What's New in Gamezebo
The Great Tree Review
To call The Great Tree an anomaly would be an understatement. Combining New Age mysticism with arcade-style, mouse-thrashing mayhem, it's a formula that, by all rights, shouldn't work. However, created under the loving auspices of Reflexive Entertainment (Big Kahuna Reef, Ricochet Infinity) and featuring stunning visuals by the same artist as Wik: Fable of Souls, the game's sure to leave you enchanted nonetheless.
Nancy Drew: Legend of the Crystal Skull Review
Nancy Drew: Legend of the Crystal Skull is the 17th title in Her Interactive's long-running PC adventure game series starring teenage sleuth Nancy Drew - and it's also the newest (unlike past Nancy Drew downloads, which have been versions of older games that originally came out on CD-ROM months or even years ago). We hope you have a fast Internet connection, because the size of this download is a whopping 973MB - fortunately, good things come to those who wait.
Friday Casual Games Weekly News Roundup
After the pre-holiday flurry of announcements and new game releases, things were pretty quiet this week. That said, we still have a few tidbits of casual gaming news to bring you in this Friday's roundup. Gamezebo contributor Scott Steinberg wrote an interesting article for Business Week about marketing games to minorities, while the Colorado Springs Gazette profiles several female casual gamers in an article called "Brain break."
Hidden Secrets: The Nightmare Review
Fans of Azada and its unique mixture of puzzle-solving and point-and-click gameplay will find a similar kind of adventure in Hidden Secrets: The Nightmare, but with a gritty edge and darker storyline.
The Nightshift Code Review
It was quite the night for Mike. Not only does this young security guard catch someone breaking into the museum after dark but discovers the rare artifact the intruder is after is tied to his own father's mysterious disappearance. Such is the premise behind The Nightshift Code, a well-crafted hidden-object adventure that cleverly integrates a fun story and challenging mini-game puzzles into the familiar seek-and-find gameplay.
Polly Pride Pet Detective Review
"Awwww!"
Something about animals compels us to fawn over them. PJ Pride: Pet Detective contains plenty of adorable dogs and cats as well as unusual pets like the iguana, monkey, wallaby, and others that aren't so endearing. This hidden object game is a horse of a different color as its story uses hand-drawn illustrations with photo-like scenes for the hidden object portion.
Sunset Studio Deluxe Review
If you've ever dreamed of being in the movies, be sure to give Sunset Studio Deluxe an audition. Chances are you're likely to cast this fun Hollywood-inspired hidden object game in a starring role as your next desktop obsession. Apart from a few flaws - similar-looking objects, vague clues, the ability to only tackle a single scenario at once - it's a surefire crowd-pleaser, if not particularly epic or Oscar-worthy entry into the genre.
Dream Day First Home Review
After their marital adventures in Dream Day Wedding and Dream Day Honeymoon, newlyweds Jenny and Robert are ready to move into their first house together in Dream Day First Home, the next instalment in Oberon Games' romantic, story-driven Dream Day hidden object series.
Azkend Review
Pattern-matching puzzler Azkend's chief innovation isn't its haunting atmosphere, lilting Far Eastern soundtrack or even admittedly gorgeous presentation. (Although they are major pluses, elevating the title to that elite rank of games you can tell received the royal treatment when it comes to both manpower and production values.) Rather, it's the way in which the outing buffs and polishes an oft-explored formula to an undeniably brilliant shine, proving that even the most cliched design conventions can still be used to tremendous effect, if given the proper time and tender loving care.
Friday Casual Games Weekly News Roundup
Welcome to Friday's weekly news roundup, where we bring you casual gaming headlines from around the web. Among the highlights this week: Indian video game developer FXLabs buys online gaming portal Knibble.com for $3 million, PlayFirst and RockYou partner to release casual games on social networks, Tag Games chats about developing Granny in Paradise, and according to a Turner Investment Partners study, casual games are "leading the charge" in transforming the video game market.
Turbo Subs Preview
Hungry? Well, if you didn't get your fill with Oberon Games' and Aliasworlds Entertainment's amazing Turbo Pizza, you should have an appetite for Turbo Subs, a delicious sequel that lets you serve up sandwiches and other goodies to demanding New Yorkers. But like the game that came before it, this won't be a cakewalk.
Linkit - A Christmas Carol Review
A Christmas Carol has entertained generations in different formats from Charles Dickens' original book to Disney's cartoon version, Patrick Stewart's one-man play and a modern day movie adaptation Scrooged with Bill Murray. Linkit: A Christmas Carol retells the classic through a match three game that presents scenes from the story in between levels and holiday music in the background.
