Wow. This is the 11th installment of the long running series Surface! This edition of Surface: Strings of Fate, really shows how the developers have renewed their efforts in the ground-breaking Surface series! I thoroughly enjoyed this latest endeavor playing the role of Rachel, tasked with saving sister Fiona in the Land of the Forgotten. Taking on the evil brothers when wisked away to the Land of the Forgotten to face brothers Gold and Blue is truly a fascinating feat. While Gold seeks redemption and wishes to help you in your challenge, Brother Blue proves to be a terrifying adversary and will not let you leave the magical land without a fight for Fiona. With a little help from Gregory, the gatekeeper you encounter in this land you might just stand a chance. You'll have to accomplish an array of intriguing puzzles and HOS as you proceed on your quest to save Fiona. You'll need to act fast too; for if you remain in this land TOO LONG both you and your sister WILL lose all your memories! It's also worth pointing out that this game bears a lot of resemblance to a previous edition of Surface: Game of Gods. You may want to play each of these back to back if you're new to the series or you just want to play both because their equally engaging. I love all the Suface series games, play each of them. Cheers!
•Surface: The Noise She Couldn't Make (2012) •Surface: Mystery of Another World (2012) •Surface: The Soaring City (2013) •Surface: The Pantheon (2013) •Surface: Game of Gods (2014) •Surface: Reel Life (2014) •Surface: Return to Another World (2015) •Surface: Alone in the Mist (2015) •Surface: Lost Tales (2016) •Surface: Virtual Detective (2016) •Surface: Strings of Fate (2017)
The Wizard of Oz is a very popular book around the world, especially after it was transformed into a movie a couple of times, not to mention all the cartoons and other artistic representations. Even so, there are still some new ideas that could be integrated with enough creativity, especially in the realm of video games. An adventure is always fun, at least if the mystery keeps you interested for multiple hours of game play. Bridge to Another World: Escape From Oz is a hidden object adventure game like any other, at least in terms of gameplay mechanics and puzzles. The world you get to explore is unique, not to mention the interesting characters and situations you meet along the way. Furthermore, the colorful graphics help with the atmosphere, especially when it comes to the backgrounds. The whole thing starts with Dorothy (now a mother) as she begins her day by sending her kids to school and catching some relaxation time alongside her dog Toto. Unfortunately, everything goes wrong when a massive tornado rips her house out and transports her to a magical land somewhere in a different world. Here, she encounters a variety of curious characters, and she also enters some kind of deadly competition hosted by the Great Wizard. As mentioned before, there are no revolutionary gameplay mechanics at work here, but that shouldn’t be a problem if you are a fan of the genre and you just want to have a good time. Though all the puzzles may not be original, they are at least intriguing and sometimes challenging, which should be enough to maintain a jolly atmosphere and make you feel like you are truly making progress. Lastly, the graphics are worth a mention too, they are TRULY EXCEPTIONAL. Every scene is unique, on the other hand, and you can tell that the designers had a blast coming up with ideas. Furthermore, the short cut-scenes are not very bad either, not to mention the great voice acting and the nice music playing in the background. In the end, Bridge to Another World: Escape From Oz has all the right elements to make the fans of the genre happy. So, if you are aching for some classic HOPA action and you do not mind the repetitive puzzles, this can easily keep you busy for several hours. I thoroughly enjoyed every moment of this wonderful adventure. Cheers!
•Bridge to Another World: Burnt Dreams •Bridge to Another World: The Others •Bridge to Another World: Alice in Shadowland •Bridge to Another World: Escape From Oz
The storytelling in all of the previous Nevertales games has been nothing short of creative, but Mad Head takes that to a whole new level in this latest installment. So far the NeverTales franchise has been pretty consistent in terms of production, creativity and quality - and Forgotten Pages does not disappoint. The presentation is as impressive as I have come to expect from Mad Head Games. The artwork is colorful and high spirited, perfectly incorporated fantasy elements into each scene. The soundtracks are expertly crafted, melodic and charming; in addition, the voice overs are also extremely well done. This investigation proves to be truly bone chilling as you take on the role of Ms. Chambers who pursues escaped prisoner Mark Tailor who you suspect may be responsible for the murders. The storyline really becomes engaging when your investigation leads you to the publishing house where you discover an "elevator portal" that transports you into various worlds of literature (Taleworld). You'll have to act quick to turn back time before this dangerous villain destroys all literary works of fiction. It's up to you to save the day in this incredibly thrilling murder mystery! This latest edition in the Nevertales series is perhaps the best one ever released. Other developers should definitely take cues from Mad Head, because they clearly know how to revolutionize the HOPA genre time and time again. The locations are neatly drawn with great attention to detail and gorgeous colors, while the soundtracks are pleasant and go along well with the game. I also admire the artwork of the hidden object scenes – unlike some developers who chose to focus more on the main locations and less on the hidden object scenes, Mad Head paid the same amount of attention to both aspects, making the game’s hidden object scenes just as stunning as the main locations. Casual gamers of all levels are sure to enjoy this edition of this incredible series! Thanks Big Fish!!!The gameplay and the story are definitely worthy of five (5) stars. Cheers!
