This "Top Reviewer" is one of our most frequent game reviewers. We think you'll trust what they have to say and find their reviews helpful and informative.
This "Top Reviewer" is one of our most frequent game reviewers. We think you'll trust what they have to say and find their reviews helpful and informative.
Completed Game in about 7.0 hours 22 Main Game Scene Locations +9 Bonus Chapter Difficulty Range: Beginner
"Solving this case is as easy as ABC" couldn't be a more accurate statement! Put yourself on auto-pilot and start clicking to figure out why someone is murdering people in alphabetical order. You know what to do, Fix that leaky steam pipe, fix that wheelbarrow blocking your path so you can expose that freshly dug pile of dirt, look for a coin screwdriver, use that cork as a handle, find something to clean up the pile of glass shards, find matching motifs to open drawers, prop up that sofa that is missing a leg, (why would a sofa be missing one leg in the 1st place?) use something to rip out stitches because someone decided to sew something into the lining of a brand new coat. Of course, you will need that hairpin spoke the detective endowed you with! The murderer will be pretty easy to spot in a crowd; just look for someone wearing a cloaked hoodie! When you get finished with all these tasks....don't worry; chapter two will give you another chance to complete the same tasks, lather, rinse, repeat!?!
DIALOGUE CHOICES: If the game isn't boring you out of your mind, you can opt for extended gameplay via Conversation Choices. The story itself will not be affected if you opt out, but if you opt in, you will get an extra quest with additional puzzles and HO scenes. This option would be fantastic if the tasks weren't so cliché and repetitive. Can you imagine this feature in a game like Lost Lands?!
COLLECTIBLES/MORPHING OBJECTS (CE version only) Can't they come up with anything different to add or change? Okay, in all fairness, they did change one of the collectibles in the last game to 14 versus the usual 15 per game! Does that count as a change? There are 15 Miniature Invention items, 15 Morphing Evidence items, and 70 Zoom Zone Broaches that are used to purchase 15 uninteresting Boudoir items. I'm sorry, but purchasing 15 Boudoir items such as a hat or a dollhouse just screams, "we don't really care about this CE extra, but BF makes us add them" Is it because you don't care what the player thinks, or you just don't want to have to recode a game to make the collectibles more appealing?
HIDDEN OBJECT SCENES: WOW! They have really lowered the standards on a lot of these HO scenes! Several of the HO scenes are identical to the scenes offered in their simple HOGs (Connected Worlds & The Intersection of Worlds) This is where they list 3 words at a time, some of which are x3 (multiple's of the same object) and as the player finds an item, another listed word takes its place. If you have played the HOGs mentioned above, you will realize that the objects aren't hidden, and the HO scene is over within seconds! There are also Interactive Listed Items, Silhouetted Shapes, Spot the Differences, Find & Replace, and Keywords in Sentence Finds. Many of the scenes are dark, which makes it difficult to recognize objects...I don't consider this to be "challenging" just because they have poor graphics! The HO scenes are located in uninteresting and very typical locations. They were so boring that I opted to play the Alternate Match 3 game which was slightly less boring.
ALTERNATE MATCH 3 GAME: There is an alternate Match 3 Game available if you don't want to play a Hidden Object Scene. NOTHING has changed in this Match 3 game for decades! Not only are the icons & features exactly the same in every match 3 game, but you cannot make consecutive matches quickly because you have to wait for all tiles to stop falling before you can make the next match.
MINI-GAMES: They did try to add a few new games, one of which I just couldn't figure out why my solution wasn't correct when sliding icons to the correct spot according to the clue shown. I finally referred to the SG where they were showing the placement of one of the icons, which was nowhere near the location of the clue shown. All the other icons were correct and did match the clue shown, so the only thing I can figure out is that it was a glitch of some sort. I really enjoyed the Key puzzle; although there have been several variations of this game in the past, it was still fun to swap key sections on the left & right to align 2 sections because the sections that matched were hidden behind a panel.
