hermitcave's Profile
Stat Summary
- Average Rating:3.8
- Helpful Votes:407
- Reviews Submitted:240
- First Review:March 27, 2014
- Most Recent Review:October 27, 2016
- Featured reviews0
Status:
Dupin needs your help solving the mystery of the gold bug. Crack the codes and follow the clues to one man's obsession with an old legend.
Overall rating
3
/
5
1 of 1 found this review helpful
A man possessed with finding Captain Kid's treasure, a coded message to be deciphered, a thief, a helpful dog and Dupin on the job
PostedApril 6, 2016
hermitcave
fromGig Harbor, Wa
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Hidden Object, Adventure, Mahjong, Card & Board
Fun Factor
3
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
3
/
5
Level of Challenge
3
/
5
Storyline
3
/
5
William LeGrand has been obsessed with the legendary treasure of Captain Kidd who spent some time in the 17th century on the very island where he now lives and has discovered what may be the very lead he needs to find it. In his excitement, he has sent a letter to his good friend, C. Auguste Dupin, a man fond of puzzles and analytical thinking asking him to come and help him decipher some clues. Dupin has asked you to accompany him as you have proven to be a capable detective in your own right and he feels you will be a great asset. As you both arrive at the island dock, a hooded figure challenges you and tells you that "city slickers" have no business there and to leave and then throws a sack off the dock and leaves. The sack lands in a dingy and when you retrieve and open it, you find a Newfoundland puppy. Approaching LeGrand's manor, the hooded figure taunts you again saying you will regret not leaving and slams the gate shut and a very large Newfoundland blocks your way. Fortunately the puppy belongs to it and when returned to it allows you to reach the manor. At the manor you meet with LeGrand who tells you about the legend of the treasure and a gold bug with a skull on the wing covers and that he has found the same bug and other clues that he has in his office. When you enter the office, the hooded figure is there again searching for something and escapes through the window dropping a piece of paper. When Dupin examines the paper, he indicates that it is some kind of coded message and asks you to decipher it. Once deciphered, LeGrand asks Dupin and you to follow the clues to discover further information and possible location of the treasure and why the hooded figure is there. He lends you his dog, the Newfoundland, to help with clues by sniffing objects found during your investigation and leading you to new clues. The chase is on!
Graphics are nicely done but typical for this series with improved animations. Locations are filled with lots of little details such as bugs [lots of bugs], dust, clouds, flowers waving in the breeze, etc. that make them interesting to look at. This helps a lot as there is no map so the backtracking done is softened by the ambience. Music was basically the same as others in the series with a French flavor but repetitive and became annoying after a while. Voice acting has improved from previous games but unmemorable. Early in the game you receive a helper in the form of a Newfoundland breed dog that is used to sniff out clues from objects found and placed in inventory. Those objects will have a paw print on them to let you know they need to be dragged to the dog icon at the bottom right of the screen. Also, if you miss the fact it has a paw print on it, the dog barks to alert you that you have something he can help with. The dog then leads you to another clue. Inventory puzzles and minigames are varied and and fairly easy and somewhat creative but some seem to be there just because they felt there should be one. Sometimes several items need to be collected that are combined and used somewhere else. Hidden Object scenes are visited twice but are varied by something becoming common in games today but somewhat new in 2013 in that many times you have to complete several steps before finding an object from a list or combining items to make an object and others with silhouette scenes to work through. It does spice things up a bit. Though it never really gives you the feel of a Poe writing, it does give some fairly good sleuthing to be had.
I recommend this game!
After finding an artifact, you're whisked away to a dying world. Can you save it from the darkness?
