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:
When her children are kidnapped by a mysterious conductor, a mother jumps on an antique train and finds herself surrounded by unusual passengers.
Overall rating
3
/
5
19 of 34 found this review helpful
NOTHING SPECIAL
PostedSeptember 23, 2014
arnold1049
fromApache Junction, AZ
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Word, Adventure, Hidden Object, Puzzle, Mahjong
Fun Factor
3
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
3
/
5
Level of Challenge
3
/
5
Storyline
3
/
5
I just spent a lot of time writing a long review of this game, but it vanished before I got it submitted. I don't feel like taking all that time to redo it, so this will be short and sweet.
I played the whole hour of the demo on the easiest mode. I didn't find anything particularly compelling about the game.
The meat of the game revolves around solving mysteries connected to dead passengers of the ghost train. The search for the kidnapped children seems to be ancillary to these investigations. A clue board is used for posting evidence until each mystery is solved.
I might purchase it with a coupon if my curiosity about the passenger mysteries gets to me. Otherwise, the demo was enough for me.
A new mystery leads Arizona Rose to a hidden temple and her greatest adventure yet! Solve the riddles to unravel an ancient mystery!
Overall rating
4
/
5
9 of 10 found this review helpful
BASICALLY A MOSAIC GAME
PostedSeptember 22, 2014
arnold1049
fromApache Junction, AZ
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Word, Adventure, Hidden Object, Puzzle, Mahjong
Fun Factor
4
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
4
/
5
I purchased this game and have played it for around 3 hours on the easy mode. This mode is definitely better suited to a beginner player, although the puzzles get a little harder as you go along. I am going to start a new game in the advanced mode to see if it is more challenging.
This game is called a puzzle game, but it is 99.9% mosaic. I hope I am using the correct name; these puzzles are where you have a grid with numbers on the top and left side to tell you how many cells that need to be uncovered to reveal the pattern. The easy mode starts out with a 5x5 grid with a very hands-on tutorial. The size of the grid increases the longer you play. I am at a 15x15 grid right now. At each location, you play many mosaic games, then play one other type of puzzle, then back to the mosaics. I think I saw 27 puzzles at one location, with probably 23 of them mosaics.
The other puzzles, few and far between, are a good mixture of the standard fare; jigsaw, hidden object, rotating cells to open a path, rotating cells to complete a picture, etc. Again, this is for the easy mode; the style of puzzles might change in the harder mode.
The storyline is OK; lots of dialog.
The graphics are clear and bright. The mosaics are multi-colored, which makes them more interesting.
This is a long game and can probably be played over and over again. I do think the description of the game should disclose the predominance of the mosaic puzzles, in case a player isn't into that type of game.
I recommend this game!
Solve a variety of multi-color mosaics puzzles in the latest installment of Fantasy Mosaics!
Overall rating
4
/
5
GREAT INTRODUCTION
PostedSeptember 20, 2014
arnold1049
fromApache Junction, AZ
Skill Level:Beginner
Favorite Genre(s):Word, Adventure, Hidden Object, Puzzle, Mahjong
Fun Factor
4
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
I am pretty new to mosaic puzzles, so I have little to compare to in writing this review. That is why I didn't give it a 5 rating. I have also identified myself as a "Beginner" player, because I am for this type of game. For other types, I am an "Expert".
I can find very little wrong with this game. I loved the three color layers within each puzzle. When I got stuck on one color, I could switch to another color to play. Often this back and forth between colors was necessary before the whole puzzle could be solved.
The "storyline" was silly and truly unnecessary.
It would have been nice to be able to skip a puzzle and go back to it later, but that was not an option. In order to advance (unlock) the next location, you had to complete all the puzzles in the previous one. It would also have been nice to see a recap of my performance (bronze, silver or gold star) and be able to replay the puzzles I wanted to do better on. But without knowing which puzzles I didn't get a gold on, it was impossible to replay just the ones I got silver or bronze.
At the end is an unlimited play mode which was neat because the puzzles actually weren't a picture of anything, just random designs. But once I left that area, I didn't see anyway to go back to it to play more puzzles.
This is a game that can be played over and over and the three-color game play really made it interesting. I will be purchasing more games like this one.
I recommend this game!
Enjoy this beautiful adventure set in a unique interactive 3D Thailand! Complete mysterious puzzles and find hidden objects. Prepare for an unforgettable experience!
