arnold1049's Profile
Stat Summary
- Average Rating:3.8
- Helpful Votes:4,545
- Reviews Submitted:558
- First Review:February 24, 2012
- Most Recent Review:July 7, 2025
- Featured reviews0
Status:
Help Emma restore her grandparents' old house! Hidden Object, Match-3 and decoration all in one game.
Overall rating
5
/
5
114 of 126 found this review helpful
FOR DYED-IN-THE-WOOL HOG LOVERS
PostedOctober 14, 2015
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
5
/
5
Storyline
5
/
5
In the storyline, you are helping to renovate an old home for your relative and for a place to live. In order to get the money to do so, you must have sales. Therefore, you have customers with which to interact.
I love pure HOG games, even if they get a little repetitious. I played the timed game; there are only 2 levels of difficulty, timed and not. I applaud the developers for making this choice available, as I don't usually like playing under the created stress of time limits. However, this game has reasonable time limits and the consequences of not meeting the set time are minor. You collect less money, which takes you longer to purchase the items needed to decorate the house.
I played the first part of the game, where the purpose was to decorate the living room of the house, and was a little disappointed when I thought this was the end of the game. Wrong. Now I'm decorating the porch. After that, I'm not sure what happens. However, in order to start on the porch, I had to have accumulated a total of $20,000, which I hadn't. So it was back to playing more HOS until I had earned the requisite money.
Under the "Extras" tab, there are about 6 ways to play the game, depending on how you like to see the list of objects; pictures, silhouettes, names, etc. I'm guessing that, for each HOS, you can play it six different ways. Providing these "extras" makes the game extremely versatile and I would imagine very long.
During the time I played, even within one HOS, the way the objects are listed changed within the scene. Really made it interesting. For example, maybe the first few objects were named, then the list changed to pictures, etc.
There are also "memory" HO lists, something I've not seen in a HOG before. I was shown a list of objects, first pictures of them, then after a few seconds of study, I was taken to the HOS to find the objects based on my memory, and again with a time limit. Later in the game, the pictures of the objects changed to the names of the objects and the list got longer. I can see silhouettes used, as well as other variations, maybe later in the game.
There are also several different ways time is used to increase the difficulty. The first is a straight forward list of items that must be found. However, the items are attached to a customer and with a price that the customer will pay for that item. Helping all the customers purchase their items, by finding them in the HOS, must be done within a given amount of time. Since the scenes repeat themselves a lot, this gets a little easier, but the items in the scenes move around from one scene to another, and other items are added. Really keeps you on your toes and the "repetition" really wasn't a factor.
In this variation, adding to the difficulty of meeting the time restraints, just finding the object isn't enough. You must move your cursor over the list and collect the money earned by the sale. That allows the next customer to come in to show another object that must be found. So if you don't collect the money and allow another customer to come in, you lose time. But moving back and forth between the list and the scene also takes time. I developed a strategy where I would find 3 objects in the scene, then collect the money. Four customers appear at one time, with the total number of customers (objects to be found) varies from scene to scene. Not sure this strategy saved a lot of time, but at least it kept my head from swimming with all the back and forth. If time runs out before all the customers have been taken care of, you are allowed to finish the customers on the list at the time, but no new ones come in.
Another timed HOS occurs when the customers come, one by one, to purchase a specific item. In this case, each item is timed, not the whole list. If you don't find that customer's item, then the next customer comes in. I've not seen this variation either.
A third timed test is, as mentioned before, the memory test. And the forth is finding X (usually 20) of a certain object, like animals, or clothing.
Hints are available, but take some time to recharge. When you are trying to beat the clock on finding the objects, this recharge time can take too long and the scene timer runs out before the hint can be used again.
To help add to your money, there are several coins hidden in each scene for you to collect. Of course, this also adds to the time you spend on the scene. And there is a set of "collectibles" to find, one in each scene. This is an origami circle and you must find 15 of them.
I'm not sure what could be added to this game to make it a CE, because there are also achievements to be earned. A couple of them are finding all the coins and origami circles hidden in the scenes. Again, cudos to the developers; these achievements are attainable, although not that easy. Few of them are based on time, so that helps a lot. When I finished the living room, I had not attained all the achievements, but I was allowed to continue to play the scenes to complete them.
Wow, the more I write about this game, the better it gets! LOL. I've just upgraded everything to 5 stars. Great game and I'm ready to get back to playing it.
I recommend this game!
Secrets of the Dragon Wheel
Help Epiphany O’day sneak on board the luxurious and dangerous Imperial Majestic to stop murder and mayhem in its tracks!
Overall rating
4
/
5
2 of 2 found this review helpful
EXCELLENT VOICEOVERS
PostedOctober 13, 2015
Fun Factor
4
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
4
/
5
I played the demo of this game and immediately purchased it. Then I went back and played the rest of the game in one long session, it held my interest that much.
