Latest Reviews

Divorce. Revenge. A mysterious death. A missing Will. Two teams of thieves in an empty casino. No, it's not the latest Hollywood drama-it's a new hidden object adventure game from Funkitron called Slingo Mystery. An ambitious attempt to combine a sophisticated mystery with a casual game where every object and mini-game is part of the plot, the end result falls short of instant classic status but still provides a lot of original entertainment. Read more»

Alex is an out-of-work musician struggling to come up with rent money until she learns about a Battle of the Bands contest at her local club. This could be the big break that her former band, the Iron Roses, need to take them to fame and fortune! The problem is that all of her bandmates have gone their separate ways. Can Alex reunite the Iron Roses in time for the concert? And will they sound any good after all this time? You'll find out in Iron Roses, a new point-and-click adventure game from Sandlot and Cateia Games, the folks who made The Legend of Crystal Valley. Read more»

Many of the kings and queens who appear in World of Zellians: Kingdom Builder display patently poor judgment when it comes to cultivating their realms (much like some of our own leaders, oddly enough). Good thing we're here to keep them on the straight and narrow. As travelling city architects players construct the houses, shops, farms, and community facilities each town needs to safely grow and prosper in this routine but still satisfying city builder. Read more»

Emily - a young artist who wants to make her dreams come true - returns to her abandoned childhood home in New York City to search for her missing uncle. Instead of finding him, she discovers many keys, clues and a rundown townhome in the hidden object game Keys to Manhattan. Read more»

Down on your luck, alone and broke, you can always turn to the one place that can change your luck from downtrodden poverty to stinking rich in a matter of minutes - a casino! Once Upon a Time in Chicago is a rags-to-riches mini-game collection set in prohibition era Chicago. It sounds like it has the makings of a grand adventure, but this is one casino story we're not betting on. Read more»

"Never fear, Nanny is here," says Nanny Stella of Nanny 911, the TV show that inspired this game. Parents with their own children may not care to play Nanny 911 when they already live and breathe the job, and everyone else might find that playing the unoriginal time management game often feels more punishing than entertaining. Read more»

Our favorite trader of delicious recipes, magical potions, and elegant fabrics Miriel is back for another adventure in Miriel's Enchanted Mystery. Again you will find yourself within a story full of magic, schemes, and travels. The second part of the series tries to combine the classic formulas of time management and hidden-object gameplay, but will it really succeed? Or is Miriel's Enchanted Mystery just another lame attempt to satisfy two different audiences at the same time? Read more»

After putting the wily Octopus behind bars, Steve the Sheriff is looking forward to taking it easy. He's been given the honor of cutting the ribbon on the Neptuneville Museum's newest exhibit, the Mona Meduza, but before he can so much as sharpen the scissors, the painting is stolen. A lawman lobster's work is never done. Read more»

In reality it took decades and the effort of thousands of workers to create monuments such as the sphinx or the Pyramid of Cheops. The latest building sim Empire Builder - Ancient Egypt by developer Iguana Entertainment enables the player to experience those miracles of architecture much quicker. While the game might lack the challenge and complexity of similar titles, it is still worth a look for players searching for a resource management title in a new setting. Read more»

With Little Shop: World Traveler GameHouse is now half a dozen games into its popular Little Shop series of hidden object games, and it's clear the developer is holding firmly to the old philosophy of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." Despite a change in theme (rather than working local shops we now travel around the world to hunt down specialty items), returning players will immediately recognize the franchise's distinctive hint systems, bonus modes, and game design. Read more»

In mythology, Pandora's Box was a jar that unleashed numerous evils upon mankind. However, in Alawar Entertainment's latest hidden object adventure Vampire Saga: Pandora's Box, Pandora is actually a ship. Yet within the creaking wooden belly of this vessel, true to the name of Pandora, a dark secret and deadly danger lurks. You'll join Matthew Ward in this haunting tale as he finds himself alone on Pandora, a grim cloud over the ship abandoned out at sea. Read more»

There have been many people who travel to Hollywood looking to produce that one big blockbuster movie. If only they'd played Tinseltown Dreams: The 50's, they would know it's as simple as completing a few match-3 puzzles! Read more»