Overall rating
1
/
5
25 of 29 found this review helpful
WARNING: TRY BEFORE YOU BUY
PostedSeptember 18, 2014
arnold1049
fromApache Junction, AZ
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Word, Adventure, Hidden Object, Puzzle, Mahjong
Fun Factor
1
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
1
/
5
Level of Challenge
1
/
5
Storyline
3
/
5
I love Big Fish Games and have always had a great experience with them. That is why I rarely play a demo. If I like the sound of a game, I buy it and play it. I particularly get sucked into a game that has zero reviews, which this one did when I purchased it. You would think a brand new game, newly released on Big Fish, would not be a big risk. Well, I've gotten bitten a few times, and this is one of them. I also don't write a review until I've completely finished the game, but this game is so bad, I'm making an exception.
I have played several hours of this game so I have a lot more experience to base my review on than just the demo. I have also read all the reviews and I can tell you that all the bad reviews are completely accurate.
The requirement to drag and drop is particularly onerous. You can't even rest on an inventory item to see what it is; you have to click it to get a description. There is absolutely no logic in the movement between locations or within a location. The map is basically useless. I must say the hint button works great, which is a good thing, as I was clicking it every few seconds to try to figure out what to do next. That was one of the first achievements I won; using the hint button 50 times. Now what kind of game would have that as an achievement? The developers must have known how bad the game is right off the bat.
At one point, the Chinese helper is hurt and dying and your next objective is to go to the jungle to find water in Buddha's footprint to heal him. I was scratching my head on that one, as I never saw when or how he got hurt. I even went back and replayed the cut scenes to try to solve this mystery, but was unsuccessful. So, something happens to a major character in the game that sends you off to a brand new location but you don't have a clue how he got hurt; I almost gave up at that point. But, I'm a glutton for punishment, so I continued.
I got to the place where you need to use the fishing line to get the motorcycle key out of the hole under the grate. I clicked everywhere and could not figure out how to get the fish hook down to the key. The fish hook was swaying, so I thought I had to "catch" it by clicking on it and then drag it to the key. But no matter how many times I clicked on it, I could never "catch" it. I finally gave up and had to go to the forums to find the answer. I was half right; I did need to drag the hook, but somehow I had to click and hold on it to drag it. Given, again, that the hook is swaying, I figured I wouldn't have any better luck clicking and holding than I did just clicking, so at that point I gave up and here I am writing my review.
As with everything in life, different people have different opinions. You may be one of the ones who like this game. But I still want to impress upon you the need to try before you buy.
Would I like my money back? You bet. But it's my fault for not playing the demo. Buyer always beware.
I don't recommend this game.
Play the role of a mahjongg Master Detective and use your matching skills to hunt down criminals and solve mysteries!
Overall rating
5
/
5
15 of 16 found this review helpful
IMPRESSIVE INTRODUCTION TO MAHJONG
PostedSeptember 5, 2014
arnold1049
fromApache Junction, AZ
Skill Level:Beginner
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Hidden Object
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
5
/
5
This is the first mahjong game I have played. I'm fairly new at this type of game, my only exposure being in hidden object games where playing mahjong is offered as an alternative to the HOPs. What I really liked about this game was that the objective of the play was to narrow a list of suspects down to solve a crime by issuing a warrant for the arrest of the criminal.
This game starts out fairly easy, but progresses to extremely difficult, at least for me. First you are looking for one perpetrator, then 2, then 3, which is where I am right now in the game. I see from one of the other reviews that farther along there will be 4 perpetrators to find. And as the number of potential perpetrators rise, so do the number of tiles at each location that you have to match to find clues.
I wish this game had an option to play without being timed. It seems like the amount of time allowed is very short. I'm not sure I will ever be able to get to the highest level of position in the "police force", because for every point I earn, it seems that I lose twice as many for being unable to catch the perpetrators. I was barely able to get through 2 locations when trying to find 3 perps, even with using a ton of hints. There is no recharge time on the hints, which is a good thing. I'm not sure how the "glasses" at the bottom of the screen get charged up, but once they do, clicking on them also shuffles the tiles by whirling them in a circle before placing them back on the board.
Although the crimes are repeated, the number of suspects, perpetrators and tiles change each time, so there is really no repetition. There could have been a bit more explanation on how to play, such as where the glasses fit into game play. I played with the tutorial on, so that helped some.
Another neat feature of this game is that you can choose to play "classic" mahjong instead of the crime version if you really don't like the added complexity of solving crimes and just want a straight mahjong game.
Since I am new to mahjong, I am probably a lot slower than other players who have more experience. I rated myself as a beginner player, because I am a beginner with this type of game. Otherwise, I rate myself as an expert when reviewing HOGs and adventure games.
If you only play the one hour demo, you may think the game is too easy. But if you purchase the game and play for hours, like I have, you will see that there is more to this game than meets the eye.
I will be playing this game over and over again, whenever I need a break from the HOGs.
I recommend this game!
