NC_gal's Profile
Stat Summary
- Average Rating:4
- Helpful Votes:19
- Reviews Submitted:3
- First Review:June 25, 2020
- Most Recent Review:May 14, 2022
- Featured reviews0
NC_gal's Review History
Restore ancient castles in a fantasy world in this Solitaire adventure!
Overall rating
3
/
5
9 of 12 found this review helpful
Heading downhill, not for me
PostedMay 14, 2022
NC_gal
fromNorth Carolina
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Card & Board, Puzzle
Fun Factor
2
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
3
/
5
Level of Challenge
3
/
5
I have bought an enjoyed almost all of the Jewel Match games, including their Solitaire series. I have to say that things have gone downhill since the release of Jewel Match Solitaire Atlantis 2 CE. I tried this game, but ending up clicking off after half an hour in the trial. For me, Atlantis 2 CE is the best of all of them, so I will stay there happily and not get this one or the one that came out just before it.
I didn't like the floating petals as much as I enjoy watching the swimming fish. I didn't like the castles, which seemed very blah. The Mahjong tiles were the traditional characters, and I like the Atlantis symbol ones much better. When I looked at the Help file, I saw that there were going to be thorns growing and blocking me, and that was when I decided to not go further.
I play these games for relaxation and use Relaxed mode all of the time. I realize others like the challenge of the other modes and might enjoy the challenges presented in this game, but it's not for me.
I don't recommend this game.
This series makes it easier than ever to paint a beautiful picture!
Overall rating
5
/
5
6 of 7 found this review helpful
My go-to series for relaxation and enjoyment
PostedJuly 11, 2020
NC_gal
fromNorth Carolina
Skill Level:Intermediate
Favorite Genre(s):Card & Board, Mahjong, Match 3, Puzzle
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
5
/
5
I bought the Paint by Number games and heard about Pixel Art in one of the comments posted about one of those. I tried Pixel Art 8, as I assumed the earlier games would not be as good, but ended up working my way back through the series and love (and have bought) every one.
I have seen Pixel Art 10-20 already out on other sites, so I hope BFG will bring them out more often. There is also a Modern Art and Modern Art 2 out by the same developer (the sequel to Paint By Numbers 3), but no sign of them here as yet.
I love the experience of this entire series. It's almost magical to see the colors flow from the tip of the cursor. I get as much fun out of the sound effects as from doing the painting itself, especially the bang sound when I fill in a large area by double clicking. I stopped playing all of my other games and am only playing these now, as they put me in such a nice, relaxed space, it's easier to fall asleep when I'm through with my day.
I find this series is much more "painterly" than the Paint By Numbers ones. In the latter, you have to click on each area to get the color to fill in. In this Pixel Art series, you can slide the cursor over the squares and the color flows from one to the next.
I found that I could zoom in and out by using the mouse wheel, so didn't have to use the zoom slider anymore. I also have a Wacom drawing tablet and love the feeling of painting with that instead of using a mouse. I still have to use the mouse to select/activate the colors because the program doesn't recognize all of the Wacom commands consistently, but I really enjoy zoning out with these games.
It would be nice to have a Gallery feature, where I could view my finished pieces after the fact. As for having to play every game in order, I find the mix good, but after one has completed the first 8 images (on the first page), you can select just the ones you want by selecting "choose level" from the menu and just pick the ones you want.
(Only the first 8 games are locked and don't let you go further until you complete them. I think that's because they contain the tutorials, so it would be nice if one could turn off tutorials, but I usually get through the first page fairly fast. I just ignore the "tips" and move on.)
My only complaint (other than BFG being so slow to bring these out) is that the ocean sounds play at lower volume than the other music, so I had to keep turning the music up and down through the Options screen.
I tried playing other music through a separate player on my computer, but that was too hard on the CPU and the fan kept running a lot, so I ended up streaming music in the background through my browser and turned off the music from the game (but left the sounds turned on) and that seemed to work best for me. In other types of games, I always turn the music off, but in these games, the music is a large part of the relaxing effect they offer.
As someone else noted, you can turn off the custom cursor in the Options and you will get a smaller, pointier one if you prefer working with that. In the Paint By Numbers games, it changes to a tiny hand that has its index finger pointing, and I found that easier to work with in those games, but the fat cursor works fine for me in these.
I recommend this game!
It’s never been easier to get into painting! Avoid purchasing expensive painting supplies and making a mess.
Overall rating
4
/
5
4 of 5 found this review helpful
Better than the previous one
PostedJune 25, 2020
NC_gal
fromNorth Carolina
Skill Level:Beginner
Favorite Genre(s):Card & Board, Match 3
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
I am new to this genre and bought Paint by Numbers 2 and 3. I think this one is an improvement on the previous one, but I would like to have it be less like stained glass and more like painting. I also tried Pixel Art 8 by the same developer, which had better color variations and more of a painterly feel, but it was too pixelated to be pretty except for the larger items, which then looked like impressionist art when zoomed out.
It took me a while to figure out how to zoom in on those tiny spaces and what the background color picker did, but once I figured that out, I really started getting into this and enjoyed the relaxing quality. I now am using this with headphones because the music is so soothing, too.
I don't know if it's possible for the developer to provide more colors to choose from or (dare I hope?) to allow ME to choose the colors instead of having so many pieces be the same color, but I would like to have those options if possible.
Overall, I like this game a lot and will probably buy the new ones when they come out. That being said, the versions that are available at Big Fish only have 64 images, and I saw a version of this one on another site that says it has 100 images, like the Pixel Art games do, so that may be why some others have said the game is over too soon.