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:
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
4
/
5
3 of 4 found this review helpful
What caused the curse of Shadow Lake and why does the Ghost Patrol Reality TV show want nothing to do with it
PostedMarch 3, 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
In 1973, a prisoner at Shadow Lake Penitentiary in Bitterford, Maine, discovered a relic buried in his cell that seemed to possess him and he trys to escape from the prison. The warden chases and wounds him causing him to drop the relic and he hides in an old train tunnel that collapses killing him. The warden picks up the relic and becomes possessed and hides the relic in a drawer and on his way to the prison has a car accident that kills him. The warden's son finds the relic in his father's drawer and takes it becoming possessed. He takes the relic to school and falls from a tower and is killed. The teacher who finds the body finds the relic next to the body and takes it and dies in a fire when his house burns. The local doctor and sheriff suspect the relic is evil and takes it to the priest at the church. The priest performs an exorcism on the relic which causes an explosion destroying the church and killing the doctor, sheriff and priest.
Present day, a reality TV show, Ghost Patrol with host jack Talon, has come to the deserted town of Bitterford, Maine to film an episode at the abandoned penitentiary. A psychic consultant, Cassandra Williams, has asked for your help as there is something terribly wrong there. When you arrive at the motel [why would there be a motel open in a deserted town?] you find Jack Talon and the Ghost Patrol team packing up and leaving but Cassandra is not with them. You find her in one of the motel rooms apparently communicating with the spirits and provides clues by creating auto-drawings of specific spots at various locations in the town. She gives you a two-way radio and a map with the location of the penitentiary marked on it. As you explore use the auto-drawings and return them to her, she performs a psychic reading on them to help direct you to the next location to explore and it is added to your map. Eventually you will explore eight locations multiple times to solve the mystery.
I did enjoy the game and did feel I was actually discovering clues and doing something even though there was a lot of repetition involved with the auto-drawings and psychic readings. The graphics were photo-realistic locations and cutscenes with live actors and good voice acting though some may have been a bit melodramatic. The case notes journal contained the clues and tasks and cutscenes can be replayed from here. The jump map was the only way to travel between locations and as a new location was psychically discovered, it was added to the map and became available for travel. Inventory puzzles and minigames were not easy but not overly hard either and involved the use of several items multiple times such as a ladder so be sure to check items placed in a scene to see if you can pick it up again. One type of minigame was repeated each time a psychic reading was done that involved a moving picture broken into cubes that had to be put back together and each minigame became increasingly more difficult with increasing number of cubes. With the picture constantly moving, it made it more challenging. When completed, it provided a cutscene.
Hidden object scenes were the usual interactive list type as well as some reconstructing of scenes. Something new for me was that the list of items to be found could span several locations or rooms and when you entered a location where the list was not active, it disappeared until returning to where needed. This made the hidden object scenes seem as if they belonged in the scene instead of just showing up out of the blue. Some objects were often very small and hard to see or placed on backgrounds that would partially hide them.
I did have several complaints. One was the wheel inventory that only displayed about six items being held at a time requiring you to click on a touchy arrow to see more items. When you get six drawings from Cassandra to match to spots in locations, they are returned to inventory until returning to Cassandra causing you to click on the rotation arrow to see the remaing drawings or other inventory items you may need to use. This became very tiresome after a while. Another was the repetition of the auto-drawings as some of the drawings [all black and white] were extremely vague, making finding the corresponding location difficult to find. Finally, there are two video tapes to be found during the game and if you do not remember that there was a working video player in one of the rooms and go there and play them, you miss out on the Jack talon performance that gives background on why they left in such a hurry.
I think a more appropriate name for this game would have been Mystery Case Files Curse of the Relic as that was the central theme. There was a vague reference to a Maine Indian Tribe, the Amaseconti, a small division of the Abnaki Tribe, who supposedly believed in The Curse of Shadow lake and that anyone coming in contact with a relic would die [poetic license as there apparently was no such curse]. Also, the ending involved a ghost of a woman drowning in Shadow Lake and, of course, the name of the penitentiary. If you don't mind the repetition and enjoy sleuthing, give this one a try.
