[Kolorabi]

I have had a lot of fun with it so far. The story is really good (and well told), and I've enjoyed the puzzles too. Some of them are quite clever. As I'm not a native english speaker, I've had some trouble with the word association gameplay (like others here), but it's ok. I suppose (as Aaron Conners said on the game's forum) it would help a lot to play on the easy level.

So yeah, I think people should definitely give it a try. I bought it without hesitation when I saw it was out, and I certainly don't regret that.

[Lacrima]

I initially didn't understand the hype around Braid; I loved the visuals and the audio, and found the narrative interesting, but only managed to embrace it after some time. I wouldn't call it an "adventure game", because it is so experimental that I have reservations classifying it with a term that is so old. Three Cards to Midnight, though, I would definitely not call an "adventure game". I tried liking the gameplay, I found making word association a gameplay device interesting, but it ultimately failed in actually being intriguing play. There is just no fun in randomly clicking objects that are sometimes hardly discernible - the terms the game provides you with are related to the story; the objects you are clicking very rarely are. And just because the developers tell you that the game requires excellent knowledge of English (and generally terms of varying fields) does not make it *fun*. Finding it interesting to play the game with a DICTIONARY? That's not how I want to play a game. If you find a story interesting, I wonder how it can be so enjoyable, and apparently preferable, to be pulled out of it, because you have to search a dictionary. I find it alright if I have to research a little bit for a puzzle, but the best adventures are those that explain their puzzles within their world and immediately weave them into their story. Everything that pulls one out of that is bad game design, in my book.
Three Cards to Midnight has a very interesting atmosphere, and the story seems fine up to now - not overwhelming, because not much has happened so far, but the kind of game it is, is definitely holding back its potential. The performance issues it has on my computer (which should be powerful enough for THIS game), the minimalistic graphics, the navigation, etc., are an additional drawback that is simply unnecessary. It is a low budget game, but the point is that it is deserved criticism, and is preventing me from enjoying the game; I have to mention, as always, when adressing visuals, that I don't mind graphics that are less than up-to-date, but I would have enjoyed graphics that are sharp enough to actually serve the gameplay, or stylized to be enjoyed more.
Whatever kind of game I play, I expect slick game design and a fluent performance - that is the basic principle that is necessary for a game to be thoroughly enjoyable. Then gameplay and story should either be enjoyable as separate parts, or, which is preferable, be interwoven.
Anyways, I firmly believe that the game is not beyond criticism, as I get the feeling it is made out to be. I am looking forward to the rest of the story and am intrigued, but I would have enjoyed it as a novel or play, something I could watch or would not prevent me from experiencing the story, at least, more.

If this all sounded as if I hated the game or didn't like it, that's wrong. But objectively, I had to scrape a lot of it off to see its potential.

[Keregioz]

I must say I agree with Lacrima.

On another note I want to ask those who played the game a question. It seems really weird to me that even though the images in the game like the main menu the use interface the tarot cards etc. are fine the screens with the actual hidden objects are of surprising low quality. They are really "pixelated" like they were scaled down without a filter. Is this normal or is there a setting I'm not aware of?

[orient]

Originally Posted by Keregioz

I must say I agree with Lacrima.

On another note I want to ask those who played the game a question. It seems really weird to me that even though the images in the game like the main menu the use interface the tarot cards etc. are fine the screens with the actual hidden objects are of surprising low quality. They are really "pixelated" like they were scaled down without a filter. Is this normal or is there a setting I'm not aware of?

From the Big Finish Games forum:

The game window defaults to a size that best compliments the graphics. However, for those of you who don't mind sacrificing some quality to get a bigger picture, you can change your screen resolution to 1024x768.

It seems like they outputted their graphics at a pretty low resolution, which is a shame for all of us that have decent computers.

[ggreen737]

Just finished it, took about 4 hours. I had a blast, but 3 cards is not an adventure game. It is a object hunt game, with a unique take on the genre, with some storytelling elements thrown in.

