andrea4880's Profile
Stat Summary
- Average Rating:4.2
- Helpful Votes:475
- Reviews Submitted:27
- First Review:January 21, 2012
- Most Recent Review:May 12, 2018
- Featured reviews0
Status:
20 years ago a terrible accident destroyed most of Cyan City. Now, Monica returns to uncover the secrets of her childhood!
Overall rating
5
/
5
1 of 1 found this review helpful
HOG with a difference
PostedMarch 31, 2012
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
5
/
5
Storyline
5
/
5
Yes, the basic plot is nothing new - you have to find your mother and save her, but that's where the similarity to other HOGs ends. The mini games and puzzles are new, nothing I ever came across before with clear instructions, yet you still have to use your brain to solve them. The HO scenes are visually stunning, some items require some interaction to find and in a new twist, there are mini HO scenes within the main ones. The map is a great help, the hint button recharges fairly quickly, there are two difficulty modes and the task button tells you what you still have to do. I've only played about an hour of this game which I bought with my free credit, but I can already tell that this one is well worth it. The only thing slightly negative is the heroine's voice-over. She sounds like she's reading from a script, but you can click through the dialoge to speed things up a bit. However, don't skip through it altogether because you get useful clues on what to do next and where to find stuff from the characters you encounter. A very enjoyable game.
I recommend this game!
An ocean liner was caught in a storm and wrecked in the ocean. Discover mysteries, save your friends, and get back home!
Overall rating
5
/
5
31 of 34 found this review helpful
Wandering Willows meets Lost
PostedMarch 2, 2012
andrea4880
fromAustralia
Skill Level:Intermediate
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 will entertain for many days. It's probably the best value game I own so far. I haven't finished it yet, I'm only about halfway through but I already bought TIC2! This game is like Wandering Willows, minus the cute factor, a bit more 'adult' and much more challenging. The characters look fairly realistic. You have missions to complete for various people on the island, things to collect on the way, recipes to follow etc. but you have to do all the work yourself #no cute pet to do it for you#. Also, look out for the boars and snakes as they can inflict damage. Hint - keep a ready supply of ingredients for the repelling potion in your inventory and cook food as soon as you have the necessary ingredients as this will free up your inventory for other things and also nourishes your character more efficiently. You can hold 20 of each in the beginning #before it spills over into a second space#, 50 of each after the first upgrade and 100 of each after the final upgrade, so use your inventory space wisely in the beginning. As soon as you are able to, sell all your surplus stock to the shop for extra funds to buy upgrades faster.
It would have been fun to be able to customise your character like in Wandering Willows, but apart from that,
I can't find anything negative about this game.
It would have been fun to be able to customise your character like in Wandering Willows, but apart from that,
I can't find anything negative about this game.
I recommend this game!
Overall rating
5
/
5
2 of 3 found this review helpful
well worth the money
PostedFebruary 21, 2012
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
5
/
5
Storyline
5
/
5
I loved this game. It's quite long and seemed to go on forever. The HOS are a bit darkish, but I still managed to find most items without using the hint button. Also there is no penalty for overclicking. You can also choose to lighten the scenes using the options menu.
Most puzzles were quite hard and really test your brain power. I had to skip some of them. There are some very easy ones and some very different ones I had never seen before in other games. There are three difficulty levels. I played the easiest one, but will graduate to the medium one next time.
There is no map, only a compass, which I found of little use to orient myself by. I simply relied on my memory, which was a bit of a hit and miss situation. The hint button is very clear on what you need to do next, i.e. go to location X, pick up item Y and use it at location Z. The problem with that is, you need to remember how to get to locations X and Z! The hint button doesn't tell you that, which I thought actually added to the challenge instead of just being led there via helpful arrows.
I liked the story. Although there is a supernatural theme, there is no blood and gore, nobody gets killed, nor is it very scary. It's a break-the-spell type story and your job is to re-unite your sister, her husband and their infant son.
I was sad when it was over.