I recommend this game!
Fight your way out of a coma by exploring your deepest memories!
Overall rating
4
/
5
3 of 3 found this review helpful
A comatose patient must relive and change past memories to bring herself out of the coma or die
PostedMarch 2, 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
3
/
5
Storyline
4
/
5
Driving on a highway,an oncoming truck blows a tire and you crash. You are vaguely aware of being pulled from the wreckage, an ambulance, a hospital corridor and doctors commenting on your being in a coma. As you move down the corridor, it changes into a long dark tunnel and you see a bright light and a shadowy figure that speaks to you. He tells you, Emily, that you are in your mind and slowly dying and losing your memories. He tells you that to survive and wake up, you will need to revisit some of those memories and change them. The shadowy figure appears multiple times during your venture providing encouragement and direction along the way.
The first memory involved your mother. As a little girl, you often played in your father's workroom and one day you knocked over some candles and started a fire that killed your father. Ever since, your mother has been distant and when she died, you did not find out until after she was buried because your answering machine malfunctioned and the message was never recorded. Now, you are at the house where you lived and you need to make amends with your mother by finding three items dear to her and visit her grave and clean it. The second memory concerns your grandfather who was caretaker of a lighthouse. He wants you to finish a boat he started and fix the lighthouse light to free his soul by allowing him to sail to where your grandmother waits for him. Finally, you need free yourself from the guilt of your father's death by preventing a ghost version of your self from falling into an abyss and dying. You need to make an Elixir of Life and pour it on your ghost to return you to consciousness and live.
Released in 2012, this is a straight forward, no bells and whistles hidden object game with an interestingly presented story. The graphics, voice acting and music were all good with occasional cutscenes that helped in story development. The journal was sparse and provided little and with no map there was some backtracking although not excessive as the story is divided into three parts each with their own locations. I did find that some locations had very small action areas that could be easily missed so be sure to cursor over the entire scene or you may miss something. Inventory puzzles were the usual to find items needed to complete a task with fairly easy minigames. Hidden object scenes were standard interactive list type with hot spots that open for some objects to be found. Some objects were drawn oddly increasing their difficulty to find but all were visible. The hint button does a good job of keeping you moving forward and does provide a teleport button to jump you to the recommended location provided.
It is a fairly well presented story that does deal with family death, blame, guilt, remorse and drifting apart by surviving family members so some may not feel comfortable with it.
It is a fairly well presented story that does deal with family death, blame, guilt, remorse and drifting apart by surviving family members so some may not feel comfortable with it.
I recommend this game!
Save Brightfield from a shocking plot by a dastardly organization!
Overall rating
4
/
5
2 of 2 found this review helpful
Even as a beast, James is protecting Kelly from his nemesis uncle
PostedFebruary 28, 2016
hermitcave
fromGig Harbor, Wa
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Mahjong, Card & Board
Fun Factor
4
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
3
/
5
Science has unlocked the genetic codes of man and beast and some scientists has decided to experiment by mixing the codes to see what kind of results will occur. In the town of Brightfield, suffering from unusually cold weather and snowfall, there has been attacks by strange beasts resulting in the town being evacuated. As a Mystery Trackers Detective, you notify headquarters about the phenomenon and fly there to investigate. Town gates are closed and locked but a young woman, Kelly Aster, who missed the last evacuation vehicle, throws you the gate key. As you unlock the gate, a humanoid beast appears by Kelly and chases her further into the town. As you venture into the town, you find paper articles and papers telling about the evacuation and animal attacks and you begin seeing men in white robes with playing card suits on their robes that keep creating obstacles to block your progress. They are part of an organization known as the Four Aces. The beast chasing kelly appears to be trying to protect her from the Four Aces. Your investigation uncovers information about Kelly who was to marry James Kerr but his uncle, Archibald Kerr, was against it. Apparently the uncle created the Four Aces and was conducting experiments in genetics and using some of the town residents creating these strange beasts and decided to use his own nephew turning him into the beast with Kelly. You need to discover the secret laboratory stopping the experiments and, if possible, reverse the process on James.