BONUS CHAPTER (CE Version Only) In the Bonus Chapter, you play as Fred Jones, a character from the main chapter who is being sued by a famous actress who claims Mr. Jones used inferior materials that caused an allergic reaction. There are 10 additional Mini-Games and 6 Hidden Object Scenes taking place over 9 additional scene locations. You will continue searching for the final 5 Morphing Evidence items, 4 Miniature Inventions, and 9 Zoom Zone Broaches that are used to purchase the final items in the Boudoir.
COLLECTOR'S EDITION EXTRAS: (CE version only) 15 Wallpapers, 15 Concept Art Pictures, 5 Music Soundtracks, 21 Movie Video Cutscenes, 38 Achievements, 21 Replayable Mini-Games, 23 Replayable Hidden Object Scenes, 15 Miniature Invention items, 15 Morphing Evidence items, and 70 Zoom Zone Broaches that are used to purchase 15 uninteresting Boudoir items, 4 Main Chapters, +Bonus Chapter, and a Built-In Strategy Guide.
Hot Potato, you're it... come join the fun! thewoodsforum.boards.net
This "Top Reviewer" is one of our most frequent game reviewers. We think you'll trust what they have to say and find their reviews helpful and informative.
There's just something about a new Vacation Adventures game that makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Yes, they are cheesy HOG's. yes, they are basically all the same...But, that's part of the charm. The familiarity of the game is comforting, relaxing, and enjoyable.
You can play in a Casual Mode (untimed-faster hint recharge), a Challenge Mode (timed-normal hint recharge), or Extreme Mode, which is only available in the CE version (timed-no available hints-all wildlife & recyclables must be found, and you will earn all achievements as well) There are 19 Achievements to earn for completing various tasks such as buying Souvenirs, earning an Eagle Eye award or completing the game. You can purchase 16 Cruise Souvenirs, which are stored in a cabin room.
Each scene has several Lost & Found Items that are shown as silhouettes in a Portal to the left of the word search bar, and when all items have been spotted, the portal will close. Each Scene has 3 Golden Anchor's to find, and a checkmark will appear when all have been found. There are 16 Photo-op scenes that have a Camera Icon, which allows you to take a photo for the photo album.
You will earn an Eagle Eye achievement if you don't use either the Hint or Mega Hint feature. The Magnifying Glass will show you a hint of one item, and the Mega hint will show you the location of every item left to find.
You'll earn a Bronze Star for completing the Search, a Silver Star if you find all Lost & Found items OR Anchors, and a Gold Star if you find all Lost & Found items AND Gold Anchors. Words listed in Blue require an interaction of some type, and words in Red are hidden inside or behind things.
Most of the scenes have two Zoom Zones (indicated by sparkling stars) that have hidden items and sometimes include Anchors or Lost & Found items. After each Hidden Object Scene, you'll play a variety of Mini Games, such as Word Search, Jigsaws, or Label Placement.
Collector's Edition Extras: 3 Bonus Cruises (Romantic River Cruise) 18 Wallpapers, 20 Music Soundtracks w/player, 19 Achievements, 16 Souvenirs to purchase & display, 16 Photo Op Scenes, 48 Replayable Mini-Games EXTRA MINI-GAMES: 8 Jigsaw Puzzles 8 Rotate Puzzles 8 Flipsaw Puzzles 6 Spot The Difference 3 Concentration 7 Word Search 4 Puzzle Placement 1 Fruit Sundae (shaped pizzle) 1 Fruit Cocktail (rotate rings) 1 Constellation (rotate rings & swap strips) 1 Europe Map (find listed cities on a map)
Come join the fun at my new Forum: thewoodsforum.boards.net
This "Top Reviewer" is one of our most frequent game reviewers. We think you'll trust what they have to say and find their reviews helpful and informative.
Tiny Little Lion still rocks, but I just wasn't into this game. I thought maybe I was just having an off day yesterday, so I gave it another whirl today, but it still wasn't knocking my socks off. I will give them credit for choosing very unique themes, from Donuts to Día de los Muertos!
There are four variants available:
•Differences ≠ Spot the Difference between 2-4 different scenes, side by side. There are also hidden objects to find, such as 5 Cars or 5 Snails. This was my favorite variant, and some of the differences were challenging to spot!
