Pilot1's Profile
Stat Summary
- Average Rating:2.8
- Helpful Votes:2,264
- Reviews Submitted:127
- First Review:October 22, 2015
- Most Recent Review:November 26, 2022
- Featured reviews0
Status:
If all the world is a stage, what role do YOU play? Solve the Ivory Cane mystery to find out!
Overall rating
1
/
5
12 of 26 found this review helpful
No, no, no . . . and so many reasons why!!!
PostedJuly 24, 2019
Pilot1
fromTaos, NM
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Hidden Object
Fun Factor
1
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
2
/
5
Level of Challenge
2
/
5
Storyline
2
/
5
Although this is categorized as a ‘Hidden Object’ game, there was not even one HO sequence in the entire demo nor, I suspect, will there be any in the rest of the game.
This entire game is very, very old school. The game options are limited, as in the old days, to novice, expert, and something else. There are no custom settings options.
The graphics, likewise, are old school. It is quite cartoon-like, in fact.
The dialogue is almost endless, on and on and on!
Yes, there is a map and, yes, it displays an apostrophe when there is something to do in a location. That’s the good news, almost all of it, when speaking of this game.
I guess you want to know about the story. Okay, here’s the plot; your girlfriend, is a dancer in a Moulin Rouge style cabaret —although the music the dancers hop-around to is distinctly Irish in sound and beat. After a night spent together, made apparent by her obviously being naked under your bedsheet, you are painting her portrait. Suddenly there’s a pounding on the door, it’s the police demanding that you open up.
No, I can’t do that anymore, the story is just too cheesy to continue its description!
Oh, did I mention that this takes place in what appears to be Paris in the late 1800s, yet there is a payphone with dial, a boat with an outboard motor, and too many other anomalies to continue listing them.
I’m trying very hard to think of a reason why you should even download and try the demo, but there is none, not a single reason!
I don't recommend this game.
Can you stop a criminal you can’t always see?
Overall rating
2
/
5
13 of 17 found this review helpful
Visit London in another game, not this one!
PostedJuly 18, 2019
Pilot1
fromTaos, NM
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Hidden Object
Fun Factor
2
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
2
/
5
Level of Challenge
3
/
5
Storyline
3
/
5
If you like cartoon-quality graphics, this game may deserve the five-star rating another reviewer gave it. It may also merit that rating if you like garish colors, indistinct edges, and very poor lip sync. If none of that appeals to you, then you immediately understand my rating of this game.
The play-by-play was admirably done, as always, by another reviewer, so I won’t duplicate that good work.
The very first thing you learn when this game begins is that you will have ‘magic glasses’ to assist your efforts. This was less than a thrilling revelation to me. I have lost count of the number of games that utilize this self-same gimmick, and I am no less enamored of it today than I was when I first came across it many years ago.
Okay, among the specific reasons for the rating I gave this game is the fact that this game is set in London, England —which just happens to be my hometown— yet there is not one voice that even comes close to sounding as if they belong there. How about an iconic London black cab, with the steering wheel obviously on the left hand side, and a decidedly American-voiced driver.
I’ll give the developer kudos for the plot which, although not unique, some effort had been put into the writing.
The HO sequences and the thankfully few so-called mini-games were interesting but, again, not unique nor overly challenging.
Truthfully, I could not develop any empathy with, nor sympathy for the characters. I just couldn’t care less what happened to any of them.
Needless to say, I do not recommend this game but, if you have unlimited download capacity, go ahead try the demo yourself.
I don't recommend this game.
Can you stop an evil entity from taking over in time?
Overall rating
3
/
5
25 of 29 found this review helpful
Mad Head Strikes out . . . sort of.
PostedJuly 7, 2019
Pilot1
fromTaos, NM
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Hidden Object
Fun Factor
3
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
3
/
5
Level of Challenge
2
/
5
Storyline
2
/
5
This game is neither as good as the five star rating one reviewer gave it, nor as bad as the two star rating posted by another.
It is certainly not as good as either of the Adam Wolfe games, nor Maze – subject 360 or Maze – The Broken Tower, and it is just as certainly not up the standard set by Mad Head Games in other products. On the other hand, it is not as bad as some other games offered by this producer and others.