There are the usual great graphics and music with well done cutscenes that are replayable and there is no journal. Characters are live actors with good voice overs. A very good jump map is available that shows areas of action so it helps with the back tracking that has to be done. Hidden object scenes are nicely done list type with interactive objects and all objects are visible though some are partially hidden either behind other objects or by lighting. A detective mode of play is available that removes all sparkle, hint and cursor help. The hint button is the now familiar Mr. Toad and your dog helper, Elf, is also present. They have improved his climbing abilities apparently as he is able to climb walls to reach things high up that have no visible path other than climbing the walls. Maybe they will make him able to fly some day. One thing i liked was that minigames now have a reset button as well as a skip button so you can start over if necessary.
I have played the first three in this series and found this, the fourth, to be the best so far. Even though the plots remains basically the same, each episode shows improvement over the others. A nice way to spend a few hours on a rainy afternoon.
I recommend this game!
Escape a cursed island of lost souls by helping three of the trapped spirits in Redemption Cemetery: Grave Testimony!
Overall rating
4
/
5
You witness a mass shooting by gangsters and now they are going to kill you
PostedFebruary 25, 2016
hermitcave
fromGig Harbor, Wa
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Hidden Object, Adventure, Mahjong, Card & Board
Fun Factor
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
3
/
5
Storyline
4
/
5
A newspaper article tells of a bloody rampage in the heart of the city by gangsters killing over a dozen people and apparently there was a lone surviving witness that investigators are unable to locate. Police believe the gangsters have dealt with him. A car speeds away with you, the witness, in the trunk and when it stops, the trunk opens and you are knocked out and dragged to a boat and taken to an island in the swamps used as a dumping ground for bodies. As you begin to wake up, you find yourself in a grave about to be buried alive. Suddenly you hear shots and yelling and, when you raise up from the grave, you see one of the gangsters dragged under the water, a second wounded gangster getting up from the ground and starting to leave toward the dock, and a third gangster dead on the ground. Not knowing what is going on, your only thought is to get out of there by heading toward the dock also. You see the wounded gangster in a small boat trying to leave the dock when hands reach out of the water and pull him in sinking the boat. Now what? On the dock you find a ritual circle that when used summons a strange boat and boatman who tells you he will return you to shore if you obtain three soul stones. These soul stones are only available from restless spirits you will need to help find peace by correcting mistakes they made. He gives you a special crow that becomes your helper but remains as stone until special runes are found and used that brings him alive and able to help retrieve things. Each of the three spirits gives you a task and opens a time portal that teleports you to the times and places where you must perform the tasks and then return to the spirits to release them. The first is the dead gangster near the grave who wants you to save a woman that they kidnapped and died, a clockmaker in a western town who died while trying to save his wife who is to be burned as a witch, and a sailor on a pirate ship who was accused of stealing special guides needed to use a treasure map to find the gold and was hung.
The introduction scene was violent with three gangsters using tommy guns and then your being in the grave looking up at the three gangsters as they prepare to shovel dirt in on top of you. The graphics were very gloomy and creepy befitting the locations with appropriate music and sounds. Live actors and voice acting ranging from poor to very good. The pirate captain of the ghost ship was especially good while some of the gangsters were not. There is no map so there is some backtracking in each area visited for each spirit but once the area it is completed it is no longer accessible. There are the usual minigames and inventory puzzles to obtain items and some inventory items need to be combined for the final item to be used. Hidden object scenes were well done and included list type and silhouetted list and placing objects back into the scene. I liked how In some you need to find objects to use in the scene to find other objects until you reach the last object. One complaint was the ending. You obtain the three soul stones and give them to the boatman and he starts to pole and it just ends. Apparently the CE bonus chapter continues from that point, but for those of us not buying the CE, it would have been nice to see him at least make it back to shore and maybe a road and catch a ride?