Overall rating
4
/
5
A murdered stepson, her own son a pawn, Aleena's thirst for power is ruthless and you have to stop her
PostedApril 5, 2016
hermitcave
fromGig Harbor, Wa
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Hidden Object, Adventure, Mahjong, Card & Board
Fun Factor
4
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
5
/
5
Following ancient cave drawings and writings, you, archaeologist Sylvia Burns [only learned from the credits], have just completed a suscessful archeological dig to unearth an important artifact that may lead you to the mythical Tree of Life. Legend tells of a ruler centuries ago that had a staff with such an artifact at its heart. King Yorrick's first wife died giving birth to his son Auberon. He remarried after a while and his second wife, Aleena, bore him a second son, Prospero, but the king favored Auberon and groomed him to become king someday leaving Prospero in his shadow. Envy by Aleena who wished her son to be king and jealousy by Prospero who yearned for the king's attention, led to the death of Auberon while Auberon and Prospero were swimming. Prospero was blamed by the king and shunned even though the death was considered accidental but unknown to the king, Aleena had poisoned Auberon which caused him to drown. The king became despondent and cursed the elders because he had lost everyone he loved. He did not want Prospero to be king nor Aleena to rule with Prospero as a puppet king, so he destroyed the symbol of power, the Amaranthine Staff, but the heart of the staff, the artifact, was the heart of King Yorrick's first wife and he could not bear to destroy it so he sent it to another plane of existence hoping it would be lost forever. As the king withered so did the Tree of Life and the king died of a broken heart. You are now aboard the Airship U.S.S. Sagittarius on your way to the Tree's possible location and you have dozed off while studying the artifact. A disturbing dream of the Tree of Life being attacked by evil red wisps when the shuddering of the airship awakes you and you hear Captain Anderson's voice over the intercom that the Airship is under attack. Through the window you see the same red wisps from your dream as they attack the Airship. You need to get to the bridge and see if you can help. After helping the Captain steady the Airship, the red wisps take the form of a hooded man demanding the artifact and as you try to give it to him, it emits a blinding blue light that drives him off. The Airship is suddenly pulled through a portal and you are able to guide it to a spot near the Tree of Life before it crash lands. A blue wisp appears and beckons you to follow and tells you she can help you but that you first need to release her entrapped form. You find out too late that it was a sham and she is your real nemesis, Aleena and the the hooded man is Prospero under her control. She wants to destroy the Tree of Life and you have to stop her by reconstructing the Amaranthine Staff and save the Tree of Life.
The bonus chapter continues after you defeat Aleena and meet with Prospero who tells you that in order to return to earth, you will need to go to the Tree of Life to meet with the Elders and try and undo as much of the damage done by Alenna. To do this you will need to pass three trials before the Elders will grant you an audience. After passing the trials, the Elders revealed that the evil had been fortold and also that a stranger from another world would fall from the sky and save them. They help you get home by having you use the Amaranthine Staff on a star chart that opened a portal back to earth.
The graphics were some of the best I have seen from 2013 era games with very well done cutscenes and animations using live actors with mostly good voice acting and music. I especially liked the Airship in the beginning. The locations were varied and creative. There is a journal for the story and a map with areas of interest indicated but not interactive. But, as each location only has a few scenes with objectives to complete before moving on, the lack of a jump map was not missed. Inventory puzzles and minigames were good but nothing new. Hidden object scenes are repeated but well done with the final object that goes to your inventory found through a riddle presented after finding all the regular objects. Some objects are interactive and some lists are to find a number of the same objects. Some objects are not actually the same such as honey, honey dipper and jars of honey that are to be collected. During the game, you find a bow and arrow that is used in various locations to complete tasks.
The collectibles to be found were 14 butterflies and 40 zeppelins. There is an indicator for the zeppelins at the bottom right of the screen that disappears when the zeppelin in that scene is found. Most of the butterflies found were by accident by passing the cursor through the scene. There are story pages to be found that I didn't count so I am not sure how many there were. There was also some achievements called "mystery" but I apparently didn't find them so have no idea what they were. Every scene also had an owl but it did not seem to be a collectible so I am not sure what they were for. All they did was hoot when clicked on. A well done game that many will enjoy.
I recommend this game!
The highly anticipated follow-up to the smash hit Mirror Mysteries is finally here! The mirror is back—can you extinguish his power for good?
