Frankenstein: The Dismembered Bride Review
I was ready to be scared or at least a little spooked in Mac Hidden Object Adventure Frankenstein: The Dismembered Bride. However this game is more campy than bone chilling. There are a few creepy scenes but mostly it is a straightforward hidden object game with mini puzzles to solve.
The story is about Brad who is looking for Janet, his fiancée, who disappeared suddenly on one of his work related trips to Europe several months ago. He waits this long to go searching for her? His car breaks down in Bavaria in front of a manor. Lucky for him this is the very castle he was looking for even though he doesn’t know it. Here begins your adventure trying to enter this estate. Screams from within the establishment prompt Brad to enter quickly and find out the source of the terrifying noise. I don’t know if Brad is brave or not but he manages to find his beloved, but unfortunately, she is in many pieces and only her brain can communicate with Brad. Are you frightened yet? When Brad is feeling something like love, irritation and other emotions, you see it above his head as hearts (when he sees his favorite wine) or lightning when he is frustrated. I guess this is suppose to be 
funny, but I’m shooting lightning rods out of my head playing this game. Let’s get past this and go on to the games.
The hidden object play is the one similar to one I recently played Profiler: The Hopscotch Killer and Bonnie and Clyde. The objects scroll across the bottom of the screen. You may have to find multiples of the objects. In other HOGs you may just get pictures of what you need to find like in the topiary garden. Some of the scenes will need to be expanded by clicking near the edge to see a little more and find objects out of your initial view. There are other times when you need to clear an area to see things. Brambles are plentiful in and around this manor. You may also have to click on spider webs to clear a room. If you are having a problem finding an object, use the hint button to help you. When solving mini games, the skip button becomes available after 3 long minutes. There are 2 modes of play in this game. The Standard mode is not timed and the Timed mode is. Since the scenes tend to be dark and the game does tell you to brighten your screen as much as possible, you will not be able to see all the objects you are looking for. I click in dark areas knowing I’ll come across something hidden in the recesses. However, this is not fun. You get only a set amount of hints but you can look for the stars in the scenes and get more clues or if you are playing the timed, you will get extra time.
The rest of the game is looking for Janet’s body parts throughout the castle and garden and solving mini games like finding keys to use to get into locked areas or 
looking for gold teeth (really?) that Dr. Frankenstein lost when he slipped on Janet’s brain and died. What?
This story is like pulling teeth (groan). It did not hold my interest, it was very hokey, standard and familiar mini games, dark areas to search, and no voice acting (thank goodness). Like their other games the artwork is good, music minimal with lots of sound effects. For all of the above, I give it a 2.5 out of 5. Try it for yourself and see if you like it.
Features of Frankenstein: The Dismembered Bride:
-Crazy Story
-Lots of Hidden Objects and Mini Games
-Good Artwork, Music, Sound Effects
Rating: 
A Gypsy’s Tale: The Tower of Secrets Review
This time this Hidden Object Adventure begins with eerie music (appropriate for the story) and a ghost trying to kill you. Whew! You make it through and now you are asked by a monk to save a girl in a tower. This is the start of your wanderings through an enchanted land full of ghosts, gnomes, fairies and humans. You are Reylin of Winderalth a gypsy minding her own business until this happened.
A Gypsy’s Tale: The Tower of Secrets is not your standard adventure full of hidden object games with sparkles and a list of items to search. No, this one has hidden objects to search when you click on an item and a wheel with other things pop up. You must search for, say, a cardinal, click on it and take it back to the wheel to place it. After finding all the bubble items, you get the main item in the center. It may have nothing to do with a bird but you may need this main item later 
on. There are other places where you can zoom in when your cursor changes into a magnifying glass to either collect hidden items or solve a puzzle. You’ll have many varied puzzles to solve from jigsaws, match, untangle the lines and slide puzzles.
There are many different (beautifully drawn) environments to explore and search from mystical forests full of fairies and gnomes to a high tech tree house. In most areas there will be crystals to collect. Some places will have 0 crystals but at the upper left side of the screen, it will let you know exactly how many are in that scene and how many you have collected. When you collect all the crystals in 1 location, you will get a piece of the map for you to use. This map is extremely helpful since it will let you jump to different places directly avoiding having to retrace your steps. Eventually you will be using these crystals as money to buy different things from the store (once you find the shop).