This is the third in the series and may not appeal to every one, but is worth giving it a look if you are a fan of the series or like the soul saving theme.
I recommend this game!
Be careful what you wish for... A deadly bargain has been made, and it's up to you to set things right before your nephew pays the terrible price!
Overall rating
4
/
5
1 of 1 found this review helpful
How could innocent wishes made by your young nephew come true and sap his youth?
PostedFebruary 22, 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
After saving your twin sister, Luisa, on her wedding day some years ago, and then helping to remove the curse of the werewolf from her husband, John, and your nephew, Brandon when he was about to be Christen as a baby, more trouble has come to the Grays and your sister has asked for your help once again. Young Brandon is not himself, losing weight and seems to be growing older but he keeps telling his mother that everything is all right and not to worry as he will fix it. She asks you to talk to him as he has always been fond of you and hopes you can discover what is going on. John is away on an expedition in Siberia and Brandon misses him. When you arrive at their house, an old woman on the porch cackles and transforms into an evil looking creature and vanishes. When you enter Brandon's room, a spectral hand reaches for him and he hollers for help as the door slams shut with the words "It's time to pay your debts" scrawled across it. Unable to open the door, you go back downstairs to talk to luisa but find her gone and a note left saying she has gone to meet a woman who says she can help Brandon. Finding an axe, you return to Brandon's room and break the door down and enter as Brandon is dragged away through the window toward the forest 's swamp. In the room, you discover a diary entry that tells about meeting an old woman in the swamp who gave him some magic paper and magic quill that allowed his wishes written with them to come true. He apparently wished for his favorite toy, a puppet, to be alive and the wish was granted. You find the puppet in the room and it offers to help find and save Brandon. Who is this old woman and what debt does Brandon owe her? You must go to the swamp and find out. As you investigate, you discover that a demon, Volos, Lord of the forest and swamp, has tricked Brandon into a pact by granting wishes to come true in exchange for his youth. You must now defeat the demon to save the Gray family.
There is no journal so you have to pay attention to the story and keep track of clues as you go or you could get confused. The truth behind the wishes and why they were made and how the entire gray family is at risk takes a while to come out as the story unfolds through notes left by Brandon, comments made by the puppet, diary pages from the demon and through the use of a magic quill [apparently the one given Brandon by the demon that grants the wish written by it] that changes pictures into portals that you use to visit those locations where various tasks need to be completed to advance your progress.
Graphics were well done with some gloomy scenes that befit the situations with music that was there but frequently just stopped. Not sure if this was by design or not. The voice acting was good but some dialogue did not fit the age of the character making you wonder who was the adult and who was the child. There are a lot of inventory puzzles and minigames with some hidden object scenes with most being fairly easy and there is a skip button for most. Some locations are visited several times to complete multiple tasks but are separated by other locations creating new tasks so when returning to the location again, it is like a new area with a different part being explored. There is enough minor goals that occur, often making you think you are near the end, when another facet is added that continues onanother avenue until you do finally come to the end. There is a fair amount of backtracking but you receive an excellent jump map when you get the puppet for a helper. You also acquire a second helper in the form of a cat that is used in some locations. Hidden object scenes are well done and are in some unusual locations and usually chocked full of objects you might expect to find in that location.
This is the third episode in the Grim Tales series, released in 2012, with each one better than the last so if you enjoyed "The Bride" and "The Legacy," you should try this one. I have enjoyed them all so far and look forward to number four, The Stone Queen.
I recommend this game!
Your family is missing and the town is in chaos in Small Town Terrors: Livingston!
Overall rating
3
/
5
2 of 2 found this review helpful
Why did you wake up in an abandoned hospital and where are your daughter and husband?
