Abundante! Review

Breakout, Match, Puzzle | Posted by Meg
Aug 23 2010

abundante

Hike into the darkest jungle of the Mac game Abundante, and find yourself deep in the midst of fun and excitement. This is a match 4 or more gems in order to complete a level game which will bring you closer to hidden secrets of this archeological hunt.

This exotic jungle adventure begins with Dr Ray Rumble’s archeological society funding a mission to find the lost temple of Nahca Rotha. Abundante2The myth is that the Nahca Rothians possessed great knowledge and treasures. You are an archeologist who is on this journey to verify the authenticity of this information, and to recover the gems and jewels.

The play is a match 4 or more gems game, and by moving a wooden mining cart at the bottom of the screen back and forth, you collect the jewels embedded in brick. Click on a brick with a gem inside, catch it in the cart and slide to another area with the same color gems, make a 4 or more match by shooting the brick back up, and catch all the freed gems in your cart. You must quickly move your cart back and forth, clicking as you go, because the bricks are constantly descending during your play. If you do not complete the level before the bricks crush the cart, you lose one of your 3 lives.

This is the basic play of the game but there are more “surprises” to come. The first few levels are easy and slow to help you adjust to the game, but it becomes faster and more challenging soon after completing the first few levels. Some of the helps and obstacles in the game are the lightening bricks when placed strategically can break all the bricks in one column or row, making shapes with the placed bricksAbundante3 will garner you more points, and the scaffolding and moss will create some problems for you if you are not careful. Another entertaining power-up is the fireball you get into your cart and shoot up to explode any bricks nearby.

There are mini games throughout the play, and you can win prizes on top of all that. Also a very important part of the story and game is unlocking pieces of a missing amulet that are scattered all over the temple. The main game will unlock a second mode and then after the second is unlocked, the 3rd one will become available.

Abundante is a exciting gem match game that will provide hours of fun play. I initially found this game challenging, but with practice got much better at it and enjoyed it even more. With all the different levels and modes, you will not get bored and will be pleasantly surprised to find a game worth playing.

Features of Abundante:
-Fun Story Line
-Lots of Challenging Levels
-Power-ups, Bonuses, Rewards
-Surprises

Rating: ★★★½☆

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Mary Kay Andrew’s The Fixer Upper Review

Adventure, Hidden Object/I Spy, Puzzle | Posted by Meg
Aug 22 2010


Based on a bestseller by Mary Kay Andrew this Mac hidden object game follows the remarkable life of Dempsey Killebrew. What would make a up and coming lawyer give everything up and return to her family home? Is it possible for Dempsey to have a happy life there?

Dempsey Killebrew is fired from her job with a renown public relations firm in Washington, D.C. She arranged accommodations for a high profile senator that turned into a hiatus for him and a prostitute. Even though it is not her fault, she is blamed for everything. Life is not fair. In order to put this part of her career behind her, Dempsey accepts her father’s offer of fixing the old family mansion that he had recently inherited. Little did Dempsey realize that the old place is falling apart with an ornery old lady and her dog residing at the home. She must not only fix up the place but also throw the residents out.

You play the usual hidden object games going from Dempsey’s apartment, rooms in the mansion and various locations in the small town of Guthrie, Georgia. In each scene you have a list of objects to search. There are 5 hints to use if you need them and if you find the small house in each scene, you will get another hint. After completing a HOG, you get a mini puzzle to complete. One such puzzle is to remove the lint from Dempsey’s jacket. You take the cursor and move it back and forth to remove the lint. Many of the side games are similar to this one from washing the car to painting the mansion. You can skip these games if you wish. I found it to be too much after awhile so I did skip them.

You can play the HOGs in timed or normal mode. I suggest you try the timed since finding the objects is fairly easy to do. You do go back to many of the same scenes to do other duties like find all the spots that need repair and wash the car. The play is a bit repetitive but still a pleasant game.

