Mystery Legends: The Phantom of the Opera Collector’s Edition Review
I remember years ago I saw the musical version of The Phantom of the Opera with my beautiful sister. It began with a huge chandelier swooping over the audience’s heads and crashing loudly onto the stage. It was some opening. Mac hidden object/seek and find game
Mystery Legends: The Phantom of the Opera Collector’s Edition is not as head spinning but it gradually sets the stage for a dramatic and sometimes shocking story.
Evelina the daughter of a retired stage actress is trapped in the once grand but disheveled abandoned opera house and held against her will by a mad man who thinks she destroyed his love for her by running away with another man. In reality she is the image of her mother and
her father is the other man. You find yourself in the lobby of this once majestic and magnificent theater. You have objectives and tasks to complete while playing hidden object games. You search for areas to zoom in on and for HOGs. You’ll see sparkling stars where you need to investigate further. The HOGs will have the list of items at the bottom of the screen. You search mostly dreary, dark spaces for 12
objects. Once you click on a found item, it will be crossed out. If you need help, you can click on the mirror on the lower left. It will crack and slowly restores itself. The journal and the map can also be helpful. You will also hear the voices of the phantom and Evelina assisting you and written messages across the top. If you click too many times on wrong objects, the screen will crack abruptly. If you get stuck or do not know what to do, you may need to go back and search areas you have been before. In some instances there will be more interactive puzzles or HOGs to discover. Sometimes you will be back at a scene you already have completed but must look for more items. The Phantom wants you to find the black rose. Keep looking.
Even though you are stuck in the theater, there are many locations to search from the ballroom to the caretaker’s cottage outside in the
snow. The objects you search for can be ordinary to something you may need later. The mini puzzles can be skipped after a while
but stick with it and you’ll be able to figure it out.
I think Mystery Legends: The Phantom of the Opera is well done with exquisite artwork. The colors help create the mood and the era of this
story. The music also helped create the eerie atmosphere of the opera house, but I kept waiting for the Andrew Lloyd Webber’s soundtrack from the musical that is so ingrained in everyone’s heads. The game is not that difficult, but may not be appropriate for young children. It is not shockingly scary, but puppets hanging in the ballroom are a bit creepy. So try it out and listen to the music of the night.
Features of Mystery Legends: The Phantom of the Opera Collector’s Edition:
-Dramatic Story
-Many Scenes In and Around the Opera House
-Many Objectives and Tasks to Fulfill
Rating: 




A Gypsy’s Tale: The Tower of Secrets Review
This time this Hidden Object Adventure begins with eerie music (appropriate for the story) and a ghost trying to kill you. Whew! You make it through and now you are asked by a monk to save a girl in a tower. This is the start of your wanderings through an enchanted land full of ghosts, gnomes, fairies and humans. You are Reylin of Winderalth a gypsy minding her own business until this happened.
A Gypsy’s Tale: The Tower of Secrets is not your standard adventure full of hidden object games with sparkles and a list of items to search. No, this one has hidden objects to search when you click on an item and a wheel with other things pop up. You must search for, say, a cardinal, click on it and take it back to the wheel to place it. After finding all the bubble items, you get the main item in the center. It may have nothing to do with a bird but you may need this main item later
on. There are other places where you can zoom in when your cursor changes into a magnifying glass to either collect hidden items or solve a puzzle. You’ll have many varied puzzles to solve from jigsaws, match, untangle the lines and slide puzzles.
There are many different (beautifully drawn) environments to explore and search from mystical forests full of fairies and gnomes to a high tech tree house. In most areas there will be crystals to collect. Some places will have 0 crystals but at the upper left side of the screen, it will let you know exactly how many are in that scene and how many you have collected. When you collect all the crystals in 1 location, you will get a piece of the map for you to use. This map is extremely helpful since it will let you jump to different places directly avoiding having to retrace your steps. Eventually you will be using these crystals as money to buy different things from the store (once you find the shop).
Even though there is only 1 mode of play, the hint and skip (for puzzles) buttons are fast charging, and you will not have to wait long to use it again. Most of the time the hint is explicit, but there are other times when it will only make obvious observations like the monk is creepy. Let’s hope he’s not the same monk you are helping.
There are many things to do in this game and most of the puzzles are easy to do. It may not be much of a challenge for some of you who are really good at this type of game, but for the rest of us, it is a fun game to conquer. For traditional HOG fans this may not meet your needs, but you are still searching for hidden items in a different format with the same types of puzzles to solve.
The only problem I faced with this game is when I was in the garden and trying to plant the seeds, nothing happened even though I could see the pile of seeds but
couldn’t click on it. I restarted the game and even though I had to start the garden sequence again, it worked the second time. I found the music good but some parts didn’t seem appropriate for the scene (the tree house for one). The wheel search also seemed at times disconnected. When you figure out how to get a key down from high on the wall, you cannot collect the key immediately. The wheel opens and you have to find 3 different kinds of flowers before you can click on the key. In Treasure Seekers the wheel opens and you look for parts of the piece you need. That game made more sense to me.
Other than those minor quirks, the game is good, the story interesting and the search fun. I recommend casual gamers try this game. I give it a 3.5 out of 5 for an entertaining time.
Features of A Gypsy’s Tale: The Tower of Secrets:
-30 Different Environments
-Interesting Tale
-Puzzles and Hidden Objects
Rating: 




