twinsoniclab's Profile
Stat Summary
- Average Rating:2.8
- Helpful Votes:3,182
- Reviews Submitted:110
- First Review:June 17, 2013
- Most Recent Review:December 2, 2022
- Featured reviews0
Status:
Can you find your husband and escape an otherworldly foe?
Overall rating
5
/
5
3 of 5 found this review helpful
Lots of Fun
PostedJuly 13, 2018
twinsoniclab
fromSouthern Oregon
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Card & Board, Hidden Object, Mahjong, Match 3, Puzzle, Word
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
5
/
5
Storyline
3
/
5
I didn't give the storyline full stars for the reason it is not anything we haven't seen before. Our husband is missing, taken by some entity for his "soul" or his "energy" or something like that. This entity has the town in its power.
But, the game itself is so good! There are plenty of HOS and PUZZLES, and while some are easy and simple lists, some are tremendous! I found both HOS and PUZZLES where I actually said aloud, "Wow, that's great."
There is a gadget, not used a lot, although by chapter 4 it is used more frequently. It opens a puzzle, that gets harder s it goes along. It's a grid, and you just repeat the pattern. At first the grid is 5x5, then suddenly you'll notice it's 6x6! I am not good at memorizing, so keep a paper with a grid ready. I like how the old games made us take our own notes... that would be nice to see again.
I love how Madhead lets us see if we have the collectibles and morphs. They are in each scene, and morphs in the HOS as well. Those are the ones I forget, even with the spiral reminder.
A long game, worth the CE version. I buy for the collectibles.
I recommend this game!
Work with new puppet allies to uncover the true puppet master!
Overall rating
1
/
5
34 of 52 found this review helpful
I Couldn't Even Finish the Demo...
PostedJuly 12, 2018
twinsoniclab
fromSouthern Oregon
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Card & Board, Hidden Object, Mahjong, Match 3, Puzzle, Word
Fun Factor
1
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
1
/
5
Storyline
1
/
5
I tired to finish the demo, but it was sooo boring and dragged sooo terribly, I quit when the puppet was dragged to the underground.
This series should have been put to rest years ago. I own 8, so it's not like I dislike the series. It's just they are getting worse and worse.
The TASKS are more of the same: cutting wire that holds an object (find the pliers), cleaning a dirty lock (find a brush), fix a broken object (find the glue)...
The HOS are mostly those miniatures in pop-up windows. Those are nice, IF they are not a replacement for the full-size HOS! In a few we have to: find 9 roses, find 9 parts (then put together, no glue this time), swap squares to form a picture, locate 7 items...even the full-sizers were easy. Pretty, nicely made, but easy, with many fewer items than there used to be. Because they take steps (find one to put somewhere), they take longer, so apparently that means fewer items.
PUZZLES are plentiful, and nearly all the same. The first has us enter a code (we have the code on a paper of course), there are four items, but we only need to move two to "solve" it. Then lots of swapping going on. Swap panels, swap tokens, swap petals... or click... click four masks (according to paper), click ten flowers (by pairs). Switch some butterflies (to match the shown solution), recreate symbols, put six keys in cutout shapes. We are handed all the solutions on paper, or etchings on puppets, or some other way, but we do not have to think about a thing.
COLLECTIBLES are morphs (in each scene) and coins (in only some scenes), with which to spend (if you so wish) on a hat for pet cat, or perhaps a hair cut! No thanks.
The HOS are mostly those miniatures in pop-up windows. Those are nice, IF they are not a replacement for the full-size HOS! In a few we have to: find 9 roses, find 9 parts (then put together, no glue this time), swap squares to form a picture, locate 7 items...even the full-sizers were easy. Pretty, nicely made, but easy, with many fewer items than there used to be. Because they take steps (find one to put somewhere), they take longer, so apparently that means fewer items.