Overall rating
3
/
5
1 of 1 found this review helpful
Obsession with things from your past can get you in trouble and magic mirrors have long memories
PostedMarch 30, 2016
hermitcave
fromGig Harbor, Wa
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Hidden Object, Adventure, Mahjong, Card & Board
Fun Factor
4
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
3
/
5
Level of Challenge
3
/
5
Storyline
4
/
5
Years ago the Bryants were on a drive when they stopped for a picnic near an old house. Kids being kids, Tommy and his sister, Charlotte, broke into the house and broke some mirrors. This upset the Magic Mirror in the house and it abducted Tommy and Charlotte and their mother had to rescue them. Their mother used to tell stories about the places that she visited through the mirror portals when she was looking for them and Tommy became obsessed with magic and that mirror and has been looking for it and the house ever since. Now as adults, Tommy has gone missing and Charlotte has contacted you, a detective, to find him. She thinks he has found the house, Berkshire Manor, and that somehow the mirror that was broken those many years ago has been repaired and now has him. When you arrive at the manor, you find Tommy's car and once you gain entrance, the Magic Mirror reveals that it remembers Tommy and when he placed the last broken shard within it, it abducted him again and taunts you before sealing itself. You find a way to get to the Magic Mirror's realm. You see several broken mirrors and decide you will have to repair them to open portals to various other worlds where you hope to receive information of Tommy's location. You work your way through the Skyworld where you need to repair a futuristic train and help the owl caretaker retrieve his goggles, then in Elemental Forest where plants need to be watered and a humming bird gives you the coordinates you need but the gyro has to be repaired to use them, and finally, Chimins Monastery in a mountainous region where you meet a goat who breaks his vow of silence asking you to help restore balance to his world return some idols that were hidden. You are able to use the gong there as a mirror to reach the realm of the Magic Mirror. Once you find its location, you need to outwit the Magic Mirror and save Tommy.
Although a familiar "save the sibling from evil whatever" it was presented so it had some freshness by having you explore different worlds through mirror portals that you repair and each world visited being very different from each other. Graphics were good but felt dated with easy listening but looped music and pretty good voice acting. I especially liked the Magic mirror's voice and it sounded as if it was the same voice from the first episode, Mirror Mysteries. The music does change to reflect the different worlds visited. There is the usual journal for the story and a hint button. There is no map but as each world is rather small, backtracking is minimal so it is not missed. One complaint though is that in order to backtrack to a previous scene, you had to click on the arrowhead at the bottom on the inventory box that is constantly open which did eliminate the annoying opening and closing of the inventory box when the cursor gets close to it as is seen in many games. Most minigames are straightforward, but a few come with only a short instruction but that is usually enough. All can be skipped though if you can’t figure them out or don't want to take the time. I did like the way the minigames fit each world. Throughout each world, you need to find mirror shards that you will use back in the old house to repair the next mirror to open that portal. Some were rather difficult to see and you can't leave until you find them all. I missed two in the Elemental Forest world and had to backtrack to find them. Another annoying requirement was that you had to click OK when a shard was found or any inventory item for that matter. Hidden Object scenes were of the fragmented type where parts or fragments of objects are scattered around the scene and instead of a list you are provided with pictures of the fragments to find. Some fragments are padlocked until another fragmented object has been combined and used to expose or unlock that fragment. Running your cursor over the scene reveals outlines of those completed objects so you know where to use them. The final object goes to your inventory. Even though rather short, the story is interesting enough to give it a try.
I recommend this game!
Your brother is kidnapped during an air show. Search for him in a beautiful world where the sky is as wide as your imagination.
Overall rating
4
/
5
2 of 2 found this review helpful
Your younger brother is to be tried for treason and conducting inhuman experiments that give people the ability to fly
PostedMarch 24, 2016
hermitcave
fromGig Harbor, Wa
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Hidden Object, Adventure, Mahjong, Card & Board
Fun Factor
4
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
5
/
5
In Greek mythology, Icarus is the son of the master craftsman, Daedalus, the creator of the Labyrinth. Icarus and his father attempt to escape from Crete on wings that his father made using feathers and wax. Icarus's father warns him not to become complacent or succumb to excessive pride or self-confidence, and that he should fly not too low or too high, so the damp sea air wouldn't clog his wings or the heat from the sun melt the wax. Icarus ignored his father's warnings about flying too close to the sun so the wax on his wings melted and he fell into the sea.