•Swap ⇄ This is a square Tile Swap variant. Some of the levels have multiple pictures to give it a bit of a challenge. I've never been a huge fan of swap-type puzzles, but there are several unique pictures available.
•Match = The goal is to find matching pairs, but in my opinion, there should have been way more objects to match. I loved the saltwater fish level, but it would have been more challenging if there was a bunch of fish...even better would be several layers to have to sift through.
•Detail ▤ This is where you are tasked with finding specific areas, shown as swatches or small pictures. Most of these levels were very challenging, at times, frustrating because of the variable designs in the pictures.
I don't see the value in this CE version, there are no morphs or collectibles, which is something I've always enjoyed in Tiny Little Lion games. The synopsis states there are 22 Bonus Levels that must be just mixed in with the 90 levels shown?? There is a tab for CE content, but it only shows 15 Wallpapers, and 13 Music Soundtracks; it doesn't say anything about bonus levels which is even more confusing. Personally, I have no need for wallpapers or stock music soundtracks.
Come join the fun and become an official Woodsy at my new forum, thewoodsforum.boards.net
This "Top Reviewer" is one of our most frequent game reviewers. We think you'll trust what they have to say and find their reviews helpful and informative.
I'd like to point out that Melon Games has developed the last few games in this series, and I have noticed a few subtle changes. The graphics have improved, but more importantly, the level layouts are more user-friendly, allowing players to remove more cards before being forced to end the level by collecting the last remaining Gold Card. It may not be a miracle...but maybe it's a sign that this developer is open to change!?
The problem is "close" only counts in a game of Horseshoes. The levels are purposely designed to prevent the player from removing all cards from the board. At the very least, can't they design the levels to allow players the possibility of removing all cards? It's so frustrating when you can't remove the final four or five cards because the last remaining Gold Card(s) are on top. Once you remove those Gold Cards, the level ends even if several cards remain on the board!
I get that some people enjoy playing a game that doesn't require them to remove all of the cards, but the majority of solitaire fans do! Solitaire Games are one of my favorite genres, and I would gladly give them a 5-Star rating if Melon Games would just tweak the levels to allow solitaire fans like myself the ability to remove all cards. I'd even be willing to purchase every game if they added an option to continue playing after the Gold Cards are removed!
Do you miss the BF forums? You're in luck! Join us at my new forum and catch up with long-lost forum members thewoodsforum.boards.net
This "Top Reviewer" is one of our most frequent game reviewers. We think you'll trust what they have to say and find their reviews helpful and informative.
I want to thank Seven Sails for bringing us a wide range of games, I know how hard they work, and I do appreciate them! The images are really beautiful, and they allow you to see and work on any of the 64 images, which is awesome.
The only issue I have is that it doesn't take very long to complete an image because there are only 9 colored stones to "break." To be clear, each colored stone may have varying amounts of stones to break, but the stones are pretty big. It wasn't as gratifying to simply click on the stones to remove them in the blink of an eye as it is to chisel away cells, as offered in the pixel painting game last week.
This "Top Reviewer" is one of our most frequent game reviewers. We think you'll trust what they have to say and find their reviews helpful and informative.
Completed Game in approximately 4.0 hours (including completion of all mini-games & CE Bonus Chapter) 18 Main Game Scene Locations +6 Bonus Chapter Difficulty Range: Beginner-Intermediate
I would have given this game 5-stars if Anna Gray was lugging daddy Richard's skull around in her purse! What is going on at Elephant Games lately? Not only is Richard still MIA, but the Morphing Objects are no longer available in any Elephant Game, and now the replayable Mini-games & HO scenes are MIA?!
First, they ditched Elf in the Mystery Trackers series, which was clearly the worse decision a person could make in a long-running, successful series. The ratings fell, and they haven't added a new MT game in two years.
Then they ditched Rick Rogers from the beloved Paranormal Files series. This series WAS Rick Rogers; after helping a ghost in the first game, he opened his own Paranormal Files agency. Fans are upset because they want Rick Rogers to return, but game after game, Rick is MIA, and fans are no longer fans.