PostedFebruary 18, 2016
hermitcave
fromGig Harbor, Wa
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Hidden Object, Adventure, Mahjong, Card & Board
Fun Factor
3
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
3
/
5
Storyline
3
/
5
Six weeks earlier, an industrial plant explosion at UNIPLEX released a massive chemical cloud that covered the town of Livingston affecting the residents with multiple symptoms. Three weeks earlier, you,Rebecca Saunders, and your husband, Stan, and daughter, Emily, were driving on the highway and decided to stop in Livingston. Someone suddenly appears in front of the car causing the car to swerve and crash and you were injured and rendered unconscious. While there, the illnesses became worse and CDC guidelines for a contagious virus was instituted requiring the town to be evacuated. Because of your condition, you were left in the hospital with a skeleton crew while your husband and daughter were to be evacuated. Now, 10 days later, you wake up to an abandoned hospital with the doors locked and some kind of creature outside. Your husband and daughter are no where to be found and you need to find a way out of the hospital so you can look for them. After exiting the hospital, you find the town in shambles and abandoned except for those creatures that apparently were human at one time. You find evidence that UNIPLEX had a contract with NASA to bring infected aliens to their complex to examine and the green chemical cloud apparently infected the residents turning them into zombies. An emergency self destruct at UNIPLEX was not activated when the situation became critical and now you need to find and activate it and escape with your daughter. Your husband became infected but is still able to help you and knows he will not be able to leave.
There is no actual journal. The panel at the bottom of the screen has two parts that you toggle between for the inventory and a documents collection panel. The document panel is used to store various notes, pages, articles and documents you find that give events and background but serve no other purpose. There is also a task list which also stores the video cutscenes that can be replayed. You also find drawings and four personal articles that beloned to Emily that trigger cutscenes. the personal articles are needed at the end to convince Emily to go with you. The inventory panel scrolls up and down instead of sideways as most do. There is also health meter that tracks your level of health as some objects can't be interacted with unless you have a specific level of health. You find health packs scattered in various locations to boost your health meter. Hidden object scenes are the standard interactive list type. The map is an overhead view with your current location marked but nothing else. It is not a jump map and was virtually useless to me.
The game begins with a big warning that it is not for the faint of heart but I never saw anything that warranted it. Not the best game out there but if you like zombies and failed corporate security plots, give this one a try.
I recommend this game!
When a young woman is found comatose by the side of the road with a bloody knife beside her, it’s up to you to unravel her story!
Overall rating
5
/
5
2 of 2 found this review helpful
If you could virtually enter a person's mind, how would their thoughts and memories be displayed?
PostedFebruary 17, 2016
hermitcave
fromGig Harbor, Wa
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Hidden Object, Adventure, Mahjong, Card & Board
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
5
/
5
A young woman found lying in the forest, unconscious, with a bloody knife near her and no apparent knife wounds or any other physical injuries, is taken to the hospital emergency where they are unable to wake her and she is getting weaker. Is she a victim or a criminal? Having no identification, she is listed as a "Jane Doe" and something has to be done before she gets any worse. You, a psychic, have been called to enter the woman's mind and determine what psychological traumas she may have suffered and to help her deal with them in the hope of bringing her out of her coma. Upon entering her mind, you find her psyche at the gate to the Town of Jane Doe and she is burning up from fever. You know that once you learn her real name and are able to enter deeper into her subconscious, you will find those deep, dark secrets locked away and hopefully be able to help her deal with them before her condition worsens. You must work through a series of symptoms affecting her body as you probe deeper so you maintain contact with the hospital staff through a TV monitor that allows you to get updates on her condition. Your progress is hindered by a strange woman dressed in black that Jane refers to as 'Noise" and she seems to be causing these symptoms to occur. The key to Jane's real name and her recovery is tied to finding out who she is and what happened to bring her here. Is "Noise" a different version of Jane, an alter-ego? And, if so, why has she turned against Jane instead of dominating and protecting her? Only reaching her darkest, locked memories will provide the answer.