Man has dreamed about flying like a bird since they first saw them fly overhead and your inventor younger brother, Jeremy Stevens, has been fascinated with that dream since you were children. It has been five years since you have seen Jeremy when you receive an invitation from him to come to an airshow where he is the guest of honor and is to reveal his greatest invention. When you arrive at Jeremy's house, you find a hooded intruder that was searching for something and leaves, and when you follow him, you see him sprout wings and fly away. You find a paper he dropped that was an arrest warrant for Jeremy by someone called Lord Thunder calling him a traitor and for conducting inhuman experiments on their citizens. Having found a prototype of a soaring island that Jeremy designed and is to present at the airshow, you proceed to the airshow location. Arriving at the airshow, Jeremy is presenting his invention of a soaring island which appears in the sky through a portal and suddenly a large number of winged men began pouring out of the soaring island and attacking the airshow. As you watched, one of the winged men grabs Jeremy and carrys him off through the portal. You are able to find a hot air balloon and follow them through the portal where you crash land at the entrance to the city on the soaring island. Entering the city, you hear Thunder, the leader of the soaring island citizens, telling his people that jeremy was a threat and had to be captured to prevent others from his world invading their realm. Suddenly a winged man appears and grabs you and takes you to a great height and drops you, and as you are falling, a blur flashes by you and catches you before you hit the ground. When you recover, you discover that your savior is Jeremy's wife, Hope, and that they have a child, Wind. Jeremy has invented a way to give people wings and that is how the citizens of soaring island can fly but the procedure could have strane effects on some people. You also learn that not all the citizens agree with Thunder and you need to help them free Jeremy and restore order.
Third in the series, it has its own story and is not related to the previous games. There is no real journal but the interactive map show action areas and stores cutscenes with each having a short synopsis and being replayable. Graphics were well done with live acting and good voice acting, however, those concerned by voice and mouth sync will be disappointed as it appears the actors are speaking a different language than English and the voices were dubbed. Music was good but the music for those dramatic moments often went on and on actually detracting from the moment making them less dramatic. The Hidden Object scenes are good with the familiar interactive list type but with the added need to use objects from your inventory that you found somewhere else and wondered what am I going to need this for. If you have not found the object yet and there doesn't seem to be any solution to finishing the hidden object scene, then you need to look outside the scene for an object you may have missed. Most are usually found before you reach the scene. The game moves along in a logical progression with each location having a lot of tasks to complete and some nice puzzles with some new variations that made them seem new and were fun to do.
Those that love being told they did something right or completed a task in so many seconds will find the usual perks from the collector's edition including three different colored flowers [red, white and yellow] to be found scattered throughout the scenes, including the bonus chapter, that can be spent in a special Philanthropist Area that consists of three locations that have been damaged that you can repair or clean up to give yourself a warm and fuzzy. Each has to be completed before you can go to the next one and I apparently missed about 15 flowers somewhere as I could not completely repair the third scene as I didn't have enough flowers. You will also find a hamster with flight goggles in multiple scenes that is kind of a helper for those who like cute animals. The main game is pretty long but with all the action it goes by quickly. The bonus chapter is also action packed and involves saving the soaring city that is breaking apart and about to crash into the earth and you have to figure out why and prevent it. A very well written follow-on chapter. I found this third game in the series the best so far and am looking forwarded to the fourth game, The Pantheon CE.
I recommend this game!
Join Esther as she attempts to influence the past in order to change the future and learn the secrets of the Ambrose family!
Overall rating
3
/
5
1 of 1 found this review helpful
Enigma - something that is difficult to understand or explain
PostedMarch 23, 2016
hermitcave
fromGig Harbor, Wa
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Hidden Object, Adventure, Mahjong, Card & Board
Fun Factor
3
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
3
/
5
Level of Challenge
3
/
5
Storyline
4
/
5
You are Esther Ambrose and your family has been the watchers of a huge crystal that contains the ancient evil sorceress, Viviana. As a distant descendant of Merlin, you go into the past to change it by preventing Merlin and Viviana from having a falling out and must visit the recent past to stop Rasputin from giving Viviana a pendant that controls her and causes her to become evil that Rasputin got from an inventor, Liam, from a future failing world who found a ring and learned about time travel and decided he wanted to rule the world so he started this whole mess by giving the pendant to Rasputin who gave it to Viviana who had a daughter with Merlin and then they fought resulting in her being encased in a crystal and Merlin becoming an oak tree and the Ambrose family descendants becoming watchers of the crystal to prevent Viviana from escaping. Got it? Good. Talk about your convoluted plots and it spanned three episodes with this being the final enigma.
In the second episode, The Ancient Spectres, the game just ended with a black "To Be Continued" screen and this episode picks up right where it ended. The crystal becomes damaged and Viviana's evil is released on the world and destroys nature causing devastation and possible end of the world. A visitor from the future, Michael, Liam's brother, an inventor, arrives at your Uncle Sean's laboratory and tells you that you have little time to go back in time and fix things. Your uncle gives you a new and improved portable time traveling device and also becomes your interactive map showing locations requiring action. Much like in the other episodes, actions you perform in one time period also affect things in other time periods. If you have played the first two episodes, you are familiar with the mechanics, but those playing for the first time will face using a portable time traveling device to visit various locations in time both past and future to work through a series of objectives needed to change events that happened or will happen so the present is changed into a storybook ending and you wind up not being a guardian and can have a normal life. So be sure to click on that time device frequently to see where to go next. Sometimes there will be more than one time period or locations in a time period that can be visited and you will need to decide where to go.
