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.
This is a Match 3 game that has been categorized under Hidden Object games, it does have Hidden Object Scenes which require you to scroll up and down to see items from floor to ceiling, and you can revisit the same scene as often as you want, but the main game is a Match 3. The Match 3 game isn't bad, but in my opinion, it became boring too quickly, the tiles are bright and colorful, with cartoonish turtles, crabs, octopus and fish. There are sparkling artifacts that need to be collected by dropping them to the bottom of the board, before your "air" runs out a.k.a. timer. Before each level you can see stats on the game such as a difficulty rating, the time you have to complete the level and how much experience you will gain. Experience gained is just another word for bonuses such as hammers, directional arrows and even oxygen. You can visit the island shop to purchase these experiences with the money you earn in each Match 3 dive. Once you buy the bonuses (multiples can be purchased) you have to click and drag the bonuses onto your divers belt, you can only have a maximum of 10 pounds. Enjoy!
fromAlice caused the sprinkler system to flood her office, set off the fire alarms, broke the scaffolding and left in the middle of the afternoon, she might want to look for a job in Taleworld.
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The benevolent Queen ruled her kingdom with compassion and wisdom, she loved her subjects so much that a heart became part of her coat of arms. Loyal soldiers proudly wore hearts on their armors and flags and the Queen became known as the Queen of Hearts. This kingdom flourished and became the finest realm of Taleworld, until a mysterious advisor changed everything. The Queen locked the gates and she retreated to the castle, the advisor was the only person allowed to visit the Queen! The Queen has finally emerged, no longer loved by her subjects, she has become a cruel tyrant, enforcing curfews and executing anyone who speaks out against her iron thumb ruling, Pierre is one of those scheduled to be executed! Belle has gathered several brave townsfolk, who are willing to fight the Queen's army once Alice arrives through the mirror portal (appropriate name right?) Hopefully Alice will beat the odds and reunite with her mother Belle, but will their combined powers be strong enough to defeat this once beloved Queen? Can they defeat the Queen in time to save Pierre from execution?
I try to compare apples to apples with each review, but sequels rarely live up to the original game, I loved the first game so much that I purchased it within 15 minutes of playing the demo, and it was an excellent game from beginning to end. The second game had unusual features that I liked but I just couldn't connect with the characters, perhaps because Pierre and Belle had aged so much and little inventory baby Alice was now a young girl with problems of her own. I still had difficulty connecting with the characters in this game, Alice is a young woman who left Taleworld to pursue a business career in the big city, so I wrote this review trying not to compare this game to the first game. This is still a really good game, but for me, it's kind of like meeting a friend for the first time since she moved away 15 years ago, you don't really know them anymore. I wish they had spaced these games with a shorter virtual time frame.
Gears is still flying strong, after you fix him up with a new eyeball, some screws and a tiny bit of glue, he's good to go, helping you out with items impossible for you to reach, or relaying messages to the homefront. There are also plus sign indicators on some inventory items which require you to repair or combine that item with another inventory item before using. Each Scene has collectible stained glass pieces, once you find the collectible, the icon on the bottom left will light up indicating that the collectible has been located. Your smartphone contains everything you need, a map, your journal and objectives, clues you come across, achievements you have earned and wallpapers that you unlock as the game progresses.
Hidden Object Games are unusual, yet typical in this series, you find items that unlock the lists such as flowers or even symbols on books that cause the entire bookshelf to slide down and expose a mural. Each Hidden Object Scene has a morphing object, again typical of Nevertales HO's, once you find the morphing item, the icon on the left will light up to show that you have found that item. I absolutely loved the HO where you had to first find several gears in pairs as shown as silhouettes x2 out of a scene crammed full of moving gears, then you had to place those gears into a mechanical clock in the correct position to allow all the gears to move, great out of the box thinking! The mini games aren't as plentiful as I would have hoped for but not bad. The mirror portal games required you to attach circles with either one, two, three or four handles by moving the circles so that the handles matched and all handles were connected. There were a few puzzles where you first collected encrypted codes that had several numbers that equalled a symbol, the first symbol shown may have the key code = 4-3 for example. You would have to then apply that number to that symbol in the game.
