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:
Escape Rosecliff Island
An unexpected storm has left you shipwrecked on a remote private island. Find a way to Escape Rosecliff Island!
Overall rating
4
/
5
2 of 3 found this review helpful
GET READY TO PLAY LOTS OF HOS
PostedJuly 15, 2013
arnold1049
fromApache Junction, AZ
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Hidden Object
Fun Factor
4
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
3
/
5
This game really had no storyline at all, just lots and lots of HOS with some Match 3 and word search games thrown in. I played the timed mode, not the relaxed mode, but had no trouble running out of time, and I only had to use the hint button a few times.
If you collect all 50 padlocks during the game, you unlock "unlimited" Match 3 and HO games at the end. They really aren't unlimited, as you do reach the end of the games and cannot play them over and over again.
I really liked the unlimited HOS at the end, as you were able to visit every location of the game and find ALL the HO in the scenes, running between 60 and 80 or more items for each location. I think the game said it had over 2000 HO in the game. I'm not much of a Match 3 player, but these took a little thinking and strategy to do.
So a straight HOG that was entertaining and relaxing, as you didn't have to try to figure out anything, just find those HO.
I recommend this game!
Use your Hidden Object skills to track down and stop the notorious Sweeney Todd! Find crucial clues to piece together the mystery.
Overall rating
5
/
5
17 of 19 found this review helpful
LOVED THE THEATER-LIKE CUT SCENES
PostedJuly 8, 2013
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
5
/
5
Storyline
5
/
5
This is a great game. In fact, I like it so much, I will probably play it over again, which I rarely do, as there are so many other games to play instead of replaying one.
The storyline was awesome. The cut scenes were sung and felt like you were watching a stage play of the story. They were mesmerizing. The voice overs were also fantastic and fit each character perfectly. I never play with music, so can't tell you about that part.
I played the advanced mode and it was pretty challenging. I found myself using hints a lot, usually for just one or two hard items in the HOS or to open the Strategy Game. I also used the built in strategy guide for some of the games.
In the advanced mode, you get a grade after each chapter. This straight-A student was surprised when I earned C's and B's for my work. A B got you the title of Sleuth, a C the title of Flatfoot. These grades are based on several factors, like how fast you played, how many bad clicks you made in the HOS, how well you did on the mini games, etc. My overall rating on the end of the game was a C, which was hard for me to take. I might play this game over to try to get my score up.
The game had a map that you could use to move from place to place and it also showed when you had completed a location. This was very helpful.
In the advanced mode, the skip button for the games charged very, very slowly, as did the hint button. Although the Strategy Guide was built into the game, it was not like any other Guide I have ever seen. You had to use one of you hints to access, which made you have to wait for the hint to recharge. Using a hint allowed you to unlock a portion of the Guide, but what was available to unlock was not necessarily the area you were actually working on. So, you had to use more hints to get to the area of the guide you needed. In essence, you had to use hints to unlock the whole book, whether you needed help in all areas or not. Another unique part of the game.
I loved this game and wish there were more games in the Penny Dreadful series.
I recommend this game!
Join in the race as teams battle to be the first to reach the summit of Mount Everest. Explore the mysteries of the world and find clues to support your journey.
Overall rating
3
/
5
3 of 4 found this review helpful
FOR HOG LOVERS
PostedJuly 6, 2013
arnold1049
fromApache Junction, AZ
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Hidden Object
Fun Factor
3
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
3
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
1
/
5
This game has a rambling story line that is used to loosely move from one HOS to another. It really has no other purpose in the game and makes no sense as far as logic or linear progression is concerned. Several of the locations are visited repeatedly and often with many of the same items in the list to find.
The pursuit of the special items has no rhyme or reason to it, with some scenes having them and others not. Finding all 18 of them gained you nothing, except a title of some kind. If they are linked to anything else in the game, it was not apparent.
There is no walkthrough to be found anywhere on the internet for this game and if you get stuck on one of the mini games you may have to start all over with a different player name to get beyond that point. This is what I had to do and I was over 1/2 way through at the time. This was really frustrating and in reading the forums, I found this happened to a lot of the players. I did make it through on the second try.
