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  • The Blackwell Epiphany Review
    Reviews
    • iOS
    • PC
    The Blackwell Epiphany Review

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    What seems like just another day on the job for spirit-wrangling Rosa Blackwell turns out to be an adventure cumulative of everything she has experienced through her entire life. While The Blackwell Epiphany was my first experience with the series, it was clear in no time that the writers at Wadjet Eye Games were raising the stakes in Epiphany higher than they ever dared to raise them before. With guest appearances by characters from way back from the first game, The Blackwell Epiphany powerfully and poetically concludes a game series which has lasted nearly a decade.The Blackwell Epiphany is a point-and-click adventure where players control two protagonists (Rosalinda "Rosa" Blackwell and her ghost sidekick, Joey) who are tasked with finding restless spirits and guiding them to the afterlife to finally find peace. While Epiphany does feature a few puzzles, a staple of the point-and-click genre, the majority of "puzzles" involve uncovering facts by grinding characters for information, and conducting online research through Rosa's smartphone. About halfway through the game I fell into the rhythm of searching online, checking with the police, and asking suspects about a new piece of information I had uncovered. By the end of Epiphany I felt like I was ready to be a paranormal investigator myself. 
  • Broken Sword 5: The Serpent’s Curse – Episode 2 Review
    Reviews
    • iOS
    • PC
    Broken Sword 5: The Serpent’s Curse – Episode 2 Review

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    Nico and George are back on the road with Broken Sword 5: The Serpent's Curse - Episode 2. The previous episode of the fan-funded adventure game ended on a cliffhanger, with the conspiracy-loving duo barely escaping London with their lives. Episode 2 keeps up the pace by delving more into the mystery of La Maledicció, a stolen painting that allegedly harbors a world-changing secret.The hefty length of Nico and George's newest adventure made it necessary for Revolution Software to split Broken Sword 5 in half. Episode2 plays much like Episode 1 as a result, meaning the latter retains the former's strengths and weaknesses alike. But Episode 2's story should keep you engaged through all its twists and turns, which is arguably the most important thing you can say about an adventure game.
  • Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft Review
    Reviews
    • iOS
    • PC
    Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft Review

    By

    I've already written about how much I love Hearthstone. I talked about how the game is a ballet of mathematic interactions glazed with Blizzard's trademark visual flair, production values and the World of Warcraft aesthetic. I probably said something about how the free-to-play elements are balanced with in-game currency that accrues at just the right speed to keep you from ever feeling obligated to spend real money.I've admittedly fallen off my daily quest schedule quite hard in the months since Hearthstone's official release out of beta, but now it's on iPad. Now the game has changed.Except that it hasn't, really, which is a good thing. It's a fantastic thing, as Hearthstone was already a fantastic game. The transition to a mobile platform hasn't changed that. In fact, it feels rather like the game has come home.
  • Moebius: Empire Rising Review
    Reviews
    • iOS
    • PC
    Moebius: Empire Rising Review

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    Moebius: Empire Rising has an impressive adventure game pedigree thanks to creator Jane Jensen's genre-defining work at Sierra, and on the Gabriel Knight series specifically.  Her commitment to quality writing, characters, and plot in each Gabriel Knight entry opened the point-and-click adventure up to explorations of deeper, more mature subjects that have persevered through modern entries like those from Wadjet Eye.  Moebius maintains this focus on writing and story, playing out like a page-turner mystery that also happens to be filled with ingenious puzzles and challenges.The story revolves around our protagonist, Malachi Rector, a world-renowned genius who utilizes his photographic memory and knowledge of history to appraise priceless antiques and expose fakes.  We learn early on that this is no desk job: Malachi travels the globe to meet the needs of his clients and has been sent to the hospital by some who have received less savory appraisals. At the start of Moebius, Malachi is approached by a government agency, FITA, to investigate the death of a young woman in Venice.  He is not expected to solve the murder, but simply research the woman's life and use his talents to decide if her biography parallels that of anyone in history.  Of course, this unique assignment becomes the gateway to a much larger mystery and conspiracy that ensnares Malachi and the player for seven chapters.
  • The Wolf Among Us: Episode 3 – A Crooked Mile Review
    Reviews
    • iOS
    • PC
    The Wolf Among Us: Episode 3 – A Crooked Mile Review

