ChocPeng's Profile
Stat Summary
- Average Rating:2.7
- Helpful Votes:698
- Reviews Submitted:40
- First Review:December 31, 2011
- Most Recent Review:May 2, 2022
- Featured reviews0
Status:
The gates to another world will open soon! You can stop the impending disaster - if you track down the stolen runes!
Overall rating
2
/
5
6 of 8 found this review helpful
I Found Elements of This Game Troubling
PostedFebruary 21, 2014
Fun Factor
2
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
3
/
5
Level of Challenge
2
/
5
Storyline
1
/
5
I was really expecting to like this game. I mean, with that high of a rating, how could I go wrong?
I went wrong.
For starters, I found this game to be slow and boring. It's just a "by-the-book" HOG. But, I've completed many slow and boring games. This game, however, started going into places I didn't want to go.
I don't think anything I'm going to write is a spoiler, but I would like to err on the side of caution and advise you to continue at your own risk.
There were a couple of deal-breakers in this game for me. The first one was the overall pervasiveness of the occult. Our protagonist even states how impressed she is at a scientist's library that is "full of books on...the occult" (among a few other subjects).
The next issue is what sealed the deal on the ill will the game was building within me. This is also where what I am going to write could possibly be considered a spoiler, so be forewarned. I don't think it is a spoiler.
You literally have to remove a dead piglet from a barbecue, then carry it for a while before putting the poor little fellow in a trap as bait.
Ok, I know the piglet isn't real. It's just the whole idea of it; throwing a dead piglet – that's how the game referred to it, as a "piglet" – into a trap to lure something. It just turned my stomach.
You may not be as sensitive as I am about the occult, burning baby animals and then putting them into traps as bait. If so, you might like this game. Heck, look at all of the stars others have given it.
However, they do offend my sensibilities, so under these circumstances, I'm afraid I cannot recommend this game.
I don't recommend this game.
The town of Green Hill has really gone to the birds!
Overall rating
5
/
5
20 of 22 found this review helpful
A Rare Review From Me
PostedFebruary 6, 2014
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
5
/
5
Storyline
5
/
5
REVIEW BASED UPON COMPLETION OF FULL GAME AND BONUS GAME.
As you can see, despite being a member here since 2007, I have left relatively few reviews. I have to really love or really loathe a game to come and review it. This is a love review!
First, the graphics. They are tremendous. There is such an attention to detail, that when one of the females is sad, she actually has tear streaks through her "makeup" on her face – she looks like she really had been crying and had streaked her makeup. Impressive.
I usually don't care one way or the other about story lines. Give me good games and few hidden object puzzles and I'm a happy girl. However, this game had a compelling storyline that sucked me in and I very much enjoyed it.
The characters were likable (when appropriate) and were believable. Their actions always made sense.
The hidden object puzzles were few and well placed. Even though I am not a fan of HOPs, I really enjoyed playing these because they were nicely appointed and basically just fun to play.
The mini-games were a delight. Some were more difficult than others, so there was something there for everyone. I applaud the developers for making an effort to be innovative in offering new types of games.
The game was a perfect length.
Also, I truly enjoyed the bonus game. The developers actually introduced a whole new element in the bonus game, so they kept creating right up until the very end!
The collectibles were fun to find. There are a couple of them so you don't have to keep up with a bunch of different collectibles that will distract you from the game.
I will say I would have preferred more offerings in the "Extras" area, like the ability to replay HOPs and mini-games, or just something extra other than only the bonus game and wallpaper, etc. Developers now are finding so many clever things to offer in the "Extras" area, like new puzzles, new doors to open – you know what I'm talking about. I would have liked to see the kind of innovation and cleverness that went into designing the game also used to bring the "Extras" section alive.
All in all, this was a great game and I highly recommend it. If developers get frustrated when they get rated low on BFG and want to know what it is they are missing, they should play this game and take notes. THIS is how you develop an Adventure game.
Bravo! Bravo!
I recommend this game!
Release the characters from the witch's curse and find the portal home!
Overall rating
5
/
5
12 of 15 found this review helpful
I'm So Sad It's Over :-(
PostedSeptember 7, 2013
ChocPeng
fromUSA
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Large File
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
5
/
5
Storyline
5
/
5
BASED UPON COMPLETION OF THE FULL GAME AND BONUS LEVEL AT THE HARDEST LEVEL AVAILABLE.