Most puzzles were quite hard and really test your brain power. I had to skip some of them. There are some very easy ones and some very different ones I had never seen before in other games. There are three difficulty levels. I played the easiest one, but will graduate to the medium one next time.
There is no map, only a compass, which I found of little use to orient myself by. I simply relied on my memory, which was a bit of a hit and miss situation. The hint button is very clear on what you need to do next, i.e. go to location X, pick up item Y and use it at location Z. The problem with that is, you need to remember how to get to locations X and Z! The hint button doesn't tell you that, which I thought actually added to the challenge instead of just being led there via helpful arrows.
I liked the story. Although there is a supernatural theme, there is no blood and gore, nobody gets killed, nor is it very scary. It's a break-the-spell type story and your job is to re-unite your sister, her husband and their infant son.
I was sad when it was over.
I recommend this game!
Create a prosperous island paradise for your industrious, intelligent tribe with this real-time Brain Teaser!
Overall rating
4
/
5
43 of 51 found this review helpful
better than virtual villagers
PostedFebruary 17, 2012
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
3
/
5
Storyline
5
/
5
First of all in regards to all those reviews that mention their tribe dying off overnight, I guess those players didn't realise that you can actually set the game to 'pause' when you turn your computer off# That means your tribe freezes in time and nobody ages or dies while you're away# The game automatically resumes when you continue playing#
The people look more realistic than in the virtual villagers series and their movements are also more fluid# The mysteries are not easy to solve, I had to look up cheats for that# I like that fact that you can place your buildings wherever you like, whenever you like, providing you have resources#
I like the fact that you know straight away the gender of your new babies as well as the fact that the mother can resume working straight away as opposed to having to wait two island years like in virtual villagers# Instead, the babies toddle after their mothers until they turn three, which is kinda cute#
Being able to move to other islands adds a new twist, and although all islands are similar in set up, their shape is differect each time and sometimes you can even get a twin island#
I would have liked to see the villagers have more food sources than just fishing and farming, and also to see them interact with each other from time to time, like in virtual villagers#
I find it a bit silly that the villagers can starve to death despite having plenty of food in storage, just because they run out of wood, as they need the wood to fuel the fire to cook their food# No wood=no fire=starvation. But that could really only happen if you go away for a while and leave no trees checked to be harvested.
This is an easy game to continue. I've played this game on and off for several years now and I've never had a tribe die on me. All of my countless villagers have died of old age, except one who for some unknown reason stood beside a food storgage shed without actually eating and I didn't notice it until it was too late. This villagers died of starvation. Yes, she was blonde. lol
I have learned that villagers start dying of old age from age 68 upwards. My oldest person to die was 83!
A fun game for adults and kids alike.
I recommend this game!
A missing girl has been lured away by evil music! Stop the young prodigy and save everyone from the evil Maestro!
Overall rating
5
/
5
49 of 55 found this review helpful
A great follow up game
PostedFebruary 15, 2012
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
5
/
5
Storyline
5
/
5
I enjoyed the first Maesto and I loved this one just as much. It was long and challenging enough with a good balance of HOS and puzzles.
I would have liked to have a map and some sort of indication at the various locations once they were complete to save a lot of running around looking where to use things in the inventory, some of which you carry around for quite some time before you use them. You need quite a good memory in this game if you want to play without using the hint button, which thankfully tells you if there is nothing to do in a scene. I had to use the hint button quite a bit because I couldn't remember where certain things were, once I found the item to use on them. Getting old I guess. lol.
Other than that, it's brilliant!
I would have liked to have a map and some sort of indication at the various locations once they were complete to save a lot of running around looking where to use things in the inventory, some of which you carry around for quite some time before you use them. You need quite a good memory in this game if you want to play without using the hint button, which thankfully tells you if there is nothing to do in a scene. I had to use the hint button quite a bit because I couldn't remember where certain things were, once I found the item to use on them. Getting old I guess. lol.
Other than that, it's brilliant!
I recommend this game!