I enjoyed playing this game as it was not presented in the usual way when someone has lost their memory. The entering of the a person's mind to explore and uncover the "who, what, where, when and how" is not a very common avenue in games, and even though this was presented as a house of many rooms [often used to represent the mind], it was well done and kept your interest to the end. Multiple philosophical quotes about the mind are presented by the narrator beginning with this first quote that kind of sums up the game,
"A town, it's always a town. A person's mind is an abstract thing. So the psychic must imagine consciousness as a town, squalid or clean, healthy or ill, sometimes crowded, sometimes desolate. This girl's town is all back alleys and hidden rooms, it's ill and full of secrets. The psychic must uncover every secret, including the most obvious, the girl's name. Until then, this town must be called Jane Doe."
The journal is presented as Jane's medical chart on which are plotted her various symptoms and stores the some of the videos that can be replayed. There is an interactive map with action areas indicated and the usual hint button. Graphics were representative of the various scenes and nicely done. Live actors with very good voice acting rounded out the experience. Music was fitting to the many scene changes encountered. Hidden object scenes, inventory puzzles, and minigames are standard but well done. There are 16 achievements to be had as well as 328 "aura flowers" to be collected throughout the game, 255 in main game and 73 in bonus chapter. The ranged from singles requiring you to look closely to clumps which were easily spotted. The flowers can be used to buy furniture to outfit your office.
The ending of the main game was interestingly done in how "Noise" was dealt with and furnishing the "why" of the story. The bonus chapter was only related to the main game in that Jane Doe [real name Elizabeth Green but called Liza] goes to work in your office and everything was fine until she started having a recurring dream of a uniformed man sailing away on a ship in a thick dark fog replaced by a meanacing shadow. She asks you to enter har mind again and find out who he is and you actually explore to find three memories that leads to the answer.
This one is worth checking out if you are looking for something a little different as to a story and how it is presented.
I recommend this game!
Once again black powers have seized the kingdom of Orion. The entire city is gripped by fear and it's up to you to save them, and yourself!
Overall rating
4
/
5
Will the Kingdom of Orion survive a fourth assault by "the witch" and what is she after this time?
PostedFebruary 11, 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
3
/
5
You have been having dreams about a witch conjuring using a magic sphere that shows a medieval village that she has sent her servants to capture. Oh no, it is happening again! You are suddenly seized by an unknown power and now, find yourself standing on top of a hill just outside the village from your dream. The apparition of a very old, bearded man appears and tell you he is a powerful wizard whose body has been trapped but his spirit is free and is why you see him. He tells you "the witch" has attacked the Orion Kingdom looking for something and that he needs your help to defeat her. He offers you the use of his magical staff to use as a weapon against her but its power has been crippled as the ten gems that provide its power have been removed and scattered throughout the kingdom. You will need to find them before you can use the staff against "the witch." He then disappears leaving behind the staff. As you have no way to return to your time without defeating the witch, you pick up the staff and head for the village. Nearing the gate to the village, the witch is determined to prevent you from helping the kingdom by animating or changing various objects and animals into monsters to block your progress. Only finding and using special magical powders on them will remove the enchantments. As you explore further into the village, you find origami shapes that open to reveal children's drawings with cryptic sayings that provide some of the background information. You also find a few characters that are trapped by "the witch" who were members of a secret royal society that was formed to try and defeat "the witch" and to protect a special book of magic spells that was locked away. That is why the witch is attacking the kingdom. Defeating the monsters and saving the trapped characters gives you the gems so you can battle "the witch" and prevent her from getting the book.