The hint button was limited, although finding the right number of gems in a given scene awarded you one more hint. Judicious use of the hint button is necessary or you will be stopped at an area and have no hints left to use. The hint was a flashing circle but the circle was so large that at times even with a hint I could not find the item. I quickly realized that the item was usually in the dead center of the hint circle so that helped some.
The photos and videos of an actual expedition to Everest were interesting, but the videos were short and contained no explanation of what expedition was actually being shown. The pictures were also few and had no information about what was in the pictures. How and when the pictures/videos were opened for viewing was not explained either.
Again, if you are a real HOG lover, then you can probably tolerate the inadequacies of the game for the opportunity to play lots of HOS. HOG's are my favorite games, but this one just did not do it for me. Hopefully the other Hidden Expedition games are better.
I don't recommend this game.
Agatha Christie - Death on the Nile
Hercule Poirot investigates a thrilling murder mystery and must find hidden clues, interrogate suspects, and much more.
Overall rating
5
/
5
27 of 32 found this review helpful
HELP SOLVE A MURDER MYSTERY
PostedJuly 4, 2013
arnold1049
fromApache Junction, AZ
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Hidden Object
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
3
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
5
/
5
The storyline on this game is excellent and allows you to solve 3 murders at the end. Lots of HOS and the hint button worked fine in these scenes. The catch for the hints was that there were only 5 available for each chapter/investigation.
The hint button was no help for the mini-games, which were not too hard and not too many of them. It would have been nice to have more instructions on the mini-games, or a game walk through to figure some of them out. I ended up having to go to another web site to find out what was needed in a few of the games.
I liked the fact that you could replay a chapter/investigation if you ran out of time or clues to find all the HO's. The HOS seemed to get harder the further I progressed into the game or into an individual chapter/investigation.
Lots of suspects for the murders with great motives that added a lot of sub-plots to the game. The solution, however, was easily found by the way suspects were matched with actions/clues.
A very entertaining game. I will buy the other games in this series, as they represent a great option to the dark, supernatural games that seem to out number other types of games.
I recommend this game!
Journey across Italy as best-selling novelist Dana Knightstone in Death Under Tuscan Skies: A Dana Knightstone Novel!
Overall rating
5
/
5
3 of 3 found this review helpful
YOU'LL NEED YOUR THINKING CAP FOR THIS ONE
PostedJuly 3, 2013
arnold1049
fromApache Junction, AZ
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Hidden Object
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
3
/
5
Level of Challenge
5
/
5
Storyline
5
/
5
One of the best games I've played in a long time. There are very few HOG's; the game is made up mostly of mini-games that were refreshing in their variety and challenge.
The hint object was superb and actually told you where you needed to go for the next step. But the game was pretty logical and linear so I did not need to use the hint button all that much for that purpose. However, It was very helpful in some of the mini-games where you have to figure out what you are trying to do before you can start actually solving the game. The mini-games don't come with a lot of directions, at least not in the advanced mode.
The strategy guide was built in, which was another plus. I did use the strategy guide for some of the mini-games that I can never solve on my own. There are just some types of mini-games that I am not good at. I played the advanced level which probably made the mini-games a little more challenging. Playing in this mode I was also able to win achievements. I won all but 5 of the achievements, and some of the ones I didn't win were based on how quickly I played a chapter, so I wasn't really disappointed about that.
There is no map but one really wasn't needed.
I spent over 9 hours playing this game and enjoyed every minute of it. I highly recommend this game and will be getting the others in this series.
I recommend this game!
The Dark Piper unleashes infested rodents into the town of Hamelin! Defeat him before he leaves a trail of destruction all across Europe!