Overall rating
4
/
5
0 of 2 found this review helpful
not bad for a daily special
PostedFebruary 11, 2012
Fun Factor
4
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
5
/
5
After initial installation problems, which the very helpful technical support team solved for me, I played this game over two days, just under 4 hours in total. There are seven chapters and once you finish one chapter you don't go back to it, so that's a plus. It cuts down on much to and froing. There aren't many HOS to do, but they are not bad when you get one. The graphics are good, but I've seen better, and the items easy to spot. Many HOS are of the 'find 20 of this item' variety, which is a nice change from the usual. The mini games and puzzles varied from way too easy, but time-consuming to the completely incomprehensible. There were a couple I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to solve, as there didn't seem to be any clues for them in the journal. I had to skip through those. It's a nice love story with a happy ending, if you can call two ghosts finding each other after over a century apart 'happy'. There is no map, but it's not needed as the hint button helps you if you get stuck.
Not my favourite, but still a nice game.
Not my favourite, but still a nice game.
I recommend this game!
Vacation Quest: Australia
Grab your passport and get ready for an exotic Hidden Object Adventure in Vacation Quest: Australia!
Overall rating
4
/
5
100 of 115 found this review helpful
a nice relaxing game
PostedFebruary 4, 2012
Fun Factor
4
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
3
/
5
Being Australian, I expected another cliched portrayal of Australia, but I was pleasantly surprised. It's great to see that the developers have decided to look past the usual things like the Sydney Opera house and kangaroos to show that Australia has a lot more on offer. The graphics are beautiful and the music pleasant. I like the Aussie fact and language lesson at the end of each level. A nice touch. Also, it's a fairly long game with many locations to visit.
It's a straighforward HOG with simple puzzles in between, not rocket science, but nice and relaxing. If you want something more challenging and adventurous, this game will probably bore you, but if you're looking for just a basic and simple game the way HOGs used to be, you will love this.
It's a straighforward HOG with simple puzzles in between, not rocket science, but nice and relaxing. If you want something more challenging and adventurous, this game will probably bore you, but if you're looking for just a basic and simple game the way HOGs used to be, you will love this.
I recommend this game!
When Houdini’s promises of contact from beyond go unkept, his wife comes to you in a final plea to unravel his mysterious passing.
Overall rating
5
/
5
another great entry in the midnight mysteries series
PostedFebruary 3, 2012
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Loved it. Graphics are beautiful and the game is fairly long, so you get your money's worth, although it did crash halfway through - the first time this has ever happened to me - and I had to start all over. I found enough clovers to get the unlimited HO mode, so I was happy with that and I only had to skip one of the puzzles, which I was also happy about.
The only minus side was the constant popping up of dialogue from ghosts or your own thoughts from the journal, often five or six in a row. It was frustrating when you just wanted to get on with it, pick up an item etc. Most things could have been said in one go instead of in installments. You have to click each time to get to the next bit of conversation.
I'm still giving this five stars, because it's a great game.
I recommend this game!
Help Constable Hawthorne investigate the rumors of witchcraft in Hidden Mysteries – Salem Secrets, a fun Hidden Object game!
Overall rating
3
/
5
1 of 1 found this review helpful
mixed feelings about this game
PostedFebruary 1, 2012
Fun Factor
4
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
3
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
It's not a bad game, but it could have been better. The graphics were pretty basic and at times, towards the edge of the map it reminded me of gaming console games when you get to an area that's off limits, i.e. you've reached the limit of the map. You can always tell by the very sloppy graphics that you can't go somewhere. Except in this game you could go there. For example the snow/mountain area was very disappointing.
The HOS didn't have enough contrast in them, making it very difficult on the eyes. Good thing is there doesn't seem to be a penalty for over-clicking, so go for it!
The hint button is only available for the HOS, not for the rest of the game, so you have to figure out for yourself where to go next, which is sometimes a little confusing. I basically ran around in circles and backtracked until I came across a HOS, which is always an indicator that you're on the right track.
The map helps to orientate you if you get hopelessly lost, but I would have liked to have seen completed areas indicated in some way, like in some other games of this genre. Also, there is no fast-tracking to a particular area, which can be frustrating if you're at one end of the map and need to get to the opposite end. I feel the map could have been better developed.
