frequentfrog's Profile
Stat Summary
- Average Rating:3.7
- Helpful Votes:64
- Reviews Submitted:23
- First Review:October 29, 2012
- Most Recent Review:October 8, 2021
- Featured reviews0
Dark Parables: Requiem for the Forgotten Shadow
A dark illness has befallen the townspeople of Anaben!
Overall rating
3
/
5
Forgotten Backstory More Likely
PostedDecember 10, 2018
frequentfrog
fromEurope
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Puzzle
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
3
/
5
Storyline
1
/
5
I'm a big fan of the Dark Parables series but this is definitely one of the weaker instalments. It feels woefully unfinished.
The graphics are wonderful, as always. I played without music so I can't comment on that. Games tend to be on the repetitive side but some require quite some thinking. Few FROGS in which Dark Parables used to excel.
But the main problem is the story line, or absense of it. Pretty much the entire story is in the demo, you learn preciously little else in the full game.
It used to be that learning the backstory of characters in the game bit by bit, ferreting out their motivation for their evil deeds, piecing together clues was one of the main attractions of the Dark Parables Series for me.
Here there is little backstory. Actually, no, there is NO backstory. There is no mystery, or rather the mystery is completely ignored. And yet there were hooks to hang one on aplenty, so why were these stories never finished? For example:
- There is a henchman with an own agenda so it looks like he'll be a recurring theme. But he never features in the game beyond and then his storyline is unresolved by the end. Odd...
- Your character knows an opponent's name and I still wondering how. I don't remember learning it. It feels like a part of the story was cut here.
- You never learn quite why the Duchess was attacked in the first place and this is the inciting incident for your investigation! Nor do you find the cure you were sent to find. Neither mysteries seem to matter to your character beyond the demo.
- There is even nothing in the story to explain the very title!
- There is a henchman with an own agenda so it looks like he'll be a recurring theme. But he never features in the game beyond and then his storyline is unresolved by the end. Odd...
- Your character knows an opponent's name and I still wondering how. I don't remember learning it. It feels like a part of the story was cut here.
- You never learn quite why the Duchess was attacked in the first place and this is the inciting incident for your investigation! Nor do you find the cure you were sent to find. Neither mysteries seem to matter to your character beyond the demo.
- There is even nothing in the story to explain the very title!
There's more, but talking about that would give what small revelations this game has away. And yet it showed so much promise at the beginning. I was dying to find out what the gig was with the candlemaker and his cat and I still don't know after playing the entire game.
Without the backstory the game is robbed of any excitement and tension it otherwise could have had. It did not succeed in raising the stakes and therefore made the finale rather uninspiring.
The lack of story made it also feel like a much shorter game, even if it kept me occupied for a few hours.
Requiem for a Wasted Chance would have been more appropriate as title. It could have been so much more.
Play it for the nice graphics but don't look for a story.
I don't recommend this game.
Sherlock Holmes and the Hound of the Baskervilles
Charles Baskerville is the latest victim of a centuries-old curse! Help Holmes break the curse before the next murder occurs!
Overall rating
5
/
5
Fun but brutal and bloody
PostedNovember 5, 2017
frequentfrog
fromEurope
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Hidden Object, Puzzle, Time Management
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
4
/
5
Confession: I admit I am quite a fan of Frogwares Sherlock Holmes games. While each one is vastly different in tone and play-mode, they have yet to disappoint me.
The Hound is one of my favourite Holmes-stories and while the game deviates tremendously as soon as you reach The Baskerville Mansion, the game is manages to stand on its own.
I loved the voice work, it worked very immersive. The sounds when changing sceneries were a bit overly dramatic, the first few times I expected the Hound to be right in front of me the way the music pitch went up.
The puzzles and HOG were varied. I played in easy mode and there were two I really struggled with.
I liked the inclusion of the achievements/honors, usually that sort of stuff is reserved for the extended/special editions so it's nice to see it included here as well.
Perhaps the only down side of the game in my eyes is the story-line, specifically in it's conclusion. The game takes the original story straight into fantasy territory but it's never properly explained. I was expecting Sherlock Holmes, Mr Logic Incarnated, to dig deeper into this, but he takes it all in his stride.
One does expect from Holmes to be as interested in how and why of things as in lifting the curse of the Baskervilles, but if he came up with a logical explanation of the events in the game, the player never learns it, which is a shame.
I wonder whether the ending was originally meant to be longer. There is a hint half-way through the game that maybe you're being deceived by someone, and that what you're doing is not in your interest but that element is then promptly forgotten and plays no further part in the conclusion. Was it merely a device to raise tension for the player or was there supposed to have been more about it? I don't know but it leaves the players with some 'why's and 'how's that stay unresolved and that's a pity.
I recommend this game!
Sarah Maribu is off to explore an island full of Dinosaurs! Upon arrival, her husband Michael is kidnapped and must be saved!
Overall rating
3
/
5
1 of 1 found this review helpful
Not nearly enough dinosaurs!
