Posts Tagged ‘hidden objects’

Find Your Own Way Home Review

Adventure, Hidden Object/I Spy, Puzzle, Seek and Find | Posted by Zeke
Aug 30 2010

Find Your Own Way Home 9
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Christmas is a magical time of the year and many musical artists create their own holiday albums for this festive period. However, do you remember any except maybe Bing Crosby’s White Christmas? According to the Wall Street Journal REO Speedwagon put out Not So Silent Find Your Way Home 2Night Christmas album this 2009 season, and they are featured in the new Mac hidden object game Find Your Own Way Home. Will this be the big comeback of a 1971 rock band? Apparently not with 13 top 40 single hits over the years the group has not stopped working. REO Speedwagon has been around performing since the beginning. That’s a long time to be in a rock band.

The Mac hidden object game Find Your Own Way Home, title from one of their hits, is an extensive story about a reporter, Ruby Easton, working for Entertainment Now when a band member goes missing. Your job is to track down clues and information through the hidden objects and puzzles before everything goes haywire for this band’s grand performance.

In the game there is the information panel at the bottom of the screen giving you data and tools. The timer keeps track of your remaining Find Your Own Way Home 7time to complete the level. You must find specific powers to make hints available for you to use, and the smart phone is there to change game settings. In addition to the hidden object/seek and find games, there are mini plays to master. One is the find the differences in 2 identical Find Your Own Way Home 5pictures, find the many Biffs spewed around the music site, and find things that make noise such as musical instruments, notes, records and cds.

Personally, I’ve never heard of REO Speedwagon, but I’m sure many of you have and others are fans with their albums because why else would they be around so long? The music is nice but not very edgy for a rock band. The play is okay, but I thought the storyline is Find Your Own Way Home 10dragged out too long at the beginning with Ruby and her apartment. It picks up a little when you get to the music studio. So rock out with Find Your Own Way Home Mac hidden object game and have a merry holiday season.

Features of Find Your Own Way Home:
-REO Speedwagon Band
-Many Hidden Object Modes
-Find the Missing Band Member

Rating: ★★★☆☆

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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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Cassandra’s Journey 2 – The Fifth Sun of Nostradamus Review

Adventure, Hidden Object/I Spy, Puzzle, Seek and Find | Posted by Meg
Aug 16 2010


Cassandra, a psychic, is brought together by fate with Violet who returned her mystical ring. Not only did Violet become a close friend when she found out Cassandra does mystic readings, she asked her to find her missing brother, Michael, for her in Mac hidden object game Cassandra’s Journey 2 – The fifth Son of Nostradamus. Is the title long enough?

The play is to find objects in the scene listed along the bottom of the screen. The blue words require the use of inventory items to complete the task. The objects are easily found in each scene pertaining to the story, but if you need hints, there are plenty to choose from. Each hint will cost you a percentage of the blue liquid in the flask to the right of the screen. Each hint must be unlocked before you can use them, but are very powerful when you have the opportunity to access them. The first and most powerful hint will cost you 90% of the liquid, but will pinpoint the object. The Area Spell will only take 50% and will outline the general area of your object. The Magic Wand uses 80% and will turn the crystal ball into a compass when your cursor is close to the object, the sphere will get brighter. The fourth spell is Photo. It will use 70% and will show you the shape of the object as it is in the scene. Slide Show spell will show you the outline of the object. The crystal ball will also show you the number of tasks completed and the number of task still needed. A word of warning: the hint flask will drain if you click on too many false items.

The HOG is packaged nice and orderly in files. There are tabs with items (shows the objects you need to find), inventory (items found and can be used for tasks) and objectives (goals). The journal at the lower right side will outline Cassandra’s journey in this search.

The varied HOGs are the usual search for many items in a scene. Also incorporated in the same picture will be finding a number of the same items or performing many tasks like cooking soup, making pizza and salad. Another scene is to find pairs of like, but not exactly identical, pieces. You may need to find 2 artworks or cooking instruments. There’s also finding outline objects.

In addition to the well done scenes, there are a lot of mini games and puzzles to do. Upon meeting Nostradamus, he performs a magic act for you. There are solitaire games to reveal magic numbers. The numbers will lead you to different places to search for more objects and clues. In a street scene you click on the transportation and that will take you to a mini puzzle like Traffic Jam to clear cars out of the way so the bright colored car can drive through the mess. In addition there are jigsaw and logic puzzles to do.

Cassandra’s Journey 2 – The Fifth Sun of Nostradamus, like the title, has a lot going for it. There are many levels with interesting scenes with many objects to search for, and it is full of tasks and puzzles. It is put together in somewhat of an orderly fashion and with a mystery to solve. The artwork is beautifully crafted. I don’t remember the music, but it must have been good since it did not deter you from the game. It has everything you would want a HOG to have and more. Try it out for a good, solid HOG.

Features of Cassandr’s Journey 2 – The fifth Sun of Nostradamus:
-Interesting Story Line
-Many Mini Puzzles
-Hours of Play

Rating: ★★★★☆

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Mushroom Age Review

Adventure, Hidden Object/I Spy, Puzzle, Seek and Find | Posted by Meg
Aug 09 2010


Mushrooms taking over the world? Sounds crazy, right? You’ll never know if that’s possible or not if you do not try Mac hidden object game Mushroom Age. Help Vera find her missing fiancé, Tom, before it’s too late. Their wedding is scheduled in 2 days.