The storyline is okay, but nothing new. The music was pleasant enough. At least I didn't feel the need to turn it off like in some other games.
Gameplay is fairly long, but that's mainly due to the fact that you can run around in circles for ages, figuring out what to do next or where to use an item.
The puzzles are fairly difficult and I had to skip most of them.
I had to skip through the potion making, as I couldn't get my ingredients to stay on the bench, which was frustrating. I tried at least a dozen times with each ingredient, but no luck.
I'm not sure if that was due to a glitch or due to the fact that you had to be super precise in placing the items on the bench. I could pick up the tools, but couldn't do anything with them. A big let-down.
This was the first game I bought from this series and I'm reluctant to try others. I wish I had tried the demo first.
The HOS didn't have enough contrast in them, making it very difficult on the eyes. Good thing is there doesn't seem to be a penalty for over-clicking, so go for it!
The hint button is only available for the HOS, not for the rest of the game, so you have to figure out for yourself where to go next, which is sometimes a little confusing. I basically ran around in circles and backtracked until I came across a HOS, which is always an indicator that you're on the right track.
The map helps to orientate you if you get hopelessly lost, but I would have liked to have seen completed areas indicated in some way, like in some other games of this genre. Also, there is no fast-tracking to a particular area, which can be frustrating if you're at one end of the map and need to get to the opposite end. I feel the map could have been better developed.
The storyline is okay, but nothing new. The music was pleasant enough. At least I didn't feel the need to turn it off like in some other games.
Gameplay is fairly long, but that's mainly due to the fact that you can run around in circles for ages, figuring out what to do next or where to use an item.
The puzzles are fairly difficult and I had to skip most of them.
I had to skip through the potion making, as I couldn't get my ingredients to stay on the bench, which was frustrating. I tried at least a dozen times with each ingredient, but no luck.
I'm not sure if that was due to a glitch or due to the fact that you had to be super precise in placing the items on the bench. I could pick up the tools, but couldn't do anything with them. A big let-down.
This was the first game I bought from this series and I'm reluctant to try others. I wish I had tried the demo first.
I don't recommend this game.
Murder, She Wrote
Help the world-renowned author, Jessica Fletcher, solve murders! Piece together the clues to crack cases in Murder, She Wrote!
Overall rating
3
/
5
3 of 6 found this review helpful
so-so game
PostedJanuary 31, 2012
Fun Factor
4
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
3
/
5
Level of Challenge
3
/
5
Being a fan of the TV series and being on sale, I couldn't resist getting this one, plus it had a near 5 star rating. But I have to say it's not really on par with other HOGs I've played, like the MCF series, Sherlock Holmes Hound of the Baskervilles, Poe's premature burial etc. Granted, for players who like something a bit lighter with no supernatural themes, this is a fun game and also maybe for the younger players, but I didn't think it was too challenging or interesting. I liked the concept of the five seperate books or murder cases, because it was like having five games in one, but they were pretty much alike. Each story had only about four or five HOS, which you had to revisit time after time after time, which became a bit tedious after a while, although some objects were moved around, i.e. a cup might be on the table one time and on the floor the next. The typewriter keys were a novel touch, but since you didn't really need them to complete the HOS, I didn't see the point. Most words you can figure out without having the vowels in them.
The graphics were okay, but the animation of the characters was sadly lacking and unimaginative, although they did bear a good likeness to the TV actors.
Final verdict - A nice game for the beginner, but not very challenging for the hard-core HOG players. I'm glad I didn't pay full price for this one and I must have a higher standards than all the other players who gave this five stars.
The graphics were okay, but the animation of the characters was sadly lacking and unimaginative, although they did bear a good likeness to the TV actors.
Final verdict - A nice game for the beginner, but not very challenging for the hard-core HOG players. I'm glad I didn't pay full price for this one and I must have a higher standards than all the other players who gave this five stars.
I don't recommend this game.