little swirl that Madhead uses as a collectible and also morphing objects in the HOPs.
The game may be scary, but I'm not sure about that. I spent the Demo being too appalled at the mistakes the Devs made to pay much attention to the pink smoke or the Nightcallers that appeared shortly after the smoke did!
Logic is quickly wounded at the beginning of the demo.
**Spoiler Alert**
(I'm not sure if I'm spoiling anything, but just in case.)
Kate is down in the subway station, watching the guy she came to meet fighting a Nightcaller. She walks behind him at the edge of the platform to get some glue and a rubber glove.
She passes behind him again and crosses the train tracks to get a poster off the wall. There is broken glass around the poster. Does she use the rubber glove?
Of course not.
She pulls the huge shards of glass lose with her bare hands. Eventually the fight is over and the guy is down. Kate rifles a first aid box and finds smelling salts – st least that’s what the screen says after she picks them out of the stuff in the box, as only one of the other items was labeled.
Eventually she hops on a train and a Nightcaller is hanging from the speeding train as she runs around the car playing puzzles. She fixes an electrical panel to open a door, to find a raging fire, puts out the fire to play a HOP, finds the Brake handle, and stops the car.
Naturally she now has to fight the Nightcaller.
This involves a child-like puzzle where you drag the outline of a rune figure across the screen till it covers the rune it matches. Do it twice and you win! (Possibly the booby prize.)
Once she gets out of the Subway tunnels, she finds herself locked behind a gate as a taxi sent to pick her up waits outside in the street. This must be the time to climb a pipe using a purse strap. Jump down to fish a rusty saw out of the sewer. Clean the saw with the salt stolen from the guard shack in the enclosure and the handy cut lemon up on the AC unit at the second floor shuttered window next to the pipe. Now Kate vandalizes the park bench nearby, climbs back up the pipe, props the shutter up with the piece of wood from the bench, and plays a HOP for a set of lock picks. Back she goes to the guard shack and uses the lock picks on the safe/locker and gets the keys to the gate just in time to jump in the taxi. (Obviously the guard was not on duty as he must have locked himself out!) (Housekeeper’s note: Lemon juice and salt will scrub away a lot of things, but you need more than the lemon peel to scrub with.)
She exits the taxi only to be sent into a nearby house to get a special book. Does she go in the house?
Heck no.
She has to run toward the dark forest, boil water, solve puzzles, and dig in the garden. Eventually she solves enough puzzles to get the pieces to the door puzzle to get inside.
Upon entering, she finds the place a wreck. She quickly spots the book in a locked glass-front bookcase. She has quite a few puzzles to get through to get the multiple bits that will open the case. As she is searching to dramatic music, she finds pieces that let her into the attic. There's a HOP up there. She finds a diamond in the attic to cut the glass top on a display case to get pieces to other parts of the HOP up there.
Does she trot downstairs and cut the glass front on the bookcase as quickly and easily as the display case? Does she throw any one of the dozens of objects on the floor at it? Heck no.
She just keeps looking for those pieces for the lock.
I dutifully finished the demo. Things did not get better. Logic died.
I object to the demons, mostly because they looked so cartoon-like. I can't object to the story, as I must have more than a hundred games with a similar theme. I just expected some sense in a fabricated world, no matter how odd.
The Rite of Passage Games have been a hit or miss proposition in the past and this one is no different.
Please try the demo before you buy.
I don't recommend this game.
Can you delve into a dangerous past and escape in time?
Overall rating
3
/
5
32 of 41 found this review helpful
Remember the First Phantasmat Game?
PostedSeptember 15, 2017
Granny_Gruff
fromEarlier games were better and good puzzles are solvable!
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Hidden Object, Mahjong, Marble Popper, Match 3, Puzzle
Fun Factor
2
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
2
/
5
Storyline
3
/
5
This isn't it.
The cut scenes start with Kevin climbing rocks. He falls.
You are driving down the road. Your car is hit on the driver's side by a truck coming from a side road.
You are in the hospital and wake to hear your doctor tell your husband that you have amnesia and need a long rest.
You are at an old farm house and Stan is going to secure the windows against a heavy storm that is moving in.
You see the ghost of a small boy in the hall. He runs into a locked room.
Good Stuff: HOPs and good artwork, along with the usual CE bling.