In the first episode, you found yourself in the middle ages at the castle of Orion which has been cursed by a witch turning the inhabitants to stone, in the second episode, you wind up in a neglected chapel in the Kingdom of Orion where the people have been turned into shadows and in the third episode you are in the castle of Orion again with parts of the castle and its inhabitants scattered in different time eras. All three episodes presented a fairly well defined story but this, the fourth episode, was presented with only the barest referral to the other episodes by the mention of the Kingdom of Orion and a witch protagonist. Not that the storyline was that strong to begin with, I felt that the writers had given up on fleshing out the details and only provided the basic thread that wove them together. Where the story was lacking, it made up for it with a lot of inventory item puzzles, minigames and hidden object scenes that were presented multiple times. Graphics were well done with nicely crafted cutscenes and competent voice acting and music although, if you have played any of the previous episodes, you will have heard the music before. The hint button remains the talking mirror from previous episodes and helps keep you on track even though it is a fairly linear game with no map and a fair amount of backtracking. Inventory is maintained at the top of the screen which was a little awkward as most games keep the inventory at the bottom so you are constantly going there before realizing it is at the top. Minigames have both a skip and a restart button which is nice. Hidden object scenes were basically two types, the usual interactive object list both find the object and return the object and some fragmented objects to construct. A final object to be found is added to your inventory. Chock-ful of active areas to explore, puzzles to solve and hidden objects to find, this one will fill a few hours of your time.
I recommend this game!
Rescue your canine companion, and solve the mystery of Houndspoint!
Overall rating
4
/
5
1 of 1 found this review helpful
How a dog's heart changed my life by Ashton Dean, Ruler of Dogs
PostedFebruary 4, 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
Houndspoint was founded many years ago by Martin and Jennifer who were seeking shelter while fleeing from needless persecution when their dog led them to this location in the mountains. They established their community to honor dogs and have enjoyed their companionship. Tragedy struck the community when the son, Ashton, of the local doctor, Roger Dean, was severely injured in an accident and apparently died causing the doctor to become a recluse. Additionally, recent incidences and at least one death that involved savage dog-like beasts have occurred putting the community on edge. Pet dogs have been carried off by these beasts never to be seen again. A local farmer, Terry Sherman, who was about to be married was forced off a cliff by these beasts and the local authorities have no leads. As a Doctor of Cynology, you have studied animal behavior for years and don't understand what has caused these dogs to become so aggressive. You and your two children have a pet named Pippa that decides to go outside to where the kids are playing when these aggressive dogs attack scaring the children and carrying off Pippa. You noted during the attack that they were wearing strange collars and, now that you are personnally involved, you decide you must find out who or what is controlling these beasts. As you look for clues, you learn that Ashton didn't die but was saved by his father who transplanted the heart of his pet dog, Duke, into him. You also discover that Lily Stamford, the woman about to marry Terry Sherman killed by the beasts, was at one time Ashton's girlfriend but she broke it off. Ashton's mother tells you that ever since the operation he has changed both physically and mentally becoming a monster and has kidnapped Lily. You have to find Ashton and save Lily and the pets his beasts have taken.
Graphics are sharp and clear animated cartoon type with stiff, puppet-like human character models but the animal character models were well done. Nicely done cutscenes, music, and voice acting from the occasional interaction with town residents keeps moving the story along as does papers and articles added to your journal providing the background story. You visit a lot of locations and will see items that you know will be needed somewhere later but you can't interact with them yet so it helps to keep some notes of where they are and the locations of where inventory puzzles needing items are as there is a fair amount of backtracking. When you reach a point where you are not sure what to do next, there is probably a hidden object scene somewhere as they are used several times. There is a jump map which helps a lot but it is inside the journal so you have to open it everytime you want to use the map. Minigames and inventory puzzles are the standard type seen in most of these games so nothing really new. Hidden object scenes are the usual list with some interactive objects and fairly easy. I did note some trouble finding the right place to click on some objects both in and out of the hidden object scenes before the object was recognized.
The bonus chapter was a story of how Ashton became the monster and, while the basic story was easy to follow, I found it hard to understand how the old man fit into the picture other than to be the mechanism by which Ashton acquires the horn and collar. He was the last member of an ancient alien civilization that had been waiting a long time for a man with a dog's heart to come and create a new world and he gives Ashton the horn to control animals and instructions on how to create the collars. Was the human race to be replaced by these dogs? Was the old man evil?
