DrDavid's Profile
Stat Summary
- Average Rating:3.3
- Helpful Votes:2,837
- Reviews Submitted:246
- First Review:November 24, 2011
- Most Recent Review:July 12, 2022
- Featured reviews0
Status:
A city is left in ruin at the hands of a corrupt official, and you have been called in to rebuild it in this exciting new installment of the Be Rich franchise!
Overall rating
1
/
5
9 of 9 found this review helpful
When a sequel goes horribly wrong
PostedOctober 20, 2012
DrDavid
fromRaleigh, NC
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Hidden Object, Match 3
Fun Factor
1
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
1
/
5
Storyline
3
/
5
This is a horribly wrong sequel to Be Rich and Be Richer. The original was pretty good, the sequel even better, but this one is absolutely, incredibly stupid. The disasters outweigh anything good in the game play. There is no chance of planning ahead because disasters happen in droves, usually three at a time, and require multiple clicks to remediate. You have to click in a pattern, not too fast or too slow to get rid of rats or whatever. Thousands of clicks later, you have run rats out of the same six buildings countless times and the level is finally over. Take a break, because you are risking carpal tunnel injury. In fact I do not recommend the game because of the carpal tunnel risk, and the fact that the frequency of disasters absolutely spoils any fun in the game.
To the plus side, the graphics are absolutely amazing. They are as wonderful as the game play is stupid. When you widen out to an aerial view of the city, you can still see exactly where you placed buildings. Incredible detail. If only the game were fun to play. I rate this game all work and no fun. I quit after 32 levels (which with replays of previous levels probably meant 150 levels played). If you are a real glutton for punishment, limit your playing time to avoid strain to your wrists.
To the plus side, the graphics are absolutely amazing. They are as wonderful as the game play is stupid. When you widen out to an aerial view of the city, you can still see exactly where you placed buildings. Incredible detail. If only the game were fun to play. I rate this game all work and no fun. I quit after 32 levels (which with replays of previous levels probably meant 150 levels played). If you are a real glutton for punishment, limit your playing time to avoid strain to your wrists.
I don't recommend this game.
Earn your riches in the real estate market in this Time Management game. Construct whole neighborhoods in Be Richer!
Overall rating
4
/
5
1 of 2 found this review helpful
Very good escapism game
PostedOctober 20, 2012
DrDavid
fromRaleigh, NC
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Hidden Object, Match 3
Fun Factor
4
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
3
/
5
This game is like Be Rich except much better. It has very good graphics, well defined goals, and easy play. This game has fewer hesitations that its predecessor, but still occasionally has to load more data. This is a game I may well replay.
I recommend this game!
Build the biggest real estate company in the nation. Construct houses, mansions, stadiums, entire neighborhoods!
Overall rating
4
/
5
3 of 4 found this review helpful
Pretty good little game
PostedOctober 20, 2012
DrDavid
fromRaleigh, NC
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Hidden Object, Match 3
Fun Factor
4
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
3
/
5
This is a fairly cute little game that you might think of as Build-a-lot for a city environment. The graphics are pretty good and the play is good except for little hesitations occasionally as the game engine loads additional data. Good escapism.
I recommend this game!
Explore a decrepit mental asylum and find your missing boyfriend in Haunted Halls – Green Hills Sanitarium!
Overall rating
3
/
5
1 of 1 found this review helpful
An OK HOG, but a bit boring
PostedOctober 3, 2012
DrDavid
fromRaleigh, NC
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Hidden Object, Match 3
Fun Factor
3
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
3
/
5
Level of Challenge
2
/
5
Storyline
3
/
5
This was a rather run-of-the-mill HOG which was reasonably fun to play despite not being imaginative or fresh. One HOS did have stamps with hidden items which were part of the stamp or just hidden among them. Otherwise most of the HOS were OK. Toward the end a couple fell into the tiny item hidden in a black area where it could not been seen even using the hint. One of particular note was the red pit with the skull wearing a pirate hat. I’d advise random clicking as the best way to get half way done and then use the hint extensively. Most of the items will be invisible even when “found” by the hint. Probably 85% of the HOS items are visible taking all of the HOS together. The puzzles were mainly long and boring affairs which were best skipped. They were not really hard, just boring. Overall, this was about an average HOG which showed some problems near the end where the team putting it together must have been quite rushed; it showed. Although this was a CE, I erased the game without playing the extras. I was bored with the game.
I recommend this game!