PUZZLES are plentiful, and nearly all the same. The first has us enter a code (we have the code on a paper of course), there are four items, but we only need to move two to "solve" it. Then lots of swapping going on. Swap panels, swap tokens, swap petals... or click... click four masks (according to paper), click ten flowers (by pairs). Switch some butterflies (to match the shown solution), recreate symbols, put six keys in cutout shapes. We are handed all the solutions on paper, or etchings on puppets, or some other way, but we do not have to think about a thing.
COLLECTIBLES are morphs (in each scene) and coins (in only some scenes), with which to spend (if you so wish) on a hat for pet cat, or perhaps a hair cut! No thanks.
The story? Our friend is terminally ill. So, she finds a way to transfer human "souls" into puppets, so... well... I guess she will live forever as a puppet? I wouldn't want that! Or, will she arrange for someone to disable the puppet after a human natural lifespan? What could go wrong, putting human "souls" into puppets? Who cares? Not me.
These games used to be creepy and downright scary. I remember actually jumping in surprise! Remember that theater full of townspeople? Remember how they turned and were puppets? THAT was chilling and surprising! Now, we know there are puppets, that humans use the puppets, that some puppets go bad, some people don't like the puppets. Nothing can be new anymore. And that message at the start of the game?
"Please not, this game contains many different types of dolls and puppets." O...kay. Maybe I thought it was going to be about puppies? Should games tell us they will contain "different types of fruit" or "different genre of books?" Was it a warning to beware the scary dolls? Give us a break...
"Please not, this game contains many different types of dolls and puppets." O...kay. Maybe I thought it was going to be about puppies? Should games tell us they will contain "different types of fruit" or "different genre of books?" Was it a warning to beware the scary dolls? Give us a break...
I don't recommend this game.
Help Clara and her adoptive father find the Mask of Seasons in this innovative match 3 adventure.
Overall rating
2
/
5
27 of 36 found this review helpful
Not a Pleasure to Play
PostedJuly 11, 2018
twinsoniclab
fromSouthern Oregon
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Card & Board, Hidden Object, Mahjong, Match 3, Puzzle, Word
Fun Factor
2
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
3
/
5
Level of Challenge
2
/
5
Storyline
3
/
5
This game comes for the same people who bring us the Mystika series of match-3s. Last year we had Mystika 3: Awaking of the Dragons. That game (and the earlier Mystikas) are far superior to this one. So much so I wondered why they released it as it is!
It's just not a pleasure to play. It's clunky. The tiles are not quick (although you can make matches while others are falling). It plays like an older game.
There are HOS you play for coins. There are "quests" that aren't really (since you just play match-3 boards to get "resources" that then finish the "quest" automatically for you). The "quests" are just another stop along the way.
If you make matches of 4 or more tiles, you gain one extra blaster tile to use next time you match that type. You break out tiles, try to match around rocks, "dig" in the dirt for "resources," hidden in the match-3 boards. Now and again there will be a surprise that comes in from outside the board to blast away tiles. The rock obstacles leave after what seems to be an avalanche. A dart shoots through the board. There is a button on the lower right that will shift the board, making many matches or resetting a board with no matches.
Play timed or untimed.
That's about it. A bit below average match-3. It's disappointing to know a developer CAN do so much better, yet release games that are only so-so. Play Mystica 3 and see the difference!
I don't recommend this game.
Can you and your sister escape the deadly history of Reed Valley?
Overall rating
1
/
5
30 of 44 found this review helpful
What Was That About? SPOILERS
PostedJuly 7, 2018
twinsoniclab
fromSouthern Oregon
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Card & Board, Hidden Object, Mahjong, Match 3, Puzzle, Word
Fun Factor
1
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
1
/
5
Level of Challenge
1
/
5
Storyline
1
/
5
I'm finding it hard to find the right words and phrases to explain this game and how I felt about the 26 minutes of demo I played.
I'll leave the story alone, other than to guess our sister's nightmares will somehow converge with the missing girls, who just happen to disappear at this exact time of year! Nightmares? That was the premise of Thursday's game too! Come up with something new, or get out of the business.
So, the "travel to the hypnotist" part wasn't totally bad. It wasn't much fun, but it wasn't totally bad. Once we "synchronize our timepieces" it becomes totally bad.