Having said that, if you like word association puzzles, and a pretty cool little story, than for sure pick this one up

[darthmaul]

Originally Posted by ggreen737

Just finished it, took about 4 hours. I had a blast, but 3 cards is not an adventure game. It is a object hunt game, with a unique take on the genre, with some storytelling elements thrown in.

Having said that, if you like word association puzzles, and a pretty cool little story, than for sure pick this one up

4 hours for $20 , with DRM? Blerch!

[Mikane Zaprick]

Wanted to post this as a comment to the review, but I can't figure out how to get a full set of formatting options out there...

"[T]errific noir-inspired musical score; stylish interface design."

That's about all I can agree with on the positive side. I also thought that a couple of the actual puzzles were pretty good. Otherwise this is a huge failure.

Getting beyond the fact that Hidden Object "games" are a mind-numbing ploy by the CIA to mollify those who won't play mindless FPSers... And the tragedy that Chris Jones has wasted his talents backing this dire trend... the HO stuff was, as mentioned, ugly and full of very questionable word-game bad-chestnut game-forces. The scenes looked like stills from 3d renderings - pixelated, blocky, messy. Not good. Missing the boat entirely on the one possibly redeeming factor of a HO game: its beautiful 2d scenes, the kind you are less put off staring at while your mind becomes numb and number

As for the story, I can't believe the praise. I think it might be an attempt to find (pun, yeah) something good in this disappointment. I mean c'mon, what was interesting or original about it? Was it:

The Tarot? ...

Spoiler:

The Runes?

Spoiler:

The Cult?

Spoiler:

The Evil Twin?

...Her Pornstar Breasts?

Okay maybe that last one never loses it's appeal, but the rest is EXTREMELY played-out in a bad-match, game-bust, old-cat way.

To be honest.

[Fien]

I'm even more negative than Lacrima. I'll add that there are no subtitles and I was unable to understand most of what the twin said in their awfully distorted voice. Bugs too.

[QDream]

I'm with those who say that this game is unplayable.. I uninstalled it after 2nd chapter.

[nonax]

People need to remember that "casual games" are not a genre, but a general term that includes all kinds of genres. The fact that a game is more casual doesn't mean it can't be considered at least partly an adventure, just one with a more steamlined approach. Some may consider 3CM to belong squarely in the hidden object category, but we think it's more than that. I admit, 3CM is about as far as we'd want to stretch in terms of cross-genre stuff. But again, it's not like we haven't fully explained what to expect. Some may want to argue labels, but hey, that's why we write the articles.

I think you should play more casual games (although they don't exist as genre) and discover that the quality over there is much higher than you would expect. Certainly higher then TCM, for example Sherlock Holmes The Mystery of the Persian Carpet to name one. The only difference might be that the TCM story is targeted at a mature audience. However I still think the story is very thin and nothing more than a mediocre twilight zone episode.

But coming to think of that, aren't times ready for a section on casual games, rather than hitting the genre now and then just because the makers have made there marks in the adventure scene.
I mean, there are big differences in quality and gameplay, and there are so many out there you don't know where to start!

[nonax]

Originally Posted by ggreen737

Just finished it, took about 4 hours. I had a blast, but 3 cards is not an adventure game. It is a object hunt game, with a unique take on the genre, with some storytelling elements thrown in.

Having said that, if you like word association puzzles, and a pretty cool little story, than for sure pick this one up

Then you should have another look at other object hunters. There are many, many more with a good story and fresh gameplay. TCM is certainly not unique in that matter.

[ggreen737]

Originally Posted by nonax

Then you should have another look at other object hunters. There are many, many more with a good story and fresh gameplay. TCM is certainly not unique in that matter.

Alright, like what? As far as object hunt games go, this is it, so enlighten me

[orient]

I just finished this game and have to say that despite being a more primitive offering, 3 Cards to Midnights tells a better story than most "fully-fledged" adventure games. The fact that it tells a gripping tale isn't even it's greatest achievement, either. It's the way the gameplay is inextricably linked to the unfolding narrative that makes the game interesting to play.