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    The first two episodes of The Wolf Among Us got me thinking about how interactive media can transcend games. After all, Telltale's take on the world of Fables plays more like an interactive film than a traditional point-click-adventure.With episode three, a new thought dawned on me: as much as Telltale's approach to the medium can reinvent the way we tell stories, The Wolf Among Us is an equally brilliant example of how well suited this new form of storytelling is to mysteries.Picking up where the cliffhanger in Episode 2: Smoke and Mirrors left off, my initial thoughts weren't of what's next, but what came before. I found myself piecing together the bits and pieces of information I'd been fed, weighing them against the narrative, and starting to draw my own conclusions. Do I think their suspect is the guilty party? Why or why not? What evidence have I been shown to support it? And if I don't think they are, what do the clues that have been revealed tell me about who the real killer might be?It's the digital equivalent of an Agatha Christie novel.
  • Warhammer 40,000: Storm of Vengeance Review
    Reviews
    • iOS
    • PC
    Warhammer 40,000: Storm of Vengeance Review

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    Warhammer 40,000: Storm of Vengeance is something called a "lane strategy game," and yes, that's "lane," not "lame," although truth be told... well, never mind. I don't want to spoil any surprises, and it's not an awful game by any stretch. It's just not very good, as either a strategy game or a Warhammer title."Lane strategy games," as far as I can tell, are those in which enemy forces approach one another on a battlefield composed of - you guessed it - lanes, meeting and clashing in a kind of a "Showdown at the O.K. Bowling Alley." Plants vs. Zombies is probably the best-known (and quite possibly the only known) example of the genre, and it's the game that most quickly springs to mind as a comparison. Sadly, that's not because Storm of Vengeance shares that game's wit, artistry or excitement - it doesn't. The resemblance is purely mechanical and, as I soon discovered, somewhat superficial.Rather than an attack-and-defend scenario, in this game the player and the AI-controlled enemy send forces against each other, one side representing the Dark Angel Space Marines and the other the Ork Waaagh!, each occupying opposite ends of a battlefield composed of five lanes. Units are created by collecting and spending resources - Redemption for the Space Marines, Teef for the Orks - and can be immediately sent on their way or stored, in very limited numbers, for later use.
  • Heroine’s Quest Review
    Reviews
    • PC
    Heroine’s Quest Review

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    There's a simple test to decide if Heroine's Quest is right for you.  If you played, enjoyed, and pined for more Quest for Glory games, you've passed the test.  You should be playing Heroine's Quest right now.  As a spiritual successor and homage to Sierra's RPG-slash-adventure series, Crystal Shard's modern installment feels right at home amidst its inspirations, and could easily slip into a library of their ranks unnoticed.  It brings with it a full-sized world and story, updated gameplay (a point-and-click engine, not the original text parser), and plenty of charm and tongue-in-cheek humor that would have matched wits with Sierra back in the day.Gamers unfamiliar with Quest for Glory may need a bit more direction in their decision tree.  Although Quest for Glory and Heroine's Quest look like standard point-and-click adventure games at first glance, this is far from the truth.  They are role-playing games, with random encounters, battles, side quests, armor, and skills to contend with.  Your Heroine will fight trolls, level up, grow hungry, agree to help villagers, sometimes fail to help villagers, and explore a large, open world.  Point-and-click adventuring still comes into play, though, and there is plenty of item collecting, puzzle solving, and dialogue-branching throughout the game's more active—and open-ended—quests.
  • Escape Goat 2 Review
    Reviews
    • iOS
    • PC
    Escape Goat 2 Review

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    Released in late 2011 for the Xbox 360 and then in the summer of 2012 for the PC, Escape Goat was a quirky puzzle-platformer about both a goat imprisoned in a deadly, trapped-filled dungeon for the crime of practicing witchcraft, and an immortal, magical mouse who helps him escape. Quirky, and also very good if you like that sort of thing, although not particularly easy on the eyes: I noted in my review that the retro-style graphics were "adequate for the task but not much else."Escape Goat 2 is "problem solved," as they say. It's essentially the original Escape Goat all over again, but with more puzzles - more than 100 in total - and a very pleasing visual update. The Goat is back, imprisoned again along with his magic Mouse buddy and a flock of not-terribly-motivated sheep, this time deep within the Stronghold of Toragos. None have ever escaped - but you're the Escape Goat!