Mary Kay Andrew’s The Fixer Upper is similar to Yard Sale – Hidden Treasures in play but the stories are different. Yard Sale is funny and The Fixer Upper plays more like her novels. This is pure speculation since I have never read any of her novels but I’m assuming, especially when she goes to town and speaks to the people. The play I thought had way too much dialog and reading to do. I understand it is necessary to advance the story, but it got to be too much after awhile clicking back and forth from one person to another. If you are a fan of Mary Kay Andrew’s or an avid HOG player, try this game.

Features of Mary Kay Andrew’s – The Fixer Upper:
-Many Locations with Lots of Hidden Objects
-Story of Dempsey Killebrew
-Many Mini Games

Rating: ★★★☆☆

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Text Twist 2 Review

Word | Posted by Meg
Aug 21 2010

Text Twist 2 6

Word games are always fun to play and are great workouts for your brain. Lately the current buzzwords for those who want to stay young and vital are mental fitness and brain training. Exercising your brain is in and Mac word game Text Twist 2 will do just that and more for your overall well-being.

Everyone is different and Text Twist 2 takes that into consideration by creating 3 modes of play to fit all types of people. In the Lightning mode you must use all the letters offered to make a word before the time runs out. Some people are good at this mode, but others, like me, need more time to figure out the word. What’s great about this game is you can twist the letters around so maybe you’ll have betterText Twist 2 7 luck making your word. The crossword puzzle mode is in the crossword configuration and you make words using the blocks presented both vertically and horizontally. Word of the Day will give you letters every day to form your words.

The classic play is time or untimed depending on how you are feeling that day. You are presented with a group of letters and you click on the one letter at a time to form words. The clicked letters will go into boxes above the available letters and you click again to submit your word. At the very top of the screen you will find empty squares of 3 or more. Once you make any accepted word, your word will be placed in the boxes. Once you fill up all the 3 letter words, the game will not take anymore even if you come up with a good word. You need to go on and make 4 or more letter words to fill up the rest of the boxes. If you are lucky enough to get the bingo word, you can go on to the next level. Most of the time the bingo word uses more than 4 letters. However if you do not get the bingo word and your brain is spent, you might want to use one of the couple of passes available to you, but remember the object of this game is to form as many words as possible.

Text Twist 2 is a great game for the whole family. I had fun just playing by myself and will return to this game. It is not only enjoyable and educational, but it’s addictive as well. If you are into word games, try twisting some of the letters and form your own words. Your brain will thank you for it.

Features of Text Twist 2:
-More Than 25,000 Words
-3 Modes
-Great Graphics

Rating: ★★★★☆

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Merriam Webster Spell-Jam Review

Word | Posted by Meg
Aug 20 2010

spell-jam

Let’s face it, not too many of us aspire to be the national spelling bee champion, but it’s still fun to compete and possibly win on the Merriam Webster Spell-Jam competition. This game will take you through different sets to prepare you to become the preeminent winner.

There are 3 modes of play in this game: Practice, Game Show and Competition. Practice will give you 25 words to spell, and it will take you through the session 3 times. Hopefully you will be able to spell all the words correctly by the third time. In all three modes you are able to choose from Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced. A commentator gives you the word, and you have 4 options before spelling it. You may ask to repeat the word, give you a sentence, definition, or origin or get all 4 hints. I found that repeating the word and the definition helps you the most unless you know Latin or GreekSpell Jam 2then the origin may aid you in correctly responding. The sidebar will show all your correct answers in green and the misspelled ones in red.

The Game Show mode is probably the most interesting since you can win money and have helps besides the 4 hints available in Practice mode. They are Pass to skip the word, Uniques will give you letters jumbled, 1st letters give you the first 3 letters of the word, Consonants gives you only the consonants, Vowels gives you just the vowels, and Word Choice will offer you 4 words to choose the correct spelling. You have the option to play up to 200 rounds of spelling for this mode, and you can win from $100 to $1000.

In the Competition mode you may add up to 7 players to compete against you and will bring up each player through an underground elevetor to the podium. The most difficult part of this section is that you cannot redo your typing. You must get the spelling correct the first time you type it on the board.

