arnold1049's Profile
Stat Summary
- Average Rating:3.8
- Helpful Votes:4,545
- Reviews Submitted:555
- First Review:February 24, 2012
- Most Recent Review:December 24, 2024
- Featured reviews0
Status:
Challenge your linguistic wit by combing words, pictures, and letters in this fabulous Word game.
Overall rating
5
/
5
WHAT A FUN GAME!
PostedAugust 26, 2020
arnold1049
fromApache Junction, AZ
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Hidden Object, Match 3
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
5
/
5
This game is so much fun but it also makes you think. It is not easy and it gets harder the longer you play. As the information on the game states, the object is to make words (not phrases) using pictures and individual letters. However, you don't know what the word the pictures are called. For instance, what would you call a woman binding a man's head who is sitting on a chair? Headache? Nurse? Actually the picture stood for the word "aid". Then using this picture word, other pics and some individual letters, you must come up with a list of other words. For example, along with the "aid" pic was the letter M, so the word "Maid" could be submitted. You have to submit a minimum number of words before you can progress to the next level. There is scoring for each level and the bonus rounds. There is a "blank" list of the words that can be made from the pics and letters. What the list shows, though, is only whether a pic or a letter goes into making the words. For instance, in the case of the word "Maid", the blank list would show a circle then a square, the circle indicating you need to use a letter and the square that you need to use a pic. These are kind of built-in hints, but there are also three hints for each level, but these hints only put a pic or a letter in the appropriate place in the blank list. I hope I am making myself understood. If not, please play the free trial and all the intricacies of the game will be revealed to you. I highly recommend this game.
Claire goes on another adventure, now in Patagonia. Conquer high peaks and visit distant gems of nature by solving mosaic puzzles!
Overall rating
4
/
5
2 of 2 found this review helpful
BEWARE
PostedJuly 20, 2020
arnold1049
fromApache Junction, AZ
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Card & Board, Hidden Object, Mahjong, Match 3, Puzzle
Fun Factor
4
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
I played the one hour demo and found three things that detracted from the game. The most important one is that the game does not save your progress if you leave in the middle of a board. I really don't understand why this simple step is not available. Two, it seems that there is no way to replay a board if you would like to try for more stars. And speaking of stars, number three, there is nothing to tell you what you need to do to win 5 stars. Use no hints? Make less than 5 mistakes? Make 0 mistakes? Coupled with not being able to replay a finished board (which is the only way you can tell how many stars you've earned by finishing the board), there doesn't seem to be much point in trying to earn any stars, let alone 5. And one more point; once you've finished a board, the competed picture stays on the screen until you click again, then it goes to the "completed" screen where you have to click again to continue. This "4th" one is just an irritation. Other than these items, it is a good game which I recommend. I purchased and played the first game in this series and I know it had the same issues. So, developer, please fix the stars issue and make it possible to save a partially completed board. How about doing this and sending out an upgrade? It would be greatly appreciated.
I recommend this game!
Join the animal entrepreneurs and help them solve a crime before the grand opening!
Overall rating
4
/
5
20 of 27 found this review helpful
WHY SUCH BAD REVIEWS?
PostedJuly 20, 2020
arnold1049
fromApache Junction, AZ
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Card & Board, Hidden Object, Mahjong, Match 3, Puzzle
Fun Factor
4
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
3
/
5
I don't understand why this game is getting such bad reviews. Maybe because of the food topic? Lots of people have strong feelings about food. As for the game itself. it is no better and no worse than the previous game(s) in this series. The types of play are the same, the stars are the same (no bigger and no more frequent than previous games), etc. etc.. Don't like all the different kinds of doughnuts? What about all the variations in teddy bears in previous games? I own and have played every game in this series and I will be purchasing and playing this one as well. I did play the demo for this one, unlike I usually do, because I wondered what was different about it that would create the bad reviews. IMHO, there is nothing about this game, compared to previous games, that deserves a bad rap. So here is my attempt to balance the bad with some good. If you like this series, you will like this particular game. The colors are bright and I even think the play is a little harder, which is fine with me. I highly recommend this game, but as usual, try before you buy.
I recommend this game!
It’s never been easier to get into painting! Avoid purchasing expensive painting supplies and making a mess.