This game is incredible! I haven't been so overjoyed about a game in ages. Don't you all feel like we've been in a terrible lull lately? If you do, buy this game, buy the CE, play on the hardest level and get ready for some fun.
It could be said that this game is a bit linear. But, there is no hand-holding and one thing that was truly wonderful is that the gameplay made perfect sense! When has THAT happened lately?
Storyline means nothing to me. I pay for these games to be challenged by puzzles and games.
But, I've never come across a game where the storyline served to unify all areas of the game and made the puzzles and games make sense and truly have a purpose. I learned with this game that a great storyline can add real texture to a game.
The mini-games are wildly creative and innovative. No run-of-the-mill games here. It was the mini-games that made this game one of my all-time favorites. And, there are so many of them; they are all over the place. They are challenging enough to bring pause to an expert player, but not so challenging that an intermediate player or possibly even some newbies couldn't do them.
And the best part about the mini-games - NO INSTRUCTIONS! I loved that. It's like, "Here's the puzzle. Figure it out." But, no worries to those who find that intimidating; the Strategy Guide is on your right where you can get instructions if you need them without necessarily seeing the solution.
Also, those who have read my reviews before know I strongly dislike HOGs. I want only true Adventure Games, which are SO rare.
But, in this game, the HOGs were so much fun I couldn't wait for the next one. There is the perfect number of them and they are spaced apart perfectly, too.
Finally, the first thing I do when I launch a game is turn the music off. In this game, I let the music play. It was enjoyable. I kept it down low enough where I could hear it faintly in the background, and it, too, added wonderful texture to this game.
One thing potential players should know is that this game on expert is probably not a game for beginners. I haven't played it on the easiest level, so it very well may be a great game for beginners on that level. Just use your discretion.
Grab this game and enjoy, my fishy friends!
I recommend this game!
There's a dark force at work in Pilgrim's Hook. Return to your childhood home and save your twin brother from the evil that lives beneath the sea.
Overall rating
5
/
5
2 of 4 found this review helpful
Can't Say Enough!
PostedMay 2, 2013
ChocPeng
fromUSA
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Large File
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
5
/
5
Storyline
5
/
5
I can't say enough good things about this game. I will say, however, that IT'S ABOUT TIME!
It's about time we got a quality game to play. If other developers want to know how to do a quality game, they need only to look to this game.
Excellent gameplay, excellent storyline, excellent _____, excellent _____, excellent _____ (add your own noun).
I am an expert player, and I finally got a game that actually challenged me. These games and HOGs were tough - in a simply fabulous way. Nothing mindless here.
Collectibles and achievements were great fun.
One of the most extraordinary things is, however, that the game just goes on forever, offering you more gaming fun than any other game I've seen in a long time. You get extra collectibles to find AFTER the game is over - as a bonus.
This game is my new favorite.
There is no way I can recommend this game more highly. Don't walk - run - to get your copy!
I recommend this game!
Azada’s saga continues when its precious elements are stolen!
Overall rating
5
/
5
20 of 25 found this review helpful
This Azada is Getting a Bum Rap
PostedMarch 13, 2013
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
5
/
5
Storyline
5
/
5
This is the danger of being part of a series. Each is compared to the other, and complaints start usually at the third game.
I believe that the reason many of the people are being negative about this is that is didn't follow the same formula of the first two Azadas, which were similar. But, why should it? We've done that already. Don't we dog on developers when they offer the same, old formulaic games?
This was a wonderful game, worthy of the Azada series. It was the only game I've ever played at BFG where I paid any attention to the storyline, and that's because this was such a good one.
Azadas steal my heart for being true adventure games. In this one, there are several HOGs, but they are few in comparison with the great, innovative mini-games offered.
Every part of this Azada is challenging. I am an expert player and I play on the hardest levels offered in every game, yet I still go through them mindlessly. Don't check your brain at the door with this one; it was truly challenging and I loved that. I really had to think in this one, but it wasn't hard. There is a difference between being challenging and being hard.
There were a couple of things I thought were not the greatest here. As always, I opted to skip the tutorial, but I was still having to tell this game to skip the tutorial well into the Bonus Level and right up until the end of the game.
