Where are the Mystery Lands and Labyrinth boards? There are only two types of boards; multi-color and shapes, with shapes predominating. Definitely not up to the quality of the other World's Greatest Places/Cities Mosaics games. Very disappointing.
Level 24, IMHO, is the perfect example of what I think a patchwork design should be. The pattern was totally symmetrical and was something you would see in a patchwork quilt or similar fabric works. Since I have purchased this game, I hope to run into more puzzles of this caliber that support what I would expect from the "patchwork" title.
Favorite Genre(s):Hidden Object, Mahjong, Match 3, Puzzle
Fun Factor
2/ 5
Visual/Sound Quality
3/ 5
Level of Challenge
1/ 5
I played 45 minutes of the trial and got to the bonus puzzle at the first location. At that point, there was no way to apply logic to solve the grid, no matter which color you were playing. In the instructions, the word "guess" is used many times, and they weren't kidding. The only way to solve a grid by guessing, and I have done this before, is to use a piece of grid paper and mark all the correct guesses before you run out of lives (make too many mistakes) and have to start over. By using the grid paper, the next time around, you can transfer the correct guesses back to the game grid and have that many fewer guesses to make. As you continue to guess, if you play enough times and make and transfer accurate markings on the grid paper, you will finally be able to solve the grid in order to be able to continue to the next puzzle. Personally, I think this is way too much work when there are so many other games that can be solved with your brain, instead of paper and pen. Well, I guess instead of pen and paper, you could take screen shots and print them out to keep track of your correct guesses.
I would sincerely like to know how the persons who rated this game 5 stars managed to solve the grids that were based solely on guessing. You have limited lives, two to start each puzzle, and limited power ups. Each mistake takes away a life, and when you run out of lives, you have to start over. There is no skip button and the next puzzle does not unlock until the previous puzzle is solved, which means completing the grid with at least one life left.
I purchased the first game in this series and so far, even though the instructions contained the dreaded word "guess", I haven't run into a grid that I have been unable to solve. Once I do, I will uninstall the game and just mark the money I've wasted up to experience. If the developers intend to continue this series, I would suggest that they base the grids on logic, as is expected from this genre, and take the "guessing" out of their product.
Favorite Genre(s):Hidden Object, Mahjong, Match 3, Puzzle
Fun Factor
2/ 5
Visual/Sound Quality
1/ 5
Level of Challenge
4/ 5
When this series came out, I was glad to have another choice in this genre. I have now purchased and played all three games in this series and I have the same complaints for all of them. The background used for the numbers above the columns and next to the rows is a dark blue that the dark colored numbers are impossible to see without a magnifying glass. The background for the tiles is the scene itself, so, depending on what position the tiles fall on the scene, they can also be impossible to see. Additionally, the differences in the colored tiles is often so slight, (black, dark brown, even darker brown), creates another problem that makes the games extremely hard to play. I'm not sure why I continue to struggle with these games. I even purchased a better magnifying glass to help. I'm thinking that the eye strain caused by the choice of color schemes is not worth it.
When this series came out, I was glad to have another choice in this genre. I have now purchased and played all three games in this series and I have the same complaints for all of them.
The background used for the numbers above the columns and next to the rows is a dark blue that the dark colored numbers are impossible to see without a magnifying glass. The background for the tiles is the scene itself, so, depending on what position the tiles fall on the scene, they can also be impossible to see. Additionally, the differences in the colored tiles is often so slight, (black, dark brown, even darker brown), creates another problem that makes the games extremely hard to play.
I'm not sure why I continue to struggle with these games. I even purchased a better magnifying glass to help. I'm thinking that the eye strain caused by the choice of color schemes is not worth it.
Favorite Genre(s):Hidden Object, Mahjong, Match 3, Puzzle
Fun Factor
1/ 5
Visual/Sound Quality
3/ 5
Level of Challenge
3/ 5
Storyline
1/ 5
I was expecting a game on the level of Spring Mosaics, but was disappointed. Some reviewers have already mentioned these issues as well; incredibly hard to read the numbers over the columns and beside the rows, and distracting and confusing paint brush as part of the cursor. Another issue I have may be a problem with my laptop, but the complete screen did not show on my monitor; I could not see the bottom row of icons, including the menu option to be able to use the power-ups, hints, lives, etc., nor the text for the storyline. I thought I saw mentioned a game called Winter in Italy (?), which makes me think this is part of a 4 game series. I sure hope they get the numbers and cursor problems fixed before anymore are released. The fact that the screen does not fit my monitor is probably something wrong with my settings. I have tried several things but have yet to hit on the solution. I love these kinds of mosaic games and was excited to get another one to play. Again, I am so disappointed in the quality of this game.
