Alenee's Profile
Stat Summary
- Average Rating:3.3
- Helpful Votes:302
- Reviews Submitted:64
- First Review:October 14, 2015
- Most Recent Review:January 4, 2020
- Featured reviews0
Status:
Can you save your uncle before it's too late?
Overall rating
5
/
5
10 of 10 found this review helpful
Stylish and fun adventure through the surreal
PostedJuly 23, 2017
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
4
/
5
I really can't fault this game at all, I'm happy to say. It had everything I wanted but didn't realize that I wanted until I played it: the visuals were beautiful, the backstory was engaging and everything had just that little bit of a unique twist that you rarely see in games, these days.
The game is almost like a little masterpiece, with every detail meticulously drawn or painted and brought to life. The soundtrack is ambient and original, perfectly tuned for each scene. It reminded me of the older Artifex Mundi games in that sense.
The minigames were all what we've played before BUT the devs clearly went out of their way to put a new twist on all of them. Kudos to them for delivering such a treat!
Nearly forgot to add that it's also a very decent length!
I recommend this game!
It's up to you and your canine companion to save the city!
Overall rating
2
/
5
6 of 6 found this review helpful
They're running before they can walk
PostedJuly 13, 2017
Fun Factor
2
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
3
/
5
Storyline
2
/
5
Other reviewers have described this as a fantasy game and it certainly starts that way, with the main character being transported to a magic realm on a quest to save all of existence (etc).
That was fun and well-executed but the gameplay has been steadily deteriorating ever since... and I'm not just talking about the storyline (that has had zero developments since the introduction), I'm also talking about the mechanics of the game. They seem to be falling apart before my very eyes.
This is the second game I've bought in a short time from 4Friends that had a good premise, but was ruined by glitches that made it seriously un-fun to play. The same issues are present here as in their recent Oz game: there is a lag whenever I click on anything; the screen freezes during the transition between areas; many times I have had to click the same object 2-3 times before anything happens at all, and the minigames are in many cases unplayable because the necessary buttons aren't there, or don't work. Added to which, the 'helpful' comments suddenly vanished about 2.5 hours into the game. At present, there is just a blank space where that text should be whenever I click on a new area. It's almost as if the devs forgot to put any text in because they were in such a rush to get the game out. A pretty glaring oversight if you ask me...!!
My overall impression of 4Friends is that they're attempting to run before they can walk, packing far too many fancy features into the game that they don't know how to handle. They may be better off mastering the basics - technically and creatively - before attempting an extravaganza.
I don't recommend this game.
He can’t be stopped. And he’s digging your grave!
Overall rating
5
/
5
2 of 2 found this review helpful
Why can't all spooky games be like this?
PostedJuly 13, 2017
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
5
/
5
I think my rating says it all, since I'm anything but an 'all 5-stars' kind of reviewer. Bonfire Stories is a great game from what seems to be a small / new developer. It mixes lifelike scenery and characters with a typical urban legend style tale that actually kept me wanting to learn more about it, despite the cheesy beginning. Stick with this game if you love linear gameplay, gripping storytelling, smooth controls and lots of wandering around in the dark.
The ending was too sudden and left too big of a cliffhanger for my tastes. Guess that means there will either be a sequel or a CE at some point. But at the end of the day, I still paid for this and would have liked a better indication as to how things wrapped up. That's a small complaint, but it doesn't change the fact that I enjoyed every hour spent on this medium-length game.
If you're a fan of campfire tales, try this game... but don't expect the flames to keep your shivers at bay for long.
I recommend this game!
Can you stop a mystical murderer in time?
Overall rating
2
/
5
8 of 11 found this review helpful
Mega Tacky
PostedApril 19, 2017
Fun Factor
2
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
2
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Having attempted to play the demo, I have to say I'm flabbergasted by how much positive feedback this title has received. It's not scary, or gory, or creepy, or haunting, or realistic... and the quality is substandard even for GrandMA, let alone any of the other, more experienced developers. I can barely even finish the demo and yet I feel duty bound to, due to the amount of praise that reviewers have heaped upon this game.
Rhyme and reason are thin on the ground here: a murder victim wears a bracelet holding a gem that fell out of a dreamcatcher hanging by the entrace of a nearby houseboat. You recover that gem and use it to enter her houseboat and chase her, yet somehow, she managed to get into the houseboat before you even without said gem (added to which, she neglected to remove said dreamcatcher, which would have prevented you entering altogether. Duh).