The storyline is the usual Good vs Evil in the form of a Dragon's Wheel that can awaken the ancient terra cota warriors of Japan to conquer the world. Enter the heroine to save the day. Murder and mayhem follow.
I played without music but left the voiceovers on and really enjoyed them, particularly the British accent of the heroine. Her accent seemed stronger at the beginning than at the end.
In fact, the beginning of the game seemed much stronger than the ending. The later chapters did not seem to flow as seamlessly as the earlier chapters and I often had to use the hint button to find my way. In fact, the very end seemed to have me in a continuous loop with no help from the hint button. Finally, after the umpteenth time of returning to the same location, it changed to a different location and I was able to end the game. Weird and frustrating and robbed the game of a 5-star rating.
This game seriously needed an interactive map, again, particularly at the ending. By the end, there are so many locations open that having to go back and forth became a distraction and a frustration. This running back and forth is a pet peeve of mine and will keep me from purchasing a game if it is bad enough. I managed to deal with my frustration so that I was able to finish the game.
The locations are beautiful, colorful and complex. Real eye candy. The graphics are excellent and seem to be a good representation of Japanese items and decor. There are a lot of HOS in the game, although repeats are included. My unfamiliarity with Japanese items made the HOS a little more difficult. I did use the hint a few times.
None of the puzzles were too hard, but were unique in several ways and really stayed within the context of the story.
This is a SE with no bells or whistles, but just a solid, entertaining game well worth the money.
I recommend this game!
King Arthur
Follow Arthur’s rise from boy to king! Listen to Merlin’s story and meet an amazing cast of characters as you live a classic tale!
Overall rating
5
/
5
1 of 1 found this review helpful
AN EXCELLENT TAKE ON THE KING ARTHUR LEGEND
PostedOctober 12, 2015
Fun Factor
4
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
3
/
5
Storyline
5
/
5
I was attracted to this game because of the subject matter; King Arthur. I agree that this game has some flaws. The progression of the story of King Arthur is not linear and I see no reason why it couldn't have been. The repetition of the same HO to find is a little tedious; same spiders, same salamanders, etc.
The mini games/puzzles weren't too hard, but I liked the ones that were based on runes; they melded well with the story, One of the rune puzzles completely defeated me; I had no clue how to play it and I didn't want to take the time to go to the walkthrough to find out. I'm also not good with constellations, so I played that puzzle by just placing a symbol over and over again until I found the right spot for it.
So why am I giving it 5 stars? Because the storyline is a pretty accurate rendition of the King Arthur story, from beginning to tragic end. The graphics were extremely well done and representational of the historical period. The poem at the end was a really nice touch. I liked that there were a lot of HOS, even if they were repetitious. And the games did a good job of staying within the story material.
So, if you really don't care about storylines and just want good HOS and puzzles, then skip this game; it isn't for you. But if you are a King Arthur fan and pretty much enjoy any HOG, this try this game. I was sorry when it ended.
I recommend this game!
Mary Kay Andrews: The Fixer Upper
Small town living isn’t what Dempsey Killebrew, a DC girl, is used to but this chore may just become a labor of love!
Overall rating
3
/
5
TOO MANY SIDE PLOTS LEFT UNEXPLORED
PostedOctober 12, 2015
Fun Factor
3
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
3
/
5
Storyline
4
/
5
This game was pretty short and had some annoying mini games that only required you to be able to move the cursor around an area. For instance, you needed to clean and polish a sink. This task required only that you could move the cursor over the sink twice without missing any spots. There were several of these kinds of puzzles that were time wasters. But without them, the game would have been even shorter. None of the mini games or puzzles were the least bit challenging or unique.
The HOS were ok. Not having that many locations, the locations were revisited several times. Even though different items were used, it still became boring to return to the same scene over and over.
The HO weren't too hard to find; I did not use a hint more than once or twice. The available hints were not based on time passage but on finding little houses hidden in the scenes. A maximum of 5 hints were allowed at a time, so finding more houses was worthless.
Again, the game was short but could have been a lot longer if various sub-plots had been explored. Which boyfriend would Mary Kay select? What happens to Ella Kate? What happens to the house?
This game might be worth a coupon but only if you have to use one quickly before it expires or you have so many you don't really care what you use them on.
Autumn's Treasures: The Jade Coin
Help Autumn find her grandfather’s treasures in this Hidden Object Adventure game! Follow his clues across the globe!
Overall rating
4
/
5
5 of 7 found this review helpful
WHERE IS THE SEQUEL?
PostedOctober 9, 2015
Fun Factor
4
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
4
/
5
This is a nice solid HOG with nothing in particular to make it stand out but a very enjoyable game. There are lots of HOS and some of the items are a little hard to see. I found myself using the hint button several times.