This Collectors edition has Concept Art, unlockable Wallpapers, Soundtracks, HO's, Smoke and Mirror puzzles, Red Heart Casino games, a Bonus Chapter, Collectibles, Morphing Objects, and a built in Strategy Guide, enjoy!
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Usually I like the games in this series however, this game was just "off" for my tastes, it seems more like a sappy, cheap romance novel with a lot of piano music. There are no voiceovers, just dialog boxes to read other than the occasional narration of Dana's thoughts spoken out loud. This is the first game in this successful adventure series and things sure have changed for the better. Dana is an up and coming fiction novelist on vacation at the Halward Manor in Scotland. This is a pivotal moment in Dana's career, because today is the day she realizes her true calling. Not only can she see the dearly departed, but she uses this talent to help the dead move onto the afterlife by solving long forgotten unsolved murders. David was a working class painter in love with a rich heiress until he died at Fairing Point. Dana must find out who killed David and hopefully reunite the two lovers so they may live (or die) happily ever after.
There aren't a whole lot of Hidden Object Scenes in this game, and they few I came across were actually kind of boring such as placing inventory items into a packed suitcase where they logically belong such as placing a single sock with it's matching counterpart. There are however a ton of mini games, such as finding 6 broken mirror fragments and replacing them into the frame in a jigsaw type puzzle, and there are a lot of puzzles where you swap or rotate puzzle tiles to create a picture.
The Collectors Edition doesn't seem to be much different, you don't have access to the bonus content unless you actually purchase the game. According to the description page the CE has wallpapers, music an available strategy guide and a bonus chapter.
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.
Children of Blake's Mountain Ireland, beware! Monsters under the bed would be frightened by this giant scythe wielding scarecrow who is gobbling up children in preparation of the Red Moon Harvest, hide your kids, hide your wife, you only have one life! Once every 300 years, the blue moon turns red allowing evil forces to become more powerful than ever imagined, oozing into our world they spread like a plague that few can overcome. The League of Light is our only hope now, but even with the help of Madam Shadow and the Eye of the Seer, it may not be enough to defeat the Scarecrow. Could the Healer who was unable to heal her own daughter, be responsible for all those missing children?
This game is quite possibly perfect, the graphics are superior, dark and creepy, every aspect of every location seems proportionate and just realistic enough to be believable yet cartoonish enough to make it edgy. I'm not sure where the mini me scarecrow came from originally, but you rescue the little guy from a vicious mongrel who seems more interested in eating a giant ham hock (little goldie won't be needing to eat anyway) than keeping the town safe, where was this scrappy little cujo when the big guy stomped through the town anyway? This grateful pumpkin head is at your service now detective, and hopefully he doesn't grow up to be anything like his doppelganger because he's so adorable! Just wait till he sneaks up on a single unsuspecting crow and squints his eyes just before mischievously shooing away the pesky crow. From time to time, this little fellow will need props to build his courage, a shield and sword will give him the confidence to chase away an entire flock of pesky crows and a miners helmet will help him overcome dark places as well! Some inventory items have plus signs indicating that some type of interaction must be performed before using that item such as combining that item with another inventory item.
The Hidden Object Scenes are repeated once, the first time is usually a list find or finding several of the same items such as 5 gold stars, 5 green stars and 5 pink stars, the second time is usually a progressive interactive scene where you find the first item that matches the silhouetted shape and then use that item back into the scene to expose the next item. The mini games aren't really new but they are entertaining, such as finding 5 birds, 5 flowers and 5 bats by interacting with a scene as a story is being told about Blake's Mountain and the red moon. There was a game with a ouija board (I was leary of this) where you had to figure out what the phrase was and even a card game where you had to drag cards onto empty spaces to complete a logical sequence.
The Collectors Edition is well worth upgrading to in my opinion. There are 25 very well hidden Owls, Collectible character figurines, Achievements with interactive games available, Sketches, Wallpapers, Music, a built in Strategy Guide, a Bonus Chapter where you save the Healers daughter as well as an extra Bonus Chapter, enjoy!