Strange Cases: The Secrets of Grey Mist Lake Collector's Edition
Discover the Secrets of Grey Mist Lake! FBI Agent Claire Ellery has discovered another Strange Case and she needs your help!
Overall rating
2
/
5
2 of 2 found this review helpful
BUSY WORK AND LAZY PROGRAMMING
PostedSeptember 4, 2014
arnold1049
fromApache Junction, AZ
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Hidden Object, Mahjong
Fun Factor
2
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
3
/
5
Storyline
3
/
5
This is another "pet peeve" game for me. This game really, really needs an interactive map that shows the active areas. There was so much back and forth that I completely lost any sense of direction. As an example of this problem, I was into the 2nd or 3rd chapter of a 3-chapter game (not counting the bonus chapter) when I had to go back to the very first scene in the game to play a HOP to get an inventory item to use to progress. In my opinion, this is excessive and uncalled for.
The hint button was totally worthless in this respect, showing only the active area in the current scene, if there was one, even if it couldn't be solved/played. So I had to go to the strategy guide (built-in and easily accessible, a plus) repeatedly to figure out where to go. This is very annoying to me, because it requires a lot of reading and completely breaks the rhythm of the gameplay.
The HOPs were also annoying, requiring a card that had to be found in the scene before you got the list of items to find. Sometimes you needed to use an inventory item in the HOP to find the card, making it even more time-consuming before you actually got to play the HOP.
There was also some weird and incorrect names associated with the items. For example, in one HOP, the item was "wheel", but turned out to be two "nuts", like "nuts and bolts". Then, the very next HOP, using the same scene, asked for "nuts" and the item that worked when clicked on was a "wheel".
And this reminds me of another strike against this game; the use of the same locations over and over again for the HOPs, often with the same items to find from this location as in a previous HOP. Looks like lazy programming to me, and a lack of QC.
The HOPs and other puzzles were average and not extremely hard. The solution to some of the puzzles was often provided in the puzzle itself, like written on the wall.
The storyline was good, particularly the bonus chapter which is a prequel to the game and explains the reason for the events in the main game.
The excessive back and forth, the repetitive use of the same scene for the HOPs, and the card required for the HOPs just feels like busy work to extend the length of the game and lazy programming, and adds nothing whatsoever to the gameplay or challenge of the game. I was more than ready for this game to end.
I don't recommend this game.
Mr. Turner was surrounded by people who could all benefit from his death, but who actually murdered him? Play the detective in this classic whodunit mystery!
Overall rating
4
/
5
38 of 46 found this review helpful
NOT SO PERFECT MURDER
PostedSeptember 2, 2014
arnold1049
fromApache Junction, AZ
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Hidden Object, Mahjong
Fun Factor
4
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
4
/
5
I played the whole game in the easy mode. This game was pretty short; it did hold my attention, though. There are lots of HOP, some using lists and some silhouettes.
There was a lot of back and forth; too much for me to give it a 5 rating. I had to use the hint button constantly to figure out where to go next, but this worked better than a map. The hint button's response even allowed you to jump from it to the location specified in the hint.
The voiceovers were excellent, although the characters' mouths didn't move. There is a lot of dialog. The graphics are clear, crisp, and bright.
I really hadn't settled on a perpetrator, so the ending was surprising. All the questions where tied up; no cliffhanger for a followup CE.
I recommend this game!
You’re on a train in the middle of nowhere, and a band of dangerous thieves demand you tell them where to find the Hope Diamond’s shards. As the newest Hidden Expedition recruit, you’ve got to find the shards before they do…
Overall rating
5
/
5
CHALLENGING
PostedSeptember 1, 2014
arnold1049
fromApache Junction, AZ
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Hidden Object
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
5
/
5
Storyline
5
/
5
This game has lots of different things to do which really keeps it interesting. Along with HOP (there are a lot of them) and other puzzles, there are achievements to earn, morphing items to find, Smithsonian emblems to collect, and at the end a set of collections that are earned by returning to all the locations (not HOP) in the game to pick up one item.
Most of the achievements are attainable. They are earned throughout the game, including the bonus chapter and replaying all the HOPs. I did not find all the Smithsonian emblems and the game did not allow me to go back and look for them. I also did not find all the morphing objects, but replaying the HOP as part of the Extras gave me the chance to find the rest of them and earn the achievement.
One of the hardest achievements to earn is getting a gold crown for every HOP when you replay them as part of the Extras. To win the gold crown, you must complete the HOP in a given (unknown) amount of time and you have to have 0 misclicks. I am stuck on one HOP that I cannot get past the silver crown. Most of the time I can avoid any misclicks, but I guess I am too slow.
There is no built in strategy guide, which I thought was unusual for a CE. i did try the walkthrough to help me find one of the morphing objects, but the walkthrough was no help; I found my answer in the forum.