Yes, it is another showcase for an evil entity, and the ‘brave’ team that must hunt and destroy it and, yes, it has predictable objects that you must find to activate other just as predictable items.
Too, for a so-called hidden object game it has more mini-games than HO sequences, at least in the first ten minutes or so of game play.
The graphics are okay, while having a little too much cartoon-like quality to suit my taste. The voice-over narrative, as another reviewer commented, does contain a lot of already obvious information.
Altogether, there is far too much of the already familiar to make this a must buy for me, or even for it to get a place on my alternate buy list.
Still, I won’t say don’t even bother to download this game, as I have with more than a few other games many times before.
Perhaps, if you’re relatively new to this type of game, you may like it. While I can't, in all honesty, recommend this game, give the demo a try, who knows, it may amuse you.
I don't recommend this game.
Can you stop a past case from destroying the present?
Overall rating
2
/
5
57 of 75 found this review helpful
Even the Baskerville Hound wouldn't be able to stomach this!
PostedMay 30, 2019
Pilot1
fromTaos, NM
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Hidden Object
Fun Factor
2
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
3
/
5
Level of Challenge
2
/
5
Storyline
2
/
5
I’ll make this short, but not sweet for Elephant Games, a developer whose products I generally enjoy.
If you like clichés you’ll love this game. I mean, really, if you’ve played more than two games you already have seen a lock with no available key, which means you need to find a lock pick. Oh, yes, it must be in the tied with rope saddlebag on your very modern, anachronistic, certainly non-Victorian motorcycle. And the ants blocking you from picking up something which certainly would not attract them in the first place. Why, what’s this? Oh, it’s a jar of honey. Gosh, I wonder where I can use that!
Okay enough of this!
Once again I have to wonder what game the five-star reviewers played. It certainly couldn’t have been this boring, dull, same old stuff-laden offering. Why, of course, they must have played the beta version . . . once again! I’ve been assured by a Big Fish representative that beta games are assigned on a random basis, which I don’t believe at all. Especially given the number of reviews based on those games posted by the same couple of reviewers! As I’ve said many times before, I’m sure that they’ll still get fed beta games even if they do post an honest review now and then!
The bottom line is that this is not a game on which to waste your time or money.
I don't recommend this game.
Face the legacy of mythical sunken city of Ys!
Overall rating
2
/
5
13 of 20 found this review helpful
Just a bad game . . . period, the end!
PostedApril 29, 2019
Pilot1
fromTaos, NM
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Hidden Object
Fun Factor
1
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
2
/
5
Level of Challenge
2
/
5
Storyline
2
/
5
I played about ten minutes of this game before the boredom became too excruciating to continue.
The characters are flat in both graphic representation and in personality. The voice actors obviously didn’t put much effort into making the dialogue realistic but, in truth, there really wasn’t much they could do with the stilted, trite, banal script they were given.
There are excellent, state of the art CG engines available to game developers these days, it’s too bad that none were used for this poor offering.
The one or two HO sequences that I played were on a par with the dialogue. Same old stuff, same old objects.
Guess what, folks, one of the items you find in a near-the-beginning sequence is a paperclip. Even if you’ve only played a couple of these types of games before you already know that pretty soon you’ll either have to use it to pick a lock or open a zipper. Excuse me while I yawn!
There is nothing about this game that remotely recommends itself. Don’t even bother to download and play the demo . . . unless you actually like wasting time!
I don't recommend this game.
Can you find out who’s kidnapping jurors before it’s too late?
Overall rating
2
/
5
22 of 31 found this review helpful
Let the dead remain buried . . . and this game with them!
PostedApril 21, 2019
Pilot1
fromTaos, NM
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Hidden Object
Fun Factor
2
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
2
/
5
Level of Challenge
2
/
5
Storyline
2
/
5
Trite, banal, boring! If I wrote nothing more about this game, those three words sum it up to a certainty —as they did for the last six games of this series that I reviewed.
Once more poor Edgar Allan Poe’s name and fame have been appropriated and used for what? For a poorly scripted, poorly plotted, poorly acted, trite, banal, and boring game. Yes, I used those three words again!