PostedSeptember 20, 2017
frequentfrog
fromEurope
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Hidden Object, Puzzle, Time Management
Fun Factor
3
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
3
/
5
Level of Challenge
3
/
5
Storyline
2
/
5
For a game that promises an island full of dinosaurs, there are precious few of them in the game. You briefly interact with barely three of them (the sea dragon doesn't count because, hey no dinosaur!) and other than a few in the background they're used nowhere to full potential.
The one that comes stomping by at one scene and rocks the screen while doing it is a nice touch. But much too little. Heck, the natives are even mentioned more in the game than the dinosaurs and considering the natives feature just barely enough to move the plot along, this should tell you something.
I kinda felt bad for the natives. You get told they're kidnappers and mad dino-worshippers but you never actually see much at all of it. Why were they even there?
The story is minimal, very easy on the brain cells, but doesn't quite make a lot of sense if you think a little on it. It goes like this: Sarah and usband go explore an island full of dinosaurs! So far so good. Very quickly, husband Michael is kidnapped and dragged around the whole island for no apparent reason but Sarah is not particularly worried. (I wondered briefly if this maybe happens to husband on every island they visit? She's being very chill about it.)
She walks around, picking up totally random things, fixes vehicles without any real purpose (it's not like the kidnappers used any of them), collects treasures while she's at it which she does nothing else with. There's a guard for an empty hut, but none for any prisoners. You kind of wonder why the natives even bothered with kidnapping Husband?
There is a reference to a slightly more intriguing mystery of humanoid dinosaurs which is then immediately ignored and forgotten. Could have just skipped it in exchange for more actual dinosaurs.
The HOGS are pretty standard, easy and with a slight tendency to hide the objects at the bottom edge of the screen. The mix of objects you need to look for contain so many modern ones it kinda ruined any immersive experience for me. There is some vague explanation for it, but even that is rushed and soon forgotten.
There has been some worthy attempt to include native objects, which I applaud, but they're so culturally all-over-the-place they don't add much to the lost island-feel either. The whole island is basically a messy dumping ground of human-made objects with no rhyme or reason to their presence.
The other puzzles are more varied. I don't think I did the same sort twice. That was good.
CONCLUSION:a fun enough game for a dull day or when sick but not at all memorable. Kids might get more out of it than adults, or -like me- feel cheated out of dinosaurs.
I don't recommend this game.
Enter an enchanting world of legends, mystery and magic, where your destiny was written in blood and the soft murmurs of true love...
Overall rating
5
/
5
Great fun to be had with this one
PostedMay 13, 2017
frequentfrog
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Hidden Object, Puzzle
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
4
/
5
I liked this game a lot. It gave me a good solid three hours of game play. Doesn't drag anywhere, doesn't get boring.
The characters are likeable and nobody dismisses the main character just because she's a woman. Want to come out into the woods at night while tracking a dangerous animal? Okay, grab a light and let's go! No whining about things being too dangerous for a girl or to let men handle the difficult stuff. I liked that. And when the main character doesn't want to put her hands into stuff it usually makes sense, not just because she'd get dirty.
Graphics are good, I liked the witch's outfit a lot.
You get an animal companion, but the game developers took care to work out the details of why this animal would help you and what it can actually do. The animation of it crawling out of its box to do something for you is more adorable than it has any right to be.
Puzzles are diverse, most of the time straightforward and not too challenging. There are the usual find a list of objects in a scene, but there are also scenes with fragments and if you get bored, you can play dominos instead.
I will definitely play this game again.
I recommend this game!
The residents of Bitterford, Maine have fallen prey to a terrible curse. It’s up to you to unravel the series of mysterious events that led to the town’s downfall and uncover the evil that was responsible.
Overall rating
3
/
5
2 of 2 found this review helpful
Fun enough as entertainment
PostedNovember 1, 2016
frequentfrog
Fun Factor
3
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
3
/
5
Storyline
3
/
5
No spoilers in this review.
This is the third Mystery Case File I played. I found this one entertaining enough, but not one I expect I want to play again.
I like this series' cut-out videos with real actors, they add a bit of realism. The psychic is so very reliable in her readings, mind, that I wonder why she hasn't already made a fortune in the business and is instead running around with a bunch of low-cost ghost hunters. Still, it actually was somewhat refreshing. I almost wish all ghosts where this clear in their communication.
This game uses tapes (just two) with 'lost footage' you can find throughout the game but IMO they aren't as effective as the way they are used in the Dire Grove game.
Gameplay is entertaining if a tad formulaic. As new regions of the map are added through your investigation you do the same number of actions: you pick up a few loose items, you look for a list of things in various places, match pictures to the scenery, and then do a series of actions that fit your investigation. As you tend to do this for every new place in that exact order, it can start to grate a little.
I like it how when you need a ladder at various places, you also need to go back to where you last used it. Also, once you have found all items on a mini-location, that location was no longer active, so there was no endless looking around for one last item. Not all items were very visible, though, so sometimes just clicking around until you hit something payed off.