Discover the fabulous secrets that a jungle hides in Adelantado Trilogy: Book One! Help the brave and noble officer, Don Diego De Leon, to find and save the lost expedition.
Overall rating
5
/
5
Strategy game escapism
PostedSeptember 24, 2012
DrDavid
fromRaleigh, NC
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Hidden Object, Match 3
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
4
/
5
The description of this game as strategy rather than time management convinced me use the trial period to evaluate it. I suspected that it may be slow and too much like life to be entertaining. I chose easy and finished the first level in 23 minutes. I rather enjoyed it. Part way through level two, which took 35 minutes to complete, I bought the game. I have two jobs, one is stressful, and I prefer games which allow me to escape for as long as I want to play. This game was initially slow paced but I was interested nonetheless. In fact I rather liked the fact that it did not tell me up front how to play, but allowed me to make mistakes until I figured it out. Played all the way through in easy mode, I found this game to be captivating and escapist. There are 10 levels and all but the first two took me over an hour to play. I played it in one Saturday when I did not work either job and occupied the entire day. As I write this there are reviews all over the board. Try it before you buy it, as this game is definitely NOT time management but it does share some of those elements (at least in easy mode). Frankly I loved the game; maybe you will too, but I encourage you to try it. For older folks, mouse clicks are usually at a far less frantic pace than certain time management games; my arm never went to ‘sleep’ from overusage.
I recommend this game!
Restore the Aztecs to their former glory! Packed with challenges and rewards, Aztec Tribe: New Land is an exciting Strategy game!
Overall rating
2
/
5
28 of 33 found this review helpful
Lower than my low expectations for it
PostedSeptember 19, 2012
DrDavid
fromRaleigh, NC
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Hidden Object, Match 3
Fun Factor
1
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
1
/
5
Storyline
2
/
5
Once again I tried an Aztec Tribe game. The initial levels held a lot of hope that the problems with the original game had been fixed. The herky-jerky animation problem seemed to have been largely fixed but the writers still have way too many disasters in the game to make it any fun. I got through level 23 and finally decided that I’d rather clean house or go to the dentist and I erased this loser. Another FAIL. The game authors obviously never played the game and really do not understand what constitutes fun. I have two jobs, I want to be entertained. This did not fit that bill at all. Spend your money and your time elsewhere.
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
A fun and engrossing game
PostedSeptember 9, 2012
DrDavid
fromRaleigh, NC
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Hidden Object, Match 3
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
5
/
5
Storyline
5
/
5
This HOG is one without typical HOS. It is an adventure game that features a book missing many pages which are scattered throughout the game. You must find all of the missing pages to complete the game. I missed one page and the final cut scene would not run until I used the very helpful map to find where it was (only which room). Likewise other missing items must be found as you walk through the game. It might sound funny but it works very well. There are many puzzles but those puzzles are much better than the usual game puzzle. Only 2 or 3 were so tedious that I found it necessary to skip them rather than swap pieces for 30 minutes. I will say that some of the games were difficult to figure out, initially, but since the strategy guide has detailed solving instructions, you can use it to figure out what you are supposed to be doing. There was one totally inscrutable puzzle, however. I never had a clue what to do with it. The game begins a bit slowly and develops as it goes. There is more than a little back and forth, with very little logical reason to go back and forth. By the middle of the game I was using the strategy guide as a crutch because there was no logical reason to go to the next place, although this bothered me less in this game than in other games. Overall, I liked the game enough to play it at one sitting; unusual for me.
I recommend this game!
Build the Aztec civilization by mining resources and constructing buildings. Upgrade your structures and ward off your enemies!
Overall rating
2
/
5
31 of 31 found this review helpful
The game that COULD have been
PostedSeptember 5, 2012
DrDavid
fromRaleigh, NC
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Hidden Object, Match 3
Fun Factor
1
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
2
/
5
Level of Challenge
1
/
5
Storyline
3
/
5
To begin with, this is a resource management game rather than a time management game. Time isn’t kept but resources are limited and you must have a plan and use it to achieve your goals. Excellent concept. That works well for me, but then there are the every 5 to 10 second ‘disasters’ which interrupt game play and aggravate you to wits end. The disasters ruin plans and lengthen level play to as much as 30 minutes per level. Then the next level you begin at scratch again. Finally it just gets doggone boring. Excellent concept and poor execution. I’m on level 25 but the game is so boring I would rather read e-mail or straighten my stereo wires. I never counted, but my garden, producing food, burned to the ground about 10 times the last level. Boring. Oh, how good this game COULD have been and missed. Alas, I could almost recommend it but not quite.