•Nevertales: The Beauty Within •Nevertales: Shattered Image •Nevertales: Smoke and Mirrors •Nevertales: Legends •Nevertales: Hidden Doorway •Nevertales: Forgotten Pages
Okay senior investigator, return to the League of Light: Edge of Justice and embark on a new journey as your investigation leads you to a small town where you must restore the peace! The city of Hamelin thought that an era of piece was to begin after a mysterious flutist saved the town from rats. But he's back now, wanting revenge after being denied his rightful dues (justice)! You're sent to investigate and to find a way to stop the man. You must use all your seasoned skills to discover his motives because the citizens fear for their safety. Can you and your little scarecrow friend track down the flutist and uncover his devious plans? This won't be an easy task since you face a vengeful adversary with a "dark magic" flute! This is another exciting installment of the League of Light series which I thoroughly enjoyed. This continuing saga has some of the best visuals ever – every scene is painted with rich colors, accompanied by great details and amazing graphics quality – absolutely stunning. Also, the soundtracks are suitably epic and the voice-overs are pleasant and does a good job of keeping you on track. Every location is loaded with tasks waiting for you to solve. However, since most inventory would be used nearly immediately after being picked up, the challenge is not really there. Nonetheless, at least I found the highly-interactive hidden object scenes to be entertaining and the puzzles, especially the more unique ones, to be extremely interesting. Previous editions may be more challenging, but many casual gamers are familiar with the story of the Pied Piper of Hamelin. Few realize however, that the story is based on real events, which evolved over the years into a fairy tale made to scare children. I highly recommend this adventure to players of all levels. Cheers!
•League of Light: Dark Omens •League of Light: Wicked Harvest •League of Light: Silent Mountain •League of Light: The Gatherer •League of Light: Edge of Justice
The Journey continues as you are cast once again in the role of Sarah Pennington with a mission to locate the "Flower of Life" a flower which can cure all known diseases. As a member of the Secret Order founded by your father, you must travel to the Amazon and locate the cure-all flower, as well as your mother. She's been kidnapped by the Dragon Clan; a ruthless group who have the "Flower of Life" and an evil agenda. Will you be able to rescue your mother and save the "Flower of Life?" Time is running out fast (literally your curser is a timer) and it's up to you, Sarah to save the day! This is another great adventure in the popular series. While there is nothing cutting-edge about the storyline, it's worth mentioning that the plot does keep you completely interested throughout the entire game. I love The Secret Order game series! Each scene is still filled with intricate details and vibrant colors, but somehow the overall aesthetic of the graphics is somewhat cartoonish. I thought the sound effects and graphics were beautifully executed, but somewhat substandard to previous editions. In my subjective opinion, the gameplay is the game’s saving grace. For a game with such a cliché plot, the gameplay is surprisingly complex. Many objectives in the adventure portion of the game require several steps to complete; the challenge level is high and the entertainment value is definitely plenty. The hidden object scenes are definitely imaginative. Most of the puzzles are creative and fun – and the variety is something I certainly appreciated. This action mystery is a great addition to it's predecessors and one may choose to play each game in the order released. I highly recommend this unique series by release date. Cheers!