There is no way to know what to do, even using the hint function. We are stuck in a scene with a ringing phone before we understand it's our "memories." Ours or our sister's, I'm not sure. Did the car go underwater during the crash? Were their doll heads involved somehow? Butterflies? Is our sister a minor (we speak for her in what should be a confidential therapist/patient setting)? Too many questions.
There is no way to know what to do, even using the hint function. We are stuck in a scene with a ringing phone before we understand it's our "memories." Ours or our sister's, I'm not sure. Did the car go underwater during the crash? Were their doll heads involved somehow? Butterflies? Is our sister a minor (we speak for her in what should be a confidential therapist/patient setting)? Too many questions.
So, the phone scene. It gets weirder and weirder, just a mess of oddities tossed together to make, what? It's certainly not frightening, it's not even interesting. It's just boring. They tried way too hard!
26 minutes didn't get to may puzzles or HOS, but what I did find were, to put it bluntly, lame.
* Mark a path on a map by routing the word "hypnotist."
*"Synchronize" our watch with the therapist's clock by moving the two hands to the time on our watch (that was it!)
* Slide image strips right or left, or up and down (for size) to form picture. I do not think this on worked correctly. Most of the time I didn't get them to resize - so I skipped.
* open a combination lock (numbers were supposed to be the fingers in the window, but their numbers weren't what I counted!)
* Shine a flashlight into "eyes" according to an image (I think we got the image from the phone, via the voice of the sheriff, just out of nowhere)
* A HOS of find the words listed in image form, but such a few!
* A list, and the point I could NOT TAKE ANOTHER MINUTE OF THIS DREADFUL GAME! It was a junky mess, with everything anyone ever suggested was creepy or frightening. They were. Again, it seemed they were trying way too hard.
* Mark a path on a map by routing the word "hypnotist."
*"Synchronize" our watch with the therapist's clock by moving the two hands to the time on our watch (that was it!)
* Slide image strips right or left, or up and down (for size) to form picture. I do not think this on worked correctly. Most of the time I didn't get them to resize - so I skipped.
* open a combination lock (numbers were supposed to be the fingers in the window, but their numbers weren't what I counted!)
* Shine a flashlight into "eyes" according to an image (I think we got the image from the phone, via the voice of the sheriff, just out of nowhere)
* A HOS of find the words listed in image form, but such a few!
* A list, and the point I could NOT TAKE ANOTHER MINUTE OF THIS DREADFUL GAME! It was a junky mess, with everything anyone ever suggested was creepy or frightening. They were. Again, it seemed they were trying way too hard.
It's not that I don't like something different now and again, but this was just weird for the sake of making it weird. It didn't work for me, and while I read some like it, I just don't understand how it works for anyone! I wouldn't want to play it even if it were free!
I don't recommend this game.
The fate of the realm depends on your ability to reunite the five races and remind them of their vows!
Overall rating
5
/
5
12 of 13 found this review helpful
Back to their Best! Way to Go, Boris!
PostedJuly 5, 2018
twinsoniclab
fromSouthern Oregon
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Card & Board, Hidden Object, Match 3, Puzzle, Word
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
5
/
5
Storyline
5
/
5
This is how to do it! It's as good as their first Queen's Quest! This developer has some absolutely stellar games, with a few, strangely, duds thrown in. This is one of their best.
True, a broken truce isn't a new idea, but it felt fresh and was fun. The graphics are wonderful, bright and clean and crisp. No blues overlaying it all, like too many other games.
HOS are varied sorts, and some are absolutely amazing! As are some of the PUZZLES! PUZZLES I enjoyed playing, and figuring out without skipping. There are plenty of COLLECTIBLES, a fewer number of several types, as is usual for this developer. (I'm not sure we can use developer names, so won't). Morphs in the HOS, but not just random objects, things we look for, sometimes several of a kind.
I've been playing the main game for hours, enjoying the scenery. Really, I didn't do that map puzzle (where you did a puzzle at each stop on the map, before knowing which way to turn) until I'd fully looked at the wonderful artistry.