You also halt mid pursuit in chasing her, to read a letter. That happens just after you are halted by a cloud a steam, caused by a few broken valves, and then have to repair them before you can pass through it. Seriously?! Anyone with a decent jacket could have made it past that. All that is par for the course (or should I say 'curse'?) in this game.
There's barely and exposition that makes sense of the backstory (at least at the demo stage); the game play is jerky and the colour pallets & artwork look pretty cheap. Any of the other big devs can beat this game for aesthetics, and that makes it hard to fathom why people are raving about the quality.
Having said all that, the rave reviews have to count for something! Clearly, this new series by GrandMA has its fans so I'd say "try it"... but, be warned: this is a 'love it or hate it' kinda game!
An unexpected invitation sends you to research mythical standing stones in Brittany.
Overall rating
2
/
5
7 of 11 found this review helpful
Huh? I really don't get what's great about this.
PostedApril 3, 2017
Fun Factor
2
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
2
/
5
Level of Challenge
2
/
5
*Based on demo*
I downloaded the trial of this on the strength of the many 5 star reviews but already, I fail to see *any* sign of the qualities everyone else has praised. The characters look like late 1990s style Sims, the scenery is dark and two-tone (blue and purple, yay). The soundtrack is hokey, the vocals sound like they were recorded by Bronx natives in a public restroom (esp. jarring, since it's supposedly set in France) and the gameplay inches along.
Like many games that I give bad reviews to, I found there were far too many irrelevant 'find this piece and use it to open that door that gives you another piece to use on the mosaic...' quests to sidetrack you from the storyline. As a result I have no comment on the story quality, since it barely gets anywhere during the demo. Maybe it gets better later but since I can't stand all the stuff the other reviewers adored about this game, I sincerely doubt that will happen.
If you like realistic, up to date games by devs that pay attention to detail; and if you like engaging stories crafted with a genuinely unique creative style, then you should give this a miss. It will save you a gigabyte of unnecessary downloading.
I don't recommend this game.
Save Dracula from the unspeakable horror of pesky relatives in this thrilling new adventure!
Overall rating
3
/
5
9 of 10 found this review helpful
Cute and fun, yes, but...
PostedMarch 8, 2017
Fun Factor
3
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
3
/
5
Storyline
4
/
5
...I found this too difficult, like some of the others. The timelines are excruciatingly tight once you're past about level 10, and there's seemingly no rhyme or reason to how you can ensure you play the game fast enough to win. I've played a couple of the classics - several Royal Envoys and Timebuilders: Pyramids rising series. Neither of these were easy, but if you could not get everything done in gold time and tried a different tack on your next turn, you'd see a noticeable improvement in your game time. This is where Incredible Dracula fails. You put your all in time after time and win, at best, a couple of seconds on the timer. There's no noticeable improvement, no matter what you do.
It was not well thought through by the devs, who, in their eagerness to create a challenge have created a spirit-crushing game. I also find their reliance on speed/building bonuses to be a cop-out, since these can never be a substitute for a well-laid-out game.
At the very least, some built-in speed tips for getting through the levels should have been included on the SE AND the CE. For a game this tough, not having an online or in-built walk-through makes one feel kind of ripped off. Without that there's no chance I'll be finishing it all in gold time, which is something I managed to achieve on all the other TM games I've played (even if it took a long time).
I only recommend it if you're extremely competitive and don't want a relaxing game, or any help at all. Otherwise I'm afraid it's 'do not recommend'.
Cute storyline, though, for what it's worth.
I don't recommend this game.
Pinecreek Hills just keeps getting better. Help Rangers protect Animals and Visitors, maintain and clean up the Park, spot Wildlife.
Overall rating
3
/
5
6 of 7 found this review helpful
Good, but minigames brought the score down
PostedFebruary 17, 2017
Fun Factor
3
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
4
/
5
This is now the 4th game from this maker that I've played or demo'ed, and I like that there are one or two minor developments, like the addition of moving details in the scenery and slightly more challenging HOs. But introducing a couple of minor changes are not really enough, in my opinion, when there is so much room for improvement.
If I was grading this based on the HO aspect alone, I'd give it 4 stars (but not 5, mainly because the game feels a bit shorter than it should be, and the people in the scenes look like mannequins, weird glassy eyes and all).
Also, I see that the devs are still insisting on putting in those infuriating minigames between every 2-3 HO scenes. These games stay nearly identical from edition to edition: jigsaws to be reassembled, maps made of tiles you need to spin into place. I HATE them, and I resent waiting 2-3 minutes to skip them when the game I've paid for is supposed to be an HO. I've seen other reviewers complain about these games and yet the devs seem to be blissfully ignoring their advice to take them out or shorten the skip time.
