Posts Tagged ‘puzzles’

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
download Find Your Own Way Homebuy Find Your Own Way Home

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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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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Cradle of Persia Review

Adventure, Match | Posted by Meg
Aug 18 2010

Cradle of Persia 8

Cradle of Persia a match 3 objects to destroy Mac game is different with building of Persia, one building at a time. You could say it is a little like a sim play with you making matches to build housing, getting supplies and feeding your villagers. Like Cradle of Rome that Cradle of Persia 10preceded Persia, both are entertaining and fun to play.

When you make enough match 3s of like items, you will have enough money to buy your first building. Once you start your villages, the people will begin to come and it is up to you to make food matches to feed your clan. Unlike Cradle of Rome you make matches by Cradle of Persia 9chaining like objects together instead of swapping. The object of this play is to break all the marble tiles by making matches over them. Like other match games you have chained blocks you must also make matches over in order to break the links.

Cradle of Persia is not original or different from other plays, but is a good Mac match 3 game. I can play these games for hours. They are that addictive, and the building of your empire is entertaining and fun to see expand and grow. The match game is relaxing even though Cradle of Persia 2there is a water jug measuring your time. The artwork is good and music appropriate for the scenes. I like playing this game for what is is – a match 3 play for casual players and children.

Features of Cradle of Persia:
-7 Historic Epochs
-100 Levels
8 Special Bonuses
-Masterpieces of Ancient Persia

Rating: ★★★½☆

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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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