All I can say is, great job to this developer, and congratulations to Boris, who used to "talk" to us here in the old forums! Keep up the good work with games like this, Tiny Tales and Noir Chronicles, and Agent Walker (name change?)!
I recommend this game!
Can you escape the nightmares before it's too late?
Overall rating
1
/
5
51 of 75 found this review helpful
Again with the Amulet!
PostedJuly 5, 2018
twinsoniclab
fromSouthern Oregon
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Card & Board, Hidden Object, Mahjong, Match 3, Puzzle, Word
Fun Factor
1
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
2
/
5
Level of Challenge
3
/
5
Storyline
1
/
5
Really? An ancient amulet causing nightmares? Pulled into the dream/nightmare world? I could have skipped the demo and known nothing was new based on the game description. But, I played the demo, but only lasted one chapter (which was just 15 minutes long). I checked the upcoming attractions and tasks in the SG, and saw nothing new, just a list of more of the same inventory and tasks as usual, as well as the oh, so blue graphics.
We start the game (after getting a note on the street) at a scene we're all familiar with. Too familiar. We are outside mansion gates, which are locked. There are pillars topped by stone crows. A locked mailbox is set into the right pillar, a lamp into the left. The address plaque reads "13," an ominous address indeed! Keys to open the gate are naturally just out of reach. We have our detective bag, but it has a ribbon tangled up, so we can't open it! Oh, no!
Our first tasks? Well, obviously get into our bag, get those keys, read the homeowner's mail. You know, same stuff, different game. So. We find the seed to feed a bird to get the token to read the mail. Find a magnet to attach a ribbon to get the keys.
Once inside the gates, here we find a lock needing an initial token, a lion needing a ring in its mouth, rusty clippers (have no fear, they don't even get to our inventory, they "come with" a whet stone which automatically sharpens them!),
The last scene of chapter one is no more original. Get a recipe and find the ingredients (in one bunch) to make a potion (not much to do to make) to sedate the nightmare victim.
Did I forget the gimmicks? We get a "detective magnifier" which reveals "hidden places." These are just scenes where you find seven morphing objects. Also, the nightmare inducing dreamcatcher, which runs on "energy crystals." Each time its used the crystal power is used up and we need to find more.
Chapter one ends with the world shattering (Evan's words, not mine) and we find we have entered his nightmare world. A very blue nightmare world. Where we will add a bucket, a well handle, and a broken torch to our inventory. No thanks.
Notice I didn't get into the HOS or PUZZLES? That's because there were none worth mentioning! You do have those "hidden places" game, with it's seven item search. Other than that, they aren't worth mentioning, except to say they are easy and boring.
Also, there are long black waits between scenes.
I thought hard on whether I "hated" this game (1 star) or just "disliked" it (2 stars), but in the end realized I "hated" it because it was nothing new and I'm sick and tired of that! So, no, I don't recommend this game, can't understand why it's an "Editor's Choice."
I don't recommend this game.
A portal has opened, and dark magic is pouring through! Only you can close the gateway and defeat the evil Ice Golem. But you'll need to hurry!
Overall rating
3
/
5
18 of 21 found this review helpful
Eh... okay gameplay, boring game
PostedJuly 3, 2018
twinsoniclab
fromSouthern Oregon
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Card & Board, Hidden Object, Mahjong, Match 3, Puzzle, Word
Fun Factor
2
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
3
/
5
Storyline
2
/
5
As match-3s go, it's an okay game. If all you want to do is make endless matches, go for it. I played some of the demo, on the mode they said was "hard," and it wasn't... yet. Maybe it gets there. Maybe later you have to bring items down, or get all the parts, or something other than make matches.
The graphics are bright and lively. The tiles clear and easily moved, even when others in movement.
I loved the toad that sits to the side and eats spiders when they are level with his tongue! More of that kind of thing makes it more interesting.
I did find myself more distracted by what color tiles I needed to match (shown in that filling globe on the left) than by playing the game to meet the objectives. I could see out of the corner of my eye and that is all I wanted to match, those colors, that when filling the globe made big boom-booms of tiles!
