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I just played 2 demos (about 20 min each, skipping through cut scenes and dialogue), The Secret Order Beyond Time CE and Puppet Show Price of Immortality CE. The production values are quite developed, lots of colour and movement, especially compared to my last game, Mystery of the Lost Planet. However both suffer from the same flaws of lots to do, but no thought required. The mini games were simple, the HOGS interactive and very linear (Find A to use on B to open C, etc.). Each game had it’s own side kick, with special powers, another trend I’m not taken with. Maybe I didn’t play them long enough to get to the good stuff, but I am disappointed.
I just played 2 demos (about 20 min each, skipping through cut scenes and dialogue), The Secret Order Beyond Time CE and Puppet Show Price of Immortality CE. The production values are quite developed, lots of colour and movement, especially compared to my last game, Mystery of the Lost Planet. However both suffer from the same flaws of lots to do, but no thought required. The mini games were simple, the HOGS interactive and very linear (Find A to use on B to open C, etc.). Each game had it’s own side kick, with special powers, another trend I’m not taken with. Maybe I didn’t play them long enough to get to the good stuff, but I am disappointed.
I have noticed the same thing with recent big studio games. One BigFish reviewer said that they were designed for people who like to click their mouse. One of the reasons I enjoyed Lost Planet and Big SEcret of Small Town despite their flaws.
They do still make good games, for example the recently reviewed Lost Lands: 4 Horsemen is good but I hate to see series’ that I enjoyed previously, like Secret Order, start down this road.
I just played 2 demos (about 20 min each, skipping through cut scenes and dialogue), The Secret Order Beyond Time CE and Puppet Show Price of Immortality CE. The production values are quite developed, lots of colour and movement, especially compared to my last game, Mystery of the Lost Planet. However both suffer from the same flaws of lots to do, but no thought required. The mini games were simple, the HOGS interactive and very linear (Find A to use on B to open C, etc.). Each game had it’s own side kick, with special powers, another trend I’m not taken with. Maybe I didn’t play them long enough to get to the good stuff, but I am disappointed.
I have noticed the same thing with recent big studio games. One BigFish reviewer said that they were designed for people who like to click their mouse. One of the reasons I enjoyed Lost Planet and Big SEcret of Small Town despite their flaws.
They do still make good games, for example the recently reviewed Lost Lands: 4 Horsemen is good but I hate to see series’ that I enjoyed previously, like Secret Order, start down this road.
What a coincidence. I have just started playing Lost Lands: 4 Horsemen. 
However both suffer from the same flaws of lots to do, but no thought required. The mini games were simple, the HOGS interactive and very linear (Find A to use on B to open C, etc.). Each game had it’s own side kick, with special powers, another trend I’m not taken with…
That’s the trouble with most Big Fish offerings these days. It’s like Big Fish took the various feedback they’ve received and fed it into a computer to create a “composite gamer” whose preferences match the bulk of the feedback—and then they target the bulk of their games towards that hypothetical gamer, who apparently is dreadful at puzzle-solving.
Another problem with some games at Big Fish is the use of weird tinting—like the turquoise and pink coloration that was one of the things that put me off of Dark Dimensions: Homecoming.
http://www.bigfishgames.com/games/8547/dark-dimensions-homecoming/?pc
I don’t know if turquoise and pink palette is a “feature” of that particular developer, but I’ve seen it in other games and didn’t like it then either.
Well, with the exception of a few game series, (Mystery Case Files, Revenhurst and the Drawn Trilogy are three,) BigFish is merely the distributor of games for the various developers.
But I’m sure BFG provides the developers with significant marketing data. Not the least of which is probably the monthly sales figures. Plus, the developers can easily log onto the BFG site and extract whatever review data they find useful. It wouldn’t take a genius to figure out that if a non-HOG, difficult-puzzle-laden game such as Big Secret sold 500 games in the last three months, and the latest Puppetshow sold 5000 units in its first week, that the game design used in Big Secret is probably not the way to go if you want to make money designing games.
Which is a real shame because what’s left is a homogeneous mass that makes the plotline of most games interchangeable. Simply substitute hero for heroine, alien for monster, plague for curse and change the environment from town to jungle, and Voila!, you have a new game to market.
The other problem is that there are still a few of us left that prefer a bit more challenge. And that means more than simply upping the difficulty level from casual to advanced. By dumbing down the gameplay process to the lowest common denominator I believe the casual gaming industry is in danger of losing its audience.