In between the game levels there are Speed Rounds where you spell as many words correctly in 1 minute. Here more than any other part of the game you need to have excellent typing skills in addition to outstanding spelling prowess.  I found this section to be the most exhilarating.

I found this word game very interesting. I think it can improve both your spelling and typing abilities in a fun way. The difficulty levels are appropriate, but not even close to the National Spelling Bee tournament (luckily), and the beginner’s level is too difficult for young children but should be fine for 8 year olds and up. The intermediate level includes a few commonly used foreign words, and the advanced incorporates even more esoteric vocabulary. I thought it was curious to use the same words in the different modes. For instance in the advanced Game Show level they used the word liege and it came up again in Competition.  I’m sure all you RPG players can spell this word easily.

With spell check available everywhere, there appears to be no need to have a strong spelling skill, but everyone will take pride in spelling well in this fun and educational Mac game. This game is not for everyone, but if you are into word games, this one is different enough to make it appealing and entertaining.

Features of Merriam Webster Spell-Jam:
-Fun Game play
-3 Modes: Practice, Game Show and Competition
-Multi-player game play

Rating: ★★★☆☆

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Lua Lua Review

Action, Children, Match, Puzzle | Posted by Meg
Aug 19 2010


Good Mac games for young children are hard to find, but not impossible. Ladybugs and Bob the Builder are a few that are phenomenal games for kids. Lua Lua can also be added to this group with its many puzzles and fun to be discovered by young minds.

Lua Lua is a complilation of 7 different types of puzzles geared towards young kids but gets challenging enough for some older ones. La La Land is not a reference to Los Angeles, but a game where animals will sing and you must remember the sequence of animal sounds. It’s like the electronic game Simon or Bop It! Your progression is displayed at the bottom of the screen. Don’t worry if you do not remember the order, it will reset and show you again what to do. No pressure.

Thinky Thinky is a memory game where you turn over puzzle pieces to reveal the animal. You make matches of 2 identical pieces to complete. Cute characters to see and match.

Taquin or teaser is a slide puzzle game. In this game you slide tiles to make a picture of an animal. Click on the empty space to move a tile. It starts off very easy but each level becomes increasingly more difficult.

Pig Tac Dog is a tic-tac-toe where you are the winner. You are the dog playing against the pig, and it is very difficult to lose. Loads of happy times for the young ones.

Drag n Drop is where you drag and drop a picture of an animal to the outlined forms.

Soopa Koopa can be challenging with re-assembling of animal faces. In the beginning there are only 2 rows to slide until the face appears. However, this puzzle goes up to 8 slices of a face and with this many rows to align, it may take some time before the face appears.

Catch a Match is an action packed game where you click on pairs of the same animal falling from the top of the screen. It begins slowly and easy, but it will challenge some kids with many different animals floating down the screen. However, you do not get penalized and there’s no big buzzer to out you just a pleasant game to work on your cursor skills.

All these games will challenge different parts of your children’s brain in a fun and entertaining fashion. These puzzles are kid versions of adult plays. The games states it’s for kids from 3 to 7 years, but I think some 2 years old have the concentration, if not the coordination, to enjoy the game. You’ve seen 2 year olds learning the state capitals, all 50 states, names of dinosaurs, world countries, presidents, languages, etc. The list is endless. If the adult has the patience to go over things with a 2 year old, they have the ability to absorb all the information.

4 of the games are available to try out in the demo and the other 3 are locked. The larger cursor is great for little tots. Lua Lua is kid friendly with fun music and great, colorful graphics. In fact you can access free adorable dog icons. My favorite is Sharpeipei. Others are Chocolab, Pugglywuggly, Bostielu, Dogbully and Toxicodog. You can view these pictures at Lua Lua Dog Icons. Also any and all upgrades are free so you can’t go wrong with this awesome Mac game for kids.

Features of Lua Lua:
-7 Different Games in Full Version
-Great Fun for Kids
-Free Upgrades and Icons

Rating: ★★★★★

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