In some adventure games, the gameplay and narrative are so fractured that you forget what you're trying to achieve and that becomes a big problem in story-driven game experiences. Even though the majority of 3CM is spent clicking on inanimate (and often seemingly out of place) objects in static environments, I remained interested because it was directly connected to rekindling your memory and furthering the plot.

I refuse to label 3CM a hidden object game, because it's not really about finding hidden objects at all. It's more about investigating and associating what you see with what you (your character) remembers.

There's so much I could say about how the gameplay enhances the story by forcing true cognitive stimulation, as opposed to mindlessly combining items and clicking on hot-spots. I could probably write a feature on this game. Staff members...if you're interested

As a side, I feel the graphics were intentionally toned down for a smaller "casual download-friendly" file size. It's a shame, because it is a pretty jagged, rough looking game and that does affect the gameplay a bit. The 3D scenes are totally on a budget, but if that's what it takes to get these type of narrative experiences from indie developers then I can deal with it.

[AndreaDraco83]

Glad to hear that you liked it as much as I did

[Keregioz]

I guess the story was kinda interesting...but the game totally failed to make me feel part of it or care about the characters. It was more like I was just watching it unfold piece by piece through small cut scenes and in between I had to play tedious illogical word play games. It would have worked much MUCH better in a real adventure game. The puzzles were nice though, but in the end they didn't make any difference.
I guess maybe we shouldn't call the game a hidden object game exactly but a word play game. But it's still definitely a casual game. It has some adventure game elements but then so do most of casual HOGs.
Personally I didn't feel like the word play game was ingeniously implemented in the gameplay. I guess it was clever up to some point as an idea but I fail to see the genius in trying to make as much word associations you can with random and often completely out of place objects in order to trigger lost memories.

[SharonB]

I liked this game. It was the first casual/hidden object game I played and I was quite surprised to find it so much fun. I enjoyed the word game association and I thought the puzzles interesting.

My only dissapointment was the size of screen for the cut scenes. I felt like squinting to see it.

I am definitely going to buy 3 Cards to Death and hope that the cut scenes are larger. (And perhaps the resolution higher.)

[orient]

I can understand adventure fans finding the gameplay underwhelming, which would certainly detract from the experience. I don't think the word/object gameplay is a total stroke of genius or anything, but it served the narrative perfectly in my opinion. But if you don't enjoy the gameplay, you don't enjoy the gameplay. Simple as that. I think I was intruiged and maybe more pleasantly surprised than most because I'd never played a hidden object game before, so that type of game was completely new to me.

I'll certainly be buying their next game, too. It'll be interesting to see what they improve upon and how they respond to fan feedback and things.

I can't believe you can buy full adventure games at bigfishgames.com for $6.99. Obviously there's the $6.99 subscription fee, but still, you get a free game with that and $14 is still pretty cheap to play games like Syberia. It's a good service for playing games that you're not going to play again.

[TezChi]

Im so torn on this...one one hand I want to give it ago but on the other I have a big feeling I simply wont like this "casual" style.

[trueg]

I plan on getting this game for my wife. She loves casual games of all varieties. She has played many hidden object games and it seems to me, in those games, you often have to find truly 'hidden' objects. Like a candy cane in the window curtain. She tried a timed (60 min) demo of 3CM through RealGames and said she really enjoyed it. I watched her play a bit and there is definitely more thinking involved in word association then randomly finding 'hidden' objects. Also, she had to do a zodiac puzzle that required I look up the symbols online (similar to what you would find in a game like 7th Guest).

I'm not much for casual games myself (currently playing TLJ & Mass Effect), but I might give this game a shot myself. Either way, I want Big Finish Games to be successful so that hopefully one day they can put out a full length adventure game (crosses fingers for a new Tex Murphy adventure).

[ightenhill]

What I find absolutely appaling from the demo is the resolution and graphics quality in the puzzle sections.. Is it meant to be played on a zx spectrum!!