In the second episode, The Ancient Spectres, the game just ended with a black "To Be Continued" screen and this episode picks up right where it ended. The crystal becomes damaged and Viviana's evil is released on the world and destroys nature causing devastation and possible end of the world. A visitor from the future, Michael, Liam's brother, an inventor, arrives at your Uncle Sean's laboratory and tells you that you have little time to go back in time and fix things. Your uncle gives you a new and improved portable time traveling device and also becomes your interactive map showing locations requiring action. Much like in the other episodes, actions you perform in one time period also affect things in other time periods. If you have played the first two episodes, you are familiar with the mechanics, but those playing for the first time will face using a portable time traveling device to visit various locations in time both past and future to work through a series of objectives needed to change events that happened or will happen so the present is changed into a storybook ending and you wind up not being a guardian and can have a normal life. So be sure to click on that time device frequently to see where to go next. Sometimes there will be more than one time period or locations in a time period that can be visited and you will need to decide where to go.
Graphics were good and detailed good voice acting but the music has been heard before and is looped so it gets old after a while. It also sometimes overshadows the voices so they are hard to understand. The main character has a british accent as in previous episodes and is refreshing. There is a journal but I found it of little help provideing basically background information. Minigames and inventory puzzles were fairly easy and sometimes had no directions but were pretty simple to figure out. There a lot of hidden object scenes with some cropping up in unexpected places but all are well done with the usual easy to find objects and then those few that require you to search for them. You do have a choice to either do the hidden object scene or switch to a match 3 type game. The match 3 screens become increasing harder as the game progresses. The ending kinda sneaks up on you if you are not paying attention with the world being saved and everyone living happily ever after and you having a son, William, and the Ambrose family legacy of time travel at an end. As this was the last episode in the series, I wonder why they felt it necessary to tell you that you had a son, William. Better than the first and probably not as good as the second episode, it may still be worth a few hours of your time.
I recommend this game!
A disastrous avalanche... an evacuation... did anyone survive? The ski trip you've dreamed of for so long turns into a nightmare.
Overall rating
4
/
5
1 of 2 found this review helpful
Skiing the Alps was a lifetime dream but saving a village of ghosts from an avalanche was not
PostedMarch 18, 2016
hermitcave
fromGig Harbor, Wa
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Hidden Object, Adventure, Mahjong, Card & Board
Fun Factor
4
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
3
/
5
Storyline
4
/
5
You have saved for years to take that dream vacation to ski the alps and as you race down the slope, an avalanche overtakes you and you fall into a ravine. At the bottom is a house long buried and when you approach it, ghosts appear and tell you that you need to survive and help save them. The cold must be affecting your mind so you struggle to enter the house and find the gear needed to climb out of the ravine. In the house is a calendar dated five years ago, 2007, and everything is frozen. You finally manage to find your way out and are estatic that you emerged near a ski resort but something is not right. A young man, Otto, appears and tells you he lives here and that you can warm yourself at the resort but not to stay. You are suddenly overcome by a weird sinsation and see a vision of a young child playing with matches. Was that Otto as a child? When you enter the resort, you are met by the manager, Greta, who tells you the phone is out and asks you to fix it. When the phone is working again, you are able to listen to a phone message from the Police Chief telling Greta to get out as an avalanche is coming. The message is dated 17 Feb 2007. That sudden sensation occurs again and you have another vision this time of Greta leaving in a car and crashing and dying. As you meet other ghosts you have similar visions about them. Evidence finally points to the fact that the avalanche was caused by a bomb but who planted it and why and why was the village not evacuated in time?