Even though there is only 1 mode of play, the hint and skip (for puzzles) buttons are fast charging, and you will not have to wait long to use it again. Most of the time the hint is explicit, but there are other times when it will only make obvious observations like the monk is creepy. Let’s hope he’s not the same monk you are helping.
There are many things to do in this game and most of the puzzles are easy to do. It may not be much of a challenge for some of you who are really good at this type of game, but for the rest of us, it is a fun game to conquer. For traditional HOG fans this may not meet your needs, but you are still searching for hidden items in a different format with the same types of puzzles to solve.
The only problem I faced with this game is when I was in the garden and trying to plant the seeds, nothing happened even though I could see the pile of seeds but 
couldn’t click on it. I restarted the game and even though I had to start the garden sequence again, it worked the second time. I found the music good but some parts didn’t seem appropriate for the scene (the tree house for one). The wheel search also seemed at times disconnected. When you figure out how to get a key down from high on the wall, you cannot collect the key immediately. The wheel opens and you have to find 3 different kinds of flowers before you can click on the key. In Treasure Seekers the wheel opens and you look for parts of the piece you need. That game made more sense to me.
Other than those minor quirks, the game is good, the story interesting and the search fun. I recommend casual gamers try this game. I give it a 3.5 out of 5 for an entertaining time.
Features of A Gypsy’s Tale: The Tower of Secrets:
-30 Different Environments
-Interesting Tale
-Puzzles and Hidden Objects
Rating:
The Curse of the Thirty Denarii Review
The Curse of the Thirty Denarii is a convoluted story about Judas Iscariot who betrayed Jesus for 30 silver coins. This version has Judas failing to hang himself and living to old age suffering alone on an island with his coins. Upon his death the man who discovered him realized that these coins were cursed, and anyone possessing these coins will have bad luck. 29 of the coins were recovered but 1 is still missing.
This begins the search for this coin. Professor Mortimer must delay his vacation and venture to the Greek Islands to help his friend Dr. Markopoulos recover it before anything disastrous occurs. At the same time a man is escaping a high security prison.
The story progresses through cartoon strips after finding hidden objects, it will display the words in the frames, and the cut scenes will have the speaking characters 
pop up on the screen as you learn the sequence of this tale. The hidden object game displays the items across the bottom of the screen, similar to Public Enemies: Bonnie and Clyde. There are 6 clues available to you if you need a hint. When you use a clue, you will need to wait for it to recharge before you can use another one. Also after you use it, you will find a star in the scene and when you click on it, you will get another clue. You really do not need many clues. There are your standard 
mini games like the jigsaw and slide puzzles, shooting the target, getting across traffic and more.
This game is heavy on the story side with hidden objects intertwined throughout. The art is 2D in a cartoon format. The music may have been appropriate but it’s a little boring. At least it is quiet and in the background. Some of the HOG screens will move side to side for a bigger screen and more objects. All the games and puzzles are fairly easy and you might be able to finish the entire game in the hour free download. Give it a shot. I give this game a 2 out of 5.
Features of The Curse of the Thirty Denarii:
-Interesting Tale
-Hidden Objects and Mini Games
-Cartoon Strip
Rating:
Spirits of Mystery: Amber Maiden
Have you noticed how many Snow White stories are on TV and at the movies? Mac games are also using familiar fairy tales as a basis for their games like The Fool and Spirits of Mystery: Amber Maiden. The latter game is about a kingdom under siege by an evil witch. She encases the entire castle in amber trapping them in this hard resin like substance. The only one who escaped this unusual prison was the king and queen’s precious infant daughter and her nanny.
The nanny took the baby through a magical portal away from all the evil. Once the princess was old enough to understand the circumstances, the nanny told her what was going on and that the royal princess is the only one who can release everyone from this dreadful fate. You play as the now grown princess searching for clues and items to use to help you on your quest.
