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:
Sherlock Holmes and the Hound of the Baskervilles
Charles Baskerville is the latest victim of a centuries-old curse! Help Holmes break the curse before the next murder occurs!
Overall rating
5
/
5
Are these ratings too high?
PostedMarch 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
5
/
5
Storyline
4
/
5
Could any game really deserve 5s from so many reviewers? Could any game really be that good? Especially a game drawn from a well-known book? I bought this game without trying it first just to see. I am not disappointed at all. It really is a very good game. Previous reviewers were not kidding. Warning: the plot is quite different from the book. Otherwise, the game play was very much fun, I think I had to use the walkthrough only twice, and I played a number of the puzzles, even though I dislike puzzles.
Special note: the options for this game include setting the resolution, the Gamma, and the music, sound effects, and the voices separately. Why can’t every game change the Gamma? Maybe the rest are ashamed of their artwork?
Recommendation. Try it. You, too, might just love it.
I recommend this game!
After your father dies, your sister Violet requests your help at the Family Castle. Get to the bottom of a dark mystery!
Overall rating
4
/
5
6 of 7 found this review helpful
Overall a good HOG.
PostedMarch 18, 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
Shades of Death is a solid HOG worth buying. It is good but not great, but it is an entertaining play. Most of the HO scenes are good, although some of the hidden objects are concealed to the point that one must click on the area highlighted by the hint and then watch what goes away to see what it could have been while others are perfectly visible but well blended. Oddly, the HOS in the netherworld are brighter and those in the real world are darker. The plot is interesting enough to follow. The continuity of play is pretty good, but I did have to look at the walkthrough a couple of times for hints. I am a puzzle hater and several of these puzzles immediately fell into the skip category. There are no hints for puzzles. You have to guess what it is that you are supposed to do. Skipping is easier with no goal given. Overall, I think you will like this game.
I recommend this game!
Fishdom 2
Dive into awesome Match 3 fun in Fishdom 2! Swap colorful tiles and earn money to create the aquarium of your dreams!
Overall rating
5
/
5
155 of 185 found this review helpful
Addicting
PostedMarch 17, 2012
DrDavid
fromRaleigh, NC
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Hidden Object, Match 3
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Fishdom 2 is a game that I play on and off when I have time to kill and want entertainment and just plain fun. Initially I played it more seriously, but now I play it just for fun and for mainly short intervals. I wish I knew how many levels it has. Right now I am on level 458. I guess you might say I really like this game. One thing I love about it is the bombs. There are four levels of bomb and they are not too hard to get. I sometimes avoid making matches to end a level, until I can create a couple of more bombs, just to watch them blow up. I love to wait for a bomb to clear the last space and end a level. Fun.
I recommend this game!
Uncover the Hidden Mysteries in the Forbidden City!
Overall rating
5
/
5
17 of 19 found this review helpful
A very good HOG and lots of fun.
PostedMarch 13, 2012
DrDavid
fromRaleigh, NC
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Hidden Object, Match 3
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
3
/
5
This is a very good HOG. It was lots of fun to play. The action mainly followed rather logically and the HO scenes were intermediate level and fun to work out. Some of the puzzles were good and some were those rote puzzles I just wait out and skip. This is the kind of HOG that pleases me. There were standard HOS and there were silhouettes which had to be filled in by finding items in the scenes. If you can imagine, think of a scene with silhouettes which pair up with items hidden all over, and in the middle of all of that are the twinkling stars indicating a standard HOS. Quite odd, but still fun. The story line was weak but was enough excuse to follow along. Try it, buy it, and enjoy it. I did.
I recommend this game!
Banish the evil spirits from the house that is cursed and possessed by ancient evil creatures! Save the Cursed House!
Overall rating
4
/
5
49 of 52 found this review helpful
OK M3, but certainly not great
PostedMarch 12, 2012
DrDavid
fromRaleigh, NC
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Hidden Object, Match 3
Fun Factor
4
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
3
/
5
As a M3 game, this was the most imaginative game I have played. Every one of the levels is different; almost like having 10 different games. The first 7 levels were fun blow things up games that are addictive. Then came level 8, and level 8 was no fun. In fact I passed on playing all the stages of that level. This level was ill conceived and poorly executed. I lowered my evaluation of the game to a 3 at that point. I almost erased it. Level 9 pits you against the game itself and, of course, it cheats. I did not replay any level I lost, but I learned how to cheat back and won a few. This did nothing to raise my evaluation of the game. Mediocre. Then came level 10 and again the innovation and imagination prevailed. At this point I grudgingly raised my evaluation to about a 3.6. OK. So I’ll give it a weak 4, but it certainly is not the best game I have played due to the inclusion of two levels they should have thrown away. I recommend this game, but don’t expect too much. It is above mediocre and well below great. However, I have already gone back and replayed some of the fun levels.
I recommend this game!
Go on board the infamous Titanic! Explore the ship as it begins its doomed descent in Hidden Mysteries: The Fateful Voyage – Titanic.