I played the original Phantasmat some time ago and really enjoyed it found this one lacking the creepiness and intensity of the original even though the basic plot of freeing ghosts was the same. graphics were very good especially the snow scenes and blowing snow from the drifts. There are a lot of things to click on for animation that are there just for show. Animations and voice acting were great but the music has been heard before and was looped and didn't always fit the scene. There is a lot of backtracking and, unfortunately no map, so you hoof it. There is a task list but no journal so keep track of where those inventory items are to be used. Inventory puzzles and minigames were fairly good with medium to some difficult ones with some of the minigame instructions being vague. Hidden object scenes were the usual interactive list type and were repeated and you can play a match 3 game instead. Occasionally you would find a butane torch that was needed to melt ice to free a necessary object from the ice.
A fairly long main game that ends with you leaving but when to bonus chapter begins, Otto stops you and tells you he does not want you to leave until you see all of the outrageous tragedy he caused. In the bonus chapter, you have the opportunity to stop Otto's tragedy by deactivating the bomb. I didn't understand why there was still an explosion that caused the avalanche after deactivating the bomb but at least the village was evacuated before the explosion. Not a well written ending.
One final comment concerns the furry creature that kept showing up during the game that caused havoc by breaking things, chewing cables, and just being down right obnoxious. It was probably written in to be a cute diversion but I really felt it detracted from the whole experience. I wanted to find a gun and shoot it.
I recommend this game!
Stop the evil Vansig family before they point their vengeful wrath at your friend Christine in Nightfall Mysteries: Black Heart!
Overall rating
4
/
5
2 of 2 found this review helpful
Viggo to be sacrificed by his mother with the help of his brother to bring his father back from the dead. Talk about your family love.
PostedMarch 17, 2016
hermitcave
fromGig Harbor, Wa
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Hidden Object, Adventure, Mahjong, Card & Board
Fun Factor
4
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
4
/
5
As a stagehand for the Vansig opera troop, you first met Christine and Viggo, members of the opera troop, in the first game, Curse of the Opera, but knew them by their alises of Carolina and Vincent, who had systematically killed some of the members of the Vansig Opera Troop. This was by design through a plan developed by Chrinstine's grandfather, Charles, [Christine rescued him along with Viggo, one of Vladd's sons that Vllad was experimenting on in the second game, Asylum Conspiracy, which was actually a prequel to Curse of the Opera] to take revenge on the Vladd Vansig family who had killed Christine's parents making her an orphan and selling Viggo to a band of gypsies. After finishing off the troop, Christine and Viggo finally decided to settle down and live the quiet life. Returning to the site where her family were killed to pay their respects, Viggo is captured by a hooded man on horseback and dragged off. Christine is beside herself and contacts you asking that you help rescue Viggo. One of Viggo's many talents involves pigeons and he has been able to send a message to Christine by pigeon as to where he has been taken and it is not good. He is a prisoner in the Blackhill Manor, the residence of the Vansig family. The message also told her to beware the Black Widow of Blackhill, Countess Violetta, the wife of Vladd III, his mother! When you arrive at Blackhill, you and Christine become separated and the hooded man tells you to leave or suffer the same fate as Viggo who is to be sacrificed to bring his and Viggo's father, Vladd III, back from the dead. Yes! The hooded man is none other than Viggo's brother, Victor, who didn't die in the fire. While working your way through the manor to save Viggo, another figure from your past arrives when his helicopter crashes in the garden, Sgt. Detective Thomas Gibson of the police, who was looking for answers about his wife's death at the Asylum and also investigated the opera troop murders and always suspected Carolina and Vincent of some involvement but could never prove it. He has mellowed with age and decides to help you and Christine with freeing Viggo. You now have to stop the ritual and save Viggo.
Not as creepy as the first two episodes which I think had a better story line but was ok. Graphics were good with ok cutscenes and the music was some we have heard before. Some dialogue was hard to read on the screen and it did not remain on the screen long so you had to read fast as some of it was not repeated. Voice acting was ok but some of the accents were not the best and didn't fit some of the characters. Almost a bit over done. There are papers and fifteen audio tapes to be found that flesh out the back story but some of the recordings were hard to listen to and understand. They are all stored in the journal and can be replayed. The journal also contained the map which was not a jump map but did show objective locations but the journal had to be opened every time you wanted to see the map. Not being a jump map, there is a lot of backtracking so keep notes for items collected and where they are needed. Hidden object scenes were the basic interactive list type and were not overly difficult but did have some poorly drawn and oddly shaped objects that sometimes were placed on other objects of a similiar color making them hard to find. The scenes were repeated and some of the same objects to be found were also repeated. Inventory puzzles and minigames were the usual variety and most were easy to medium difficulty.