You begin your journey at Tom’s office where you encounter a very strange Professor Einbock who looks uncannily like Einstein. The professor is hiding something, and Vera is bound and determined to find out what’s going on. In the excitement, the good doctor faints causing Vera to find items (need to combine) to revive him. She then finds that Tom traveled in time for reasons unknown. His cell phone is the time machine, and when you dial the date you want to travel to, you get there. Tom also conveniently placed important people on his contact list so Vera could travel through time to the appropriate location and era to help him. She finds all this out at a cemetery in the year 3008 AD where a broken down robot is the caretaker. After playing a few puzzles, you see Tom’s hologram speaking to Vera about his whereabouts.

Most of the play is Vera looking for objects to either use to get another item or using the collected things for tasks. There are the usual HOG scenes where you collect items on the list or outlined silhouettes. There are times when she must find 25 of the same type of items like astrological symbols. The scenes are larger than the screen so you either have to arrow to the right or left to see more. You may have to enter another room also. The annoying part of this is if you click on the hint button and the object is in the other room or scene, you have to wait until the hint button recharges to locate the item in the next room.

Vera travels to different time periods speaking to all her contacts. Did I mention Nostradamus gave Vera an elixir of understanding to be able to communicate in any language and to non-humans? Remember to stop the play in between the levels or you will have to play the exact same scenes with no changes again. Look for the sparkling lights to search further into the scene, move every bush and rock out of the way because there’s always more to the scene than meets the eye. Mini puzzles include undoing crossed lines, Wheel of Fortune type of hangman game and more. There’s a lot to do in Mushroom Age, not only in the future but also back in time. Jurassic period ring a bell?

Mushroom Age has a lot of expandable scenes, different time periods and contacts to discover and inspect for objects. The artwork is good and the music appropriate for each time period and not intrusive. A troubling aspect of this game is the quirky characters, they move their mouths and eyes, and only fall or pop up. The jerky movements are annoying. Another is the acting. Wouldn’t a fiancée seeing her beloved in a cemetery headstone hologram be a little hysterical? Vera is cool as a cucumber and goes searching for Tom as if nothing happened. Other than that, the story is so interesting you are compelled to keep going to find Tom and answers. And, you have to admit Dr. Einbock looks a lot like Einstein and is probably a lot funnier.

Features of Mushroom Age:
-Intriguing Tale
-Find the Fiance in Time for the Wedding
-Lots of HOGs and Mini Puzzles

Rating: ★★★½☆

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Yard Sale Hidden Treasures: Sunnyville Review

Action, Adventure, Hidden Object/I Spy, Puzzle, Seek and Find | Posted by Meg
Aug 06 2010


Sunnyville is not your average small town. It’s full of whacky, out of this world characters to say the least. Yard Sale Hidden Treasures: Sunnyville brings you to this town as a new resident. Immediately your new quirky neighbors bombard you with news about the Superstar Homes Magazine contest. Atia dressed as an Egyptian queen and E. Stein with a strong resemblance to Einstein come knocking at your door. They tell you there is a town wide yard sale so everyone can buy and sell goods to redecorate their homes. Fortunately for you, every other person in Sunnyville has a theme and is using it to decorate their crazy home. You are the normal one.

To get your own home fashionable so you can win the contest, you go from neighbor to neighbor searching for items to furnish your new home. You begin with your bare entryway. You scour the neighborhood for yard sales so you can find items to redo and decorate it. You go to places like M. T. Grave’s ghostly and eerie house full of goblins and ghoul like objects. Even in this unnatural setting you find great finds in a lantern and rusty chain. You take it home, clean and paint the items so it looks like new. You place it in your entryway and presto, you are in the running for winning this contest. You may also have to help out another neighbor by finding pieces to a map and putting it together by moving slices of the map horizontally and vertically until you get it right.

From the floor plan of your house, each room you choose to decorate next, you get 2 to 3 locations to search for objects to put in your house. All of the homes have funny and strange themes like the 50’s motor house or houseboat belonging to an aging sailor. The Elvis look a like will ask you to return to M.T. Graves’ home to search for his records. There’s a treehouse, science observatory to mention a few. With each find you have the opportunity to decorate your home and improve your chances to win the contest.

After completing the game, you will unlock the Tour level where you play as fast as you can in each location. In addition, you can replay the game for higher scores and higher rank. There’s a lot to do in this game, and it may be a little repetitious since you do return to the same locations and find the same items, however, this game proves to be enjoyable and fun as any hidden object game. The characters are the main draw to this game of HOs and home decorating, and the artwork is well done in a cartoony fashion. Some of the sounds were a little strange but so is the entire town. If you are just as kooky as these characters, it will tickle your funny bone while playing.

Features of Yard Sale Hidden Treasures: Sunnyville:
-12 Different Locations
-Eccentric Characters
-HOG and Home Decorating

Rating: ★★★★☆

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