The graphics are OK but the game moves along in a herky-jerky fashion when the animation engine seems to run out of resources. Another example of ALMOST a great game. Overall, this is a FAIL.
The graphics are OK but the game moves along in a herky-jerky fashion when the animation engine seems to run out of resources. Another example of ALMOST a great game. Overall, this is a FAIL.
I don't recommend this game.
Discover the fate of your exiled kingdom, save your people and end the ancient evil that started it all!
Overall rating
3
/
5
7 of 11 found this review helpful
illegitimate offspring of the Awakening series; dumb mini-games included
PostedAugust 26, 2012
DrDavid
fromRaleigh, NC
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Hidden Object, Match 3
Fun Factor
3
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
2
/
5
Storyline
4
/
5
This is the fourth in a series of HOGs that follow a single plot. The first one was pretty good and the next two set a high standard. This HOG fails to maintain that standard. The game play is good, although there is no way to predict what to do or where to go next most of the time, still with frequent use of hints one can flounder along with the story. The graphics are great and the cut scenes are about normal for the genre. I just wish the action were easier to predict without constantly referring to the hints. The HOS were a mixed bag with some being so dark as to prevent knowing where many of the items were even after using hints. Some of the HOS were matching and some were pairing and frequently I was stopped by the fact that I did not realize I was into a HOS. They could have at least warned me. And that brings me to the mini-games. I was torn between a 4 and a 5 rating for this HOG except for the sorry state of the mini-games. The mini-games have few or no hints to help you. First you have to figure out WHAT you are supposed to accomplish and then you have to see whether that was right. One ‘rings’ puzzle I set it with the sun on the right and the moon on the left so that the faces appeared ‘right’ but did not win. I rotated it so that the ring solution would be opposite and the faces would be upside down and did not win. I skipped the game and found that the sun should have been on the top and the moon on the bottom. That was just one of the many games I skipped. Some, I had no idea how to play. There is one with random numbers outside a checkerboard and the numbers should give a hint what to do? I skipped all 3 of them. And don’t bother to talk about the arrangements with no colors or shapes or symbols in the same row or column. I did the first 2 and skipped the next 2 or 3 as too boring. In fact, the mini-games were so stupid that I have to lower the rating for the HOG to a 3, and very nearly to a 2. The state of the mini-games was simply awful; too dumb to bother with many of them. One mini-game asks you to trace the shape without reusing any lines. What shape? Stupid game! Wait a bit and hit skip. The main HOG game would have been better without any of the mini-games.
Should you buy this game? I think it will be a fun game for most, not challenging, just confusing, but please don’t think it will be as good as its predecessors. It is not that good; there are very many better games. Without the stupid mini-games it would have been very much better.
Should you buy this game? I think it will be a fun game for most, not challenging, just confusing, but please don’t think it will be as good as its predecessors. It is not that good; there are very many better games. Without the stupid mini-games it would have been very much better.
I recommend this game!
Travel from the deepest trenches of the Atlantic Ocean to the awe-inspiring wonders of Mars as you solve the greatest archeological puzzle known to man: the origin of Atlantis.
Overall rating
5
/
5
2 of 2 found this review helpful
A refreshingly unique HOG
PostedAugust 23, 2012
DrDavid
fromRaleigh, NC
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Hidden Object, Match 3
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
5
/
5
As I write this, 134 of 154 people rated this game a 5. Generally that speaks very highly of a game. No exception here. This game seemed to have everything. The plot is SciFi and yet grounded in adventure and romance. The plot development begins and then has a very abrupt change that is disturbing. Suddenly, a plot that was going one direction changes course and heads off on another tangent. I can easily see that some folks would be lost at that point and quit, but if they stay the course, everything will be explained, if only in SciFi terms. This is not a story of ghosts and demons and that is refreshing. The cut scenes are somewhat cartoonish but OK, the artwork in general is very good. The HOS are fairly straight forward and rarely dark and dreary. There are very many different locations to visit and plenty of back and forth, but a map is provided to allow you to jump from here to there without the delay of moving through here and there to get to the next place where there is action to do. Speaking of what comes next, the CE has a built in guide that was absolutely necessary for me. This is SciFi; I had no idea why things were done, I just did what the guide suggested. Early on I broke a glass and took a fuse that I did not need until the late part of the game. There was no logic why I needed that item at the time. I would prefer a game where the next action was logical, but at least I had the guide to keep me on track. I enjoyed playing this game and recommend it.
I recommend this game!