Paranormal Crime Investigations: Brotherhood of the Crescent Snake Collector’s Edition Review
A string of murders in the French Quarters in New Orleans, Louisiana does not sound very original since it’s been done before and it’s a mysterious place with many unusual stories, but throw in the death of the son of the palm reader who believes there’s more to it than what meets the eye, sightings of the paranormal kind and a weird cult trying to revive the Crescent Snake and you have a set up for an exciting Mac Hidden Object Adventure game.
Calvin Laveaux, student at Steinbeck University, is one of the many victims of a mysterious murder. He has a strange, glowing tattoo that may lead to some answers and possibly the killer or killers. His mother is convinced, and for good reason, there is dark magic behind his demise and she wants you to help investigate this case. You play as a Paranormal Crime Investigator brought in by the New Orleans police to help solve the case.
You search the streets of this famous town and when your cursor changes to a hand, you can interact with the object. If something glows or has a question mark on it, you can place it in the PCI, a case at the lower right of the screen, to analyze the item. Doing so you’ll come across a puzzle or mini game to solve like clicking on the correct color atom to fill vials to your left or match 2 identical objects. This case will also have information for you. The mini games are familiar and not difficult to complete, however, the hidden object games will take time to figure out where some of the items are placed due to size or partial hidden parts. The hint button is very useful in this game and it does recharge quickly. The items you need to find are listed at the bottom of the screen and the objects written in green will need some interaction before you can click on it. With the Collector’s Edition there is an in-game strategy guide to help you if you need it.
Your search will be hampered by a ghost-like figure that will place obstacles in your path and threaten you. Luckily, this will involve a puzzle to solve. You can
skip the mini game if you choose after waiting only a short time, but I suggest you try them because most are easily solvable. Unfortunately this game is fairly short even with the bonus chapter. Depending on your expertise you can finish this game in a matter of hours with another hour for the extra bonus.
This is the first game that I’ve come across that asks you to keep the sound on during the game. There is no voice acting but the music is good. The artwork is fantastic with the wraithlike characters, voodoo items and quirky characters. There’s a lot of HOGs for fans of that type of play. I liked Paranormal Crime Investigations: Brotherhood of the Crescent Snake Collector’s Edition and gave it a 3.5 out of 5. However, can someone tell developers to shorten their titles?
Features of Paranormal Crime Investigations: Brotherhood of the Crescent Snake Collector’s Edition:
-Eerie Tale of the Supernatural
-Hidden Object and Mini Games
-Good Artwork and Music
-Collector’s Edition: Wallpaper, Sound Track, Bonus Chapter, Strategy Guide
Rating: 