Bad stuff: Most of the story is there if you care to see it - and it isn't pretty. The mini-games are down right wicked - I'm not sure if they are as unsolvable as they seem or I'm just aging faster than I'd like to admit.
It is a fairly scary game, until you stop to put two and two together. And then you find that you did not want to see the four!
Bottom line: I am so wishing that there was more to this game than I saw. I have enjoyed the series till now. But I am not sure I really want to know Stan any better.
Please play the demo. Do not purchase until 5 minutes after you finish the demo. That will give you time to see the story and judge the game play calmly. Good luck.
The cut scenes start with Kevin climbing rocks. He falls.
You are driving down the road. Your car is hit on the driver's side by a truck coming from a side road.
You are in the hospital and wake to hear your doctor tell your husband that you have amnesia and need a long rest.
You are at an old farm house and Stan is going to secure the windows against a heavy storm that is moving in.
You see the ghost of a small boy in the hall. He runs into a locked room.
Good Stuff: HOPs and good artwork, along with the usual CE bling.
Bad stuff: Most of the story is there if you care to see it - and it isn't pretty. The mini-games are down right wicked - I'm not sure if they are as unsolvable as they seem or I'm just aging faster than I'd like to admit.
It is a fairly scary game, until you stop to put two and two together. And then you find that you did not want to see the four!
Bottom line: I am so wishing that there was more to this game than I saw. I have enjoyed the series till now. But I am not sure I really want to know Stan any better.
Please play the demo. Do not purchase until 5 minutes after you finish the demo. That will give you time to see the story and judge the game play calmly. Good luck.
I don't recommend this game.
Snow, Ice and the deadly wind blowing from the Frozen Mountains! The Lost Lands have been overtaken by ice in the middle of summer!
Overall rating
3
/
5
32 of 55 found this review helpful
Another Lost Lands Game Has Landed
PostedSeptember 13, 2017
Granny_Gruff
fromThe Maps from the Lost Lands games would fill volumes - and you'll see all of them REPEATEDLY!
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Hidden Object, Mahjong, Marble Popper, Match 3, Puzzle
Fun Factor
2
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
3
/
5
Level of Challenge
3
/
5
Storyline
2
/
5
The next Lost Lands game has appeared with another pile of maps to help players move back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, back and forth to proceed through the game as the previous entries in the series.
This time Susan, the mother from the first game, is once again sucked out of her home and into the Lost Lands to help Maaron to save their world again. She will have to find warm clothes as she came unprepared for the icy temperatures that have overtaken the late summer in the Lost Lands. Hopefully she will be able to help solve the mystery of the icy turn the weather has taken.
Good stuff: There are a few varietal HOPs, lots of puzzles/mini-games, good artwork, a story, collectibles including morphing objects, and CE bling.
Bad stuff: You will proceed very slowly on this adventure, for which you will need the volume of maps provided from the beginning of the game. The endless back and forth may be quicker using the maps, but it is still tedious. The story is info lite, as well as character lite. You know only that it is cold and you see only two living characters, although you will rifle the bodies of others and steal from them. You spend a lot of time jumping back and forth to get enough money to buy what you need and solve the puzzles that always involve multiple small steps over two or more maps to get to the game/puzzle itself.
I've played through four of these games and just can't bring myself to do it again. My notes on each game complain about the endless jumping between all the maps to get to the end.
This time I just can't get involved in the minimal story to trudge through all the maps again.
(Did any one, besides me, notice that War Maiden Susan looks just like the heroine from the first few good House Of A Thousand Doors Games?)
Please try the demo, as I can say that this series games take a lot of time to finish. You may enjoy the time wasters more than I did.
This time Susan, the mother from the first game, is once again sucked out of her home and into the Lost Lands to help Maaron to save their world again. She will have to find warm clothes as she came unprepared for the icy temperatures that have overtaken the late summer in the Lost Lands. Hopefully she will be able to help solve the mystery of the icy turn the weather has taken.
Good stuff: There are a few varietal HOPs, lots of puzzles/mini-games, good artwork, a story, collectibles including morphing objects, and CE bling.