•The Secret Order : New Horizon (December 2011) •The Secret Order : Masked Intent (March 2013) •The Secret Order : Ancient Times (April 2014) •The Secret Order : Beyond Time (March 2015) •The Secret Order : The Buried Kingdom (May 2016) •The Secret Order : Bloodline (June 2017)
When you realize that his postcards stopped coming, you discovered that your husband has disappeared during his expedition to Siberia. He was searching for a mythical cave that hides a legendary force. You must follow in his footsteps and catch up to him, before he meets a tragic fate in the Russian wilderness! During this journey you travel through scenic locations and uncover ancient legends in this mysterious hidden-object puzzle adventure game! Your husband, Dave, promised you regular updates via postcards before he went on an expedition in Siberia. One day, Dave’s postcards stopped coming and you soon discovered that he was presumed to be dead. Four months later, Dave reached out to you in spirits form and asked you for help. You need to travel to Russia in search for Dave and put an end to the wrath of these ancient spirits! The Reflections of Life series used to be one of my personal favorites, mainly because of the unique storylines. It is a somewhat disappointing to see that this new installment of Reflections of Life delivers yet another unoriginal storyline, involving some more ancient Gods and local myths. While the storytelling is well-integrated into the mini-games, Reflections of Life: Hearts Taken may fail to engage its players. I was bored during the demo of the game mostly because I have seen and heard of this kind of storyline thousands of times before; yet I continued playing until I completed the adventure. After the demo play I was presently surprised how the adventure began to reveal a really interesting story line. Although the production value in Reflections of Life: Hearts Taken is still high, it is a bit of a downgrade from the wonderful sights and sounds in the previous installments. Each scene is still filled with intricate details and vibrant colors, but somehow the overall aesthetic of the graphics is somewhat cartoonish. I thought the soundtracks in Hearts Taken were beautifully-composed, but substandard to those enchanting tunes in the predecessors. In my subjective opinion, the gameplay is the game’s saving grace. For a game with such a cliché plot, the gameplay is surprisingly complex. Many objectives in the adventure portion of the game require several steps to complete; the challenge level is high and the entertainment value is definitely plenty. The hidden object scenes are definitely imaginative. Most of the puzzles are creative and fun – and the variety is something I certainly appreciated. This addition took me four-hours of standard gameplay to complete. I enjoyed those four-hours a lot and remain a true fan of this unique series, even if this isn't the best edition. If you are new to this series here are all of the titles. Recommended to casual games of all levels for the entire series. Cheers!
•Reflections of Life : Tree of Dreams (June 2014) •Reflections of Life : Equilibrium (April 2015) •Reflections of Life : Dark Architect (January 2018) •Reflections of Life : Call of the Ancestors (August 2016) •Reflections of Life : Hearts Taken (May 2017)
Remember when Dark Dimensions games were unique? When each installment of the series was different than the last? When the storylines were actually groundbreaking? Well, those days maybe long gone. Dark Dimensions: Vengeful Beauty tells a story that has already been told far too many times, about a friend who went missing in a National Park, where deadly purple vines happen to grow. As you might have guessed, the plot in Dark Dimensions: Vengeful Beauty could not have been more predictable. Still, there is one thing that we must applaud the developers for, which is how they managed to utilize the hidden object scenes and the puzzles to advance the storyline. This makes the rather dull storyline a tad more engaging, because the player is actually involved in the process of unraveling the storyline. If you don’t look too closely, Dark Dimensions: Vengeful Beauty is one finely-developed HOPA game. Despite the faultless game mechanics and engineering, there is an obvious lack of logic. Some inventory items seem to be useful only when they are convenient for the developers, even when they can definitely be used to solve some other tasks. At the same time, the hidden object scenes and the puzzles are decent, but nothing mind-blowing. What really is mind-blowing is the production; Daily Magic really delivers high production values with Dark Dimensions: Vengeful Beauty. The visuals are absolutely stunning; the hand-drawn artwork and the lush colors complement each other excellently. The epic musical scores also deserve a shout-out. Overall I enjoyed this edition of Dark Dimension even though other versions in the series were much more enjoyable. I remain a fan so here are all the editions listed. Play them all, it really is a great series. Cheers!