You don't need to have played the first two games in this series to enjoy this one but if you are like me and it is all about the story, it helps immensely to understand how the characters arrived at the present situation. Presenting the plot out of sequence added to the mystique of the series and actually made them more enjoyable. I played the first two some time ago and must confess that I missed the fact that Asylum was a prequel and therefore was not impressed with Curse of the Opera. But I have revisited them and now understand the plot better. If you have played and enjoyed the first two games, try this one and look for the connections.
I recommend this game!
The Brothers Grimm have assigned the task of revealing the truth behind missing children in the town of Arbourshire; it is up to you to discover the secrets of the Fairy Tale Mystery, before it is too late.
Overall rating
3
/
5
An evil has been abducting children for over 100 years and turning them into puppets
PostedMarch 17, 2016
hermitcave
fromGig Harbor, Wa
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Hidden Object, Adventure, Mahjong, Card & Board
Fun Factor
3
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
3
/
5
Level of Challenge
3
/
5
Storyline
4
/
5
It is 1818 and you have joined an organization, The Brothers Grimm Detective Agency, that investigates and fights evil magic wherevever it crops up. Being a rookie, this is your first assignment. Ine the town of Arbourshire, Children have been vanishing for decades with the first disappearance over 100 years ago. Reports of children being abducted and turned into puppets by a shadowy figure has angered the townspeople of Arbourshire who are leary of strangers and have formed a mob. The mob leader wants justice now and they rampage through town destroying the puppet theater cart. A note magically appears that turns out to be a Grimm Brothers Magicgram [a form of communication used to keep in touch with agents] tells you that you need to discover who is behind this and save the children. There were a couple of Magicgrams that appeared to be presented out of order which can be a little confusing so be sure to read the journal. You are to meet the Silver Magician who lives there for additional information. Unfortunately, he is unable to provide much help as he is distraught that his daughter has been abducted and asks for your help in saving her. An odd looking old man seems to be trying to stop you as you conduct your investigation but is apparently controlled by another more powerful evil magician that is actually turning the children into puppets for their souls. A magical barrier surrounds the town making it difficult for the Brothers Grimm to help so you are on your own. You need to discover the weakness of this pied puppet thief to defeat him and save the children.
A somewhat interesting story that has it moments with some depth that doesn't become clear until further into the game after you discover clues unraveling some of the secrets. Unfortunately, it never really comes out why the puppet thief needs or wants the souls of the children and why he turns them into puppets. Does it increase his power or is it for immortality? That would have been nice to know. All we are left with is that he was evil and must not like children otherwise why not abduct adults also? Anyway, the clues are provided through notes and conversations with characters in cutscenes and entries in the journal so be sure to read it periodically. The journal also had pages from what was called the Grimm Brothers Examiner's Handbook that gave some information on different encounters you had and were fairly useless to your investigation and merely informational. Graphics were well done and the music was looped and has been heard before and did get old after a while. Voice acting was good. There are a lot of basic, noninteractive hidden object scenes all which are repeated but with different objects to be found. Inventory puzzles and minigames were ok and nothing very difficult. There is a fair amount of backtracking and having an interactive map would have been nice. The ending had a rather dull cutscene with the head of the evil magician falling to one side and then zooming in on the crystal that is to be locked away. This is one to try for the story and basic hidden object scenes and not so much the bells and whistles.
I recommend this game!
To save her father, Bella vowed to stay with the beast, but is he truly evil? Help Bella follow her heart!
Overall rating
3
/
5
1 of 2 found this review helpful
Picking roses can be hazardous to your health
PostedMarch 7, 2016
hermitcave
fromGig Harbor, Wa
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Hidden Object, Adventure, Mahjong, Card & Board
Fun Factor
3
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
3
/
5
Level of Challenge
3
/
5
Storyline
3
/
5
Raphael became lost in a snow storm [and no I don't know why he was there in the first place] and finds a castle in the woods where the snow does not reach and he is so awed by the garden that he plucks a rose. The owner of the castle becomes enraged, and being a beast, tells Raphael that he will have to forfit his life for picking the rose. Raphael requests from the beast the chance to say goodbye to his daughters and the beast agrees so they are summoned. The youngest daughter, Bella, is so upset at the possibility of losing her father that she volunteers to stay with the beast in his place. The beast agrees and Bella remains at the castle while her father and sisters leave. Raphael, being an avid reader, visits the local library and finds a paper thattells of a magic scroll hidden on a far away island that could save Bella from the beast. Raphael notices you at the next table and decides to ask you, a perfect stranger, to travel the seas and find this island and retrieve the scroll for him. Being the adventurous type, you accept the job and set out to find the scroll. After many days on the high seas, you find the island, decipher the locks and retrieve the scroll. The return journey was much shorter and you arrive at Raphael's house and give him the scroll. Raphael is beside himself until he reads the fine print and discovers that he needs to activate the scroll with five missing phrases of truth before the scroll will set Bella free. Again turning to his new friend, you, he asks you to do whatever it takes to find the phrases of truth and activate the scroll. He also tells you that he is afraid that bella may be falling in love with the beast and to hurry. As you search for the phrases, you meet a multitude of people that have differing levels of interest in Bella's fate and some are not good so you have to figure out who wants what to happen to who and why and go where it will do the most good. Your success in saving Bella depends on this.