What do we have here but the same tired story we’ve had a hundred times before. A woman kidnapped by an evil entity —yeah, that’s new and exciting. The same old HO sequences. The same old mini-games.
And let’s not forget the same old graphics, same old dull background music.
Despite the rave reviews some others have given this game —I simply cannot understand why they have done so, and I’m convinced that they must have played a different game than this demo. Folks, please, it wouldn’t you hurt to write an honest review! I’m sure that Big Fish will continue to feed you beta games.
When I play a game, as when I read a book or watch a play, character development is a large part of my enjoying that particular media. In this game, as in others, such development is mostly absent. It is impossible to empathize with the flat, cartoonish characters who inhabit this game. I really don’t care what happens to them. Nor am I moved to any real effort to ‘rescue’ them from the predicaments which, more often than not, they become embroiled through their own ineptness.
Edgar Allan Poe was the father of the ‘horror’ genre, but the only horror here is the audacity of the game developer to associate his name with this yet again lame offering.
Don’t waste your download capacity or your time on yet another in a now long series of losers!
I don't recommend this game.
Can you stop a dangerous game from taking more lives?
Overall rating
1
/
5
35 of 56 found this review helpful
It's a mystery to me why anyone would buy this!!
PostedApril 4, 2019
Pilot1
fromTaos, NM
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Hidden Object
Fun Factor
1
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
2
/
5
Level of Challenge
1
/
5
Storyline
1
/
5
Wow, this game is full of surprises!
I was surprised to find yet another soul-stealing evil entity! And I was surprised that I had to find a pin to open an item that I owned! And I was also surprised that I had to find two pieces of a broken stick, put them together using tape that I also had to find, and then use it to get a key that was just out of reach!
Okay, so I really wasn’t surprised. This re-hashing of old plots, use of old ploys, are what far too many game developers keep doing in their belief that we are stupid enough to spend our money over and over again for the same stale games.
Of course, there is at least one reviewer who gave this trash a five-star rating. Really? This is the same reviewer who frequently mentions having played a game in beta —in spite of a Big Fish customer service agent assuring me that beta games were assigned on a random basis. Right, I certainly believe that! Come on, I'm sure Big Fish will continue feeding you beta games even if you post an honest review now and then.
Don’t waste your time or your money on this piece of rubbish!
I don't recommend this game.
Can you find out who’s kidnapping jurors before it’s too late?
Overall rating
2
/
5
21 of 33 found this review helpful
Speaking of the dead, this game should be buried with them!
PostedMarch 23, 2019
Pilot1
fromTaos, NM
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Hidden Object
Fun Factor
2
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
2
/
5
Level of Challenge
2
/
5
Storyline
2
/
5
Trite, banal, boring! If I wrote nothing more about this game, those three words sum it up to a certainty —as they did for the last six games of this series that I reviewed.
Once more poor Edgar Allan Poe’s name and fame have been appropriated and used for what? For a poorly scripted, poorly plotted, poorly acted, trite, banal, and boring game. Yes, I used those three words again!
What do we have here but the same tired story we’ve had a hundred times before. A woman kidnapped by an evil entity —yeah, that’s new and exciting. The same old HO sequences. The same old mini-games.
And let’s not forget the same old graphics, same old dull background music.
Despite the rave reviews some others have given this game —I simply cannot understand why they have done so, and I’m convinced that they must have played a different game than this demo. Folks, please, it wouldn’t you hurt to write an honest review! I’m sure that Big Fish will continue to feed you beta games.
When I play a game, as when I read a book or watch a play, character development is a large part of my enjoying that particular media. In this game, as in others, such development is mostly absent. It is impossible to empathize with the flat, cartoonish characters who inhabit this game. I really don’t care what happens to them. Nor am I moved to any real effort to ‘rescue’ them from the predicaments which, more often than not, they become embroiled through their own ineptness.
Edgar Allan Poe was the father of the ‘horror’ genre, but the only horror here is the audacity of the game developer to associate his name with this yet again lame offering.
Don’t waste your download capacity or your time on yet another in a now long series of losers!
I don't recommend this game.
Can you stop an ancient evil from breaking free?
Overall rating
1
/
5
33 of 37 found this review helpful
It's time to close this cemetery!
