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: 
Fishdom H2O Review
Jennifer a strong willed recent graduate of Environmental Protection University is looking for employment. As a marine biologist she has many talents and skills to be useful at the world’s foremost aquarium run by Old Barney a close friend of her grandpa. However, Jennifer wants to prove herself and get the job on her own merits, but with no or little money, she cannot produce the kind of aquarium to impress her cat. At her grandpa’s suggestion, she goes diving for the many
treasures sitting at the bottom of the sea. With these finds she can make enough money to buy necessary fish, plants and equipment to make an fantastic tank to win her the job at Water is Life Foundation.
Fishdom H2O is an underwater hidden object play. After clicking on all the listed items in 3 minutes, you reach your goal and move on to the next level. In between the levels you can purchase the supplies for your aquarium. At the top right there are 3 meters you must increase to 100% before moving on to another project or aquarium. The 3 meters are fish, 
beauty and comfort. The fish category lists all the different species of fish that is available for purchase. The beauty section will allow you to buy plants to beautify your tank and the comfort will let you put in lights and air filters to make your fish at home. After filling up all the meters, you will win a star.
Mini games are fun and played very quickly. You get 2 minutes to click in all the vases in the scene, collect all the gold items (including gold bullions, gold coins, golden bowls and vases) from the bottom of the ocean, find 10 items such as
hourglasses, guitars and more. You may dive without your oxygen tank and must look for 1 of 3 items listed as quickly as you can.
Fishdom H2O is a lively and fast-paced hidden object game. Each scene is 3 minutes. Quite fast for most hidden object plays, but it is enough time to find all your items. If you can’t find your object before the time runs out, use the hint button to have the seahorse point out your item. In addition look for more seahorses in each scene to increase the number of your hints.
This is a great game and the scenes are doable in 3 minutes, however there always the relaxed mode. I like the colorful graphics and underwater scenes. The aquarium and screen saver are fun to create and enjoy. The only suggestion I have is to add a couple of match games from the first Fishdom for variety.
Features of Fishdom:
-Underwater Hidden Object
-20 Sea Creatures
-Accessories and Decorations
-Bonus Screensavers
Rating:
Brunhilda and The Dark Crystal Review
A simple request from her aunt to pick up her purse in her apartment turns into a vast adventure in Mac hidden object game Brunhilda and the Dark Crystal. Brunhilda, not a particularly popular name in the United States, is of German origin and used more in Poland and areas 
near there. Brunhilda in this game is not like the stocky witch in the cartoon series. This Brunhilda is blonde, cute and brave. She calmly confronts the king of the rats and takes potions to shrink her size.
The story begins in a far away land where the dragons and men lived in harmony. This idyllic land is now in danger of inevitable doom. The magic they historically treasured will disappear forever if something is not done. The king ordered all magic to be stored in a dark crystal in hopes that some day a hero from another world will save them. This brings us back to Brunhilda a seemingly normal young woman doing 
her aunt a favor. She goes to the apartment and finds a demon that takes her to another realm. Gruber the demon will assist you in your adventure to find the broken shards of the dark crystal to restore the magic and fight off the evil.
The main play is to collect different objects usually at the request of someone you need to help you out. You can select from 2 modes. Casual has hints and skip buttons and they will recharge at normal speed. Objects of interest are highlighted. The Adventure mode the buttons take twice as long to recharge and rarely will objects be highlighted. The magical quest cards can be found at the bottom of the screen. It will give you the items you will need to find. To get into small spaces you must make a magic elixir to shrink Brunhilda to enter 
the rat door. Once small she encounters many rats who will do her a favor if she does one for them such as collecting all the fireworks in the village, get all the cheese, click on parts for a machine, get rid of all the rat traps and lots more. You may need to go back and forth from the rat village to the lobby of the building and back again. Luckily Brunhilda found a shortcut through the rat village to the king’s palace.
There are mini games you can play or skip such as catching drops of blue potion to make magic elixirs. Another is to pick out magical runes from a book. The mini puzzles do get progressively harder as the levels increase but you can skip them if you wish. However, skipping the puzzles will not unlock bonus mini games. The games involve telekinesis, alchemy, telepathy and wizardry. All the puzzles are related to the story and you are not aimlessly looking for a pizza cutter, battery or bowtie like some other HOGs.
There are 10 chapters to take you on an incredible adventure. You will meet many unusual things like dragons, part human part machine, rats that talk, birds, and much, much more. The story will unfold with Brunhilda talking to people or things that will help her in her quests. There are easter eggs to find so be sure to click on the fairies.
Brunhilda and the Dark Crystal is a different sort of HOG since you are finding things on quests, going back and forth through many rooms and areas and even shrinking down to mouse size. The story is intriguing even though it sounds like something you heard before but is presented in such a great way with the voice acting and gorgeous, detailed and creative artwork. The dialog between Brunhilda, Gruber and others are humorous and funny. The only thing I can say I thought was too much is the fact you have to go back and forth from one spot to another and back again. A small complaint considering the awesome job the developers did in this interesting and fun hidden object game with great details in their characters, words and story.
Features of Brunhilda and The Dark Crystals:
-Engaging Story
-Fantastic Artwork and Mysterious Music
-10 Chapters of Fun HOG Plays
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: 
Valerie Porter and The Scarlet Scandal Review
Some hidden object games feel like you are in a sitcom and others read like a well written novel. Valerie Porter and The Scarlet Scandal is like the latter with 11 chapters in this Mac game.
The period is the 1920’s where a scrappy cub reporter, Valerie Porter, is trying to break into the newspaper business. She is hired by 
Gerald Hart, publisher of the city’s newspaper. Unfortunately, she does not realize that Mr. Hart only employed her as a secretary. In the early 1920’s everything is run by men. Luckily, there is a star reporter who by chance happens to be a female, and she is willing to give Valerie her chance at writing news articles.
Valerie is sent on various minor assignments featuring the woman’s point of view, but these stories will lead to the main reason why Scarlet Velour, a celebrity in her era, was murdered. The only person seen fleeing the scene of the crime is Johnny Jackson, a prizefighter and boyfriend of Miss Velour, making him the prime suspect in this murder mystery.
You will go to various locations in the city investigating and gathering information on this story. Finding some items may take a task to
complete the level. There are different hints you must search for in each scene. 2 batteries will be in each location and there are light bulbs to help you along in the game.
In addition, there are many mini puzzles to solve throughout the game. One such game is to link all the same items in a subway train. 
Another is to choose the correct answer to a statement. Also you need to put found items in the right location. In order to do so, you will see an exclamation mark appear to help you with your task.
1920’s journalism was a little different from today’s age of instant reporting through YouTube, Twitter and other means of transmission, and this Mac game reveals the footwork journalists had to do in order to get a good story. Valerie Porter and The Scarlet Scandal gives you the feel of the time and does a good job with the many different environments to search for hidden objects.
Features of Valerie Porter and The Scarlet Scandal:
-11 Chapters
-48 Search Scenes
-8 Mini Games
-21 Locations
Rating:
Pages
Categories
- Action
- Adventure
- Aquarium
- Arcade
- Breakout
- Cards
- Children
- Hidden Object/I Spy
- Line Drawing
- Mah Jong
- Marbles
- Match
- Pachinko
- Pinball
- Platform
- Puzzle
- RPG
- RTS
- Sci Fi
- Seek and Find
- Shooter
- Sim
- Slash and Bash
- slots
- Sports
- Time Management
- Uncategorized
- Visual Novel
- Word