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I just spent 1.5 hours writing a Lost Lands - The Four Horsemen review. About three paragraphs from the end I left to eat dinner. When I returned, I finished it off and hit Submit Post. Nada! Squat! Page expired! And during the attempt to recover everything I lost everything. I’m not going to write it again.

Recap!

Really good game. 4/5 Stars. Buy it if you like portal games.

I’m not a happy camper. Another martini might not make me feel better, but I’m willing to give it a shot.

Damn!

Sad part is that I’ve been there and done that here. I just happens so infrequently that I forget about it. I’ll just have to make a point to do all the reviews in Notepad.

I’ve already done that for the intro to Drawn 3.

Well, I had high hopes for the new Phantasmat game. They went unrealized. Which is strange because I’m usually impressed with the quality of Eipix games. I certainly thought it would be better than the ERS that preceded it.

I think the problem is that a player will justifiably compare this game with the original. And, while the graphic style can be reproduced, and the concept of death can be reproduced, the one thing that can’t be reproduced is the general feeling of creepiness and dread that pervaded the original.

OK, that probably can be reproduced, but it wasn’t. All the elements were there. The car crash, being transported to an earlier time, a catastrophe that killed most of the townspeople. And the list goes on. But forget creepiness and dread! There was very little if any suspense to speak of. Which is unforgiveable for a game carrying the Phantasmat flag.

The number of HO scenes did become fewer as the game progressed. And they exhibited more variety as well. I did skip three puzzles. One because I flat out couldn’t figure out how to solve it. The other two because of the tedious nature of the process. There were another two or three puzzles that I solved via brute force, i.e. I just kept moving things until the puzzle was solved.

Music, voice acting and effects were slightly better than average.

Finally, the game was fairly self-contained. I can see several opportunities for a bonus game if you decide to go the CE route. But I don’t see any of those opportunities adding to the base story.

I’m giving this 2.5/5 Stars. The game rates a solid average. I might have rated it higher, but I am rating it against the original. And it flat out didn’t measure up. Buy it if you have some credits to spare, or if nothing else strikes you fancy, you might want to give it a shot. However, if your intent is to re-experience the original, pass.

I found myself regularly referring to the map when I didn’t know what to do next. It had a few glitches in that it would tell you there was something to do at a given location even though you didn’t have the necessary inventory item to do whatever it is you were supposed to do.

I did find the “unfolding” of the map each time you accessed it irritating.

It wasn’t the best implementation of an interactive map. But it was better than wandering around looking for a hot spot.

I played this game as well. Also based on Lady K’s comments. I also played the CE version which is a rarity for me. While I enjoyed the bonus material, it also fell into the trap that I hate. I.e. the bonus game contained all the material that was required to actually finish the game. That is, all the material that should have been included in the SE game.

Just finished playing the SE demo of Shiver - The Lilys Requiem. It’s another game in the Shiver franchise that has nothing in common with any other game in the franchise. I’m not sure what developer, Elephant Games, thinks they are accomplishing by going this route. Even though the ERS Games Puppetshow franchise deteriorated in quality over time, you at least knew what the basic premise would be….disfigured daughter of a mad puppeteer returns to Joyville with the intent of causing mayhem in the community.

That said, the demo of this game wasn’t bad. The protagonist, you, is a doctor who returns to a community after a 17-year absence. You originally left because you were unable to cure a patient of a mysterious malady. Upon your return you are confronted by your patient’s daughter who, along with others, seems to be suffering from the same type of illness.

The overall objective is pretty obvious. The HO scenes in the demo are standard find-the-object-from-a-list variety. Although there seem to be at least three items per scene that require multiple steps. I.e., find the key that opens the box that contains the yo-yo. So far the HO scenes are few, and none have been revisited.

The logic puzzles are fair, but do require some thought before the solution presents itself. There was one puzzle though that I skipped. You play a game of Battleship with another character. You get rewarded with an inventory item if you win a game. In truth you are playing against a computer, and this computer doesn’t like to lose. I think I played a dozen or more times. Lost every game. Hit the button and moved on.

The demo allows 90 minutes of play time. But you will probably finish it in far less time. The demo has a finite ending which I reached in 45 minutes.

Everything about the game is above average, but not great. Music, graphics, voice acting, effects and ambient sound are all fine. I’m going to buy the game because I have three credits and a coupon that must be used by the end of March.

I’ll rate the demo 3.5/5 stars. We’ll see whether the rest of the game lives up to that standard. I’ll report back when I’ve finished the rest of the game.

Is it just me, or has this thread slowed down ever since the casual playthroughs started???

I’ve played several casual games lately, but most of them are a bit forumulatic with too many hidden objects.  I’d be happy to see a company start thinking outside the box for a change.

TimovieMan - 11 March 2015 04:16 PM

Is it just me, or has this thread slowed down ever since the casual playthroughs started???

It absolutely has. Many people are playing both the CCPT and AGCPT in addition to finding time for their own activities. I know that’s often the case with me.

Even though I do try to play at least two casual games/month, I always play the demo first, and often find the games lackluster and never bother to purchase the full game.

But, to your point, I think the only way to return this thread to its former glory is to cut back on the number of casual playthroughs. It’s really not necessary to start a new vote within days of a playthrough’s completion. I think if we targeted a playthrough every other month rather than playing them nonstop, this thread would be in better shape.

Of course the thread would be in better shape if I simply spent more time attending to it. I just get caught in the same rut as everyone else. Once I get done leading Drawn 3, I should have more time. Of course much of that will be determined by what the other regular thread participants think.

I truly appreciate the concern. I occasionally need a slap upside the head.

I bought the SE version of Shiver - The Lilys Requiem.

There really isn’t much to add to my review of the demo. I did use the Hint and Skip button quite a bit, but not because I needed a hint or a puzzle was hard. The game comes with an interactive map, which I found to be barely functional. As a result, I frequently used the Hint button to tell me which path I should follow. And while I would categorize the game’s puzzles as relatively easy, they are made up primarily by the puzzle types I call tedious. I.e. the process of solving the puzzle is more difficult than determining how to solve the puzzle. Some of the puzzles are ones that I like, and I was willing to spend some time with them, most were not. Thus the use of the Skip button. There were only two puzzles that I think I would have had a hard time solving.

There is a nice variety to the HO scenes. Of course there is the standard random list of objects. And there is the object outline variety, multiple objects of the same type, hidden objects hidden by other objects, etc. No HO scene was used more than once.

The music was only fair. It wasn’t bad, (although I suggest using options to turn down all the sound levels,) but it didn’t always seem like it was the appropriate type of music for the activity at hand.

There was an interesting issue with the graphics towards the end of the game. In a few scenes the graphic style changed dramatically. I don’t know whether the developer was running out of time and subcontracted parts of the game to some other company, or something else happened. It didn’t affect gameplay in any way, but it was disconcerting.

One other thing ... pace of play. If a game last five or six hours I will generally finish it off in two days or less. This game probably lasted 5.5 hours, and I rarely played more than an hour per day. I would quit, and there was no compelling reason to get back to it. For that reason alone, I’m ranking this at no more that 3/5 Stars.

Others might find it so compelling that they will finish it in one session. I would not buy the game without playing the demo first. The game is also self-contained. So I don’t know how much CE bonus material would add to the overall experience. My guess would be that it’s not enough to warrant the extra $$.