Overall rating
4
/
5
1 of 2 found this review helpful
GREAT IMPROVEMENT MAKES GAME EASIER TO PLAY
PostedJuly 16, 2020
arnold1049
fromApache Junction, AZ
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Card & Board, Hidden Object, Mahjong, Match 3
Fun Factor
4
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
I just accidentally found out about a great improvement to this series of games. Now, instead of having to click on every single area, one at a time, you can now click and drag across all the areas for a given color number. Even better, once you have started dragging, you don't have to keep holding down the left button. And the game is intelligent enough to know when you drag into a different color's area and does not do a thing to that other area. So for those beautifully detailed pics with all those hundreds of tiny, unconnected areas, you can now fill them with one click and drag. Awesome! Thinking that I had missed this function in the previous two games, I went back and checked but they did have this click and drag option. Now we need to get Big Fish to offer us all the other games in this Paint by Number series. They are fun and relaxing, not requiring too much thought and you can let your mind wander. The resulting pics are beautiful, particularly the ones that have so much detail. One question I do have is, why do we have to finish all the pics in one section before we can proceed to the next one? Sometimes I'm not in the mood or I don't have the time to do one of the detailed, complex pics and would like to find a simpler, easier one instead. Can this be changed? If I remember correctly, the Pixel Art games by the same developer do not require this.
Don't give up on the Paint by Number games until you have tried Game 3 and experienced this great improvement in game play. As always, try before you buy.
Don't give up on the Paint by Number games until you have tried Game 3 and experienced this great improvement in game play. As always, try before you buy.
I recommend this game!
Summer Adventure: American Voyage
Explore America, complete challenging puzzles and collect photos for your album!
Overall rating
4
/
5
33 of 34 found this review helpful
GOOD GAME IN A GOOD SERIES
PostedJuly 13, 2020
arnold1049
fromApache Junction, AZ
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Hidden Object, Mahjong, Match 3
Fun Factor
4
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
5
/
5
Storyline
3
/
5
My review is based on the one hour demo plus having played all the other games in this series. The games in this series get better and better with each iteration. The beautiful pictures get crisper and the graphics are sharp. The hearts and GPS icons are getting more varied and better hidden. The items that need to be found are also more varied instead of the same ones over and over again.
Some of the cons for the game is quality control. Misspellings and possibly wrong information detract from the game. For instance, U.S. President James Munro instead of Monroe and ice cream cornet for ice cream cone. Bad phrasing, grammatical and spelling errors detract from the info on each location. The matching mini-game is extremely monotonous, especially since it uses the very same items as in the other games. Great that the game allows you to skip mini-games without waiting. Since I am a HO fanatic, this game is a sure buy for me.
Some of the cons for the game is quality control. Misspellings and possibly wrong information detract from the game. For instance, U.S. President James Munro instead of Monroe and ice cream cornet for ice cream cone. Bad phrasing, grammatical and spelling errors detract from the info on each location. The matching mini-game is extremely monotonous, especially since it uses the very same items as in the other games. Great that the game allows you to skip mini-games without waiting. Since I am a HO fanatic, this game is a sure buy for me.
I recommend this game!
Take a Road Trip across the Western United States, visit beautiful locations, find hidden objects and complete fun puzzles!
Overall rating
4
/
5
3 of 5 found this review helpful
NEW AND IMPROVED
PostedJune 6, 2020
arnold1049
fromApache Junction, AZ
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Card & Board, Hidden Object, Mahjong, Match 3
Fun Factor
4
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
5
/
5
Definitely an improvement over previous Road Trip games. I played the demo and it will be a buy for me.
The only thing I didn't like too well was all the other games besides HOS that are included. When I buy a HOG, I want lots and lots of HOS. Perhaps because it is a CE, they have thrown in jigsaws, mahjong, spot the difference, solitaire, match three, you name it. So I may wait until the SE comes out. Or maybe I won't; I did enjoy the hour of play and I can always use practice on the other types of games.
One thing that does deserve 5 stars is the increased difficulty of the HOS. The items can be small and all are well hidden. Provides a nice challenge to us HOG lovers.
The only thing I didn't like too well was all the other games besides HOS that are included. When I buy a HOG, I want lots and lots of HOS. Perhaps because it is a CE, they have thrown in jigsaws, mahjong, spot the difference, solitaire, match three, you name it. So I may wait until the SE comes out. Or maybe I won't; I did enjoy the hour of play and I can always use practice on the other types of games.
One thing that does deserve 5 stars is the increased difficulty of the HOS. The items can be small and all are well hidden. Provides a nice challenge to us HOG lovers.
I recommend this game!
Crystal Pixels is a new kind of paint by number game where you’re given a variety of colors to paint fun pixel images.