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This must be the first Dana Knightstone game in the series and boy have they come a long way since 2011! I really like the Dana Knightstone adventures but this was more of a cheap romance novel than a ghostly adventure. I try to take in considerance that all games have greatly improved since the beginning of HO popularity, so I'm basing my ratings upon the storyline, and puzzle creativity rather than the quality of graphics and game features.
Dana Knightstone is an up and coming fiction novelist on vacation in Scotland at the Halward Manor built in the nineteenth century. This vacation would be a pivotal moment in her career because this is the moment Dana discovers her "true" talent. Dana has the unique ability to see the dearly beloved, from this moment on, wherever she goes, ghosts will appear before her to seek her help solving long forgotten unsolved murder mysteries, and Dana's books will be written about her experiences.
I have noticed that most of the mini games in this series are simple, uncomplicated puzzles such as swapping tiles or rotating pieces to complete a picture. Nothing to set this game apart other than the fact that they are in abundance. The Hidden Object Scenes are pretty basic as well, either list finds or taking items in the inventory bar and replacing them into the scene in their logical location such as a sock would go next to it's matching pair. There are also smaller seek and finds where you find 6 mirror fragments, they aren't really hidden so I guess this could be considered more of a mini game too.
This Collectors Edition has a few extras such as Wallpapers, Concept Art an available Walkthrough or Strategy Guide and a Bonus Chapter but nothing exciting in my opinion.
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 is one family reunion you do not want to miss! Aunt Gray's train delay caused her to be late to the Gray Family Reunion, instead of bright smiles from familiar family members she is welcomed by an empty house and threatening graffiti pointing out each families weakness and dark family secrets! Little sister Lusia, along with her husband John were once cursed and turned into werewolves (those were such good times) their son Brandon has also had his fair share of turmoil, (Snow Queen) but he's all grown up and on a business trip in Germany. For now Brandon seems safe but the graffiti clearly states that Brandon will be the next victim! Then there's Jackie, your sweet, innocent niece who has been afraid of mirrors ever since Bloody Mary traumatized her and her classmates at the boarding school (gotta admit that one sent shivers down my spine) Let's not forget about Elizabeth and James McGray and how your ability to travel back in time provided proof that James wasn't guilty of murdering Elizabeth. My, my, my, this family seems doomed, and it seems that your adopted brother Thomas has some family secrets of his own, what does he want to prove to this close knit family, and why now?
Fanflippingtastic is the only word I can think of to describe this epic adventure. Superior graphics seems to be the norm with this series and they have added a new feature lately that puts this game on top. I think you will agree that allowing the player to scan to the right and left of each scene, seamlessly, gives the game more of a 3D vibe and helps make the player feel more involved, almost as if you and Aunt Gray are one and you are actually there! As if the camera panning wasn't enough, you get to interact with the surroundings, touch the fountain and watch the water dance, sprinkle fish food into the pond and watch the goldfish gobble up the floating pellets and if it's dark, try turning on the lamp that's exactly what you would do if you were actually there, these devs have really outdone themselves and it hasn't gone unnoticed! The special features keep coming, some items have plus sign indicators which mean that the item requires further interaction such as sharpening a knife or placing a handle onto an axe head, before you are able to use that item. You find a hidden artist kit that once belonged to Thomas, he never told anyone that his beautiful paintings came to life, and apparently your paintings will come to life as well once you complete a painting in the form of paint by numbers. There are several different hidden Collections throughout the game which will have a brief description about the meaning of that collection and you can view the collections anytime. There are also Morphing Objects (my favorite all time feature) and Hidden Monsters that I thought was unnecessary but oh well.
The Hidden Object scenes are becoming a standard with this series where you must first find color coded keys to unlock the lists, some of the listed items require some type of interaction such as placing a single butterfly with two other butterflies, once each section of items are located you will acquire mirror fragments that will be reassembled into a completed mirror which will then become an inventory item. The mini games are super entertaining, my favorite was a lengthy puzzle where you need to interact with several different components to solve. First you find a missing moon symbol, place the moon where it belongs and then repeat the sequence of`twinkling stars which spins a wheel and a dog appears, that dog needs placed next to Elizabeth so that he can scare away the evil entity in her life and expose a torch which is used to light a lantern for Jackie to scare away Bloody Mary exposing mirror fragments and so forth until you find several gears which is the final piece of this extremely interactive mini game.