Grim Tales is suffering the same fate. First, they surprised us with a long-lost daughter that Anna knew nothing about. That didn't seem to go over well, so they ditched the daughter. As a reward, Elephant decided to surprise us by ditching daddy Richard and replacing him with Mommy Dearest, Anastasia. What a disaster! Richard was sarcastic, funny, delightful...and clearly dead, but we loved him!
All three of these series have taken drastic turns, and all three have one major thing in common...Fans don't like the change and are begging Elephant Games to make it right...but they don't. How exactly did Elephant Games come to the conclusion that it was a great idea to ditch beloved characters, and who is making the decision to ignore the fans?
웃 Gadgets/Helper: 웃 Anastasia is a gadget and a helper. Whenever her Cameo glows, she has something on her mind...followed by a random inventory item she just happened to stumble upon. This scenario happens 6 different times in the main chapter, and neither adds to the story's charm nor takes away from it other than replacing a beloved Richard.
♪Audio/Visuals:♪ I've always loved the graphics in Elephant Games. Even though they took a drastic turn a few years ago, you can certainly see a shift lately with graphics that look more realistic and more up-to-date.
☽☾ Collectibles & Morphing Objects (CE Version Only): ☼ Unfortunately, there are no Morphing Objects...a huge disappointment :(
There are 12 Collectible Mismatched critters, such as a Catbird or a Chimeras. There are 24 Zoom Zone jigsaw puzzle pieces that allow you to assemble a Jigsaw Puzzle in the Secret Room, which can be accessed anytime. After completing the Bonus Chapter, you can search for missed collectibles in the Expedition Room.
◔ Hidden Object Scenes: ◕ The Hidden Object Scenes are better than they have been in the past, the objects are identifiable, and the scenes are clear and bright. They have the usual Listed Items, Silhouetted Shape Finds, Keywords in Sentence Finds, Swatches of specific areas in the scene, Descriptive Find, and Matching Pairs in a very colorful mushroom patch. There are a handful of small Zoom Zone HO scenes as well.
♙ Mini-Games: ♙ They tried to stick to a detective theme when it came to the Mini-games, such as reconstructing and matching fingerprints or moving Anna via a map. But they also included match 3 against opponents, selecting buttons to connect 2 circuits, pattern recreations, and catching flowers by anticipating the pattern of movement. I felt that the games were rather simplistic, such as rotating rings to recreate pictures. This is unusual because Elephant usually has more complex puzzles that require several steps to follow, which is one of the features I love in their games.
✯ Bonus Chapter (CE Version Only) ✯ It seems Lady A still has a few tricks up her sleeve, and it's up to you to stop her once and for all as The Keeper of the Portals! There are 6 additional Mini-Games and 6 Hidden Object Scenes, and you will continue your search for the final 3 Collectible Animals and 6 Jigsaw Puzzle pieces over 6 additional scene locations.
♕ Collector's Edition Extra's: (CE version only) ♕ 5 Wallpapers, 1 Screensaver, 5 Music Soundtracks, 21 Achievements, Zero Replayable Mini-Games, Zero Replayable Hidden Object Scenes, 12 Collectible Mismatched Animals, 24 Zoom Zone Jigsaw Puzzles (in the Secret Room) Expedition Room (search for missed collectibles), 3 Main Chapters, +Bonus Chapter, and a Built-In Strategy Guide.
Reconnect with long-lost forum friends and become an official Woosdey when you join us on my new forum at thewoodsforum.boards.net
This "Top Reviewer" is one of our most frequent game reviewers. We think you'll trust what they have to say and find their reviews helpful and informative.
Well, apparently, I still DO love Finding these adorable animals! The scenes are beautiful, the animals are adorable, the mini-games are fun, and the features are top-notch. Some of the items are hidden very well, which gives it a little challenge. The quality of the HO games by this developer is in a different league than most other HOGs, and I enjoy them...still!
COLLECTOR'S EDITION EXTRAS: 23 Wallpapers, 14 Developer's Pets, 13 Music Soundtracks, 18 Main Scene Locations, +6 Extra Bonus Locations, 12 Extra Mini-games, 20 Adoptable Furbabies, 456 Furbabies in total to find (16 per scene), Morphing Butterflies (3 per scene) and Scene Location Fun Facts.