Why not create an alternative game button (match 3, something else, or anything else at all) so that the player isn't forced to do the same task over and over again? Or why not shorten the time till you can skip them? That would be a big improvement, and it would make the difference between a 3 and 4 star rating... at least for me it would!
I recommend this game!
Team up with experts to uncover a lost underwater civilization!
Overall rating
2
/
5
13 of 16 found this review helpful
Two and a half stars, despite the great scenery
PostedFebruary 7, 2017
Fun Factor
2
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
1
/
5
Storyline
2
/
5
I'm almost finished this game but I am just about to give up on it. I keep on forgetting what's going on. The pace is dripping along like some sort of ancient Mayan relic pulled from the Great Blue Hole!!
Why? Most of the tasks are trivial, but fiddly and unnecessarily complicated. Turning sprinklers on and off... fetching boxes... who thought THAT would be exciting in an adventure game? Seriously??
To be honest most of these tasks are just distracting. Added to which, there have been too many technical quests for me; for instance, assembling highly complex submersive equipment. While clearly very well-researched, these tasks were very poorly explained. I did not feel involved in them, or in 90% of the other tasks in the game.
Oh and to top it all off, there's a minigame where you have to change all the tiles to a single colour by changing the colours of adjacent tiles. The info given was useless to the second part of the game, in which the tiles did not light up properly even when the adjacent tiles were the right colour. Similarly, other tiles which weren't supposed to light up, did light up. I dunno if it was a glitch but I doubt it. To me it seemed like Eipix was just trying to be too clever by upping the stakes and changing the rules, without explaining how to win.
Overall this game has felt like a novel with a bunch of unrelated puzzles to do on the side... which is not ideal (who does a crossword and reads a book at the same time, after all?)
Overall this game has felt like a novel with a bunch of unrelated puzzles to do on the side... which is not ideal (who does a crossword and reads a book at the same time, after all?)
Also, I miss the Eipix humour. Please, please don't do games with no humour in them, Eipix! It's the main reason I play your games. The 'riot' at the beginning (which was so not a riot, not even close) could have been a good spot for some silly moments or excitement to occur, but even it was boring.
So those are my complaints. Sorry, I wish I could comment on the story but it was so thinly fleshed out that I cannot. This was a wasted opportunity to do something different.
I don't recommend this game.
Your long-lost relatives are excited to welcome you to the family... or are they?
Overall rating
5
/
5
1 of 2 found this review helpful
Weird in all the right ways!
PostedJanuary 23, 2017
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
4
/
5
I'm just about halfway through this game, and I'm really enjoying it. There's just the perfect balance of creepiness, mystery, surrealism and murder to make this a perfect dark game for anyone in a dark-game kind of mood... But at the same time, it never leans too heavily on any one genre.
As I'm going through the game, the various tangents are coming together into a weird but playful tale. And amazingly, it has managed to avoid being depressing, despite the heavy themes... maybe that's because it has a vaguely Alice-in-wonderland ambiance as well?
I won't even attempt to describe the abstract story - it's hard to do that without ruining it - but let's just say that many have attempted the same type of thing before and failed. Thankfully, Eipix seems to have mastered the art of keeping us in suspense and they've resisted all temptations to be predictable in Behind the Mask.
Eipix seems to be going through a bit of a revival ATM; this is the second game of theirs that's grabbed my attention and held it, in the past few weeks. The level of challenge stays at the right place all the way through, and there are plenty of small twists added to the mini games and HO scenes to keep the player engaged in them. I especially liked the game that involved moving all kinds of numbers and symbols into the right places on a board. It needed strategy and patience, but was engaging and set an easy pace.
If you're a fan of the dark genres AND want a bit of fun, then try this game!
I recommend this game!
Can you save your boyfriend before it's too late?
Overall rating
4
/
5
8 of 9 found this review helpful
Short but sweet
PostedJanuary 17, 2017
Fun Factor
4
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
3
/
5
Storyline
4
/
5
Maybe I'm just a sucker for beautiful scenery, but I found this game to be very pretty and escapist, despite the somewhat fractured storyline. The main weakness is that the storyline wasn't a single thread, but rather three separate tales that are wrapped up by the main character's quest to save her boyfriend, and I prefer a single trajectory to my plots.
Yet I was taken by all the beautiful locations in the game - they really added life and immediacy to the tale, and that was an achievement. I really feel the artwork helped flesh out the story and elevated it above the same old, same old. Sure, it was short and a wee bit derivative, but it was also very sweet!
I recommend this game!