Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Card & Board, Marble Popper, Puzzle, Time Management
Fun Factor
5/ 5
Visual/Sound Quality
5/ 5
Level of Challenge
5/ 5
Storyline
5/ 5
Quite possibly a new favorite for me, this game is beautifully drawn with music that adds to the atmosphere. No voiceover or dialogue boxes, which to me is refreshing. It reminds me a lot of "The Tiny Bang Story" but it's very different. The hidden objects are well hidden but not impossible to find. Some of the puzzles are easy, but most of them take some thought. I used the hint feature more than I'd like, but that means that I'll enjoy playing the game a second time while trying to use fewer hints. All around, an excellent game.
First, I'll say that having up to 6 colors in one puzzle makes it more colorful and visually appealing. The background music is pleasant; if it's too monotonous, it can be muted. There are quite a few levels so it takes a good while to get them all done. That said, I think these puzzles were far easier than the 3-color ones. I used maybe one hint the whole way through. Had to start one over because I made too many mistakes, but it was more because I was sloppy with the mouse button rather than because of the difficulty level. So, if you like easy puzzles, then this is for you. If you're looking for something very challenging, then maybe choose something else.
Favorite Genre(s):Puzzle, Time Management, Adventure, Marble Popper, Brain Teaser
Current Favorite:
Dreamscapes: The Sandman
(165)
Fun Factor
3/ 5
Visual/Sound Quality
4/ 5
Level of Challenge
5/ 5
Storyline
4/ 5
I'm a late-comer to this game and found it because I was looking for something "different." Well, this is different. The graphics are sort of flat and the color palette is rather dull; if you require colorful graphics with depth, you might want to look elsewhere. There are a LOT of HO scenes and not very many puzzles or mini-games. I like it to be the other way around, but the HOs were challenging. (Thought it was interesting that there were so many pieces of fruit in them, including ones from the tropics. That would have been very unlikely in 17th century Salem, and it always bugs me when objects in HOs don't follow the time period or story line.) The map is helpful, but it's not interactive so there was a lot of running around to stumble on the HOs - why should I go into the tailor's shop again? Only to see if I'll find a sparkly area. Had to access the walk-through a couple of times. The most helpful bit of information from that - and it's not a spoiler - is that clicking on the question mark in the task list will reveal a clue about how to complete the task. Sometimes, it was rather cryptic, but I was willing to take what I could get. The game isn't very linear and doesn't always flow very well. That was part of what made it challenging. My favorite games are ones that have great replay value; I'm not going to delete this one right away, but I'm not sure I'll replay it either.
Really tried to like this game - it's different in that the player has very little in the way of back-up: no hints, no sparkles, no map (interactive or not). So playing this game requires some use of brain power! The colors and sounds are pleasant, even soothing. The story line is very nice and the characters are likable and humorous. But there are too many negatives: the excessive dialogue (with no way to skip it other than to just click through very quickly) in speech bubbles spaced far enough apart that I felt like I was at a tennis match; the very small sweet spots for placing items and navigating from one area to another; the endless minor objectives that must be met sequentially instead of concurrently. I finally gave up when I could see no way to complete a particular objective and couldn't move forward; I don't think there's a walk-through yet and, even if there was, I'm not one who will keep running to check it multiple times during the same game. (Don't get me wrong, those who make the walk-throughs; I really do appreciate them when I just can't get figure something out, but I think that would happen a lot in this game.) So, I'm sorry, but this game just doesn't cut it for me.
Favorite Genre(s):Puzzle, Time Management, Adventure, Marble Popper, Word
Fun Factor
5/ 5
Visual/Sound Quality
5/ 5
Level of Challenge
5/ 5
Storyline
4/ 5
I'm on a "Secrets of the Dark" kick, I guess. This game was a lot of fun, and I'll enjoy playing it again. The graphics are beautiful, even though the game has a dark theme to it. There are lighter moments, which makes it a little different from a lot of games in this genre. If you like games with a lot of HO scenes, this one might not be for be you. This game has a lot of puzzles to solve, but not a lot of HOs - which is absolutely fine by me. Most of the puzzles were sufficiently challenging to make me think, but not so difficult to make me give up. I appreciated having a map that was useful for navigation. My spatial memory isn't that great, so in games without navigation maps I often end up going back and forth and around and around. The hint function is actually pretty helpful if it's needed. Can't say if it fills up quickly or not because I used it only a couple of times.
