Hidden Wonders of the Depths 3: Atlantis Adventures Review
The third one is the charm, right? Well, in Hidden Wonders of the Depths 3: Atlantis Adventures it is. Even though it is much like Hidden 
Wonders 1 and 2 in the match 3 play, the timed game is very much a challenge. There are many differences in this latest match 3 version. The colors are more intense and vibrant, more hidden object games and less memory games. The music not as intense as before but it is appropriate to the play. The crab is still its sassy and impatient self, losing none of its funny personality.
The premise of this game is that you can resurrect Atlantis destroyed many centuries ago to its former glory by making matches to earn money, bonuses and upgrades. With the money you earn you can purchase buildings, statues and more to beautify the once grandiose city.
Bonuses will get you fish, coral and other items to enhance the scene.
The match 3 is the main play still in Hidden Wonders of the Depths 3 with playful board designs and related icons. You swap 2 tiles to make a match of 3 or more similar items either vertically or horizontally. In addition you must make matches in front of the crab so he travels to the treasure chest. Also there are colored tiles you must make matches over to destroy before the level can be completed. I got the crab to the chest easily but the level did not end because I had missed one tile in a corner. If you should lose a level, you have 4 more lives in the timed mode and you can get more lives by playing the mini games.
There are fun bonuses and upgrades to help you along on your journey. Some will need a few levels to complete your upgrade tools. You’ll see them on the right side of the screen. The powerups are on the left side. There are many blocks that will need to be cleared with your upgrades to pass barriers. The blocks can be stone, vines and other things to block your passage. The crab himself is a block because you can’t move him to make a match.
Between match levels there are many mini games related to the story. The hidden object scenes will take you to undersea places where you 
will look for items. There is a beautiful mosaic puzzle you must return to its original design. Other games are the blank board with very few objects scattered around and the match by collapsing your objects game.
The rebuilding of Atlantis is a game in itself. You need to make enough money from your match games to buy different beautiful buildings and statues for your city. Remember you can only purchase one building a day. With each improvement you will win a reward like coral. To see your city any time click on the eye icon at the bottom left.
Many of these things are familiar and may be too easy for you, but it’s still fun to do and try out. The main play is very similar to the first 2 games, but the developers listened to your suggestions and improved on many aspects. The artwork is more vibrant and colorful from the first game. I checked it out. The music is slightly different and more calming. If you want a challenge, play it timed to meet your difficulty demands. If you liked the first 2 games, you’ll like this third improved version. Try it out and see what you think.
Features of Hidden Wonders of the Depths 3: Atlantis Adventures:
-Improved Match 3 Levels
-Rebuild Atlantis
-Lots of Mini Games
Rating: 
Mr Jone’s Graveyard Shift Review
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to run and manage a cemetery? In Mr. Jone’s Graveyard Shift you can tackle the answers to your conundrum by sim time management playing in the graveyard. You’ll discover what happens after the sun sets and how to handle those ghostly dilemmas.
Mr. Jone’s Graveyard Shift is a different kind of sim play from Youda Marina or even County Fair. First of all you have a very involved tale of Kranky who retires to an idyllic forested area to spend his final days with his faithful dog. Kranky becomes very cranky and lonely in his little house in the woods and calls his lady friend Mimi. Luck will have it, and she wants him to come down to her tropical paradise, but he needs to bring a few items. Unfortunately, Mimi wants a lot of things that cost plenty of money that Kranky does not have. In order to 
meet her needs Kranky must work to earn money. He stumbles on a scheme to turn his land into a cemetery to make the money, because, let’s face it, he’s old and no one is going to hire him. I guess he’s never heard of age discrimination.
The cemetery play is very similar to your usual sim play where you click on the customer to find out what he/she wants and then you go about preparing the plot to their specifications. In order to keep your supplies handy, you must buy from Mr. Bingo who delivers headstones, fountains, flowers and trees for the gravesite. You have different types of clients with different price ranges, likes and dislikes that you have to satisfy as quickly as possible. You must keep your customers happy in order to increase your reputation so you get more clients and make more money. You do this by providing the types of flowers that the deceased enjoyed while on this earth and decorating the gravesite with the best headstone they can afford.