The HOGs were well done, and I hate HOGs. but a few were confusing because, for instance, in one it asked for a bird and there were a hand-drawn bird in flight, an owl, and an actual image of a bird in the scene. That's three birds. There were a few things like that. A minor annoyance, but it was there so I must mention it.
I enjoyed how the movement flowed. I always shake my head when I read reviews where people say, "I didn't like all the running around and going back and forth." Let's consider that for a moment: what else would you do in a game like these? You've got to move from place to place, so what's the problem?
If there is a world in which you move all around the world in the game, then people complain about the running around. However, the other side of that would be to always be going forward and never backtrack. Then out come the complaints that the game is too linear.
This game has one of those interactive maps that allow you to move to and fro and I love those. However, when people review games these days, they always mention the maps and heaven forbid if a developer offered no map or one that is not interactive.
You know, maps are a relatively new thing, and there is no requirement - spoken or unspoken - that a game has to have a map.
But, this game has it all and the some. The game ends satisfactorily, and the Bonus Level basically takes the story beyond the ending, setting up the next Azada.
And, if that Azada is not like this one or the first two, let's be objective and give the game a chance to stand on its own.
I recommend this game!
Novelist Edward Grand has found evidence of a terrible tragedy in the city of Rosemount and sets off to investigate!
Overall rating
1
/
5
4 of 6 found this review helpful
What Am I Missing Here?
PostedFebruary 18, 2013
Fun Factor
1
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
1
/
5
Level of Challenge
1
/
5
Storyline
1
/
5
I downloaded this game during the "two for one" sale BFG had going on. I thought the deadline was looming, so I went ahead and bought the two highest-rated games, site unseen.
The other one, Chimeras: Tune of Revenge Collector's Edition was tremendous! I highly recommend it.
But this game - with all the high ratings - what am I missing? I've played about a couple of hours, and though I have long railed against people reviewing games they haven't completed, I just had to stop and see if I'm missing something.
Of the three play levels, I selected the hardest one: no hints, no sparkles, no nothing; just your brains and wits vs. the game.
I've had sparkles for every HOS, and just to check to see how off this game was, I clicked "Hint" several times and I was given the hint every single time.
The game is SO badly made, there is hand-holding to the point of being ridiculous. There is no audible dialogue; it's just pure silence while a character "speaks" to you in a white box at the bottom of the screen. Honestly, it was as if this game was made in the 1990s.
But, you all loved this game; there has GOT to be something I'm missing here. Can someone please help me with this? I'm not going to trash this game until I hear from others. Perhaps I'm doing something wrong.
I don't recommend this game.
The family saga continues when your nephew Brandon encounters the mysterious Stone Queen in a lonely mountain town.
Overall rating
2
/
5
12 of 13 found this review helpful
How Did This Get So Many Stars?
PostedFebruary 8, 2013
Fun Factor
2
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
2
/
5
Storyline
2
/
5
BASED UPON COMPLETION OF FULL GAME AND BONUS LEVEL.
This was one of the most frustrating games I've played in quite some time. Everything about it was annoying and frustrating.
After many years of playing these, I am an expert at them. Not the kind of player who calls herself an "expert" yet plays games on casual (or even advanced) levels. Usually now there are three levels in games, and I always play on hardcore, or the hardest level available to me. I'm that kind of expert.
Having said that, I was incredibly annoyed at this game because there was no rhyme or reason to where items were, where you were in the game or where you were to go. None of it made sense.
There was never a clear indication of what was next; none of the clues found brought me any closer to knowing where to head next. It was not intuitive at all.
For what seemed like an eternity, everywhere I turned I found another "project" that needed to be done. There's got to be some payoff consistently throughout the game where you are able to find items necessary to click one of those projects off the list. But no - not until toward the end did this game start giving you the items you needed to start completing the steps. Can you imagine how frustrating and boring that was?
Of course I finished the game and the bonus level, because I have this thing where I have to finish what I start. I will even read a bad book cover to cover if I have already started it when I determine it's bad. Just one of those little quirks!
Love, love, love Elephant Games and the Grim series. However, I was very disappointed; this edition was a real stinker.
I don't recommend this game.
Push your detective skills to the limit in a fantastical faraway land and find a prince's lost love.