PostedFebruary 10, 2019
Pilot1
fromTaos, NM
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Hidden Object
Fun Factor
1
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
1
/
5
Level of Challenge
1
/
5
Storyline
1
/
5
I don’t have as many of this series as some others do, but I have enough of them to say that I’m somewhat of a fan. This game, Redemption Cemetery - The Cursed Mark, will not be joining the almost three-hundred others that I have bought.
Having read the reviews for the collectors’ edition, I should have been forewarned and not even bothered to download this standard version.
Once again we have an evil entity whose presence is marked by voluminous black smoke. He is, of course, determined to destroy everyone including, obviously, a child who, if we don’t rescue her, will die in a fire set by —you guessed it— the evil entity!
Really? The writers couldn’t come up with a newer, a better plot than this old chestnut?
The first words you hear when this game starts are these, “No, oh, no!” That’s what should have been said when this game was proposed to the developer.
There are almost no options for the player to set. In fact, nothing has changed here since the first in this series was released some ten-years ago.
I play HO games for relaxation and, truly, I don’t expect them to do more than hold my attention for a while and be enjoyable. This game disappointed on both counts.
The repetitive and simple hidden object sequences offered no challenge at all. One after another, all cut from the same cloth.
If you’ve played any of the earlier Redemption Cemetery games you’ll immediately notice that the graphics are the same flat renditions, the music is the same overly melodramatic score, background sounds are more of the all too often recycled clanks, bangs, and screeches, the dialog is stilted and obviously written by a perhaps graduate of an ESL class!
I am sure that there will be some who post rave reviews for this game, just as there were some who thought the Edsel was a great idea. If you’re not old enough to get that reference, sorry.
Usually I suggest that you download and play the demo, not this time. Do not waste either your download limits or your time nor, certainly, waste your money buying this game!
I don't recommend this game.
Survive a fictional horror turned real-life nightmare in a creepy hotel!
Overall rating
2
/
5
17 of 19 found this review helpful
It's time to check out of this hotel, and this series of games!
PostedJanuary 20, 2019
Pilot1
fromTaos, NM
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Hidden Object
Fun Factor
2
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
2
/
5
Level of Challenge
2
/
5
Storyline
2
/
5
I have eleven of the Haunted Hotel series, so you’d be right in thinking that I like these games.
Now comes Haunted Hotel - Beyond the Page and, being the cautious purchaser —okay, make that cynical— I downloaded and played the demo instead of just buying it, or using some of the thirteen credits I have stored up.
I’m not going to describe the game play-by-play, or the so-called extras, others have done that and there’s no point in reinventing an already well-built wheel.
Compared to some of the other Haunted Hotel games — Death Sentence, Phoenix, The Axiom Butcher, Personal Nightmare, to mention just a few— this game is very disappointing.
Apparently Elephant Games graphics engine needs a tune-up because the clarity, the sharpness, the almost life-like movements of the characters, are all nonexistent in this game. I’m searching for a word or two that adequately describe for you what you’d see. Wait, I’ve got ‘em! Muddy, blurred out-lines, wooden movement! There you go, friends, that ought to give you the, ahem, picture.
The opening few minutes of this game makes it very clear that almost no effort went into its production. Here are just a few of the indicators: there's an out-of-reach object in a pond, you have to find and put together parts of a fishing rod to get it; a locked bag and, yes, you have to find a pin to open it; a sign that's missing letters . . . I really don't need to go on, do I?
I also have to wonder if the writers of the other games have all gone to work for another developer because the quality of this story is far below the games that precede it. Even the dialogue is below par; stilted, trite, even childish.
Speaking of childish, I have to yet again wonder where the directorial finesses has gone when the voice of the child —oh, yes, we have yet another terrorized child here— is so very poorly performed by an obviously adult performer.
After about ten minutes of playing this game I began to experience a feeling all too common to most of the this past year’s offerings —boredom!
I really don’t expect much from a game, but I do expect that it will keep me engaged and, give me some enjoyment.
This game does neither. Nor does it get a recommendation from me that you buy it. In truth, I’d not even recommend it for a try-before-you-buy.
I don't recommend this game.