•Dark Dimensions : City of Fog (May 2011) •Dark Dimensions : Wax Beauty (April 2012) •Dark Dimensions : City of Ash (June 2013) •Dark Dimensions : Somber Song (March 2014) •Dark Dimensions : Homecoming (February 2015) •Dark Dimensions : Shadow Pirouette (October 2015) •Dark Dimensions : Blade Master (June 2016) •Dark Dimensions : Vengeful Beauty (May 2017)
After numerous installments into the League of Lights and the Mystery of the Ancients series, Mariaglorum is finally coming out with a brand-new series. The Faceless Gravedigger is a promising opener for the Bonfire Stories series, featuring a creepy tale along the line of classic campfire stories. A rumor has been going around about the mysterious Faceless Gravedigger, who might be the reason behind countless disappearances at the Quiet Grove resort. Is this just an urban legend, or is it real? Bonfire Stories: The Faceless Gravedigger is a horror-lite done right. While the base plot of the game might not be anything revolutionary, the magic of the game lies in the delivery. The game delivers a captivating storyline through well-rendered cut-scenes, sharply-written dialog and crafty puzzles. I was intrigued all the way through, from start to finish. Production wise, Bonfire Stories: The Faceless Gravedigger lives up to Mariaglorum’s high standards. The graphics are multi-dimensional, the animations are excellent, and the voice-acting does not sound out-of-place. The game manages to effectively convey the spooky vibe of the atmosphere, without using overwhelmingly dark colors or overusing fog effects. I certainly did not expect this level of challenge from Bonfire Stories: The Faceless Gravedigger. The gameplay itself is not particularly complex, but that does not mean that it is not challenging. Unlike most HOPAs nowadays, Bonfire Stories involves a lot of backtracking, a large number of items in the inventory at the same time, and a large number of tasks to be completed in a single scene. Some might find these factors frustrating, but I thought they served as a nice change in the current HOPA landscape. Moreover, I also enjoyed the hidden object scenes and the puzzles – all of which are extremely well-crafted and offer good variety. Bonfire Stories: The Faceless Gravedigger took me four hours to complete. I played the casual setting option and I had a blast. I hope the developers will continue with this series and I hope casual gamers will enjoy this as much as I did. Cheers!
The Wizard of Oz is a very popular book around the world, especially after it was transformed into a movie a couple of times, not to mention all the cartoons and other artistic representations. Even so, there are still some new ideas that could be integrated with enough creativity, especially in the realm of video games. An adventure is always fun, at least if the mystery keeps you interested for multiple hours of game play. Bridge to Another World: Escape From Oz is a hidden object adventure game like any other, at least in terms of gameplay mechanics and puzzles. The world you get to explore is unique, not to mention the interesting characters and situations you meet along the way. Furthermore, the colorful graphics help with the atmosphere, especially when it comes to the backgrounds. The whole thing starts with Dorothy (now a mother) as she begins her day by sending her kids to school and catching some relaxation time alongside her dog Toto. Unfortunately, everything goes wrong when a massive tornado rips her house out and transports her to a magical land somewhere in a different world. Here, she encounters a variety of curious characters, and she also enters some kind of deadly competition hosted by the Great Wizard. As mentioned before, there are no revolutionary gameplay mechanics at work here, but that shouldn’t be a problem if you are a fan of the genre and you just want to have a good time. Though all the puzzles may not be original, they are at least intriguing and sometimes challenging, which should be enough to maintain a jolly atmosphere and make you feel like you are truly making progress. Lastly, the graphics are worth a mention too, they are TRULY EXCEPTIONAL. Every scene is unique, on the other hand, and you can tell that the designers had a blast coming up with ideas. Furthermore, the short cut-scenes are not very bad either, not to mention the great voice acting and the nice music playing in the background. In the end, Bridge to Another World: Escape From Oz has all the right elements to make the fans of the genre happy. So, if you are aching for some classic HOPA action and you do not mind the repetitive puzzles, this can easily keep you busy for several hours. I thoroughly enjoyed every moment of this wonderful adventure. Cheers!
Wow. This is the 11th installment of the long running series Surface! This edition of Surface: Strings of Fate, really shows how the developers have renewed their efforts in the ground-breaking Surface series! I thoroughly enjoyed this latest endeavor playing the role of Rachel, tasked with saving sister Fiona in the Land of the Forgotten. Taking on the evil brothers when wisked away to the Land of the Forgotten to face brothers Gold and Blue is truly a fascinating feat. While Gold seeks redemption and wishes to help you in your challenge, Brother Blue proves to be a terrifying adversary and will not let you leave the magical land without a fight for Fiona. With a little help from Gregory, the gatekeeper you encounter in this land you might just stand a chance. You'll have to accomplish an array of intriguing puzzles and HOS as you proceed on your quest to save Fiona. You'll need to act fast too; for if you remain in this land TOO LONG both you and your sister WILL lose all your memories! It's also worth pointing out that this game bears a lot of resemblance to a previous edition of Surface: Game of Gods. You may want to play each of these back to back if you're new to the series or you just want to play both because their equally engaging. I love all the Suface series games, play each of them. Cheers!
•Surface: The Noise She Couldn't Make (2012) •Surface: Mystery of Another World (2012) •Surface: The Soaring City (2013) •Surface: The Pantheon (2013) •Surface: Game of Gods (2014) •Surface: Reel Life (2014) •Surface: Return to Another World (2015) •Surface: Alone in the Mist (2015) •Surface: Lost Tales (2016) •Surface: Virtual Detective (2016) •Surface: Strings of Fate (2017)