This Collectors Edition has Wallpapers, Concept Art, Screensavers, Music, Achievements, Collectibles, Little Monsters, Morphing Objects, a Secret Room, a built in Strategy Guide and a Bonus Chapter, enjoy!
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 have always been a fan of Hidden Object games by this developer because nobody compares when it comes to creepy and demented psycho thrillers. This game could have been phenomenal but it lacked substance and if it hadn't been for the abundance of entertaining mini games, I wouldn't have given it 3 stars. The graphics are decent, however the daughters character looked a bit plastic in my opinion. The cutscenes are realistic and the soundtrack truly made you feel a bit panicky as you watched the train pick up speed, especially when you saw the bolts loosen on the tracks by some unforeseen force. You guessed it I'm sure by now, the train screeches slightly off the tracks and get's peeled open like a can of sardines, but this nightmares not over yet because the train's still moving! Just moments before the accident you thought you saw a psychopath about to snatch your daughter, but this was just an illusion that was distorted by the speeding trains foggy window, or was it? After you come to you search the train for survivors but there aren't any survivors, in fact there aren't any passengers dead or alive including your daughter! Good thing you found that bottle of wine to calm your nerves cause this train belongs to an unnerving psychopath so All Aboard folks, the psycho is waiting for you!
As I mentioned before, this game is pretty basic with only two modes of difficulty, Casual or Expert, don't worry the game is very linear and logical, in other words you will come across a screwdriver and shortly after find the screws that require that screwdrivers assistance. There is no map therefore you will be playing this game old school clicking back and forth from one scene to the next as you find an item in one scene and use that item in another. I also had to go into the options menu and unclick the aspect ratio to enlarge the game in order to fit my larger monitor, however the graphics didn't deteriorate significantly.
You definitely won't be writing home about the HOS which were very basic list finds with no real interactions other than clicking on a case to open it. There is only one item in each scene that require you to open a case or uncover the item with a single click, and, almost every HOS is repeated a second time. Now the mini games were this games saving grace, most are simple to figure out and the only game I found frustrating was the marble game where you needed to replicate a diagram by clicking and rotating groups of marbles. There are puzzles to complete a picture by clicking on sections until the correct picture piece appears, several pictures are possible making it seem you are choosing the correct picture until you get to a tile that doesn't have that picture scheme and you have to start over with a different puzzle theme. This game is decent as I said before and certainly isn't a waste of time so give it a try, enjoy!
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After playing several of the newer Dana Knightstone games I decided to check out some of the older versions because they are really entertaining games. I just completed the Collectors Edition of Death Under Tuscan Skies and found that this Standard Edition still has Achievements available which are generally only found in Collectors Editions. The following is a recap of my review for the Collectors Edition:
Dana Knightstone has the unique ability to "see" the dearly departed and has written several books about her experiences helping them move on. When Professor Romano invites her to give a lecture at the University of Tuscany, she is delighted and looks forward to a vacation in Italy. As soon as Dana enters the library she is contacted by a ghost named Eva who died in the 19th century from a mysterious illness. Eva asks Dana to find her lover Giovanni who left to find a cure but never returned. The lecture will have to wait for now, we have to reunite these two lovers so they can live happily ever after.
I didn't like this game as well as the other games in the Knightstone series, mostly because of the locations that I just didn't connect with. There aren't very many Hidden Object Scenes either, but the first HO required you to match small sections of pictures to the exact area it matches up to in a medical book with different medical sketches, some of them weren't easy either. Now, if you are a mini game geek like myself you are in for a treat because there is one mini game after another, they are fun and definitely not frustrating. Just to name a few, you swap shields between 6 statues so that the picture on the shield correlates with the symbol above the statue such as paw print = dog, then you swap their crowns until the crowns color matches the color of the gem under each statue. Another game had several groups of codes sketched into a breaker panel with 10 levers, you had to try each combination of positioning each lever either up or down until you found the correct code. My favorite game was looking at a diagram of human organs that were color coded and labeled A-E, then you had to place bottles with those same colors on the correct shelf for example A was purple, each bottles label was numbered 1-6 and you had to put the color coded bottles in numerical order, some of the numbers were roman numerals, some represented dice, some were fingers held up and some were geometrical shapes with a specific amount of sides.
