March 29, 2007 @
11:43 pm |
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Jewel Quest Solitaire by I Win games is a mixture of the popular Jewel Quest franchise and a version of Solitaire that is much like playing mahjongg with playing cards.
While that does capitalize on two types of play instead of just one, I didn’t particularly care for the two tied together. I would rather play one or the other, not bounce back and forth between the two. They do give you the option to play with all the “game-enhancing storyline” - although I kind of liked that part. You are following the storyline of an adventurer through his journals, as narrated by his nephew.
It was a short download considering the decent level of graphics. Again, with most games now you can choose to minimize either the background music or the sound effects.
Overall, I would prefer to play either Jewel Quest or Solitaire, and didn’t care for the marriage of the two. It may well appeal to someone else though, so this one is worth a try.
I’d give this one a 3 out of a possible 5, but recommend that anyone who is a big fan of the Solitaire games give this a try as a nice variation. You can play an trial version of Jewel Quest Solitaire through Arcade Town or you can purchase and download the full version.
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Written by KCHarrison - Visit Website
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Extremely happily married Texas woman with two boys and a baby on the way.If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed! |
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Professor Fizzwizzle is a clever, problem-solving game with several modes of gameplay created by Grubby Games, available on ArcadeTown.
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Reminiscent of Lode Runner from “back in the day” and a bit like Lemmings, the Professor has a series of rules he obeys, and you must navigate him through the increasingly difficult levels by using logic. He won’t do anything on his own, and there are challenges both from the fantastic landscapes and from his enemies, the rage-bots.
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There are 80 regular levels, suitable for adults with 30 advanced levels if those are too easy for your tastes. I liked the fact that you can easily restart any level with just one button “r”. Some of the levels were tricky enough to require more than one attempt.
I also liked that you could see the solution to any level if you wanted to. This was particularly handy on the 90 kid levels, which I played with my twelve-year old. They were easy enough for him to accomplish without my help, but hard enough to keep his attention for a while. There are also 26 alphabet levels that were easy enough for a child, although this would all have been too complicated for an early grade level child.
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There were enough different objects, from barrels to crates to magnets to inflatable version of all of the above, and various types of terrains from grass to ice to sand that change the way each of the objects behave that it was entertaining. The landscapes are the stuff of a child’s fantasy - often shaped like animals. In the child levels, there is an informational window that pops up and tells you little facts about the animal each level was patterned after. My son NEVER ONCE read the little blurb, but it didn’t bother him to just skip past it either.
The download didn’t take too long, although I had trouble initially entering in my password. I imagine that only happens with a review copy though. The graphics are entertaining, though simple. If you leave the professor standing alone for a while, he does various things to entertain himself. When he slides across the ice, he flails around until finally settling in to a surfer-style that appealed to my son quite a bit.
You can adjust the volume to include background music or not as you choose. A little theme song plays at the end of each simple level which my son really liked… and you get a little “pat on the back” statement for each level completed which also appealed to my son.
Overall, once you have completed a level, you aren’t likely to play it again… however, there are loads of levels to compensate for that.
It’s nice to play a game with little to no violence (the Rage-bots aren’t fond of the Professor, but they also don’t hurt him… just hold him up by his collar when they catch him and make him start the level over). The graphics are pleasing, and it’s nice to have to work things out using logic. You even have the ability to create custom levels, although I never played around with this option personally.
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[eminimall products="PC Games" height="600" width="120"]
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For this style of game, I’d give it a 4.5 out of a possible 5. You can play a free trial version of the game or purchase the full version at Arcade Town.
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Written by KCHarrison - Visit Website
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Extremely happily married Texas woman with two boys and a baby on the way.If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed! |
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March 15, 2007 @
12:26 pm |
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"Hidden Expedition - Titanic" is another in a series of PC Games based on the Hidden Pictures concept. Each scene is full of items that wouldn’t naturally occur in that setting, and the player is given a list of specific items to locate by clicking on them.
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The storyline in this particular game is exploring the wreckage of the famous sunken Titanic. On each level, you are taken to another few rooms to locate a series of items and a bonus set of five gems in each room. I never did figure out why you locate the gems, other than as an added challenge.
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The graphics are as good in this game as in others, and it was mildly cute that when you click an item, it gets a balloon which pulls it to the surface. However, this game is a bit of a one-trick pony that gets old. Between levels, you are given another set of challenges to complete for variety.
In this case, one of those variety levels is a set of decayed pictures that you have to fix by putting tiles in their correct placement. I didn’t care for that level. If you get the tile anywhere near the right location and let go, it automatically places itself. In another variety, you are given a brief view of what the items you are searching for look like, and then only their silhouettes remain until you find the items.
