cathybobcat's Profile
Stat Summary
- Average Rating:2.5
- Helpful Votes:2,025
- Reviews Submitted:147
- First Review:May 18, 2018
- Most Recent Review:April 16, 2025
- Featured reviews0
Status:
Can you stop a dangerous curse from destroying the realm?
Overall rating
3
/
5
7 of 14 found this review helpful
DOESN'T LOOK LIKE BLUE TEA....VERY SHORT BONUS
PostedSeptember 21, 2019
Fun Factor
3
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
3
/
5
Level of Challenge
3
/
5
Storyline
3
/
5
The Bonus is extremely short with a repeat of FROG (fragmented objects) and scenes, as well as the blocks puzzle where you stack them. The only thing I thought was nice are the extra 2 parables, making it a total of 7 parables (5 in the main game). It was disappointing that that's all there was to it.
The graphics were not the best and did not resemble Blue Tea at all to me. They could have been more defined. There is not an overwhelming amount of puzzles, but there is an excess of going back and forth collecting too many parts for too many places to put them. It was draining. I thought the transportable map was also poorly done.
The FROGS (fragmented objects) are too dark in places and they are not any where near as intricate as in original games. Although they are nice to look at, there are not many items in them.....and those scenes are repeated in the game.
There is a replay of 20 FROGS and 19 puzzles. You collect parable pieces that unlock the parable stories as you go along. There are 5 in the main game and 2 in the Bonus. I think they are a nice feature in Dark Parable games. You also collect morphing objects, which I am not very interested in. I thought they could have done better for collectibles. The collectibles are in the Strategy Guide, but I found the screen shots to be blurry.
Although I think this is one of the better games to be released recently, it left me with a feeling of disappointment and a lack of satiety. The quality just isn't there.
Can you save Vienna from a masked Phantom’s wrath?
Overall rating
2
/
5
8 of 19 found this review helpful
BEAUTIFUL GRAPHICS.....TOO MANY PUZZLES
PostedSeptember 15, 2019
Fun Factor
2
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
3
/
5
Storyline
3
/
5
There are too many time consuming puzzles in this game. I feel that most of my time and effort is taken up with an overabundance of puzzles, outweighing gameplay, and I end up skipping them. It is frustrating to be encountering so many puzzles. I like to have more gameplay than being bombarded with puzzles. All it does is lengthen what is a short game to begin with and lessens the enjoyment of the scenery and story.
The graphics are beautifully done, as is typical of this developer, but this is my least favorite of the series and did not leave me with a feeling of satiety. I thought it was basically mundane and boring, leaving me with the feeling, "Is that all there is?"
There is a replay of only 12 HOS and 13 puzzles...cheap. There are many more puzzles than just 13. I wouldn't want to replay any of it.
Some of the HOS were innovative where you had to match silhouettes with items in the scene, which were rather like puzzles in themselves. I saw no alternative to play. The HOS are repeated in the Bonus as well as some main game scenes. Most of the time is taken up with puzzles if you do those....I didn't. If there weren't so many puzzles you could complete the bonus in 10 minutes.
The collectibles are unimpressive.You collect 38 morphing masks and 27 wooden letters that are only good for yet MORE PUZZLES to do. The only indicator for these is a pop out tab on the left of your screen. They are also marked in the strategy guide.
I am thoroughly disappointed in this. The excessive amount of puzzles ruined this game for me.
A rock band reunion takes a deadly detour into a nightmare!
Overall rating
2
/
5
20 of 35 found this review helpful
COULD WIN AN AWARD FOR WORST GAME OF THE DECADE
PostedSeptember 15, 2019
Fun Factor
2
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
2
/
5
Level of Challenge
2
/
5
Storyline
2
/
5
It has been some time since there has been an issue of Cadenza. I was excited and hopeful for a dynamic game. What a surprise I had....and not a favorable one. I would never ever have known this was Cadenza. It is nowhere near the quality of the others or even typical of their unique style. It is such a poor and apparent rushed production with inferior graphics, extremely poor HOS....and characters that are dorks from a loser cartoon. It is also a very short game, with a short and superficial bonus. The best part of this was the ride in the front seat of the bus, car, and motorcycle......a ride going nowhere. That is what this amounted to.....a waste. I needed an antiemetic.
Can you defeat an evil fairy queen to avenge your father?
Overall rating
2
/
5
10 of 14 found this review helpful
BORING.....NO BUY HERE
PostedSeptember 13, 2019
Fun Factor
2
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
3
/
5
Level of Challenge
3
/
5
Storyline
2
/
5
I have all of the others in this series....some SE and others CE. This was the most boring demo of them that I have ever played. If they don't capture me in the demo, it's over.
The graphics left a lot to be desired. They could have been more clear and not so cartoonish. After a while everything started looking the same and the gameplay was very boring with the usual back and forth, collecting monotonous inventory. The women looked and sounded miserable.