I think the audience is divided into two segments. Interestingly, I don’t believe either of the segments represents an entry into “real” adventures. Rather, I believe that one of the segments is represented by me, a die-hard adventure gamer that rarely finds the time to play adventures, but satisfies his need for a “fix” by playing casuals. And they will lose me if the developers continue down the path of designing their games to be less adventure-lite and start catering exclusively to the casual game player. The latter is the second segment, and is more than adequately represented by my wife. She loves casual games. The easier the better. She uses the Skip button often. I’ve tried to introduce her to the adventure game world on several occasions, but with no success.
The more the developers cater to my wife, the greater the possibility that they will lose me. And the more they rely on my wife as a customer, the more the likelihood that what we call casual games will turn into interactive romance novels that require no gaming expertise at all. I’m sure she would get tired of that real soon.
I think this might be similar to the “decline” of the adventure game. (Although you would never know it now.) One day a game designer, or a corporate suit, probably said “You know RPGs are cutting into our sales. Maybe if we add some RPG elements into our adventure we could sell a few more games.” And later the same thing happened when FPS elements were added. Although those were affectionately called “action sequences” in deference to DOOM. And we know what happened. Adventure game sales declined starting in the mid-to-late 1990s, and have only started to recover in the last five or so years. (Yes, there were other reasons, but this is not a treatise on the rise and fall.)
I predict that sometime down the road we will be purchasing our casual adventure games from independent developers, and we will deal directly with them rather than through BFG. Those will be the indie developers that design the type of casual game I like to play. And we might as well throw Kickstarter into the equation.
Enough of me on a soapbox. But this is an interesting topic. And I would certainly like to hear views from anyone other than me.
For whom the games toll,
they toll for thee.
I think you may have a very valid point there, unfortunately.
The truth can’t hurt you, it’s just like the dark: it scares you witless but in time you see things clear and stark. - Elvis Costello
Maybe this time I can be strong, but since I know who I am, I’m probably wrong. Maybe this time I can go far, but thinking about where I’ve been ain’t helping me start. - Michael Kiwanuka
Rather, I believe that one of the segments is represented by me, a die-hard adventure gamer that rarely finds the time to play adventures, but satisfies his need for a “fix” by playing casuals.
Or, in my case, an adventure gamer with a specific taste for puzzle based games which are few and far between these days.
I’m at the point now where I get interested in a casual game that has poor reviews on BF. More often than not, these will be more challenging games that do not appeal to the masses.
I finished the SE of Shiver: The Lily’s Req last night.
Unlike the previous “Shivers” games I played, it was not a ghost story
and nothing in the game was spooky.
There was one point where I went into an area with a fountain and the “monster” just stood
there motionless, somehow balanced on its tail, while I was nonchalantly rooting around
the fountain looking for stuff. Instead of feeling it was dangerous, I was wondering why
it didn’t fall over from being so topheavy. I guess it stayed upright by “magic.”
I checked out the bonus game on YouTube before purchasing to see if the bonus game
contained the “real” ending. It looks like the “villain” comes back to life at the
beginning of the bonus game, and you have to defeat her all over again.
The end of the bonus game hinted at the possibility that she would return in 60 years
So it looked to me as if the main game had a more satisfying ending
and I purchased the SE.
The game is so different from the previous Shiver games I’ve played (Vanishing Hitchhiker
and one of the others), that I suspect it was not intended to be a “Shiver” game at all
—but had the Shiver label slapped on it because “Shiver” was ranked as a popular series.
In fact, I wonder if much of the game graphics weren’t originally intended to be
used for a completely different game, which was cancelled—and the developer
decided to re-purpose the graphics.
Just finished Lost Lands Four Horsemen SE. I’d give it a 3.5/5. The challenge was negotiating the expanded lands and remembering where you saw the hot spot needed for the item you just picked up. Many times it wasn’t exactly straight forward, which I appreciated. The map was useful in a general way, it just directed you to an area rather than a specific scene. The HOGs were interactive, and the minigames were simple without being mindless. I was a long game, and there was lots of animated characters, environmental movement and colour.
Big Secret is probably not the way to go if you want to make money designing games.
I agree with you, Tim. But that kind of casual game is what I want. The last casual games I played are just the same boring stuff. Some makers are more interest in the “easy going - easy coming” way of making money. Except for EIPIX, which games are really nice. The last “Off the Record” was a good game.
