Jessica’s BowWow Bistro Review
Dog owners will do almost anything for their precious pooches, even buy healthy homemade treats if they don’t have time to make them themselves. Mac time management game Jessica’s BowWow Bistro takes you on another adventure with Jessica the Cupcake Queen.
Jessica’s cupcake business is doing so well she can concentrate her efforts in other fields. This time she learns that there’s nowhere in her town to get good, nutritious treats for Fido. The only available foods are full of coloring and drying agents, texturizers and other unnatural additives. Jessica makes it her mission to provide organic, wholesome nutrients for the beloved dogs in town. Hey, what about the other pets? I guess that’s a later sequel. In fact, she is so concerned she provides hamburgers and ice cream for her human customers (not very healthy).
The tutorial will take you through the gameplay. The thing to remember is that before the shop opens you have a quarter of the time (upper right side) to prep for the coming day’s work. You really, really need to do this to stay on top of your customers. Some customers are more patience than others so keep an eye out for the fussy ones.
As in most sim time management games, you will be clicking on a lot of things. To begin, you click on the type of dog biscuit you will need to make located at the back of the shop. After this machine dispense the dough in the proper shape, click on the tray of biscuits and click on the oven to bake. Once it is baked, you must quickly take them out of the oven or you will burn them, setting you back a few more seconds getting another batch of cookies. If you need to ice the biscuits, you will have an icing machine to prepare the icing. You’ll click the icing machine and then the counter where you will ice the cookies. Click on the completed biscuits and take them to the basket. Click on the basket again to take them to your waiting customers. Click on the customers once to give them the biscuit and again to collect the money. Once you get the hang of so many clicks, you will smoothly be able to complete your goals with a gold medal time. As you go past the level 10, the activities increase much more and you will have to work at break neck pace to keep up the demands for your biscuits.
In addition to making the pups biscuits with or without icing, you will need to feed the humans burgers or ice cream to keep them happy. Luckily you’ll have Aunt Margaret to help whip up these goodies. You just need to click on what the customer want at Aunt Margaret’s window and she’ll do the rest. Once ready, you click on 
the neatly made burger at the counter and take it to the customer by clicking on that person 2x. If you pick up the wrong item, you can discard it in the recycling bin at the right of the shop. You can buy upgrades to also help you play faster like getting a mixer that whips up the dough much faster but the cost can be exorbitant. There are decorations for your shop and faster shoes to make Jessica work faster.
Jessica’s BowWow Bistro is your standard time management game, and it will get addictive and you will want to get the gold trophy each time. There’s other sim games that are more challenging so this one may be good for beginners until the later levels. There’s not much difference from Jessica’s Cupcake Café except for the clientele and making doggie treats. If you are a dog lover and a sim time management gamer, this game is perfect for you. I give it a 3 out 5 for a solid game. Woof!
Features of Jessica’s BowWow Bistro:
-Time Management Game with Dogs
-Win Trophies and medals
-Cute Artwork and Music
Rating: 
Fishdom: Harvest Splash Review
For all you diehard Mac match 3/simulation Fishdom players here’s another game, one with a fall theme. This time you’ll see cornucopias, 
fall colors and pilgrim’s hats. There are fish, plants and filtration systems to make a beautiful autumnal fish tank.
The play is exactly the same as the other Fishdom match games: Spooky Splash and Frosty Splash. You play a match 3 game to earn enough money so you can fill a fish tank full of fish, plants, and comfort items. The tank and the items in the bowl are almost identical to the other Fishdom games. You need to fill the water scene with fish, beauty and comfort items to keep the environment healthy and happy. In order to meet their needs, you must play match 3 games to earn cash to buy items. You can also photograph your tank.
In the match 3 levels you swap 2 items to make matches of 3 or more of the same icons either horizontally or vertically. The icons are 
exactly the same ones used in the other Splash games like the stingray, conch shell, turtles, jellyfish and more. Additional items to round off the objects are the harvest types. Even some of the shapes of the game boards are identical. The powerups from the firecrackers to the lightning is also the same. The blocks are your usual chains, double chains (must match over 2xs), the metal tiles (2xs), etc.