Overall rating
3
/
5
6 of 6 found this review helpful
MET MYSELF COMING AND GOING
PostedJune 29, 2013
arnold1049
fromApache Junction, AZ
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Hidden Object
Fun Factor
3
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
3
/
5
Level of Challenge
3
/
5
Storyline
3
/
5
This is one of those games where you can't figure out where to go next without referring to the strategy guide, which, thankfully, was built in. Sometimes you could tell where to go by the items in your inventory, but you would get most of the items in your inventory way before you needed them in the game, so their future use was no help in finding where they belonged. The hint button worked in a scene if there was something left to do, but if not, all you got was a message saying "nothing to do in this area", which is not help at all. There is a map, but it is pretty much useless, and seemed backwards to me. If I wanted to go up a level as shown on the map, I often had to go down a level in the game to actually get to the intended place. Right and left moves also seemed to be backward on the map. The map did not show active areas where you could find the HOS games or other areas that needed action. The few areas it did show as awaiting attention where totally misleading because you couldn't complete the action without finding other items in other areas. And the map did not enable you to move between areas by clicking on it. You have to go back to the game and move "5 steps down, 4 steps left, one step forward" as an example. I hate games that work like this. I am an impatient player, which is why I used the strategy guide a lot. There seemed to be little linear logic to the game, just hit and miss movements until you suddenly found something to do. When I have to use the strategy guide as much as I had to with this game, it irritates me and takes all the fun out of the game.
I'm not going to recommend this game, nor am I not going to recommend it. I know some players like this kind of game, but I don't.
Discover the Amazon`s untamed jungle and ancient civilizations while searching for hidden objects in this Adventure sequel.
Overall rating
3
/
5
4 of 5 found this review helpful
FRUSTRATING MINI GAMES/PUZZLES
PostedJune 17, 2013
arnold1049
fromApache Junction, AZ
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Hidden Object
Fun Factor
3
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
3
/
5
Level of Challenge
3
/
5
Storyline
3
/
5
The lack of explanation/help for the mini games totally spoiled this game for me. What help there was available was often written almost as a riddle and didn't help explain the object of the game or how to activate/move within the game. Although there was no skip button, if you hit the hint button enough, it would finally turn into a solve button and you could get out of the game that way. I was also disappointed that I had to find the walkthrough at another internet location, as it was not available here. The ending also seemed rushed, after all the prior detailed locations. Over all, a frustrating experience.
I don't recommend this game.
Remove an evil curse that has caused a whole kingdom to be trapped in their dreams! Save a beautiful princess before it’s too late!
Overall rating
5
/
5
4 of 5 found this review helpful
SNOW WHITE REDUX
PostedJune 14, 2013
arnold1049
fromApache Junction, AZ
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Hidden Object
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
5
/
5
This is basically a Snow White story with some unexpected twists. The storyline was well thought out and the game moved smoothly through the various scenes. This is one of those specialized HOG's where you have to find pieces of items to put together to use in the scenes. The graphics were clear and bright and very appropriate to the story. Hints were good and you could skip puzzles. I really enjoyed it as a great change from the darker games and the ones that run you around all over the place. I will be purchasing the other Love Chronicles in the series, but in the CE's.
I recommend this game!
Robinson Crusoe is a story of a man who survives a terrible shipwreck and finds himself cast away on an island in the Caribbean.
Overall rating
4
/
5
1 of 1 found this review helpful
UNIQUE GAME
PostedJune 13, 2013
arnold1049
fromApache Junction, AZ
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Hidden Object
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
5
/
5
Storyline
5
/
5
This game was very different from most of the games I've played. The HO scenes were challenging, requiring me to use the hint button often. I played the casual mode with the tutorial and if I hadn't, I never would have gotten out of the first scene unless I had referred to the walkthrough, which I did several other times. It is also a very long game, and well worth the money.
I recommend this game!
Help the secret organization of Mystery Trackers find 3 missing celebrities in the mysterious Void family mansion!
Overall rating
4
/
5
1 of 1 found this review helpful
GOOD LINEAR GAME
PostedJune 10, 2013
arnold1049
fromApache Junction, AZ
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Hidden Object
Fun Factor
4
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
5
/
5
This game is a good HO with lots of different puzzles. The storyline is cohesive and logical, although movement through the game was sometimes difficult enough to require the occasional hint to figure out where to go next. I liked the achievements that you could earn. Held my interest and was entertaining.
I recommend this game!