The hint button recharges fairly slowly and using it adds additional time to the record of how long you have played the game. Correctly completely the puzzles reduces the total time played. Five minutes are added for hint use while only 2 minutes are deducted for solving puzzles.
There are no time limits within the game so I'm not sure if this game can be played online with other players. I'm thinking not. However, I can't see any other purpose in keeping track of total game play time.
This is a SE so there are not a lot of bells and whistles. It is a long game and locations are scattered all over the world.
Autumn is being directed by her deceased Grandfather to find a jade coin that is the key to keeping her safe from the Syndicate. The storyline leaves a lot of questions unanswered, such as how Autumn's grandfather fell into the clutches of the syndicate and why the jade coin serves as a protection.
When Autumn finds the jade coin ahead of the syndicate members who are also looking for it, I expected the game to end. But she is sent to another location by her Grandfather to find a way to eliminate the syndicate all together. This sets up the sequel, which I don't think was ever made. Too bad, because it is an engaging storyline that made me want to see the end.
Within any given map location, there are 2 to 3 rooms where objects need to be found. This is strictly a "find the pieces that make up the object" type of HOG, not one of my favorites. Finding on object often opens up a search for 2 or more other objects. There is a lot of back and forth among the rooms which is always a little annoying to me, as new item pieces are added to the rooms that weren't there at the beginning. However, once a map location has been completed, you do not return there again.The puzzles are pretty basic and not too hard. The ratio of HOS to puzzles is about 5 to 1.
I did not finish the game in one time frame and found myself looking forward to going back to it to play some more.
I recommend this game!
Dream Catchers: The Beginning
When entering another's dreams, you'll have to play by a different set of rules.
Overall rating
2
/
5
LET ME OFF THE MERRY-GO-ROUND
PostedOctober 4, 2015
Fun Factor
2
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
3
/
5
Level of Challenge
3
/
5
Storyline
2
/
5
I haven't run into my pet peeve in a game for awhile, but it still ruins a game for me. I actually stopped playing the game before I finished it. This game seriously needs a map; there is way too much going and coming, back and forth among the same locations over and over again. Too time-consuming and frustrating for me to waste my time moving from place to place. I can spend that time with a game that I can play instead of just move from place to place and back again.
I need to be more careful about buying before trying games that don't have 4 or more stars.
I don't recommend this game.
Art Detective
A spot-the-difference investigation of professional counterfeiters who steal fine art and leave near-perfect fakes behind.
Overall rating
4
/
5
9 of 9 found this review helpful
HEAVY ON "FIND THE DIFFERENCES"
PostedOctober 3, 2015
Fun Factor
4
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
2
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
4
/
5
This game includes all kinds of puzzles, but the main game play was "find the differences" on pictures of real art. Be prepared for dark, finely detailed pictures and some extremely tiny differences. I'm talking about something the size of a dust mote. This is a hard game and if your strength is not in "find the differences" this game has the potential to frustrate you.
The points earned by completing the pictures can be used to purchase tools to help find the differences. There is a magnifying glass, a telescope, an infra red lamp, dust that can be used to show differences, and other items. The only really helpful tool that I found was the infrared lamp, which cost 5500 points every time you used it on one picture. By the end of the game, I was down to a little over 15,000 points because I had to use this tool so often.
There is a hint button, but it recharges very, very slowly.. There are no difficulty levels to choose, so there is no way to change this. The more hints you use, the more wrong clicks you make, and the more time you take to find all the differences, all reduce your score. I had a zero score on several pictures. The harder the puzzle, the more tools you need, but the fewer points you earn make it hard to buy the tools you need. A real catch-22 game.
Other puzzles include regular jigsaws, moving jigsaw pieces around to get them in the right place to finish the picture, making matches of cards by turning them over two at a time, finding two of the same mug shots, finding the only mug shot that hasn't got a pair and others.
There is not a bonus section per se, but there are places where you can replay all the kinds of puzzles found in the game, as well as more. One area allows you to replay all the "find the differences" pictures. In this same area, you can make a regular jigsaw puzzle out of the pictures found in the game. Another area has 8 jigsaw puzzles, 7 of which you have no point of reference to use to combine the pieces. In other words, there is no picture to show you what the puzzle should look like when finished. The jigsaw puzzles where you have to move the pieces around to create the right picture has no hints and does not tell you when you have correctly placed a piece. You have to keep working at it until you get it right, at which time the game lets you know by removing all the lines around the pieces. To make this particular type of puzzle even harder, the pieces are all the same size and shape.
A puzzle game with lots of puzzles, but being good at and liking "find the differences" is a must.
Samantha Swift and the Golden Touch
Join the fearless Samantha Swift on her journey to unravel the mysteries of King Midas’ Golden Touch before it's too late!