Overall rating
5
/
5
7 of 9 found this review helpful
This Is NOT Just for Little Girls; Don't Believe the Haters
PostedDecember 21, 2012
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
5
/
5
*This review is based on a complete game with bonus on the hardest level.*
I don't review games very often, and I have been highly critical of games in the past. However, this game was delightful, and I can't imagine why others would trash this game.
Someone here said there was no music. There was wonderful music, and while I usually mute music, I chose to lower the volume, but listen to this music, as it was lovely.
The HOS, which thankfully appeared only occasionally, used a wonderful reverse strategy that I loved. It made the HOS actually fun - and I hate HOS. Some were easy at first, but they got more challenging as the game progressed, and that was great fun.
This game had lovely scenery and excellent graphics. Hats off to the design team.
The mini-games offered something for everyone. Some were quite easy, and then some were quite challenging. And there were lots of them - a real positive for me.
Sure, the first of the game was a nod to Cinderella, but that storyline was completed quickly as other challenges came into play and the storyline changed to another, more interesting and complicated story that had nothing to do with a Cinderella story.
This game is exactly why I dislike it when people give reviews based only on a demo and not the complete game. If you play only the demo, then you see only a glimpse of the game and get only the Cinderella-type storyline and think that's what the whole game is about. Well, it is not.
The game had an agreeable length; playing three or so hours at a time, the game took me days to complete. And, I loved the bonus chapter.
This is the best interactive map I have ever encountered, after more than five years of games with BFG. When you click on an area in the map, it tells you where it is and what objectives remain in that area, and takes you right there. Additionally, if you click on a dwelling, the map turns into a floor plan that shows you all the rooms in that structure plus the objectives remaining in each room - click a room and it takes you there.
One last thing that concerns me about some of the postings here - why do people who designate themselves "experts" reveal that they play a game on the "casual" setting? If you are still playing games on "casual," then you probably aren't yet an expert. Experts play their games on the hardest levels. That is why they are experts!
Just a thought.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all my fellow fishes! I love my BFG community!
I recommend this game!
Use your botany skills to survive the strange new planet of Botanica. Can you find your way back to Earth in this thrilling Hidden Object adventure?
Overall rating
2
/
5
13 of 22 found this review helpful
I Just Had to Stop
PostedOctober 29, 2012
Fun Factor
2
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
3
/
5
Level of Challenge
3
/
5
Storyline
3
/
5
I went into this game very enthusiastically. It looked beautiful, and I was certain I would enjoy it.
I think this may be the first time I have ever reviewed a game without completing it, including the bonus section. I don't care for reviews from people who haven't played the entire game, especially those who state, "played for 10 mins." I mean, what's the deal with the 10-min review? I see more and more of them and I don't understand why 10 minutes is a magic number.
Anyway, in this game, I got far enough to get the "100 Hours With No Hints" award. I played well into the game. Finally, however, I just had to stop.
This game was SO boring. I never connected with any of the characters - they weren't developed well at all.
The graphics were pretty to look at, if you wanted to frame them. They do not lend themselves to game play.
I can't really put my hand on the reason I didn't like this game other than to say it bored me to tears.
Much love to my fellow fishies!
I don't recommend this game.
Rescue your daughter, Hannah, from the clutches of an evil witch before it's too late in this chilling Hidden Object adventure game!
Overall rating
5
/
5
1 of 1 found this review helpful
Thank Heaven! No Hidden Objects!
PostedSeptember 22, 2012
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
3
/
5
**Based Upon Completion of Full Game & Bonus Game**
I loved this game. I don't know why anyone would have a problem with it. I've heard that some bailed on it immediately because they thought the story line was too improbable.
But, the way I look at it, using a special sword to make monster plants explode, riding in a boat with a skeleton driving and speaking with ghosts beyond the grave are quite improbable, as well.
I mean, don't we all have to suspend disbelief to play these games in the first place? Why would we look for reason and rational when we are dealing with fire runes?
Needless to say, I find the squabble about story line silly.
Want to know the best part? THERE ARE NO HIDDEN OBJECT GAMES! I've never understood when people complain about that. This game is pure adventure and it is great fun.
I liked it that the world wasn't so spread out that I couldn't find my way around. I get bored when that happens.
The mini-games were different. They were marginally challenging. I never had to skip any, although I never skip games, anyway. Still, these games were what I consider just the right levels for my taste and intelligence level. I'm not sure what that says about me!
I highly recommend this game. Well developed, tight and solid.
I recommend this game!