There aren't many real puzzles, except for a few connect-the-dots-type of puzzles so this may be an advantage or disadvantage according to one's taste. There was a recurrent puzzle where your pieces are parts of a moving video that I thought was quite clever and hadn't seen before.
This game sadly does rely on some flashy scares like maniacally grinning ghosts appearing briefly in reflections or short apparitions that lunge at you and then dissapate. This is spooky for a second and annoying for the rest. Luckily most are concentrated in the first part of the game and then lessen a little. So the game doesn't quite hit the creepy atmosphere right, IMO.
I did dislike I wasn't able to skip the credits, but considering there's a final scene there, I get why.
So all in all, entertaining enough, but not enough to revisit often.
Awakening Kingdoms
You are chosen by Queen Sophia to restore her kingdom back to its former glory through fun mini-games and beautiful hidden object scenes.
Overall rating
3
/
5
5 of 5 found this review helpful
nice enough little time-sink
PostedAugust 27, 2014
frequentfrog
Fun Factor
3
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
4
/
5
I think this game is a nice adaptation of the Awakening series. It's not easy to adapt an adventure game to a single, permanently on-going game. And the rebuilding of the realm after the adventures works for me. But it's a bit obvious, that while the game is free, the actual goal is to get you to spend real money on materials you need in the game.
It's starts interesting enough, but very soon, some two weeks in (when I presume the game designers consider us hooked) things you need to buy in the game become expensive both in energy and game-money and the rewards don't rise from the original levels. Soon you need to spend tens of thousands when you only earn hundreds at the time. Which means you have to spend days collecting things for one quest with paltry rewards. And right then you start to have timed quests which ups the temptation to just spend real money and actual buy enough supplies from bigfish so you can play the game a little longer than 5 minutes a day until you run out of energy. It's laid on a bit thick.
If you want a game that you can play a few minutes a day and aren't bothered by a game that constantly pushes you to spend more and more, this is a good game.
But if they upped the rewards more like they up the amount quests want you to invest, this game would be a lot more balanced and a lot more fun to play.
After her plane crashes, Ann Smith wakes up safe, but is unable to remember anything. Help her find her identity!
Overall rating
2
/
5
4 of 8 found this review helpful
A let-down after Syberia
PostedJanuary 17, 2013
frequentfrog
Fun Factor
3
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
3
/
5
Level of Challenge
3
/
5
Storyline
2
/
5
This game was a let-down. One of the few games I will never play again. The art is good and pretty but the game feels unfinished. My verison was glitchy and froze more than once.
The ending too was unsatisfactory for me. After playing this character for such a long game, I would like to have had a say in the game-finale, but all you get is a video that sort of finishes the game for you. The game failed to convince me Anne had to do what she did.
Not sure why they bothered with the panther for most of the game. It serves practically no function in the game, aside from some mini-games that feel superfluous.
I don't recommend this game.
Journey to the Center of the Earth
Join Ariane as she explores an unkown world of fascinating and fantastical civilizations hidden beneath the surface of the Earth.
Overall rating
4
/
5
16 of 16 found this review helpful
Decent old-fashioned game
PostedJanuary 17, 2013
frequentfrog
Fun Factor
4
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
5
/
5
Storyline
5
/
5
A bit of an old-fashioned point-and-click adventure game by now, but still one that can rise to the top.
The graphics are a bit clunky by today's standards (I still fondly remember the sceneries with the giant mushrooms) and some of the going back-and-forth for items can take a long time. This is a game for a weekend, not just for a quick game in the evening.
But the world you get to explore is fascinating and there is quite some varation. I'm a fan of the art-deco look of the game.
One puzzle in particular, the island of the spirits puzzle, quite stumped me. There seems to be no way out of it, once you started it wrong. I had to resort to return to saved games to get out of the loop. But apart from that one, most were enjoyable enough, even if some get you walking around quite a bit.
Two nice endings.
I wish they made more games like this one.
I recommend this game!
The heroines of Women’s Murder Club must uncover secrets surrounding a recent murder at a prestigious Southern military academy
Overall rating
4
/
5
The best WMC game so far
PostedJanuary 17, 2013
frequentfrog
Fun Factor
4
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
3
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
5
/
5
This one is the best of the Women's Murder Club games I've played so far. The storyline carries this game above the rest for me. I really felt for the victims and there are some thrills to be had.
The cut-scenes were a bit slow at times, but the HO puzzles were better than in the other games.
I recommend this game!
Pin the killer in this page-turning murder mystery by novelist James Patterson, and find hidden objects within nine distinct investigations.
Overall rating
3
/
5
3 of 3 found this review helpful
Decent but not great
PostedJanuary 17, 2013
frequentfrog
Fun Factor
2
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
3
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
3
/
5
The storyline started off interesting but didn't manage to thrill me, really, and I found the ending to be disappointing and unsatisfying.
Some of the HO puzzles were difficult because what you were looking for was tiny. Had to use the hint-button way too much and sometimes I couldn't even see the object after the hint button had pointed it out!
There are better Women's Murder Club games out there than this one.
I don't recommend this game.