Bad stuff: You will proceed very slowly on this adventure, for which you will need the volume of maps provided from the beginning of the game. The endless back and forth may be quicker using the maps, but it is still tedious. The story is info lite, as well as character lite. You know only that it is cold and you see only two living characters, although you will rifle the bodies of others and steal from them. You spend a lot of time jumping back and forth to get enough money to buy what you need and solve the puzzles that always involve multiple small steps over two or more maps to get to the game/puzzle itself.
I've played through four of these games and just can't bring myself to do it again. My notes on each game complain about the endless jumping between all the maps to get to the end.
This time I just can't get involved in the minimal story to trudge through all the maps again.
(Did any one, besides me, notice that War Maiden Susan looks just like the heroine from the first few good House Of A Thousand Doors Games?)
Please try the demo, as I can say that this series games take a lot of time to finish. You may enjoy the time wasters more than I did.
I don't recommend this game.
Can you break free from your nightmares in time?
Overall rating
2
/
5
39 of 54 found this review helpful
But, But, But....
PostedSeptember 9, 2017
Granny_Gruff
fromI was intrigued by the compartment in the side of the bathtub - I want one of those in my house!
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Hidden Object, Mahjong, Marble Popper, Match 3, Puzzle
Fun Factor
2
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
3
/
5
Level of Challenge
2
/
5
Storyline
2
/
5
Allen and Ash Reynolds are headed for bed. Allen takes his usual two sleeping pills and is immediately drawn into a nightmare world. He is standing on a ledge, looking down at a giant maze in the distance. The maze is enclosed by high walls and looks dark and forbidding. As Allen, you look through a pair of observation glasses mounted near the fence. Somewhere in that maze are places from your memories, Grandma's house, high school. You will need to cross the maze to save your soul as the shadows from your hidden memories want to "harvest" your soul at dawn. Good luck!
Good news: There are fairly standard types of HOPs, with a Match 3 alternative.
But: The mini-games/puzzles do not always work as they should. Some had sorry instructions, others were too simple to amuse the youngest gamer, still others were beyond aggravating and had to be played to progress - the puzzle blocks behind the bicycle were a case in point, as you could not skip and have to keep hitting two blocks back and forth, till they finally release their hidden piece to yet another lock/puzzle, which will, of course, need multiple pieces.
Good news: The dark artwork is good and there is a fair amount of CE bling.
But: Somewhere there is a shortage of blue ink, as almost every scene of Allen’s nightmares is colored with it.
Good news: The story is not bad, nor particularly scary, unless you are still in grade school and of a nervous nature. Your memories are not so dark they would really frighten an adult.
But: There is not enough of the story to make you feel invested in solving Allen's nightmares and why they are bothering him. And those memories aren’t particularly troubling to Allen either. He is rather flippant in his comments on the bullying he withstood in school and his counselor’s solution is to send him to a school for troubled boys, presumably easier than dealing with the bullies!
Bottom Line: After the Beta test, I suggested beefing up the story, giving players some small details that would make us like Allen enough to "rescue" him. I just don’t see anything new or engaging enough to make me want to work through the rest of the game.
Please try the Demo, as you may find a bit of charm that I did not.
Good news: There are fairly standard types of HOPs, with a Match 3 alternative.
But: The mini-games/puzzles do not always work as they should. Some had sorry instructions, others were too simple to amuse the youngest gamer, still others were beyond aggravating and had to be played to progress - the puzzle blocks behind the bicycle were a case in point, as you could not skip and have to keep hitting two blocks back and forth, till they finally release their hidden piece to yet another lock/puzzle, which will, of course, need multiple pieces.
Good news: The dark artwork is good and there is a fair amount of CE bling.
But: Somewhere there is a shortage of blue ink, as almost every scene of Allen’s nightmares is colored with it.
Good news: The story is not bad, nor particularly scary, unless you are still in grade school and of a nervous nature. Your memories are not so dark they would really frighten an adult.
But: There is not enough of the story to make you feel invested in solving Allen's nightmares and why they are bothering him. And those memories aren’t particularly troubling to Allen either. He is rather flippant in his comments on the bullying he withstood in school and his counselor’s solution is to send him to a school for troubled boys, presumably easier than dealing with the bullies!
Bottom Line: After the Beta test, I suggested beefing up the story, giving players some small details that would make us like Allen enough to "rescue" him. I just don’t see anything new or engaging enough to make me want to work through the rest of the game.
Please try the Demo, as you may find a bit of charm that I did not.
I don't recommend this game.