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I'm a video game critic, game designer and obsessive gamer. I play everything, but my real love is old school point-and-click adventure games so when the zombies come, I'll be hunkered down in a bunker with my Keurig, my dogs, and a copy of Gabriel Knight: The Beast Within.
  • Haunted Hotel: Charles Dexter Ward Review
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    • iOS
    • PC
    Haunted Hotel: Charles Dexter Ward Review

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    Though most of horror writer H.P. Lovecraft's stories were penned between 80 and 100 years ago, they're still potent enough to scare the pants off modern audiences. This month, Specialbit (makers of the Haunted Hotel series) do their best to tap into the Lovecraft magic in their latest hidden object adventure, Haunted Hotel: Charles Dexter Ward. Unfortunately, while the game is definitely an improvement over its predecessors, it seems not even H.P. Lovecraft can save it from those games' lackluster legacy.
  • Amazing Adventures: Riddle of the Two Knights Review
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    • iOS
    • PC
    Amazing Adventures: Riddle of the Two Knights Review

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    You gotta hand it to Spintop Games; they're nothing if not consistent. Amazing Adventures: Riddle of the Two Knights is the fifth game in the company's Amazing Adventures series, and it does an incredible job of recreating the gameplay of the previous four. Some might say an uncanny job of it. The result is a simplistic, mediocre-looking game built on hours and hours of mindless repetition.
  • Tesla’s Tower: The Wardenclyffe Mystery Review
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    • iOS
    • PC
    Tesla’s Tower: The Wardenclyffe Mystery Review

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    I love hidden object games, but I admit I'm not crazy about their general lack of narrative finesse. The majority of them are entirely item-driven, built on the idea of collecting items and figuring out where to use them. Persha Studia's new hidden object adventure, Tesla's Tower: The Wardenclyffe Mystery is a great game because it does what so many titles in the genre do not: it goes beyond using popular hidden object mechanics for their own sake, and puts them to work telling a good story.
  • Final Cut: Death on the Silver Screen Review
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    • iOS
    • PC
    Final Cut: Death on the Silver Screen Review

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    Serbian developer Eipix Entertainment is known for being a work-for-hire company and only recently began developing their own IP's (intellectual properties). The time spent working on other publishers' titles was obviously a good investment. However, as evidenced by the quality of the company's inaugural title, a hidden object adventure called Final Cut: Death on the Silver Screen, they're perfectly capible on their own. The title, aside from a few niggling defects, is highly entertaining and extremely well-made.
  • Lost Bubble Review
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    Lost Bubble Review

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    We in the West don't normally think of Turkey as a nation of gamers or game developers, so most of us would be surprised to find that Facebook boasts 32 million Turkish subscribers. This month, Turkish game developer Peak Games brings us Facebook's newest bubble popper, Lost Bubble, a game that clearly demonstrates the potential of Middle Eastern game companies. It also suggests that while Peak Games knows how to recognize and jump on a hot new genre, it hasn't yet discovered how to expand upon it.
  • Seaside Hideaway Review
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    Seaside Hideaway Review

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    In the last couple of years, social games have really evolved. Having started as simple games conveyed mainly through text, they've become increasingly complex, good-looking and varied. We have social game developer Zynga to thank for creating one of the best known types of social game—the social city (or farm or castle) building sim. In Seaside Hideaway, Pow Games, publishers of hidden object game Dream Inn: Driftwood, attempt to recreate Zynga's ubiquitous (some might say "insidious") location management mechanics and succeed, albeit all too well.
  • Slingo Supreme 2 Review
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    • iOS
    • PC
    Slingo Supreme 2 Review

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    Developer Funkitron has built its name on Slingo and has released a number of successful Slingo titles. Personally, the pure slots-plus-bingo idea never interested me much, but I became a convert once Funkitron began incorporating adventure-style elements into the games. The company's latest release, Slingo Supreme 2 ignores the adventure aspect, however, and returns to the pure Slingo format, doubling down on the number of powerups and minigames. Sadly, this is one of those times where bigger isn't necessarily better.
  • Dark Alleys: Penumbra Motel Review
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    • iOS
    • PC
    Dark Alleys: Penumbra Motel Review

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    It's unusual for expert adventure game makers ERS Game Studios to stumble. The company's a well-oiled machine, cranking out top-selling hidden object adventures at an unbelievable rate. Perhaps it's speed that's to blame for the so-so success of its latest adventure, Dark Alleys: Penumbra Motel. Whatever the reason, this title, though exhibiting all the quality ingredients of an ERS production, never really comes together. In the end it does little justice to the ERS name.