This series of griddlers became my favorite when they added more colors to the grids. Now they have decided to restrict the colors to unlock one at a time, which technically, takes it back to being a one-color (at a time) griddler. Seems like change for change's sake and does not add to the game for me. I didn't realize what was going on until I replayed one level. Only one color was unlocked to play, After I was about half way through that first color, then another color unlocked, but not the next color in order. I don't remember this in the levels I had played before this. I saw that not all the colors were available to play at first, but I'm pretty sure at least two colors where available at any one time. Perhaps the only one color available to play is a penalty for replaying the level.
This will be the last game in this series that I will buy without playing the demo. If they want the game to be more challenging, then add this one color at a time option to the Advanced menu and leave us "boring" players to our relaxing play
Favorite Genre(s):Hidden Object, Mahjong, Match 3, Puzzle
Fun Factor
5/ 5
Visual/Sound Quality
5/ 5
Level of Challenge
5/ 5
Storyline
5/ 5
I have not written a review here for years, but I couldn't help but to attract players to try this game. This game had lots of hidden object scenes and everyone of them were mixed in difficulty. I am not a competitive person and I don't like the pressure of timed games. Although the mini games were a tad easy, I played the easiest level of difficulty. I don't want a game that hypes me up because I can't figure out what is going on, or the HO are so small or hidden (invisible) that it isn't fun. This game is relaxing and it's, again, has lots of HOS, a big plus for me. I finished playing this game with a relaxed feeling of accomplishment and saying to myself, "This is a good game". Hope we will see some more just like it.
A man comes to the aid of another man who is being mugged and gets a hit on the head with a baseball bat for being a good samaritan. In gratitude, the hero is offered the opportunity to change anything in his past life. Of course, any change to the past can have a major impact on the future.
The hero travels back to his hometown 20 years earlier and begins writing different endings to past episodes. One involves breaking a window while playing baseball in front of his childhood home. Another involves a lawnmower while showing off for the prettiest girl in his class. The impact these changes have in the future aren't clear, at least not by the time the demo ended.
The HOS are bright and very simple. The items are large and easy to find. There is a built-in magnifier that helps find anything that isn't easy to find at first glance.
There are hints available but I never had the need for one so I don't know how quickly they recharge. There is no choice of difficulty level, achievements, or any other extras. The same scenes are visited over and over again; the childhood home was visited at least 3 times during the demo.
Once a set of objects have been found, a choice of 3 items are presented to use that would change the end of the episode. The first set of choices never seemed to have a correct item, so you are returned to the same scene to find more items. Eventually, you get a choice that changes the ending. In the case of the ball going through the window, a pair of sunglasses found in the scene changes the direction of the ball and no more broken window.
Unless the storyline gets more complicated, it's hard to get interested in stopping a window from breaking or how that could change the future in any measureable way.
There are other HOS in addition to the ones that change the past. These are more complicated and a little more difficult. Each one contains a number of letters, some of which had to be found in the scene and others that needed to be clicked on to correct the spelling of words in the scene.
The other issue I had with the game is that turning off the sound in the settings did not stop all the noise. I was left with an annoying background sound like street noise during play and noises during other game actions, like when the hourglass turned while loading a new scene. I finally had to turn the sound off on my laptop to get them to stop.
This would be a good game for beginners or children. Unless the storyline gets more complicated, it is a boring game. I like straight HOG but this one is just not challenging enough.
A couple of friends are heading to a campground to surprise and scare their friends who are already at the campgrounds sharing scary stories. They have an accident involving a woman appearing in the middle of the road. After the accident, which occurs just outside a spooky mansion, one of the friends is missing. The search for her begins in the mansion.
This is the final installment of the Campfire Legends three part series. The first one I played, The Hookman, I really enjoyed. I can't say the same for this one.
The whole hour I played, everything was dark. Exploring the mansion is done with a flashlight (after finding the batteries) which flickers so much it was giving me a headache. As opposed to the first game, the fireflies needed for hints were few and far between. Or maybe I just couldn't see them in the dark.
Another example is the goal of restoring electricity to the Mansion. There are 11(?) brightly colored fuses that need to be found to repair the electrical panel; orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, etc. Every single one I eventually found was grey. Perhaps once the electricity was restored and the flashlight went away, things might have gotten better. But before that could happen, the hour was over.
I skipped two of the 3 minigames I ran into. One was putting the parts of a cell phone back together after finding all of them. The parts could be rotated to fit. The SD card and battery would seem to be placed in the back of the phone. I found no way to rotate the phone and no matter how many times I rotated the SD card, it didn't fit anywhere on the front of the phone.
I don't like having to use a lot of hints in a game. In this game, I needed hints to find the hints. Way too frustrating to be enjoyable.