If you really liked the other Fishdom games, you’ll want to try Harvest Splash. However, if you are new to the Fishdom series, you may want to try all of them to see which one suits you the best or which seasonal holiday you like. They are all about the same so you probably need to get only one or two. The Frosty Splash appears to have made the most effort in doing a theme game because the music is Christmas-like and objects related to the theme. I give this Fishdom: Harvest Splash 3 out of 5 because of the similarity to the other games but still a solid play.
Features of Fishdom: Harvest Splash:
-Autumn Themed Fish Tanks
-Match 3 Plays
-Sim Game
Rating:
Grim Tales: The Bride Review
You haven’t seen your sister, Luisa, since childhood and she is pushed into the river by a dark figure on the day of her wedding and may have died? You’re the only one who could find out what happened? Can this get any weirder? Yes, it can and it does. How, you ask? A ghastly demon with one eye shows up and says you can save her through her memories, but if you fail, you will lose your soul. Is he the devil?
In any event, you go searching for Luisa’s memories starting from when John Gray proposed to her. You see her in a ghostly form and you must solve puzzles and find clues and items leading to her disappearance. Begin by choosing the mode of play: Casual is for newer gamers with sparkles to indicate hidden objects. Advanced has no sparkles and you play in the role of a detective and Hardcore you play as a real detective investigating a real crime.
Mac adventure game Grim Tales: The Bride is full of puzzles like connecting the gears to operate the chains, jigsaws after you find the missing piece and more. Many 
of the mini games have something missing from it so you have to find that missing piece before the puzzle will activate. The games are fairly straightforward and standard, but if you wish to skip these, you may. There are hidden object games but they are not very difficult and the game provides a hint button if you need it.
Although the story is very strange, it is a good platform for the mini puzzles and adventure you have in the home and on the grounds, including the ubiquitous cemetery. It’s so convenient when there is a cemetery on your land. The puzzles and HOGs are not difficult but still fun to do and the point and click adventure is interesting. The game does have you going back and forth a lot with one item you need way on the other side of the land and with no map you can rely on. The artwork is great with many details, and the music is eerie and gloomy (appropriately done). Discover the mystery behind your sister’s demise, rescue her if you are able and, most importantly, save your own soul!
Features of Grim Tales: The Bride:
-Mystery Adventure
-Hidden Objects and Mini Puzzles
-Great Artwork and Appropriate Music
Rating: 
-
Youda Survivor 2 Review
The adventure continues with our hero, you, going back to the island to help save the tribe and the world in Mac sim time management game Youda Survivor 2. The chief shows up at your doorstep in the middle of a dark and gloomy night to have you save the world from imminent disaster.
The play is very similar to the first game with more animals to take care of and more machines to buy and create other products. You begin by finding a patch of grass, click on it, it will dig a hole and produce water. After the water comes, a flamingo will land and drink from it. Soon after, it will lay an egg. You click on the egg to collect. In addition to the flamingoes, goats will gather and will want to eat the eggs. They, in turn, produce a bottle of milk. From there you can buy machines to produce various products like fried eggs or make powder milk; these things will garner you more money. Also the cook will concoct an energy drink to keep your health high. This is important to you because once your health is shot, the level is over and you must start again. You can replay levels to get higher scores for more points and money. The 2 main points to remember in this time management game are water and health. You must either dig for water or produce rain to water your land. When it rains, grass will grow, and once grass grows, you can dig for water so your animals stay hydrated enough to produce eggs and milk. It’s the circle of life but in food form.
The goal of this game is to complete each level by meeting all its required tasks in “golden time”. If you get a silver award, you can start the level again or 
continue on your journey. Sometimes the path will give you 2 options. Whatever side you choose to travel, you will have to buy needed equipment from the shop. In addition to keeping your animals hydrated and fed, you must fight off pirates at the same time. Just click on them over and over until they give up. Also in this game you can choose whether to play a female hero or a male hero. The male hero has better attacking skills, gets food easier and stays hydrated better. The female hero has good defensive skills, resists weather better and uses energy efficiently.