I think there are enough of this type of Match-3, with the jewel primary colors, big tiles, etc. Mostly they are phone games or reconfigured for PC phone games.
The amount of the demo I played sated my appetite for the game. There are much better Match-3s out there. Funny, I was just thinking of this developer yesterday, went to their site to see what was new!
I won't recommend a game I wouldn't buy for myself.
I don't recommend this game.
Solve exciting solitaire puzzles while relaxing in beautiful flower gardens!
Overall rating
1
/
5
8 of 11 found this review helpful
What?
PostedJuly 1, 2018
twinsoniclab
fromSouthern Oregon
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Card & Board, Hidden Object, Mahjong, Match 3, Puzzle, Word
Fun Factor
1
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
2
/
5
Level of Challenge
1
/
5
Storyline
3
/
5
This is one of those times when I am convinced I MUST have been playing a completely different game from the other players!
This game is just dreadful!
Busy graphics, so it's difficult to distinguish the cards from the garden. Slow card play, until I must have held my mouse down too long (drawing a new card from the pile), when then I'd get multiples flipping by!
The game play is the normal one-up-one-down, with the usual things to buy. You get stars, and when you've finished a level I guess that level gains its flowers or decor in the menu greenhouse. There are images that unlock, I guess desktop scenes, I didn't try them, or read about them. You can earn trophies.
Now, that greenhouse... When you click "play" it goes to a greenhouse, with silhouetted items needing stars. These are the play levels. You click on the "stars needed: 0" to begin the game. If you skipped the tutorial, which I did, you have NO idea how to start the game!
I played the first hand five times, and didn't win! I didn't see ANY special cards to remove to end the hand. The best I did was leave two cards on the board, and they looked no different from the cards used. I was expected to just play it over until I got all the cards. No fun.
I haven't seen a solitaire this poorly made in years.
I recommend this game!
Can you escape a madman on the Island of Fog?
Overall rating
2
/
5
39 of 55 found this review helpful
It's Okay, but I Got Bored...
PostedJune 30, 2018
twinsoniclab
fromSouthern Oregon
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Card & Board, Hidden Object, Mahjong, Match 3, Puzzle, Word
Fun Factor
2
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Not as derivative as other games have been lately, which is good. But, it just couldn't keep my interest, which is bad. I played 55 minutes of the demo, but just couldn't take another HOS! They are well-done, but plentiful. A bit too plentiful, and a lot of junk-piles, which have unfortunately "come back" to HOGs.
I am actually surprised I got past the beginning. A boat ride to a spooky island... a boat wreck... waking up by fluttering our eyelids open... escape cuffs... find ourselves in a dungeon (well, if it has a skeleton chained to the wall, doesn't that have to be a dungeon?). It has a lot of the usual tasks (clear cobwebs, distract an animal with food, fix the broken telescope, put oil in a lantern...), huh, maybe it's more the same as other games than I first thought! Let's see what the inventory holds...
lantern without oil
saw handle
flint
lever
rusted object
handles
umbrella
battery
oil
Okay, not much different there.
lantern without oil
saw handle
flint
lever
rusted object
handles
umbrella
battery
oil
Okay, not much different there.
PUZZLES: my problem, and it may be I'm tired, was the instructions. I didn't understand some of them! There were the usual cast of characters. Move portraits to match the outlines on the wall. That's not puzzling for even a child. I liked the one where you had to move tokens to their color, by blocking and bumping with the other color tokens. I am so tired of the press one while it affects the others puzzles.
HOS: Nicely done, if too junk-piled. For a few years we got away from junk, now it's back. Lots of HOS. I really did enjoy how you do one (put item found to open list) and then later need an inventory item to open a different part of the HOS, with new items. The old chest with stickers HOS was my favorite. But, like I mentioned before, too many for my taste! Or, at least too many of that kind, even though they were very nice (except junky!).
COLLECTIBLES: morphs in HOS and some sort of hidden signs, not easy to find, but easy to forget about.