Overall rating
4
/
5
3 of 3 found this review helpful
GIVE IT A CHANCE
PostedMarch 19, 2020
arnold1049
fromApache Junction, AZ
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Card & Board, Hidden Object, Mahjong, Match 3
Fun Factor
4
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
The very first item in the Review Guidelines is: "Don't use reviews to report technical issues. Please view our Help pages for commonly asked questions and for technical assistance." Obviously Pennmom36 was having a technical issue with her screen display and was unable to play enough of the game to give it a FAIR review. I played 53 minutes of the 60 minute trial which included 16 images out of the 100 available in the game. Obviously, this will be a long game. I stopped because I wanted to see what progress I'd made so I could include it in this review. I had no display issues or any other problems at all. As most games, it started out easy and then the images got more complex and with more colors presented better graphics than Pennmom36 obviously saw. Before I left the game the image I was working on had 17 colors. One thing I missed with this game was the ability to double click and fill in a large area of connected numbers of the same color. With this game, you will have to move your cursor over every single box. The game did make this easier by highlighting the numbers that you are currently working on and as soon as you finished with that color, you did not have to click on your pointer to stop that color and start the new one. It is actually possible to complete some of the less complex images without ever taking your pointer off the screen and just dragging over the boxes. And if you color an incorrect box, the number inside turns red and you can paint over it when you get to that color. I like this way of handling errors better than shading out the box which makes it hard to see the number inside. This is a definite buy for me, and I recommend this game. But as with all games, use the free trial to make up your own mind.
I recommend this game!
A peaceful island town erupts into a violent witch hunt and your friend’s daughter is the target! Can you protect her from the townspeople?
Overall rating
1
/
5
1 of 1 found this review helpful
TOTALLY FRUSTRATING
PostedFebruary 27, 2020
Fun Factor
1
/
5
Level of Challenge
1
/
5
Storyline
3
/
5
Why I bought this game, I will never know. I definitely should have played the demo because I wasn't even able to play one hour of the game before I ran into a wall and had no clue how to progress in the game. The map was useless as even under the easiest mode setting, it did not show the active areas. The hint button was equally as useless with messages like 'nothing to do in this area'. So the frustration factor was more than I could handle. Games are supposed to be fun, not stressful. So I have deleted the game and hope my review will keep others from wasting their money. This is an extremely bad game.
I don't recommend this game.
The Fairy Godmother, Gwendolyn, needs you to repair and upgrade Albian Castle for the Convention of Magic Masters!
Overall rating
4
/
5
HARD-CORE HOG
PostedFebruary 26, 2020
arnold1049
fromApache Junction, AZ
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Card & Board, Hidden Object, Mahjong, Match 3
Fun Factor
4
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
5
/
5
Storyline
4
/
5
This is a hard-core HOG. The items are small and well-hidden, often requiring the use of a hint to find them. A maximum of 5 hints can be stored, but new hints are easy to get, just having to find a fairy wand in the HOS to replenish them. The graphics are a little dim and the HOS are very cluttered, adding to the challenge. The storyline is fun; a convention of magical characters from far and wide, fairies, including a fairy godmother, leprechauns, wizards, sorcerers, you name it. The castle is full of rooms that are the HOS. Many visits are made to the same scene, but the items are different each time. Even the other items in the scene, not just the HO's that need to be found, are different. And even extra visits don't make it easier to find the items. When it's hard to find just straight HOG's with a challenging format, this one is well worth the effort to play.
I recommend this game.
I recommend this game.
I recommend this game!
Painting has never been easier! No need to stress about what color to choose, just relax and enjoy!
Overall rating
4
/
5
2 of 2 found this review helpful
COMPLEX AND BEAUTIFUL PICS
PostedFebruary 25, 2020
arnold1049
fromApache Junction, AZ
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Card & Board, Hidden Object, Mahjong, Match 3
Fun Factor
4
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
I played the one hour demo and will be purchasing it using one of my coupons or when a sale comes up. Not because it isn't worth paying full price, it's just because I'm thrifty.
This is truly a paint-by-number as compared to the pixel art games. Therefore, the pics can be more complex and realistic. My first impression was that I didn't like the fact that the relevant pieces of the pic were shown in dark gray for each color you are working on. It seemed to make the game too easy. But as I progressed into harder pics, I was happy to have the help. And even then, I sometimes missed a piece. The other thing I really liked was that it provides help in placing your cursor in the right place for some of the very small pieces. The number of the color you are working with shows up in white when this happens. This is extremely helpful for those very small pieces when you don't want to go back and forth with the magnification slider. The only con I could find was that there is no way to color adjacent pieces by dragging, double clicking, etc. The game requires that you click on each piece separately. This is a minor con in a game that is fun to play, has beautiful pics and is something new. I highly recommend it.
This is truly a paint-by-number as compared to the pixel art games. Therefore, the pics can be more complex and realistic. My first impression was that I didn't like the fact that the relevant pieces of the pic were shown in dark gray for each color you are working on. It seemed to make the game too easy. But as I progressed into harder pics, I was happy to have the help. And even then, I sometimes missed a piece. The other thing I really liked was that it provides help in placing your cursor in the right place for some of the very small pieces. The number of the color you are working with shows up in white when this happens. This is extremely helpful for those very small pieces when you don't want to go back and forth with the magnification slider. The only con I could find was that there is no way to color adjacent pieces by dragging, double clicking, etc. The game requires that you click on each piece separately. This is a minor con in a game that is fun to play, has beautiful pics and is something new. I highly recommend it.
I recommend this game!