Overall rating
2
/
5
17 of 24 found this review helpful
A Titanic waste of time
PostedMarch 9, 2012
DrDavid
fromRaleigh, NC
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Hidden Object, Match 3
Fun Factor
1
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
3
/
5
Level of Challenge
2
/
5
Storyline
1
/
5
Titanic is a titanic waste of time. It is boring. The HOS are very good and they were enjoyable through the first half of the game, after which I deleted the game. There is no plausible story line so one must refer to the walk through every 30 seconds or so to know what to do next. I dislike puzzles and these were somewhere between boring and stupid. The HOS were the only thing I could find to like, and the lack of a story line finally plunged this game into the ranks of the “deleted before completion”. I just lost interest.
I don't recommend this game.
After crashing your car in the middle of nowhere, you stumble upon a mysterious town with a shady background. Solve a dark mystery!
Overall rating
4
/
5
11 of 14 found this review helpful
A macabre HOG and M3 tale.
PostedMarch 8, 2012
DrDavid
fromRaleigh, NC
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Hidden Object, Match 3
Fun Factor
3
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
5
/
5
Storyline
4
/
5
Phantasmat is both a HOG and a M3 at once. That initially intrigued me but I found out quickly that in any HOS one can solve it the HOS way OR switch to a M3 game and one can even find as many HO as they can and then switch back to a M3 to finish. Switching back and forth is unlimited. Since both HOS and M3 are favorites of mine, I had some trouble deciding which to do. However, the M3 games were relatively small for my eyes and they were rather difficult. They had an explanation screen that did not explain everything, so I ended up doing mostly HOS. The HOS quality was mixed. Several had very small items to find and were very dark. Those just aren’t fun. However there were others that were much clearer and much more fun to do. So the HOS were mixed on quality.
The puzzles were to my liking. I dislike puzzles but at the end of the game it gave me a “trophy” for having solved all of the puzzles without skipping any. I was surprised because I usually skip most of the puzzles in a HOG. I guess these pleased me more than I realized.
The story line is macabre, with twists and turns in the plot. The cut scenes were fair but long. Without them, the plot would have been too twisted to follow, so I can’t recommend skipping them. The art work is pretty good and often pretty disgusting. Unfortunately the game play doesn’t move smoothly from one scene to another. I had to keep the walkthrough open all of the time and switch back and forth because one scene often did not lead to the next, but left me hanging, trying to figure out what should be next. That fragmented the action and significantly reduced the fun.
The puzzles were to my liking. I dislike puzzles but at the end of the game it gave me a “trophy” for having solved all of the puzzles without skipping any. I was surprised because I usually skip most of the puzzles in a HOG. I guess these pleased me more than I realized.
The story line is macabre, with twists and turns in the plot. The cut scenes were fair but long. Without them, the plot would have been too twisted to follow, so I can’t recommend skipping them. The art work is pretty good and often pretty disgusting. Unfortunately the game play doesn’t move smoothly from one scene to another. I had to keep the walkthrough open all of the time and switch back and forth because one scene often did not lead to the next, but left me hanging, trying to figure out what should be next. That fragmented the action and significantly reduced the fun.
I recommend this game!
Murder, She Wrote
Help the world-renowned author, Jessica Fletcher, solve murders! Piece together the clues to crack cases in Murder, She Wrote!
Overall rating
5
/
5
3 of 4 found this review helpful
Easy but good fun.
PostedMarch 5, 2012
DrDavid
fromRaleigh, NC
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Hidden Object, Match 3
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
3
/
5
Storyline
5
/
5
This is an easy, fun HOG with a pretty good story line, interesting twists on the usual HOS with the typewriter keys and ribbon to find, and easy but interesting puzzles. It isn’t too challenging, but it was a fun play. There are 5 books to interact with, so it is possible to stop after any one without forgetting where you were, as each book is a new game.
I recommend this game!
Peel back the curtains and search for treasure in one of the grandest buildings in the western world – Buckingham Palace!
Overall rating
5
/
5
62 of 70 found this review helpful
Another fun HOG worth buying
PostedMarch 4, 2012
DrDavid
fromRaleigh, NC
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Hidden Object, Match 3
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
4
/
5
I really enjoyed this HOG. I found it to be fun. The HO scenes were light and bright and relatively easy to solve. Almost all of the objects to find were easily visible, confused with lots of ‘other’ objects but easy enough, a few were so well blended in that they appeared to be more background and took a bit more time to find. I killed the sounds in the first minute because they were annoying, but the game was fine in silent mode. Hints can be purchased by finding the crowns in each scene, but after each act they are reset to 10. I never used more than 2 in an act. When I used a hint, I used the silhouette either to distinguish an animal from an object when looking for a ‘bat’, or to tell the size and direction in which the object is oriented. The puzzles could use just a bit of a hint now and then. At least tell us why we are doing something.
I recommend this game!
The Crown of Thorns, the most precious and revered relic in the Notre Dame Cathedral, has disappeared! Track down the artifact!
Overall rating
5
/
5
37 of 39 found this review helpful
A fun HOG.
PostedMarch 3, 2012
DrDavid
fromRaleigh, NC
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Hidden Object, Match 3
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
4
/
5
This game had HO scenes which were relatively easy and well drawn. The game turned out to be much better than I expected and was a joy to play. I was only briefly in France and never in Paris, so I have no idea whether the cathedral is authentic, but it still was a fun game and worth playing. Right at the end I got stumped and went through the walk-thru to discover where I missed a clue. That was when I found out that I seemed to have done everything out of order, but I finished. I dislike puzzles, but I think I worked all of the ones here. They were few, intellectual, and fun.
I recommend this game!