Latest Reviews

Sofi is a big dreamer. A little girl staying at her Nana's house, she loves to play pretend and explore her imagination. But her waking world of wonders is nothing compared to the adventures she has in her dreams!  Join the team behind this year's critically-acclaimed Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition as they attempt to guide a little girl through her dreams in the puzzle platformer Lucidity. Read more»

Sitting around a campfire telling ghost stories has been proven to be an outstanding way to scare your friends, but how about yourself? Now GameHouse has taken on the role of storyteller, and it's your job to not just listen to the story, but to experience it first hand in an eerie tale of survival and the unknown. Just in time for Halloween, do you have what it takes to survive Campfire Legends: The Hookman? Read more»

The saga of mighty pirate Guybrush Threepwood continues in this second chapter of the Tales of Monkey Island series, which takes place directly after the events of the previous game. And though The Siege of Spinner Cay plays and looks identical to the first game in the series, it ends up being a much more enjoyable experience thanks to some clever -- and very funny -- writing and much more intuitive puzzles. Read more»

Forget Hannah Montana, now we've got Alabama Smith, in his latest adventure: Aabama Smith in the Quest of Fate. OK, despite this time-traveling hero's cheesy name (what were the developers thinking?), this sequel -- which successfully fuses hidden-object game ("HOG") mechanics with point-and-click adventure gameplay elements -- does manage to deliver a memorable ride. Read more»

As you play the hidden object game Romance of Rome, many thoughts will go through your head. Thoughts like "This hand-drawn art is exceptionally lovely," and "How wonderful that the items are era-appropriate," or "Hey, neat, I get to have a dog!" But the one thought that is more likely to run through your mind far more often than any other is undoubtedly, "Holy crap, this game is hard!" Read more»

The first Fishdom game made a splash with challenging match-3 gameplay and fishtank decorating, while the sequel, Fishdom H2O, switched over to hidden object gameplay. Both games were well-received by players, but match-3 fans will be happy to know that Fishdom: Spooky Splash has gone back to its match-3 roots. Like the first Fishdom, Spooky Splash has you swapping tiles and earning cash to decorate Halloween-themed fish tanks. Read more»

When Alawar Melesta, creator of the popular Farm Frenzy-series, decides to develop a game that can be compared to the surprise hit My Kingdom for the Princess, this could be interesting. While the lack of a proper tutorial for a rather complex game and a somewhat choppy and shortish storyline appear a bit daunting in the beginning, Island Realms nevertheless turns out to be more innovative and engaging than the usual more of the same entry in the casual market. Read more»

A town with $1 million in debts surely does sound familiar to a lot of people nowadays. Accumulating debt is very easy without a doubt, but what can be done to pay them back? What is still a mysterious question in reality is absolutely no problem in Tourist Trap, the new building simulation by developer Zemnott. But while the idea of building attractions sounds fun, Tourist Trap turns out to be as exciting as looking for a needle in a haystack. Read more»

At first, PuppetShow: Mystery of Joyville's seems like many other hidden object games. Its story, about a detective being called in to find a missing child, isn't all that unusual, and its setting of a town in decline provides the locations and background that you might expect. What it does with those elements, however, is startling, disturbing, and absolutely wonderful. Read more»

High school student Becky Brogan has a knack for solving puzzles, and wants to be a detective some day. Her curiosity leads her to investigate a supposedly haunted mansion for a school research project, and she quickly discovers that Meane Manor does indeed have its share of sinister secrets. These secrets are yours to discover in this back-to-basics hidden object game. Read more»

Sometimes, it's nice to curl up and read a good book. But when was the last time you could play a book? In The Stolen Diamond Ring, a new title in the emerging "visual novel" genre, you are really interacting with a novel rather than a game, but its premise is definitely interesting, and worth more than a quick glance. Read more»