In addition to all that, you must avoid the scary part of living on cemetery land. You have to sidestep the ghouls, zombies and ghosts who 
frequent the gravesite at night. You can avoid these pitfalls if you go home to bed, but sometimes you have to work the graveyard shift to meet your timelines. What’s even scarier is Mimi when you do not make enough money to purchase all her wants.
I think the tutorial is very good and the play interesting and funny. The character reminds me of the cartoon Courage the Cowardly Dog except the dog has a minor role in this game. It has the same dark, acerbic comical humor especially when the dead body plops into the grave you just dug. This game may not be for everyone because of the theme, but it is a good Mac sim game with many features you must deal with in the scope of the play, and it’s funny on top of it.
Features of Mr. Jone’s Graveyard Shift:
-Build Cemetery Empire
-Battle Ghouls and Zombies
-Collect Crystals
Rating:
Jessica’s Cupcake Cafe Review
The Story: Jessica is home from LA and overhears her Aunt Margaret talking about hers and Uncle Fred’s woes about their failing bakery. Bright-eyed, ever ready Jessica suggests updating the bakery concept and start a cupcake café to bring in the customers and also make a profit. Aunt Margaret is thrilled with the idea since all the buzz is about 
cupcakes (even Martha Stewart devoted a week to cupcake making on her top-rated TV show, and everyone knows Martha can turn a profit). However, Auntie M is astute enough to know that a conversion of the shop will take a lot of work and assistance, so she asks Jessica to lend a hand to get things started.
There will always be a need for your typical neighborhood bakery making breads, birthday cakes and cookies or even the fancy French patisserie with their, oh so decadent, ganache frostings and croissants, but the latest craze in bakeries is the cupcake shops that are everywhere nowadays. My favorite cupcake shop is Magnolia in New York City, and I hear Vanilla in LA is quite good. I’ll have to check it out next time I’m in town. Jessica’s Cupcake Café is an updated sim play like Ice Cream Craze and Mystic Emporium.
The Play: Making cupcakes appears to be a straightforward, easy play or it it? The play is to click on the type of cake your customer wishes to buy (this is shown to you with the number of cupcakes in a bubble next to the client). The highly innovative machine will place the correct amount of batter into the baking sheet, you click on the pan, click on the oven to bake, wait, click on the baked cupcakes, click on the counter, click on the requested frosting, click on the completed tube of frosting, click on the tray of cakes to frost after completion click to pick up the pan, click on the customer and
finally on the cash register to collect the money. These are a lot of steps to maneuver, but once you get into the groove, everything will flow nicely. However, in these plays there are always things that may slow your play down such as a decoration candy piece to top the cupcake. It can be a bear, daisy, heart or sun. The customer may request a special order causing you to throw out a batch of cupcakes or frosting.
However the game will always give you great upgrades to help you increase your speed to beat the level. You may get additional stoves, more icing machines and candy makers. Another added plus is you can design your own cupcakes to sell to your clients. Don’t worry about the extra cupcakes since they will be sold at a bake sale in a side mini game. Your goal is to sell as many cupcakes as possible in a limited time.
Jessica’s Cupcake Café, although similar to many of the sim plays, is an entertaining Mac game for everyone. In addition you will unlock many great cupcake recipes to try out and enjoy. The graphics is good and the music will keep you in sync with quick speed to meet your goals.
Features of Jessica’s Cupcake Café:
-Run a Cupcake Café
-Design Your Own Cupcakes
-42 Levels in 9 Locations
-Cupcake Recipes
Rating:
Nanny Mania goes to Hollywood Review
Nanny is on vacation when she reads about Sofia Ashford, movie star, and terrible mother in the gossip rags. She decides to help her and goes to Hollywood to start her new employment. Nanny’s motto is whatever the problem, begin by caring.