Years ago, I played a game that was from a cockroach's perspective and it was one of the best I had played in a while and I kind of hoped it was like that when I first saw the title, but it was not. I found it more of the Frankenstein-like plot where the dog heart causes physical and mental changes in the recipient causing him to become a monster and acquiring super vision, smell and strength. If you are looking for a game about cutesy dogs and such, this is not it, but for a few hours of fairly decent sleuthing, give it a try.
I recommend this game!
After your student goes missing alongside several other children, it is up to you to solve the mystery of Everlake.
Overall rating
4
/
5
2 of 2 found this review helpful
The fate of four missing children relies on the sleuthing abilities of a piano teacher?
PostedFebruary 3, 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
You are the piano teacher in the quiet, picturesque town of Everlake and you are on your way to give a lesson at your studio when you realize you have forgotten the sheet music and had to go back to get it and now you are stuck at a railroad crossing and will be late for the lesson. You have never been late before so the student, Amber, decides to wait for you in the playground next to your studio and, as she is playing with her doll, a sinister looking man in a mask grabs her and carrys her off. You find a mysterious note on your studio door from a one-eyed man. Not sleeping well and feeling guilty that you were the cause of Amber's abduction because you were late for her lesson, you have dozed off in the local diner where you have a dream in which Amber tells you that you are the reason she is missing and you need to do something about it. Waking up, you notice the local detective assigned to the case leave the diner and a one-eyed man behind the counter. You show him the note you found on your door and he gives you an envelope that a mysterious man left with him to give to you. Inside the envelope you find a picture of an old mirror with missing gems around the frame and Amber's picture with a scribbled note - "Their Salvation Or Their Ruin." The detective's notebook was left behind when he left and you see there has been four children gone missing recently with Amber being the latest and there has been no progress and that the playground has not even been searched for clues. You decide you must find Amber and the other children so you begin your investigation during which you uncover information about the mirror in the picture and how one of the town's benefactors, Henry Mason, came to possess it. Known as the Mirror of Desire, it is said to contain the souls of the Gemini Twins Castor and Pollux who reside in the mirror in a state of balance controlled by five blue sapphires said to give life to inanimate objects and five red rubies that entraps life and shapes it to their will changing living things into eternal slaves. The balance changes when a wish is granted by a blue gem removing it from the mirror giving more power to the mirror over the mirror's owner. When Henry Mason's daughter died and his wife left him, he became a recluse and the mirror took control so now you have to balance the mirror, defeat him, and save the children.
A somewhat difficult plot to follow especially if you don't read every journal entry which contains the story, objectives, both current and completed, and a counter for 55 masks that can be found in the game. Unless you buy the Collector's edition, you will only find 42 masks as the rest are in the bonus chapter. Each scene with a mask will cause the mask symbol in the lower right corner of the screen to turn green until the mask has been found so you know which scenes with masks you have missed. The basic background story about Henry mason's tragedies is presented in a series of puppet show puzzles where you have to insert various objects to complete a scene. I am still unsure exactly what Henry Mason was trying to do with "the perfect show" unless it was the mirror's twisted way of controlling him and bending his desire to provide a theater production for the town using puppets by abducting and using children instead. The graphics and well done with some live acting and very good voice acting. Amber's voice and mannerisms are very annoying but she is also annoyed at being abducted and blames you for being late. Music is repetitive but not overbearing. There is no map which is not much of a problem as most backtracking is within a few locations and new areas only open up after specific puzzles are solved. You will find the usual inventory puzzles and minigames none of which are overly difficult, however, the instructions for the minigames left something to be desired. They were drawings supposedly showing what was expected to solve the minigame but many were vague and hard to decipher. The hidden object scenes are the familiar list with some interactive objects where some are hard to see, partially hidden and not completely drawn. Scenes are used multiple times. The ending was satisfying with the expected outcome but the game did seem to have a moral - too many desires granted, you risk losing more than you gained. With 42 interesting locations to visit and a lot to do, this one is worth a few hours of time.
I recommend this game!