HOS: Nicely done, if too junk-piled. For a few years we got away from junk, now it's back. Lots of HOS. I really did enjoy how you do one (put item found to open list) and then later need an inventory item to open a different part of the HOS, with new items. The old chest with stickers HOS was my favorite. But, like I mentioned before, too many for my taste! Or, at least too many of that kind, even though they were very nice (except junky!).
COLLECTIBLES: morphs in HOS and some sort of hidden signs, not easy to find, but easy to forget about.
A couple of things made little sense. We were hiding, yet in the same scene need to make a "loud noise" to scare a crow! Then, we have a lever in our inventory, and come to a place where we say to ourselves, "I'd better find something long, like a lever..." But, guess what? Our lever doesn't work! Nope. We say we need a lever, we have a lever, but we have to wait until we can wrangle a stone sword away from a statue!
There is nothing really wrong with the game, it just didn't keep my interest. Even the BOGO sale isn't tempting me. I never recommend a game I wouldn't buy myself.
I don't recommend this game.
Can you save your brother before your kingdom is destroyed?
Overall rating
1
/
5
37 of 51 found this review helpful
Yet Again, Another of the Same
PostedJune 28, 2018
twinsoniclab
fromSouthern Oregon
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Card & Board, Hidden Object, Mahjong, Match 3, Puzzle, Word
Fun Factor
1
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
1
/
5
Storyline
1
/
5
I didn't totally "hate" the game, but feel it deserves one star for lack of anything new.
In fact, the last game I reviewed was just four days ago. Guess what? This game has the exact same inventory items! The ones that sound like a list of overused items! Yes, a glass shard (can't pick that up, it's too sharp!), a lantern (without oil), a bucket, flint, a bottle of acid (of course), a lock pick, pliers, a corkscrew, an oil can (but not for the lantern!), lots and lots of tokens... This lack of originality is really getting to me, but helping my budget!
What kind of tasks do we encounter? Well, there's the usual rust, some twisted wires holding a window closed (no, the pliers are not used here, wouldn't that be too reasonable?), a mounted specimen on a wall missing "horns" or "teeth" or something we find. Far too many crates, barrels, and boxes needing shaped tokens to open them. Far too many...
HOS: several "mini" ones, with just a few items. A silhouette where finding each section of items opens up with something to put back in the scene. A list, with ONE WORD AT A TIME, while the items glow then stops glowing, yet you can still see them.
PUZZLES: Move balls, move jewels, turn rings, rotate quarter circle parts... and the camel's back breaker for me... the puzzle apparently EVERY developer has discovered and is using, and thinks is the BEST thing ever! Yes, the SAME puzzle I commented on four days ago! Press arrows left or right to move your boat/horse/car around obstacles.
COLLECTIBLES: morphs and fragments of stained glass that form a picture (don't worry, you can see the picture without finding the fragments). Figurines, but I didn't see any.
PUZZLES: Move balls, move jewels, turn rings, rotate quarter circle parts... and the camel's back breaker for me... the puzzle apparently EVERY developer has discovered and is using, and thinks is the BEST thing ever! Yes, the SAME puzzle I commented on four days ago! Press arrows left or right to move your boat/horse/car around obstacles.
COLLECTIBLES: morphs and fragments of stained glass that form a picture (don't worry, you can see the picture without finding the fragments). Figurines, but I didn't see any.
The navigate your boat puzzle was the breaking (camel's back)point for me right there. These games have become interchangeable. There seem to be a limited quantity of settings and stories (rainy night=crash= kidnapping=dark dungeon=witch/mad scientist or shipwreck=beach=kidnapping=cottage=witch/king's minions) and items perhaps labeled "pre-approved for use in HOGs.
Anything good? I liked the graphics. I liked the colors (but the first, beach, scene was dark). I like the choice of helper or not (that cat has a rat tail, I know, because I have cats and rats!).
Many players enjoy replaying their games, and if you are one of those players, you may love this one. It's like replaying your old games!
I don't recommend this game.