I love it when I feel game makers working hard to engage my interest. That's exactly the way I felt while playing Gardenscapes, a new hidden object game from Playrix Entertainment that sports top notch presentation, great art, and game design that kept me perpetually wanting to play just one more puzzle. Read more»

Some hidden object games, naturally, are better than others. And now we've got The Conjurer: A Magical Mystery, a very good but not flawless "HOG" from GameHouse. When it comes to production values, personality and story, this new game delivers the goods, but falls short in other areas. Read more»

Aspiring magic student Irene, whose strange disappearance was the subject of the first Magic Academy game, now has a mystery of her own to solve in Magic Academy II, an uneven hidden object follow-up from Nevosoft that retreads much of the same ground as the original. Read more»

Kindness does pay - just ask Flora. She's exploring her new orchard when she meets an old man and helps him load fruit onto his cart. In return, the mysterious man gives her a magnificent gift: a pair of magical gloves that let her grow fruit trees with the touch of a finger. It's your job to get the orchard buzzing again in Flora's Fruit Farm, a new time management game published by Eidos and developed by Honeyslug. Read more»

Sometimes I wish that I lived in the Land of Casual Games. If I did, there would be a ridiculous number of restaurants, each serving the best quality foods they could muster while I stood there at the counter, hearts ticking away. If I could choose a restaurant to go to, Kitchen Brigade would be high on that list. Read more»

Sally's Quick Clips is a fast paced match-3 game that has you gathering resources to serve beauty salon clients. The game takes place before the events of Sally's Salon and Sally's Spa, although the gameplay mechanics are very different. Read more»

If you're roaming around and happen to see a giant, ominous shaft of light appear emanating from far off in the distance, the general rule of thumb is to steer clear. While ignoring this seemingly obvious safety precaution does not bode particularly well for the gaggle of curious townspeople in Gemini Lost, such foolishness is entertaining and rewarding for the omniscient overseer who invisibly influences them in their daily routines. That's you, by the way. Read more»

Looking for the Next Big Thing in hidden object games (HOGs)? Save Our Spirit isn't it.

 

While this new casual game provides a lot of challenging game-play, it's also a frustrating experience due to tricky (and sometimes unfair) puzzles and other shortcomings. As a result, what could have been a highly-polished and deep HOG ends up as a mediocre experience that's not really worth your time or money.

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Nearly a hundred years ago, Colonel Fawcett set out on an expedition to locate the famed Lost City of Z. Your sister, who was trying to follow the Colonel's trail through the jungle, has also gone missing. Your mission in the hidden object game Lost City of Z is to find her, but be prepared - your journey won't be an easy one. Read more»

These days, hidden object games tend to fall into two categories: those that make a valiant effort to innovate within a genre that has already been thoroughly explored, and those that come off as a little more than an attempt to cash in on our obsession to search for stuff in crowded pictures. Travel League: The Missing Jewels is, unfortunately, a member of the latter group. Read more»

When a game comes along that features a rabbi as the lead character, you can't help but do a double-take. In The Shivah, a point-and-click adventure game from Wadjet Eye Games, that's just what you'll do. Read more»

Amidst all the spooky mansions, archaeological dig sites and yard sales it's sometimes hard to distinguish one hidden object game from the next. There's no danger of that with Moxxie's Tabloid Adventures, the offbeat tale of a tabloid reporter's quest to land the "big scoop." Read more»

It seems like tarot cards are every hidden object game designer's favorite theme these days, but the newest game to be based off the deck, Age of Oracles: Tara's Journey, is really something special. Stunningly designed, it offers some intriguing twists on the familiar HOG formula, and throws in a few clever puzzles, too. Read more»

With autumn fast approaching, people who could not enjoy a well-deserved holiday in the sun are able to make up for it virtually by playing Paradise Beach, the latest creation by developer Astargames. In this building simulation you can get along without sunburn and expensive cocktails, but it certainly has its own catch. In a niche setting represented by popular titles such as Coconut Queen it is hard to stand out, but Paradise Beach does not have to dread any comparison.
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