This game is from 2011 so the Collectors Edition goodies aren't all that impressive, there are 20 different Achievements to earn, Cutscenes, Soundtracks, Wallpapers, an available Strategy Guide (accessed only through the menu button) and an Epilogue, enjoy!
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.
Dana Knightstone has the unique ability to "see" the dearly departed and has written several books about her experiences helping them move on. When Professor Romano invites her to give a lecture at the University of Tuscany, she is delighted and looks forward to a vacation in Italy. As soon as Dana enters the library she is contacted by a ghost named Eva who died in the 19th century from a mysterious illness. Eva asks Dana to find her lover Giovanni who left to find a cure but never returned. The lecture will have to wait for now, we have to reunite these two lovers so they can live happily ever after.
I didn't like this game as well as the other games in the Knightstone series, mostly because of the locations that I just didn't connect with. There aren't very many Hidden Object Scenes either, but the first HO required you to match small sections of pictures to the exact area it matches up to in a medical book with different medical sketches, some of them weren't easy either. Now, if you are a mini game geek like myself you are in for a treat because there is one mini game after another, they are fun and definitely not frustrating. Just to name a few, you swap shields between 6 statues so that the picture on the shield correlates with the symbol above the statue such as paw print = dog, then you swap their crowns until the crowns color matches the color of the gem under each statue. Another game had several groups of codes sketched into a breaker panel with 10 levers, you had to try each combination of positioning each lever either up or down until you found the correct code. My favorite game was looking at a diagram of human organs that were color coded and labeled A-E, then you had to place bottles with those same colors on the correct shelf for example A was purple, each bottles label was numbered 1-6 and you had to put the color coded bottles in numerical order, some of the numbers were roman numerals, some represented dice, some were fingers held up and some were geometrical shapes with a specific amount of sides.
This game is from 2011 so the Collectors Edition goodies aren't all that impressive, there are 20 different Achievements to earn, Cutscenes, Soundtracks, an available Strategy Guide (accessed only through the menu button) and an Epilogue, enjoy!
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.
Caleb the Alchemist was working on a special magic potion when something went wrong, the potion exploded nearly wiping out his entire laboratory! Now he must set out on a quest to find ingredients from around the world to rebuild (and probably blow it up again) starting in the Enchanted Forest. Good news! This delightful Match 3 game has a Relaxed and Timed mode so grab a cup of java potion and join Caleb on a Match 3 adventure.
The goal here is to make matches of at least 3 alike resources over all yellow cells. Some tiles are blocked with chains, double chains, stone and sometimes stone and then chains, which require you to match tiles next to them at least once. The score is then tallied up with the amount of resources you have collected of each ingredient or potion. You can use those ingredients to purchase upgrades in the shop, however large matches put either a bomb, dynamite or lightning on the board automatically. You can purchase upgrades to make these bonuses more powerful.
The Bonuses include a Worm which deletes a number of random chips, a Mushroom randomizes a couple of chips, the Red Potion eliminates a row of chips the Blue Potion eliminates a column of chips, the Green Potion eliminates a cross of chips, the Yellow potion destroys a 5x5 square, the Purple Potion fires a couple of vials at the board and each one eliminates a 3x3 square, a Magic Mushroom shuffles all of the chips, Lightning eliminates all chips of a selected kind, a Bomb upgrades the existing bomb, Dynamite also upgrades the existing dynamite to cover a larger area and the staff removes a single chip.
Before you move onto the next location, you will get to play a mini game such as throwing a staff at gnomes that will randomly pop up, but you have to scroll back and forth to find them before they disappear. I actually loved playing that game just as much as the Match 3, give it a spin around the block and enjoy!