Overall rating
5
/
5
13 of 16 found this review helpful
ANOTHER SERIES TO COLLECT
PostedOctober 2, 2015
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
5
/
5
I found this game by checking every day on the website for games listed in the various areas that might catch my eye. I particuarly look for good SE games that don't have a CE available so I can use up my free game coupons. This is how I found this game and it has led me into the whole Samantha Swift series.
This game has a good storyline and lots of HOS to play. I ended up playing as Samantha because I didn't realize you had to change players in order to play under your own name.
Samantha's sidekicks are good and add a lot to the storyline. There are no voiceovers. Samantha goes all over the world looking for the Golden Torch while at the same time keeping it out of the hands of the bad girl. Along the way, as do all good archeologists, she collects various items and brings them back to exhibit in the museum. At the end of each chapter there is a summary of all the items collected for the museum and you can visit the museum to see them displayed.
The graphics are cartoonish but the HOS are, I think, pictures of various paintings, perhaps famous. I'm not into art so this is just a guess on my part. Some items are easy to find, others not so easy. The darker pictures seemed to be more difficult. Some scenes were repeated but with different objects to find. They were a good enough challenge to keep me from getting bored.
This is a nice, linear, hidden object game, heavy on the hidden object scenes.
I recommend this game!
Enchanted Gardens
Create matches to restore five beautiful gardens in this delightful puzzle game.
Overall rating
3
/
5
3 of 3 found this review helpful
LOTS OF VARIETY
PostedSeptember 30, 2015
Fun Factor
3
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
This game is a kind of hybrid match 3, only it is in multiples of 4 and is played by rotating sets of 4 tiles to make matches of 4 on any of the sides. There are 3 levels of play which provides a lot of variety not only in difficulty levels but in actual game play. I purchased the game on sale and I really wish I had used a coupon. This game just doesn't ring my bell.
Even within a level, there is a lot of variety because of scoring and time targets. In the first level, scoring involves matching tiles that are then turned into grass. Once all tiles have become grass, the game is over. Hence the similarity to Match 3 games.
It seemed that I had no trouble turning all the tiles into grass but I did it in a way that did not meet the scoring target. I couldn't figure out the right combination of speed and accuracy to earn gold stars at this level. Once I got past the first few, easier puzzles, I kept getting silver stars only.
There are a set of achievements to obtain. The size of the puzzle board can also be changed by increasing the number of tiles. The game starts out with an 8x8 board; increasing the number of tiles also increases the difficulty.
The difficulty of the puzzles within the same level also increases when things like stone tiles are added that appear at random to cover the regular tiles and can only be removed by matching tiles next to them. No set of tiles containing a stone can be rotated so removing them is a priority. Again, my naturally slow reaction time made it almost impossible to win this type because more rocks would appear before I could get all the stones removed let alone get all the tiles turned into grass. This is where I stopped playing the first level, particularly because reading the help content showed that rocks were only the beginning of the obstacles that would be added in coming puzzles. I am just not a good timed-game player and these types of games create more stress than I need. I want to enjoy games, not be wound up by them. Of course, both of these issues can probably be put down to my age; 65. I have had enough stress already. LOL.
I played the second level but found it as frustrating as the first, so I didn't spend much time there.
The third level was the easiest level to play. There were no time constraints, no score targets, and game play was very different. Here the object was to move tiles to replicate the pattern shown next to the puzzle. Upon completion, information was provided on how many moves I used and how long it took me to recreate the pattern. There were targets for these actions just to measure yourself against, but there were no stars to win and no penalties for below par performance. I like this part better than the other two, but found myself thinking that the time I spent on this could be better spent on other games with more entertainment value for me.
Using the scored points, the gardens can be upgraded with decorations, benches, flowers, etc. I didn't play well enough or long enough to get a good idea of how this works. Perhaps after you have completely upgraded one garden, you can go to the next one. Just guessing, though.
If you like to test yourself against the clock and recognizing patterns, moves to create patterns and eliminating obstacles, then this should be a good game for you. Always good advice: play before you pay.
I recommend this game!
Explore the Wild West and help Ted and his friends in their adventures.
Overall rating
4
/
5
6 of 11 found this review helpful
IT PAYS TO WAIT
PostedSeptember 29, 2015
Fun Factor
4
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
4
/
5
I demoed this game on the developer's site but didn't purchase it because my loyalty belongs to Big Fish. And my wait has been rewarded.
I really like games with a Western theme (and there aren't enough of them out there) but I'm not really good at or like to play time management games. So this game left me in a quandary; give in to my Western preference or ignore it because of the type of game. I found out this game is good at both.
The best part of this game are the characters. I love the white hat/black hat theme and the beautiful damsel in distress. Time management games are fairly similar but this one's storyline sets it apart. And now I can buy it and enjoy playing it to the end. Thanks Big Fish.
I recommend this game!