Regardless of dietary preferences, regional menu choices or personal tastes, there's one universal constant when it comes to the food cycle: big things eat little things. It should come as no surprise then that this rule isn't restricted to consumption here on Earth. Osmos is a game that takes the food chain and applies it on a cosmic scale. Equal parts hypnotic and majestic, Osmos takes zen gaming to a whole new level. Read more»

Preserving the rainforest is one of the most important eco-missions mankind faces today. With thousands of unique native species and a rich history, including ancient human civilizations, the rainforest is a truly special place. Identifying various animals, restoring broken habitats, and cleaning up after the pollution affecting the world's rainforests are all elements of Big Fish's latest hidden object game EcoRescue: Project Rainforest. Read more»

Science fiction isn't particularly well represented in the adventure game genre, so Journey to the Center of the Moon is a welcome change of pace. But while it starts out very promising, and provides an enticing world to explore, it unfortunately gets bogged down in some truly frustrating puzzles that spoil the entire experience. Read more»

When you're working on a sequel to a game that has sold more than 17 million copies worldwide, you must strike that perfect balance between not messing with the winning formula yet also adding enough new features to justify the purchase. 

 

How did PopCap Games fare with the follow-up to 2003's Zuma? Very well, but the savvy game makers erred on the side of caution by staying true to what made the original game an extraordinary success - rather than attempting to deliver something different. If you're a Zuma fan and want more of the same, this great-looking follow-up will provide many hours of ball-bursting fun, but those expecting something fresh might feel PopCap dropped that ball.

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If match-three games suffer from a single flaw, it's that most of them don't give you a reason for your efforts beyond achieving a higher score. BumbleTales takes a slightly different approach: Instead of trying to rise to the top of a leader board, you're helping restore a community. Read more»

Be Rich has become the real estate gaming equivalent to what Turbo Subs is to food time management titles - which means incredibly fast-paced and challenging gameplay. The sequel with the highly creative name Be Richer by developer Divo Games takes exactly the same line - but is there more to discover than just a tedious rehash of what was once an already good-but-not-great game? Read more»

If you're getting a little burned out by the seemingly endless wave of hidden object games ("HOGs"), the third release in Anarchy Enterprises' Hide & Secret series won't do much to convince you otherwise. It's not a bad game, no, but certainly below the quality you've grown to expect from today's HOG offerings. Read more»

You don't have to be confused if you should encounter a feeling of déjà vu while playing MONOPOLY: Build-a-lot Edition. In fact, you are playing a hybrid of Build-a-lot 2 and Monopoly, although the shares of the latter are of minor significance. The idea of combining the probably most popular board game about real estate management and the counterpart of the casual market sounds utterly compelling, but sometimes it's all on the surface. Read more»

The ladies of the Women's Murder Club are back for what may be their most challenging case yet. In Twice in a Blue Moon, someone is carefully copying famous serial killers like Jack the Ripper and the Boston Strangler, leaving plenty of evidence but few clues to his identity. Lindsay, Claire, and Cindy frantically try to unravel his riddles before another victim falls prey to his madness. Read more»

At times both morose and beautiful, Drawn: The Painted Tower unfolds like a grim fairytale set in a land devoid of all happiness. When the last bastion of hope, a special young girl with magical drawing abilities, falls in imminent peril, you must brave the dangerous, puzzle-filled magical hallways of the tower she's imprisoned in to save her before time runs out. Very little is what it appears to be, and the further you ascend towards the dark spire the deeper you'll be drawn into this strange, imaginative world. Read more»

I SPY: Fun House, the latest interactive spinoff of Scholastic's popular hidden object picture books, proves that a good hidden object game can appeal to virtually all demographics. My kindergarten-aged daughter loves the paper versions of these puzzles, and she had just as much fun working through their digital counterparts. I - a man 30 years her senior - played with her, and I'm pretty sure we were both equally engaged. Read more»

Horatio's Travels puts you in the shoes...er, flippers...of a penguin entrepreneur as he sets off to bring yummy ice cream around the globe. Given the cartoonish graphics and overall cuteness and simplicity, I'd have to say that it's a game made for kids or families, and not your typical time management fan. Read more»

Angela Young 2: Escape the Dreamscape follows a pattern of story-telling that can only be described as heavily influenced by Alice in Wonderland. Angela finds herself lost in the Dreamscape. Having lost her cat, Felix, along the way, Angela must find her way back out and recover Felix before the Lord of Nightmares complicates matters even further. Read more»