This game is a hidden object, puzzle, point and click adventure where you begin by searching nanny’s cottage while she sleeps. She is not much help but she did take good care of you and you must help her out by releasing her beloved parrot from the amber. Each thing or person in amber will need different methods of releasing the amber. It’s usually something of value to the afflicted. The HOGs are designated in the Regular mode by sparkles. The list of items to find is at the bottom of the screen. The items in yellow must be interacted with before you can find it. There are your standard puzzles you must play until the skip button charges up. There are many areas where you will need to enter by breaking through using some type of tool, creating a magical potion or by solving a puzzle.
The journal at the lower left side will help you with what you need to do and the hint button is available when the eye opens. It recharges faster in the Regular mode. Inventory items will be placed in the file at the bottom center of the screen. 
This game has 7 chapters of fascinating scenes and story to go through. Many people, objects and animals to free from the amber. The puzzles are standard and the HOGs fairly simple with its clear and beautiful artwork, this game is done well and fun to do. The cutscenes have voiced portions to make the story a little more interesting. The only gripe I have is when you place your cursor too far down the screen, the main menu pops up. This is very frustrating when you are trying to access an inventory item. I give it a 3.5 out of 5 for a great point and click adventure.
Features of Spirits of Mystery:Amber Maiden:
-7 Chapters
-Hidden Object Games and Puzzles
-Voiced Cutscenes
Rating:
The Fool Review
Who in their right mind will send a fool to do a brave knight’s job? Well, in all honesty the king was desperate, and losing a foolish young kid is no big deal. The 
king’s realm is devastated with a fire-breathing dragon that decided to nest in the beautiful caves of the countryside. The king sends out a cry for help. Anyone who rids the kingdom of this menacing creature, brings his bloody tooth back will get the hand of the beautiful princess and half his land.
Many have tried and failed in the attempt, but soon a young man happens upon a flyer and decides he can do the job. In this interesting hidden object adventure, you search for outfits needed to complete tasks. You play different puzzles and hidden object games to get clothing and other inventory items to use in this play. First off anyone attempting to kill a dragon needs the proper armor for protection so you need to find, get money to buy and make deals with quirky characters like the guy in the dungeon for things you’ll need. After getting a piece of armor, you dress your man so he can venture out into the dark caves. Surprisingly enough this young fool has a plan and you need to find ingredients to make a potion. Long fairy tale short he gets the bloody tooth, marries the princess and lives happily ever after until……the extremely mad dragon wakes up to find his tooth missing. The village people chased the fool out of town.
Here you begin more adventures solving various types of puzzles like arranging bricks to match the other side of the screen, getting inventory pieces to get machinery working, picking locks and more. Many of these puzzles are easy enough to figure but you can skip it if you wait a few seconds in the Easy mode or a little longer in 
the Expert. In addition, the Easy mode will recharge the hint button quickly and show sparkles for areas that need more investigating or for HOGs. In the HOG scenes the list will be at the bottom of the screen with objects you need to find. In orange letters you will need to interact with things to reveal the object. There are four different cursors that will change for different methods to use like the magnifying glass to zoom in, an arrow to go to another area, the hand to pick up items and the gears for solving things with inventory items.
The beginning of the Easy mode will guide you through the initial stages of the game for anyone new to HOGs. The scenes are not scary so younger children can help you find things and work out the puzzles. They may recognize the fairy tale theme but it does go into more mysterious realm to keep you motivated to continue on in this crazy adventure. It’ll take you through the fairy tale castle, scientist’s lab, a steampunk city and more in this fascinating and hilarious story. Where else will you find a princess telling the fool he has eyes like her hamster?
A few of the negatives in this game are that you need to click on an exact spot to get the items, the game is relatively short (only 5 chapters. Maybe I was having such a good time, I didn’t want it to end?), when you clear an area, it doesn’t let you know clearly at the top like some other games. However the good parts outweigh the bad like the humor, great art scenes (looks like different artists from the beautiful, soothing fairy tale type of locations to mechanical steampunk pictures), cutscenes are narrated tongue and cheek by one of the characters, music and sounds are appropriate and different types of plays like dressing the Fool for certain occasions. The Fool is a funny, innovative game you’ll want to try out. I give it a 3.5 out of 5 for a different and surprisingly fun experience.
Features of The Fool:
-Great Tale of Dragon and Princess
-Different Types of Environments
-Many HOGs and Puzzles to Solve
Rating:
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