There is a very helpful map, which allows you to jump between scenes. The voiceovers were realistic and I could turn off the sound and music and still be able to hear them. Different levels of difficulty are also available.
A nice, long game that I played over a few days.
I recommend this game!
Play Miss Teri Tale and visit your neighbors` houses to discover their tantalizing hidden secrets.
Overall rating
1
/
5
11 of 24 found this review helpful
STEREOTYPES USED TO REPRESENT CHARACTERS WERE OFFENSIVE
PostedAugust 31, 2014
arnold1049
fromApache Junction, AZ
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Hidden Object
Fun Factor
4
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
4
/
5
This is the issue that ruined the game for me. There is one African American character and he is the only suspect who is interrogated at the police station instead of his home. He was pictured behind bars, even, not just in an interrogation room, and his head was down like he was guilty (which he wasn't). He was also presented as lazy, a government employee (post office) who paid others to do his work. He was presented as richer than all the other characters, though, which I found weird considering all the other negative attributes he was given. Well, maybe that was done on purpose, just another way to dis his race; nobody likes rich people if they aren't rich themselves. The cop, on the other hand, another potential for negative stereotyping, was presented as intelligent, compassionate, logical and reasonable. When was this game designed, 1960???
I would have rated this game a 5, not because it is so much better than other games, but because it is different from so many other games. However, because of the reasons stated above, I gave it the lowest rating I could.
And, except for this glaring fault, which I hope people don't just ignore, I would have said the following things about it:
"This is a light-hearted, tongue-in-cheek romp through a small town in search of a kidnapped dog, and an ugly one, at that. This game provides a breath of fresh air after all the dark and dreary, fantasy-based, evil-battling games that comprise the majority of available games."
"There are 3 games in the Miss Teri Tale series, and I have played them all. This one is the first and the others get better as they go along. I played this one last; if I had played it first and seen the way the character Wilson was portrayed, I doubt seriously that I would have purchased and played the others."
"There are lots of HOS and many are repeated, but with different objects to find. The scenes are not that easy, with many objects being tiny and hard to pick out of the background. That is good; the HOS shouldn't be too easy, even in a nice, simple game like this one."
"The storyline is fun and well executed. There is a journal and a map, You must use the map to get to each location. There is no moving down/forward/left/right; just go to the map and click on one of the active areas."
"The hint button was something different than I've seen before. They are cloverleafs that you find in the office. You can carry a maximum of five and when you use one, instead of waiting for it to recharge, you just go to the office and find a replacement one somewhere in the scene. I liked this a lot better than the following games which went back to the old recharge button option."
As a warning to parents whose children may play this game (I hope not for the reasons stated at the beginning of my review), there is another scene where a male person (not a statute) is wearing swimming trunks/shorts that is one of the objects that needs to be found. Once the shorts come off, there he is in the buff, with all anatomical parts represented, although pretty small. (I am restraining myself from making hay from that statement; wait, another stereotype perhaps?) It didn't bother me, but I know it might others, so thought I should include the warning.
Big Fish, I hope you have the moral strength to post my review and not censor it. I know it contains content that might offend some people, but I feel the information deserves disclosure. I have faith in you, even though you wouldn't publish one of my reviews sometime back when I took exception to the subject matter of the game; a kidnapped child whose mother is killed and comes back as a ghost to help the detective find the child. This game was not presented as a fantasy and, being a mother, it left me horrified; every parent's worst nightmare.
But, of course, reviews are just one person's opinion, so mine can be considered or ignored as each person sees fit.
I don't recommend this game.
Your neighbor, Monty, has been murdered! It`s up to you to solve the case by exploring solving puzzles and finding clues.
Overall rating
5
/
5
10 of 10 found this review helpful
A MURDER MYSTERY THAT ISN'T DARK AND DREARY
PostedAugust 30, 2014
arnold1049
fromApache Junction, AZ
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Hidden Object
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
5
/
5
This is a great game for players who like a lot of HOS and puzzles, along with an interesting, easy to follow storyline with an unexpected ending.
The graphics are crisp and have realistic coloring. The HOS were above average, with most items fairly easy to find but some scenes which were much more challenging. The puzzles were easy but interesting and fit well with the story.
The hint button worked well and recharged pretty quickly. There is a map, but there isn't a lot of jumping around so it was really only there to show the locations that were open for play. I don't remember a choice of difficulty being available.
There was very little repetition of scenes or puzzles and even when going back to the same location, the scenes were often different. The variety in this game really held my interest. It is not an extremely long game, but long enough to be worth the money.
When I finished the game, I smiled and said "That was a good game."
I recommend this game!