Favorite Genre(s):Puzzle, Time Management, Adventure, Marble Popper
Fun Factor
5/ 5
Visual/Sound Quality
5/ 5
Level of Challenge
5/ 5
Storyline
4/ 5
I'm a late arrival to this game, but not to these devs. This game ranks right up there with my favorites from Orneon. I loved this game. It's dark, yes, but it's along the lines of classic good vs. evil rather than vampires or reincarnation. Other reviewers have talked about the story line, etc. Suffice to say that the overall game is challenging; the HO scenes are true to the atmosphere of the game; the mini-puzzles are, for the most part, not overly easy. There was one mini-game for which I didn't understand the instructions and had to use the skip function; next time I play this game - and it does have replay value - I'll check the walk-through if I still don't get it. There was an interesting twist that I really liked, although other players might find it annoying. Most of the rooms in the game were actually two rooms, one in the present and one in the past. It was necessary to find things in one time frame, and then use them in the other time frame. This was a little confusing at first, but I don't think it caused a huge amount of going back and forth.
I really wanted to like this game. The endless HO scenes in a lot of games get so tiresome, and it was refreshing to NOT have those. In contrast to a couple of other reviewers, I actually liked the minimalist scenery and more subdued colors. But, there were two major issues for me. One was the exacting placement required to use tools; "close enough" definitely wasn't good enough. There were several times in the demo (which I used only 50 minutes of) that I thought I was using the wrong tool, but it turned out after checking the walk-through that it was just a question of placing the tool exactly right. The other was the lack of instructions for the mini-games. I like mini-games and almost never use the skip option on them. But I have to be told how to play the puzzle, thank you very much. So this one is a no-buy for me. :-(
Everything about this game was at least fair, but it's far too easy. Out of the 40 levels, I was able to complete 35 of them within the first time parameter without even really trying very hard. I wish it had been more difficult, so the game would have more replay value for me. It was fun, but I'm glad I paid only $2.99 for it. And a note to the devs: Why does the repaired quarry reproduce huge amounts of stone that aren't to be sold or used very much, yet the repaired sawmill is comparatively slow in producing lumber even though it's needed a lot for repairs and can be sold at the lumber yard? Even with that sawmill slowness though, it was not difficult to finish a level before getting to the "critical" mark on the clock. Sorry, but I just can't give a wholehearted "yes" recommendation.
This is the second Rescue Team game I've purchased and it's turning out to be more challenging than the first one, but not frustratingly so. There seem to be a lot of levels; the first few are relatively easy while picking up how the game works. Level 9 took me quite a few tries to get all 3 stars; it seems that this game will have a lot of play to it. The game does allow progression with completing a level at only 1 or 2 stars. One thing that seems to be different from other TM games I've played is that the player can stack tasks before a worker is actually available. This is helpful, but it still requires careful management at times so as to not tie up workers running around and not using collected resources as quickly as they're needed. I'm really liking this game; if you enjoy a challenging TM game, I think you'll like this one!
Fun and pretty easy mini-games, beautiful graphics, and nice story line, but way too much running back and forth. If the map allowed a player to jump from one location to another, that would be one thing, but it doesn't. The map is very helpful, but it's mostly only to know where there's a task waiting and to know how many times it's necessary to click the mouse to get out of where one is and then how many times to click to get to where one needs to be. I really enjoyed the first Margrave title and was pleased to see another. But I'm deleting it before finishing; having to go way back to get just one item and then go off in another direction to do one simple task and blah blah blah. And it keeps happening, over and over again. I've had enough. Sadly, I don't recommend this game.