Unlike the previous “Shivers” games I played, it was not a ghost story
and nothing in the game was spooky.I checked out the bonus game on YouTube before purchasing to see if the bonus game
contained the “real” ending.So it looked to me as if the main game had a more satisfying ending
and I purchased the SE.The game is so different from the previous Shiver games I’ve played (Vanishing Hitchhiker and one of the others), that I suspect it was not intended to be a “Shiver” game at all—but had the Shiver label slapped on it because “Shiver” was ranked as a popular series.
In fact, I wonder if much of the game graphics weren’t originally intended to be
used for a completely different game, which was cancelled—and the developer
decided to re-purpose the graphics.
Sounds like we are saying the same thing in different ways. My game review also noted the differing graphic styles, but you took an entirely different tack. That was interesting.
For whom the games toll,
they toll for thee.
I just finished the new Mystery Case Files game, Dire Grove, Sacred Grove, and I’m going to recommend it for a playthrough. It has some HOPs, but there’s a lot of variety in the kind presented. It’s a long game with a good story, and the bonus material in the CE version is really worth playing. It adds another couple of hours to the playtime and doesn’t spoil the main story at all. Keep your eyes open for a sale or save your credits. The only disadvantage of the game is you’ll need your long johns while playing it in the winter.
I started playing MCF Sacred Grove yesterday.
I got the SE in hoping to avoid some of the “collectible” nonsense.
So far I’ve encountered 4 puzzles that are similar to the “door puzzles” in the early MCF Ravenhearst game.
I was glad to see some of those, since I haven’t seen them in other games.
However I’m not sure if the overall quality of the “door puzzles” in this game is quite as good, or whether the clues just aren’t as obvious. I’ve used the “Hint” with them at times, and it gives you a clue for the next thing to do, so you aren’t left with having to automatically solve the whole thing if you get stuck. However I still had to check an online walkthrough in one case because I couldn’t figure out what object was being referred to in the Hint.
I’ve been saving MCF Dire Grove Sacred Grove CE for a special occasion. It may as well be to join in a playthrough if there is one.
I think if you go back a few pages you will see that there is a consensus of opinion that believes that the recent lack of activity in this thread is due to the back-to-back-to-back Casual Community Playthroughs. I can’t disagree with that assessment.
So the plan for the foreseeable future is to limit the number of playthroughs to no more than one-per-month, and perhaps one every other month.
If that doesn’t happen there is no way anyone will be able to devote the time to do what this thread was created to do….play, discuss and review casual games.
FWIW both Dire Grove games were in the running for the most recent CCPT. They were paired similar to the Enigmatis playthrough and the current Drawn trilogy playthrough. So hang onto that thought.
I’ll be posting a mini-review of Dark Tales - Edgar Allan Poe’s The Mystery of Marie Roget. It’s another in the series of ERS Game’s takes on Poe’s short stories. Hint: It’s not as good as some earlier games, but it isn’t horrible. Black Cat is still my favorite.
For whom the games toll,
they toll for thee.
I’ll be posting a mini-review of Dark Tales - Edgar Allan Poe’s The Mystery of Marie Roget. It’s another in the series of ERS Game’s takes on Poe’s short stories. Hint: It’s not as good as some earlier games, but it isn’t horrible. Black Cat is still my favorite.
I liked Black Cat the best too.
Generally I tend to like the early games in Big Fish game series better.
One exception would be the MCF (Mystery Case Files) series, where the early games (Huntsville, Prime Suspects) were simple hidden object games without any adventure-like characteristics—and not very interesting.
I liked the Midnight Mysteries series up through Haunted Houdini, but I think the series went downhill after that. The latest game in the series (Ghostwriting) is probably the weakest of the series, but Witches of Abraham was also disappointing.
I don’t like how the latest games in established series are getting more and more homogeneous. The latest Dire Grove should not look like a Shadow Wolf game. The latest Midnight Mysteries game should not look like a Dark Tales: Edgar Allen Poe game or a Grim Tales game.
I may play for the puzzles rather than the stories, but the game environment is also important—especially with ghost stories. And though stories may not be essential, the best games have good stories that keep you guessing and provide extra incentive to keep playing. Demos can be misleading, because a game may seem “different” at first but then fall into the same pattern used in other games later on. I don’t like buying a new game and feeling like I already played it, but it happens a lot.
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