In this game, clicking on the wrong item causes you to lose air, although never enough that we were in any danger of not completing a level. If you needed hints, you weren’t limited to a specific number per level. Hints cost you air as well. If you found all the easy items, and then used your hints for the tricky ones, you always had plenty of air left. In this game, you have to find all the items in order to advance, so I suppose having plenty of air is a good thing.
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Although we have enjoyed other games in the series, we didn’t even manage to complete this one. The graphics were good - much like the others. The options included your choice of full screen or window and the ability to change the sound and music levels, which we appreciated. However, there just wasn’t anything original enough in this game to capture our attention. We recommend the "Mystery Case Files" games for the same concept done better.
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2 stars out of a possible 5.
You can play "Hidden Expedition - Titianic" to find out if you like it, for Free Online (Limited) or Download the Full Version at Arcade Town.
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Written by KCHarrison - Visit Website
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Extremely happily married Texas woman with two boys and a baby on the way.If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed! |
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February 27, 2007 @
2:21 pm |
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"Feeding Frenzy 2", brought to you by PopCap Games and Sprout Games is a very entertaining game where fish eat fish! With very appealing graphics, a fun little storyline, and loads of levels, this is a winner! You start as a small fish and work your way through the game alternately avoiding predators and eating anything smaller than you are.
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There is lots of variety, as on some levels you can even jump out of water to eat bugs. There are several entertaining power-ups, including one for shrinking all your enemies to bite-sized and a hook to lure away anything too big so that you can safely mack down on anything left.
My family are big fans of PopCap games and their programming partners. When it comes from PopCap, you know the graphics will be good and the game will be fun for a variety of players from very young to adults. The concepts are always deceptively simple and almost instantly addictive. "Feeding Frenzy 2" certainly fits the bill.
It’s a relatively painless download considering the number of levels and the nice graphics, and it’s well worth the wait.
As with most PopCap games, you have the option to turn down the music and just listen to the sound effects of the game, although their background soundtracks are usually appealing as well. You also have the option to choose full screen or smaller windows. Since this is a mouse-intensive game, I recommend going with the full screen so that you don’t accidentally click outside the window, which pauses the game.
There is a nice little twist that will have you trying the game through a second time. The plot revolves around a mystery fish that you are chasing throughout the ocean, going into ever deeper waters and becoming bigger and bigger fish. Once you finally find the mystery fish and solve the game, you can play the entire game again as the mystery fish.
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There are lots of levels, lots of little skills you can learn, and a changing perspective that is entertaining. Fish that terrorized you in the early days are your favorite foods as time goes by. We particularly enjoyed the levels where you can jump out of the water to eat the little bugs. Not only is it a nice change of pace, but you can also throw in somersaults for style points.. but watch out… time it wrong and you belly-flop!
Scoring a 4.5 out of a possible 5, we solved the game months ago and we’re still playing.
To play "Feeding Frenzy 2" check out the Free Web Version or purchase a copy of the game by Downloading it from Arcade Town.
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Written by KCHarrison - Visit Website
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Extremely happily married Texas woman with two boys and a baby on the way.If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed! |
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February 24, 2007 @
10:58 pm |
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Norbit, starring Eddie Murphy as Norbit the henpecked husband and Eddie Murphy as the overbearing, overwhelming, and overweight wife Rasputia, and Eddie Murphy as Mr. Wong, the Asian man who raised Norbit - is stunning… stunning because the make-up and special effects are state of the art, and stunning in how unfunny it actually is.
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With several decent actors in the cast including Thandie Newton, Cuba Gooding, Jr., Terry Crews, and Anthony Russell, you would expect more, or at least a few good laughs. Since it was directed by actor/director Brian Robbins, who turned out such movies as The Shaggy Dog, Varsity Blues, and Good Burger, perhaps its lowbrow humor should come as no surprise.
However, the premise was entertaining enough and Murphy has the experience playing multiple roles in the same movie to have pulled it off. Unfortunately, if you’ve seen the trailer, you’ve already seen the best parts.
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Norbit (Eddie Murphy) has been picked on all his life. Raised by Mr. Wong (also played by Murphy) at an orphanage, Norbit’s true love and only real friend was Kate (Thandie Newton). They did everything together, and were extremely happy with each other. They went so far as to "get married" complete with ring pops for wedding rings.
When Kate is adopted, Norbit is left alone, and undefended… until Rasputia (also played by Murphy) enters the scene. Large and in charge, Rasputia appears to be Norbit’s salvation, until it becomes clear that she’s actually the new problem.