The game is a little different with the choice of paths to animals and equipment, but overall the play is very similar to the first game. If you enjoy sim time management type of games, this one is full of activities, cute artwork and upbeat music to keep you occupied for many hours. With over 100 levels and hours of play, you may tire part way through due to repetition, but for die-hard gamers, this will challenge you all the way to the end. Have a go at being the “hero” and save the world.
Features of Youda Survivior 2:
-Over 100 Levels of Sim Time Management Fun
-Choose Your Path
-Cute Artwork and Upbeat Music
-Variety of Machinery, Animals and Activities
Rating:
Haunted Halls: Fears from Childhood Collector’s Edition Review
Fears from childhood can be vast and varied. What are your memories from your youth? Haunted Halls: Fears from Childhood Collector’s Edition explores the nightmares of the young in their Mac point and click adventure game. This game is a sequel from their Green Hills Sanitarium where the Dr. Blackmore’s portal under the hospital took both Tim and a little girl away. You on their tracks following the trio to places unknown.
Dr. Blackmore is not happy you followed him but he is too busy to deal with you at the moment so you trudge on looking for Tim and the little girl. The little girl 
says she and Tim are happy where they are, but you don’t believe her and you continue your point and click search. Where are they and what kind of mysterious place are you visiting? The scenery changes from outer space-like place, broken down building with escalators, cave, forest and more. In each location you will find things you can pick up when your cursor changes to a hand, puzzles you will need to solve and hidden object games. The objects you pick up and find will be placed in your inventory to be used later in your journey. The tiles you pick up can be placed in a frame and pictures of children must be clicked into proper order. Once you enter the 5 photos, you will have access to another location. You must play in these 5 separate areas to save the children from their worst fears.
There are 2 modes of play in this game you must choose from at the start: Regular will give you sparkles for active areas to view closer with faster recharging for hint and skip buttons. The Expert mode has longer recharging times with no active zones designated making it more difficult. This mode is best played by the experienced gamer. At the beginning there is a lively voiced movie drawing you into Blackmore’s hideaway. It’s a little confusing if you have not played the first game, but there is no need to play that game for you to enjoy the sequel. In fact, the mystery is part of the intrigue and makes searching that much more interesting.
The layout of the game is your usual with the tabs at the bottom of the screen opening information you will need along the way. The strategy guide and notes are at the bottom left. The notes are a little different with a toggle switch with the right side containing what happened so far in the story and the left side you’ll find fairy tale books from around the world. The inventory screen is in the middle unless you are in a hidden object game and the hint/skip button is on the bottom right. The list in HOGs is at the bottom in panels. Each time you clear an entire panel that portion will sink down. I remember seeing this before in a headstone setup, but it makes it different from most presentations. If you click the wrong objects too many times, the cursor will explode. I tested this since this is suppose to be a fearful game, I thought it might try to scare you like some other games.
This game is interesting but not really scary. The play will keep you searching for Tim and helping the other children trapped in their fears by Dr. Blackmore. The
artwork is creative with scenes you may or may not imagine. The music is good, although, a bit standard and familiar. The puzzles are varied but also many we have seen before. The HOGs are not difficult but if you need the hint button, it is there for your use, and the in-game strategy guide can be of help to those who need it. This game is balanced in its tale, HOGs, puzzles and the seek and find aspect. I give it a 3.5 out of 5 for a good but short game. The bonus chapter will take you less than a hour to complete and the game will take anywhere from 3-4 hours for the average gamer.
Features of Haunted Halls: Fears from Childhood:
-Original Tale
-Creative Artwork
-2 Modes of Play
-Collector’s Edition: Concept Art, Wallpapers, In-Game Strategy Guide, Bonus Chapter, Screensavers and Soundtrack.
Rating:
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