This Mac sim game is played by clearing one room at a time. The object is to click on the red framed items for Nanny to clean and clear. The clothes spewed throughout the house must be picked up, taken to the washer to wash, then click on the dryer and finally click to pick up the basket of clothes, and click on the dresser to put away the items.
There are only 3 people who reside in this house: Sydney the baby, Lucas the 3rd husband, and Sofia the movie star. They are probably the messiest people in the world who need a lot of attention, especially the baby. When the baby cries above the crib will show you what it needs. If you see a diaper, you click on the crib for Nanny to change the baby, then click on the dirty bundle next to the bed and then click on a trash bin to throw it out. If you see a a bottle above the crib, the baby is hungry, and you click on the small refrigerator in the nursery, then click on the bottle warmer, then again on the bottle to pick up and click one more time on the crib to feed the baby.
It’s hectic just writing about it. See how frantic it gets in the first few levels, and remember, the levels are timed so you must hustle. In between the levels you can go to the store to buy anything that is unlocked, you have the money for it, and you need to make your work easier.
Nanny Mania is like Baby Sitting Mania with a few more perks like the shop, more people and a little story to get to know the messy slobs to make it a little more personal. Sim plays are not my thing, but this one has a few more activities than a lot of the games out there. Try it out for a little work out in this play.
Features of Nanny Mania Goes To Hollywood:
-Help Celebrity Family
-Sequel to Nanny Mania
-Time Outs, Pets and More
Rating:
Smiling Pasta Review
The title, Smiling Pasta, reminds me of the pasta or cracker with the smiley face on it. It’s also a name of a Taiwanese soap opera. In any event, Mac game Smiling Pasta is a time management and match 3 pastime. Since we have been doing a lot of Hidden Object Adventures, I thought this would be a great break.
The story begins with Uncle Leo, the chef, leaving his restaurant, Smiling Pasta, to go to Italy. No reason, he just upped and left the café to Daisy the assistant chef. His confidence in her is incredible but that’s life and video games. Daisy must ready herself for the Best Restaurant Award by working hard and fast to prove she can do it.
The game is to serve customers what they want to eat. In order to make the pasta of choice, you must match 3 or more of the ingredients needed for the meal at the screen to the right. Match 3 or more tomatoes, meat, cheese, chicken and pasta. Each time an ingredient is matched and is needed for the dish, it will fly to the 
customer’s list of supplies. You’ll be getting helps like the fire when you make 4 matches that will clear (burn) several of the ingredients at once when you click on it. The star can swap with any of the ingredients but you need to make 5 matches. Once all the ingredients are met, the dish is finished and you click on the dish to serve the customer. Just be sure to serve your guests as fast as you can before they lose their patience (represented by the 5 hearts above their heads). You’ll be able to appease them by clicking on the candy dish at your lower right or if you have a coffee machine, give them a cup by clicking on the cup and then the diner. The happier customer will pay more. The money can be used at the Beach Mall for recipes and treats.
If you get only 1 customer at a time, it would be too easy, so you will be getting a multiple of guests to serve, some more patient than others. Once a chair is vacated, another customer will fill the seat. There are 2 modes of play in this game, but you have to find it first. It’s under the Option button. You can choose Normal or Easy. Normal for the casual gamer is fairly easy so this game may not be for the experienced sim time management player needing a challenge, but for the rest of us, this is fast enough. The match 3 game is not much of a challenge either but at least for novices and young kids, you have the Easy mode to switch to if you need.
All in all this game may not satisfy the sim time management fans or the match 3 fans. This hybrid didn’t have the challenge in either game and the cursor slowed down a bit and made matches difficult to make. The artwork is okay, but Daisy did look a little crossed-eyed in the opening sequence. The music started the game with a happy and upbeat tune but later got a little annoying even though they changed up the jingle. Under Options you can adjust the sound. Try it out and see what you think. I give it a 2.5 out of 5. Do you really want your pasta to smile at you?
Features of Smiling Pasta:
-Sim Time Management and Match 3 game
-7 Locations with 10 Levels Each
-Beach Mall for Shopping
Rating:
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