Adventure Gamers - Forums
You are here: Home → Forum Home → Gaming → Adventure → Thread
Post Marker Legend:
-
New posts -
No new posts
Currently online
Casual Games Thread
...... I recently played Mystery Case Files: Incident at Pendle Tower. And while I would not compare it to Dire Grove or either of the two original Ravenhurst games, it wasn’t bad. That might seem like damning with faint praise, but if you find yourself i need of a casual fix, I think this game is worthe a shot.
I played it recently & as with all series of games, in my mind, on the downward path, mainly because of the puzzles. I didn’t find the story that great but interesting enough & the game as a whole worth a shot. 
I recently ran across a new series of games under the New York Mysteries banner. I haven’t looked at casual games in a while. The offerings on BigFish are repetitive and usually not even worth playing a demo. However, much to my surprise I have a backlog of ELEVEN! credits that I must get rid of. So I played one of the four games currently in the series, New York Mysteries - The Outbreak.
The fact that there are already four games in a series I had heard nothing about until yesterday doesn’t bode well. I don’t know where the game I played fits in the series’ sequence, but I was pleasantly surprised. The plot was a bit preposterous, but that should come as no surprise to anyone. There were, by my count, only four true hidden object screens. Although there were a few hidden object-ish screens where you need to find multiple instances of the same object.
The game I played was short. A little under 3 hours. That’s either a good thing, as in you aren’t investing a whole lot of time for a bit of mindless entertainment. Or, it’s a bad thing, since, unless you have a lot of useless credits to spare, you’re not getting a lot of bang for your buck/euro. Can’t tell you whether this quick gameplay holds for the other games in the series.
I downloaded demos of the other three games. Will give them a shot in the next week or two, and will let you know what I think. In the meantime, I suggest you, at least, download the demo of the game I played and see if you find it as inoffensive as I did.
For whom the games toll,
they toll for thee.
Side comment: Back on Page One for the first time in a long time.
For whom the games toll,
they toll for thee.
I’ve played all 4 Tim and The Outbreak is the last in the series. All are pretty good for what they are although The Outbreak throws in a rather irritating timed sequence near the end - as you’ll have found out of course.
All of them are somewhat preposterous in their premise but that’s pretty normal in computer games of any sort if you think about it.
Anyway, I can recommend the others in the series fairly happily.
Life is what it is.
I also liked all of them but the first one is my favorite.
I think the problem of inactivity on this thread lies not with the lack of enthusiasm of its participants, but with the lack of inventiveness of those supplying the product.
For whom the games toll,
they toll for thee.
I’ve played the first two, Mafia and Lantern, as well as the last. One more to go.
They are very entertaining. Good “plot”. I say that with tongue in cheek as just having something that can be defined as a plot put these games ahead of many casual games. (This should not even be thought of as a comparable to “cream of the crop” games such as the Enigmatis Trilogy or other top-line casuals.) They also have decent music and voice acting, as well as high quality graphics.
However, in addition to their entertainment value, they are also incredibly stupid. That’s not stupid as a bad thing, but stupid in a “How could anyone ever have thought that this makes sense?” kind of way. It’s stupid in the way that some incredibly bad B movies have become cult classics. Texas Chain Saw Massacres being one example.
I mean why do you have to go through an elaborate slider puzzle to find a wrench that performs some sub-servient task. I mean save the hard puzzles for the important stuff! When I have scoured almost all of the locations the game has to offer, and found the last bird statue to put in the base of the bird sculpture, and things go brrr/wizzz, music comes up and a drawer opens and ... I find a hammer???
All I can do is laugh. All that for this??? Maybe thats part of the entertainment.
For whom the games toll,
they toll for thee.
That doesn’t bother me as much as needing to pound a nail, having a perfectly good ax head or whatever, that would work, and still having to go find a stupid hammer. I played one game where I actually got to pound the nail with a rock.
Does anyone have a recommendation for murder mystery titles that don’t have any supernatural elements? I loved the memoirs of murder series but it looks like we’re not getting another sequel any time soon.
If you are looking for a casual game that fits this description I would suggest Angelica Weaver: Catch Me When You Can. It’s one of my top ten casual games. Ther is a bit of time travel involved, but nothing supernatural. I played both the SE and CE versions. I think you can play the SE and watch the bonus material on YouTube.
For whom the games toll,
they toll for thee.
Does anyone have a recommendation for murder mystery titles that don’t have any supernatural elements? I loved the memoirs of murder series but it looks like we’re not getting another sequel any time soon.
Two that I think would fit the bill are:
Noir Chronicles: City Of Crime
Mysteries of Neuschwanstein
Being casual games they are what they are but they may suit.
Life is what it is.
The James Patterson’s Women’s Murder Club games are not bad. My favorite is Little Black Lies. They do have hidden object scenes in them though.
The James Patterson’s Women’s Murder Club games are not bad. My favorite is Little Black Lies. They do have hidden object scenes in them though.
I agree with the recommendation. Even though the characters are James Patterson’s creations, the design of the games are created and produced by Jane Jensen. I would also note that the hidden object scenes are different than what you might be used to if you play casual games. That is you are limited to, I think, three hints per scene. Use them wisely.
For whom the games toll,
they toll for thee.
There is a new casual game out titled Edgar Allan Poe - Mystery Detective. Or at least that’s what I think the title is. It may be Hidden Objects with Edgar Allan Poe - Mystery Detective. You can find a link to it at the bottom of the re-vamped home page.
I have not played it. It’s available on Steam for $2.89, which includes a 10% discount. It is supposedly based on Poe’s Fall of the House of Usher. There is already a game of that title in the Dark Tales series on Big Fish Games.
I may get it, and will report back if I do. For $3.00 it’s hard to go wrong.
For whom the games toll,
they toll for thee.
I’ve been advised by Mike the Wino that the game probably isn’t worth the $3.00. A review on Steam says the gameplay only totals about one hour. So I kind of get his point. That said, a martini in a bar in downtown Chicago might run a good $10.00 or more, and it’s not likely to last an hour either. I’ll think about this as I feed my dog and pour myself a martini.
For whom the games toll,
they toll for thee.
You are here: Home → Forum Home → Gaming → Adventure → Thread