The Conjurer Review

Nothing is as it seems in Mac hidden object game The Conjurer. The great Conjurer, the greatest magician in the world, has suffered 3 serious accidents during his magic acts. Why? This amazing performer will be retiring and has invited several worthy magicians to his spacious medieval castle to demonstrate their greatest skill, cunning and artistry. The Conjurer is willing to give the winner of this competition access to the Hall of Secrets. With this knowledge, they too will become the world’s greatest magician.
You find in the course of the play that the great Conjurer is suspicious of all his invited guests. For each visiting magician there are several locations you must search for clues and objects. The hidden object play is similar to other games, but there is one exception. There is a
stage to search and find different items, then you must set up the magician’s props and finally the magician will perform their magic act. This is an interesting and different part of the usual hidden object plays. Other locations may be the bedroom, bathroom or any other room they may have entered in the castle. If you cannot find the object listed, you can click on the crystal ball for assistance. There are unlimited hints through the use of the ball, but you may have to wait a few moments after you click on it. For each magician there is 1 super hint to use where it will give you the exact location of an object.
The tale of the Conjurer is complex with the involvement of Adelaide a love interest for more than 1 magician. In addition, the “accidents”
may have been planned to injure and get rid of the master. He also keeps a journal written in invisible ink to help you in your search for clues. Are the intentions of the Conjurer as it seems or does he have other motives?
This game is intense with a Victorian feel with appropriate outfits and items throughout the castle. Not only did I like the hidden object play, I also enjoyed the incredible magic acts of each magician.
Features of The Conjurer:
-Victorian Era
-Amazing Magic
-Ten Master Illusionists
-Nothing is as it seems
Rating: 




Secrets of the Dragon Wheel Review
Mac Hidden Object Adventure game Secrets of the Dragon Wheel is a new game starring Epiphany O’Day (must be a daughter of a movie star with that name), a researcher fired from the University for her outlandish study of the Dragon Wheel. To the upper crust of the academia society, there is no such thing as a Dragon Wheel and
anyone associated with that project is foolish and unworthy of their time.
The unbelievable story of a mysterious wheel, although typical of a lot of these games, is voiced by Epiphany throughout the game. She must prove the existence of this relic to clear her name. She is on a train on her way to see her mentor, Professor Lunn, when someone gets murdered and she sees the murderer. She cannot wait around for the police or the murderer will get away. Of course, this is a suspicious move on her part and the police may suspect her as the murderer. She’ll deal with it later. Throughout her adventure you will be playing as Epiphany and will encounter many hidden object games and other puzzles. The sparkles will direct you to hidden object games where you will need to click on the items listed at the bottom of the screen. The games are all very straightforward except the dark areas of the screen where you cannot make out the object. It is easier to just click on the dark and questionable areas to find the items. The hint button is extremely
helpful with a fast recharging time. After finishing the HOG, you will get 1 or more items to put in your inventory to use later in the game. Be sure to click on these items to place them in your inventory. This is a little annoying but it’s set up like this. The other puzzles will be displayed when your cursor changes to a magnifying glass. The puzzles are your standard connect the lines, take fuses out of a firecracker vending machine, buy train tickets, place the right shaped peg in its proper place and travel through a dark maze to get to the other side.
Epiphany’s mentor is murdered by the same man she saw escaping the train, and now her trail leaves 2 murdered men. Before the professor died he told her to contact Chang at the bazaar for help. Chang turns out to be a strange, little wrinkled man in a birdcage who, after verifying she is who she claims to be, gives her advice and information on how to retrieve the Dragon Wheel before anyone else.
The story is bizarre but works to solve many puzzles and gets clues in order to solve the mystery of the Dragon Wheel. The game is solid with good artwork and sound effects. When you are on the train you hear noises as if you are traveling on a train. I give it a 3 out of 5 for a good hidden object adventure game.
Features of Secrets of the Dragon Wheel:
-Unusual, Exotic Tale with Creepy Characters
-Many Hidden Object Games and Puzzles
-Bonus Items
Rating: 

