First Look - The Blackwell Convergence
Wadjet Eye Games has just announced the next title in the Blackwell series of adventure games, starring psychic medium Rosangela Blackwell and her ghostly spirit guide, Joey Mallone.
Dress Shop Hop Review
I'm not used to getting stuck in time management games, but just eight levels into Dress Shop Hop I was ready to pack it in. No matter what strategy I tried - chaining, collecting color bonuses, plying customers with beverages to keep them happy - nothing I did was good enough to achieve the minimum goal, to say nothing of Expert. Eventually I did scrape by (after buying a bunch of upgrades with all the money I'd earned repeating the level so many times), but it was a pattern that would repeat itself. In short: Dress Shop Hop is one challenging game.
Furball Frenzy Review
According to Wikipedia.com, a furball is an alternative name for a hairball, that accumulation of follicles found in an animal's digestive tract that usually ends up on your carpeted floor or furniture. In the case of Furball Frenzy, however, the "hairballs" are much more colorful, decidedly less disgusting and a lot more fun to play with.
First Look - Women's Murder Club
We have the first set of screenshots for Women's Murder Club, the upcoming casual game adaptation of best-selling author James Patterson's Women's Murder Club series of mystery novels.
15 Minutes of Game: Rock Band Mosh Pit
If you don't manage to get your hands on a copy of Rock Band this holiday season (the hotly anticipated console music game from Harmonix) then you can find a little bit of consolation by playing its web-based spin-off, Rock Band Mosh Pit. It's not a music game though; instead, you're a roadie playing toss the guitarist. Launch the guitarist over the mosh pit and press space bar to perform power moves in the air. Land on amps to get new power moves and beach balls for extra lift, but avoid the light fixtures - ouch! Click here to play Rock Band Mosh Pit.
Mystery in London Review
In the late 19th century, a man the newspapers nicknamed Jack the Ripper committed a series of gruesome murders in London's East End. He was never caught, and the case remains unsolved to this day. In Mystery in London, the latest hidden object adventure from Big Fish Games, you'll attempt what countless sleuths and scholars - both amateur and professional - have tried and failed to do: discover the identity of Jack the Ripper.
Happy Holidays from Gamezebo
Happy holidays from your friends at Gamezebo. Our gift to you is a list of holiday casual game deals (we'll add more as they are announced), a guide to the newest Christmas-themed casual games, and one very special charity that gives the gift of gaming to sick kids.
Super Granny 4 Review
You won't find '80s gaming classics more aged or hoary than Lode Runner or BurgerTime. It's 100% fitting then that Super Granny 4 - the latest globetrotting adventure starring everyone's favorite octogenarian - once again draws inspiration from these elderly gems. Adding a few nice nips and tucks, not to mention some intriguing new features, it's mostly more of the same great action puzzler you know and love. And, as 160+ new levels prove, that's not a bad thing by any stretch of the imagination.
Just In - Mystery in London and Dress Shop Hop
Big Fish Games has just launched a gorgeous-looking hidden object game called Mystery in London, where you explore 360-degree panoramic photos of the modern city while investigating a murder that happened more than 100 years ago. Over at PlayFirst, help Bobbi run her clothing-making business in Dress Shop Hop.
Aveyond 2 Review
If you couldn't get enough of Aveyond, then you'll love Aveyond 2 as well. Amaranth Games has delivered another 2-D fantasy role-playing epic that rivals the first in terms of gameplay depth and length.
Blokus World Tour Review
And so it's a natural extension for this beloved board game to be parlayed into a computer game. The result is Funkitron's Blokus World Tour, a turn-based strategy game that builds on the winning formula with multiple game modes, colorful graphics and lots of personality.
Friday Casual Games Weekly News Roundup
Friday's the day we bring you a week's worth of casual gaming headlines from around the web. To recap: the Stress Institute says stress can be reduced by playing games - especially funny ones. More than half of U.S. males play videogames according to an NPD survey, and EA says that casual gamers don't read game reviews.
First Look - Polly Pride: Pet Detective
Rumour has it that the hidden object game Polly Pride: Pet Detective will be launching on iWin very soon, and we got our hands on a few screenshots to whet your appetite. When the town's pets go missing (around the same time that the new cosmetics factory opens - coincidence?) it's up to Polly the Pet Detective to get to the bottom of the mystery and return the lost pets to their owners. Click READ MORE to check out the screenshots.