Join the fun at my new forum thewoodsforum.boards.net
This "Top Reviewer" is one of our most frequent game reviewers. We think you'll trust what they have to say and find their reviews helpful and informative.
You can't say Our Beautiful Earth doesn't have a wide selection of animals to find because this game has Emus, Alpacas, giraffes, elephants, butterflies, bunnies, and even a Brontosaurus! I really wish devs would do their homework and correctly identify the listed animals...
A Gerbil is not a Mouse; they are both rodents, but a gerbil is native to China, Mongolia, and Russia and has fur on their tails. A mouse has a hairless tail and large round ears.
An Emu & an Ostrich are two different birds, both are flightless birds An ostrich is over 9' tall, and an emu is only 5' tall. An ostrich can weigh over 300# but the maximum weight for an emu is only 132#. Male ostriches are You can earn up to 3-stars, the first Star is earned for finding all 18 Listed Objects, a second Star for finding all 3 Cats, and a 3rd Star for finding the Paw Print Tile. Coins earned for completing the HOGs and Mini-games are used in the Gift Shop to reveal 14 sections on a beautiful Wallpaper Scene. larger than females, but the female emu is larger than a male emu. The ostrich only has 2 toes, the emu has three. Emus are native to Australia, Ostriches are native to Africa. There are no ostriches in Australia and no emus in Africa.
As for that shiny blue bird that looked like an Indigo Bunting, he must have been from the Jurassic era as well because it didn't look like any hummingbird I've ever seen!
You can play in a Casual or Challenge Mode, depending on how fast you want the Hint & Puzzle Skip buttons to recharge. There are no Misclick Penalties or Timers. Each location gives you a little fun fact at the start of each HO scene which I find very interesting. I also like the Magnifying Glass feature, you can right-click anywhere on the scene to pull it up, and right-click again to make it disappear, and the magnifying glass doesn't disappear when you find an object and click on it like some other HOGs.
Each of the 30 scene locations has 3 adorable cats, a hidden Camera that will reward you with a location screenshot, and a hidden Paw Print Tile of various critters in each level, (ignore the fact that dolphins & birds don't have paws lol) Wouldn't it make more sense to have the Pawprint Tile open up to reveal that animals real print, even if it's just a flipper or dorsal fin?
Each scene has 2 Sub-scenes or Zoom Zones that will appear as Boxes on the Right side that come and go as objects are found and new ones are added, but unfortunately, there isn't a separate list of items in bold for the sub-scenes.
After each Hidden Object Scene, you will play a Puzzle or Mini-Game such as Spot the Difference, Memory Matching Animal Pairs, Rotate & Drag Tetris-Shaped Puzzle Pieces into Place, Mahjong, Jigsaw Puzzles, and even Mosaic Griddlers. The Spot the Differences images are really subtle so they can be quite challenging, I don't normally like Mahjong but this was a classic Mahjong that was unusually challenging and held my interest.
We'd love to see you at my new, nature-themed forum! thewoodsforum.boards.net
This "Top Reviewer" is one of our most frequent game reviewers. We think you'll trust what they have to say and find their reviews helpful and informative.
I'm a little biased because I love pictures of wild animals, and this edition reminded me of their Earth Chronicle Series. I just can't bring myself to give them anything over 3-stars because nothing else has really changed or improved.
The pages didn't get "stuck" this time but I encountered a new glitch where several pages would turn with each single-click.
After closing the BF forums, they allowed us to talk about other forums, so join us at The Woods Forum at thewoodsforum.boards.net
This "Top Reviewer" is one of our most frequent game reviewers. We think you'll trust what they have to say and find their reviews helpful and informative.
Yesterday's game, Detective Agency: Gray Tie, was better than this HOG. The graphics are dark & hazy. The HO scenes are so easy that they are completed in just a few seconds. The mini-games are the best part of this game.
In the Collector's Edition version of this game, you get 15 Wallpapers (which appear to be taken from each of the HO scenes), 15 Concept Art, 5 Music, 25 Achievements, and a Strategy Guide that only shows the solution for the Mini Games and the location of the Collectible Bracelets.
After closing the BF forums, they allowed us to talk about other forums so join us at The Woods Forum at thewoodsforum.boards.net