The Extras are the collecting of 15 jewelry pieces, 70 Amulets to be used in a garden of flowers, which is very attractive. You cannot use them until you buy the game, however. There are also 15 Bestiary pages that are just pictures, nothing more. There are indicators for the collectibles in the lower left that will glow when you need to find one. It's a good thing because everything is so camouflaged because of the color scheme. There is a replay of 17 HOS and 17 Puzzles. You also have the regular CE fluff if you care for that.
I didn't care for the HOS, particularly the story type ( I almost exited the game right there). The animal HOS was so dark, it was a strain to see, so I opted to do the Match 3 instead. There needs to be a skip for HOS. The HOS can be completed in hardly no time, whereas the puzzles can end up taking more time than the gameplay itself. It becomes one big distraction. I would also like to mention that the screen shots in the guide are so small. It would be considerate to make them larger. There certainly is room enough on the pages.
The puzzles were becoming too frequent for my taste (outnumbering the HOS as usual) and I utilized the skip for them. I wasn't enjoying the demo, so why bother with time consuming puzzles? I began using the hint also because I just lost interest. There is a very good transportable map which is useful.
This was disappointing. I was hoping for something much better than what was delivered here.....maybe next time.
Go on the trip of a lifetime and immerse yourself in the thriving French culture!
Overall rating
3
/
5
33 of 34 found this review helpful
NOT AS GOOD AS TRAVEL TO ITALY, BUT AN OK GAME
PostedSeptember 9, 2019
Fun Factor
3
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
3
/
5
Level of Challenge
3
/
5
Storyline
3
/
5
There are 15 locations that you play. You earn a star each time you play a scene and it unlocks another scene when you have earned enough stars, or you can use the stars you have earned to open up other locations which I did just to have a look at different scenes. I also used the stars to unlock the word linker puzzles. They start off easy and then become harder. You also earn stars for doing the puzzles which consist of Jigsaws, Jelly Bears that are Match 3, Flower Mahjong, and the word linker Food and Drink words.
There is a timed and untimed mode you can choose. Hints take too long to fill...maybe 30 seconds. I had to use a few hints because some of the items were hard to make out, particularly when you are playing the silhouettes and word scrambles. Although there doesn't appear to be that many items in a scene, some are in your face easy and others very difficult because they blend in with the scenery. There is a magnifier right by the hint which is helpful, but even with that, at times I had a hard time finding things, which was a strain pain. When you replay a scene, sometimes the items are the same and sometimes they are different, so you do have a variety as well as the variety of game play of those scenes such as the silhouettes and word scrambles, and straight lists. In the word scrambles, the capital letter is what the word begins with. Some of those drive me crazy and I just began clicking away.
You can scroll through the scenes to see what they look like by clicking on the arrows on the sides and you can see the puzzles at the end of the 15 scenes. The scenes and puzzles indicate the number of stars you need to open them if you don't want to wait until they open upon your playing initial scenes over and over. Once you use your stars to open a scene, it does remain open for you. It is a plus feature as well as being able to use your stars to open up any of those scenes you might like to try if you have the stars. The stars are very easy to earn and your numbers of stars are shown in the middle of the upper screen. You also have the option of playing any of the scenes and puzzles of your choice when they are opened.
I like Travel to Italy better, but think this is worth a pcc or sale because of the variety of play and options you have. I already used a pcc and am not disappointed.
The past returns inside the Zenith Museum of Oddities!
Overall rating
2
/
5
23 of 30 found this review helpful
A RUINED GAME BECAUSE OF AN OVERWHELMING AMOUNT OF PUZZLES
PostedAugust 24, 2019
Fun Factor
2
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
3
/
5
Level of Challenge
2
/
5
Storyline
2
/
5
This entire game, including a short and terrible bonus is nothing but an excess of puzzles. If you do puzzles and like them, the majority of time will be spent doing them. I didn't bother. The game was not balanced at all and was totally exhausting with all of the back and forth....trying to figure everything out... encountering multiple puzzles. It was like 50 pounds of stuff in a 2 pound bag. I thought it was also disjointed. The HOS were enjoyable, but some were puzzles in themselves. In fact, most of the game is ONE BIG PUZZLE and one I would never play again. It was a chore of work and no play.
Can you save your friend before your luck runs out?
Overall rating
2
/
5
8 of 16 found this review helpful
I FELT LIKE I WAS IN A CARTOON
PostedAugust 14, 2019
Fun Factor
2
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
3
/
5
Storyline
1
/
5
This is more for children, but as I played on, I wondered how it would even hold their interest. It didn't hold mine and I found the gameplay and story to be very boring and juvenile.