The movie follows a predictable pattern. Rasputia and Norbit marry, are very unhappy, and experience marital problems, all of which should have been comic opportunities and aren’t really. Then Kate comes back to town, providing Norbit the chance to win back the woman of his dreams. Again, predictably, she turns out to be engaged to a jerk (Cuba Gooding, Jr.).
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Murphy certainly establishes three very different characters in the three roles he plays and the make-up and special effects are stunning. You are able to suspend disbelief the many times he shares screentime with himself, and believe that there are really several different people there, not Murphy, a green screen, and a tennis ball.
However, none of the characters in the movie are likeable, particularly believable, or very funny. There are some scenes that make you cringe so much they might be entertaining, and a few scenes that are just downright disturbing.
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Please don’t take a child to see this movie, as there are some VERY inappropriate things for a younger audience including sexual situations, rude anatomical references, and crude racial humor.
Overall, Norbit promised to be far more entertaining than it delivered. Murphy’s multiple role work in other movies, such as Bowfinger and Coming To America was much better. Enjoy the trailer and know that you’ve seen pretty much all the movie had to offer, without paying the price of admission or investing your time.
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Written by KCHarrison - Visit Website
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Extremely happily married Texas woman with two boys and a baby on the way.If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed! |
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"Mystery Case Files - Prime Suspects" is an entertaining grown-up version of Hidden Pictures or the Eye Spy book series. Each scene is jam-packed with hidden items, some easy to find, some more difficult, all in different scales so that you have to keep challenging your own ideas about what you are looking for.
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The story-line about a missing diamond and the possible suspects was a little hokey and ultimately unnecessary, but it is the thread that ties it all together. The premise is that a diamond has been stolen, and you are searching for clues about who took it and where it went.
You are given the list of suspects, and a group of different locations to search. In each location, you are provided with a list of items to search for, although not a picture of what you are looking for. Each location is chock-full of hidden items, and when you go back to the same location later, you will often be asked to find different items than the last time.
To add variety, there are several locations that have to be examined with the aid of a flashlight in the dark. Limiting your field of vision to the area the flashlight illuminates. There is also a variety of locations that have to be examined with the aid of an x-ray magnifying glass which limits the amount of the screen you can see to its circumference.
To activate either the flashlight or the x-ray glass you must find the battery hidden in another of your designated locations, and you don’t know which one. It adds a nice element, although I didn’t personally like the locations that required the flashlight.
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On each level, you are allowed four hints to use as you choose. Each hint will help you locate a single item by showing you a narrow area to search. You are also not required to find every single possible item on each level, allowing you to miss a few items and still clear a level.
At the end of each level, you are presented with one of three challenges, a matching pictures grid, a word search style puzzle, or a puzzle-shuffle where you re-arrange the given pieces to match a picture. Again, although I didn’t care for the matching pictures grid option, it did provide some variety to the game which I welcomed.
Once you have narrowed the original pool of suspects to the final five Prime Suspects, you are given a harder challenge in order to determine the actual criminal. Having determined the guilty party, you are challenged to find the missing diamond, which is much harder.
Your final challenge is to solve the puzzle box that contains the diamond. Most of the game was pleasantly entertaining, although certainly not overly difficult. The final puzzle box challenge was hard enough that it took me several attempts, and finally a little internet surfing to determine how to solve the box.
The game downloaded a little slowly, but it’s very graphics-intense and ultimately worth the wait. I recommend downloading in the background while you are doing something else. The graphics were very good, making good use of the themes in each location. There were even a few VERY creepy locations that would make you think twice about allowing a younger child to play the game. These locations included The Tunnel of Terror with a nightmare-worthy clown and the Abandoned Hospital with a robotic skeleton, a noose, and a face pressed against the window.
The sound was very minimal. Although there were sound effects associated with the game, the music score was so minimal that we ended up turning down the sound entirely and providing our own soundtrack.
Easy enough for young adult players and interesting enough to captivate an older audience, we played this game together as a family. Please note my earlier comment about not involving a young child due to the creepy graphics and the amount of fine motor skills or detailed mouse-clicking skills needed.
Having solved it, we would be willing to play through the game again, as every time you face a location, you are asked to find different objects.
On a five star scale, we would give this game a 3.5. We liked it well enough to be interested in checking out other games in the series. If you are interested in this game, check it out at Arcade Town where you can Play Now for Free or Download the Full Version.
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Written by KCHarrison - Visit Website
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Extremely happily married Texas woman with two boys and a baby on the way.If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed! |
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