Not one of my favorite games, I found it extremely easy in some parts and mildly difficult to relate to some of the characters and why they were doing what they were doing in other parts. As there was a lot of backtracking and locations to visit and items to remember where they were to be used, the jump map that was available made it less tedious than it could have been but would have been a lot better if action areas had been indicated. Because you had to visit many areas multiple times, the shear number of locations almost made you forget what you were suppose to be doing until suddenly you found a phrase and remembered that the scroll needed to be updated. Sometimes you just revisited locations looking for hidden object scenes.
A graphically simple game with old style static drawings that implied animation by flashing and a few cutscenes. Voice acting was ok and music was easy listening, There was a journal with a general objective list. Minigames had a restart and skip button and were fairly easy as were the inventory puzzles. Hidden object scenes were the standard list type with some fragmented types thrown in. Most of the fragmented scenes were hard as the fragments often were tiny and the same color as the background they were resting on. Only by looking for subtle shape changes were some objects found. The ending was the usual fairy tale ending and predictable. If you are new to hidden object games you might give this one a try as there are a lot of locations and things to do to get a good feel for how they play.
I recommend this game!
Save the besieged alpine village of Martlet and rescue its residents from the mysterious living statues in this exciting Hidden Object Adventure game!
Overall rating
4
/
5
Life-like statues have come alive and they are looking for someone
PostedMarch 6, 2016
hermitcave
fromGig Harbor, Wa
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Hidden Object, Adventure, Mahjong, Card & Board
Fun Factor
4
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
3
/
5
Storyline
3
/
5
Many years ago, a baby was left at the doorstep of the renown sculptor, Gregorian Amadey, whose life-like statues brought fame to the town of Martlet and he raised her as his own daughter naming her Princess. She adored the statues her father created and when he met an actress and fell in love, she became unhappy. After her father's marriage to the actress, he spent less and less time with Princess who became lonely and jealous and sought solace with the statues. Now the usually peaceful mountain town of Martlet is being ravaged by those same satatues brought to life and residents are disappearing. What sorcery or who has caused this is not known so you have been summoned as a royal detective to find the cause. It appears that the statues may have kidnapped Princess or have they really? Who was her real mother and what was the mysterious book and flute found with her when she was left as a baby?
Graphics and animations were well done being detailed and smooth with nicely done voice acting and pleasant music that was looped but not annoying. A long time resident, Rupert, becomes your hint button and provides the background story as there is no journal. An excellent jump map is provided with action areas indicated which is needed as there is a fair amount of backtracking. As you explore, you find that not all of the statues are bad and some actually help you along the way. An animated rooster from a weather vane becomes a helper to retrieve objects you can't reach and three gnome statues help with solving some of the puzzles. All are well done. There are several puzzles involving animated doors that were fun to interact with providing some lighter moments. If you do become stuck and need help, Rupert will tell you where your next task is and what you need to use there. Hidden object scenes are really well done with great interactions and objects that can be found without straining your eyes. You usually have to do a secondary task such as repair or unlock something in the scene to find more objects and arrive at a final item to be added to your inventory. The game has two possible ending cutscenes and dialogue and you decide which to enact. If you don't choose the ending that the developers obviously wanted you to pick, you are chastised for having a harden heart and it still ends with the culprit going free. I felt they should have provided only one avenue if that was what they wanted in the first place instead of making you feel you made the wrong choice. Still, it was an entertaining game and one you may want to try.
I recommend this game!