The graphics are beautiful and the Extras section was very impressive, particularly the Garden where you use the 69 collectible Celtic crosses you accumulate to furnish the area. The 15 collectible leprechauns were childish. The 15 morphing fairies are pretty. There are 3 indicators in the lower left for the collectibles that glow when there are ones to be found....nice.
There is a replay of 18 HOS and 18 Puzzles. What really got me about this game was the story type HOS and some mini's which I am thoroughly disgusted with. But guess what? There is an alternative Match 3 for those annoying HOS and I sure took advantage of it for these grinding stories of folks reading to me. I can't stand them. There are also HOS with the matching of plus pictures which I don't like either. Half the time I can't make out what the items are in those tiny boxes. There are HOS with items so few and large, it is ridiculous. It takes hardly any time to complete these. There are HOS where you have to rotate rings to find items and they are more like puzzles than HOS. There are also ones where you are finding symbols. Some of them were different and ok.
This is a slow moving, snails paced game and also not very long.....even the bonus is short. It was well done artistically and it was nice to be able to see for a change instead of dark scenes all the time. All in all, this did not have that spark of enthusiasm for me. For all that beautiful scenery, it lacked pazazz and resulted in disappointment.
Travelogue 360 ™: Paris
Among its renowned landmarks and hidden gems waiting to be discovered, Paris holds something new for each of its visitors.
Overall rating
2
/
5
2 of 3 found this review helpful
NO SKIP FOR PUZZLES AND NO WAY TO REPLENISH HINTS
PostedAugust 12, 2019
Fun Factor
2
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
3
/
5
Level of Challenge
3
/
5
Storyline
3
/
5
As soon as I came across having to pack a suitcase a second time....and the second time was with a million items, I quit the game. There are no skips for puzzles and therefore....no buy for me. I don't feel like spending so much time with puzzles I care nothing about and that are annoying. The other puzzles were jigsaws that I came across that you had to rotate pieces. You also have to rotate pieces to fit into a dumb suitcase. It was aggravating and too time consuming.
The concept of the scrolling of the scenes was interesting and I was enjoying it, except for the no skip for puzzles. I saw no way to replenish hints and I accidently hit the hint button and lost one out of the nine you are given. You can zoom in and out with your mouse. There is also a slider device to zoom into a scene. The only way you can scroll the total scene is by using the ball in the middle and I found it annoying that you cannot use your mouse to scroll the scene. The items are large enough to see and there is a relaxed mode of Tourist in the beginning of the game that you can choose.
I have the Rome, Curse of the Necklace game which is the same concept of panning the scenes and I like it better except that items are so small and much harder to find than in this one. There is more of a challenge in that one, but the mechanics of gameplay are much more convenient than this one and you can skip puzzles. I would have liked to been able to try the Mystery of London version, but it did not work on my pc.
The Travelogue games are different and I did like the idea of the scrolling of scenes, but I have to have a skip for puzzles in order to buy a game. It ruins the game for me without it.
Can you bring peace to the kingdoms in time?
Overall rating
1
/
5
GET OUT THE DRAMAMINE.....MOTION SICKNESS DELUXE
PostedAugust 5, 2019
Fun Factor
2
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
2
/
5
Level of Challenge
3
/
5
Storyline
3
/
5
There was so much shaking and movement, I could not even finish the demo. I had to skip puzzles because of all the shaking. Earthquake tremors.....boat rocking......things flashing. I was literally getting sick to my stomach. Also, too many puzzles. Forget it.
Can you stop a criminal you can’t always see?
Overall rating
2
/
5
12 of 13 found this review helpful
ANOTHER SHORT GAME OVERWHELMED WITH PUZZES
PostedJuly 19, 2019
Fun Factor
2
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
3
/
5
Storyline
3
/
5
There isn't much here for Collectibles to make it CE worthy. You only have 15 notes....15 artifacts....and 51 coins to buy items to decorate a room. There are glowing indicators for these in the lower left.
You can replay 18 HOS and 15 Puzzles. There are tons more puzzles than just 15, so you take what they give you for a replay.
Way too much of this game is taken up with puzzles making this a longer game than it would be without so many. It diminishes game play, and totally imbalances it. If there weren't so many puzzles, there would hardly be any game play or story at all. After collecting all the inventory for the usual tasks and numerous puzzles, the game was more of a chore than enjoyment. I am so tired of being overwhelmed with time consuming puzzles that I just start skipping most of them. It made for more of a waste of a game than not.
Most of the HOS are more puzzle like than HOS, which I don't care for, particularly story type ones and the slider kind. It is tedious. It was like being met with more puzzles to do. There is an alternative Match 3 if you don't care to do the HOS.
I don't intend on replaying any of this, including the game which is short as well as a short bonus that was overloaded with puzzles, also. With the lack of collectibles and a short bonus, this is more worthy of a PCC than anything else.
The best part was the graphics and atmosphere. Other than that, this is just another disappointment of a new game that is imbalanced in gameplay.