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Casual Games Thread

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Man, I still wish AG.com had a ‘Casual’ gaming menu option to go to the sites database of casual games played and can be reviewed by everyone. I can remember the last time I found a review for a game on here and not finding it. lol

Yeah, I never played Raincliff. It looked interesting, though I’m a little pooped again from HOG scenes so i’ll hold off once again. Tongue

At least there have been two casual games which are full adventures. First one I just started playing is Gothic Fiction: Dark Saga. Very interesting game, some pretty cheesy FMV moments, but it is a full casual adventure. No HOG scenes. All puzzles. Beautiful scenery too.

Second one I have but haven’t played is Guardians of Magic: Amanda’s Awakening. Its funny, I seem to find that games with no HOG’s tend to have a much lower rating? Is it because those games are usually done by bad developers? Possibly since one’s with HOG’s sometimes are done by Tried and True developers.

Man, its disappointing to see Dreams from the Past rated so badly. Meh Gorgeous visuals, widescreen, and looked like it could of been a nice romance. Oh well.

In the end, I just want to say that we need more widescreen casual games and not the old 4:3 ratios. Widescreen adds to much to the experience, becoming a beautiful game and not just some casual application.

     

Stuart Bradley Newsom - Naughty Shinobi || Our Game: Shadow Over Isolation

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I’ve just played 45 minutes of “Web of Deceit: Black Widow”, it won’t be on my to buy list.  At least not for the foreseeable future. 
There are adjustments for sound, music and voice.
Three modes of difficulty, casual, advanced (which is what I played) and hard core.
The graphics are very detailed and beautiful with bright coloring.
HOS’s are interactive, clear and the few I saw were within the time frame of the game.
The intro ran a little fast for me and started up the motion sickness. But the rest of the game ran at normal speed, except for the kidnapping in the train. You don’t want to hurry that or you will miss the kidnapping and start wonder what is going on. When the woman just sat there for what seemed like an extended period I clicked on her and was past the kidnapping scene.
This is where the journal shines, you can get a video of the action in the journal pages so you can see anything you might have missed the first time around. Really great idea.
Now I don’t mind spiders that much and have wiped more than my share of cobwebs off my face this summer, but I’m afraid these spiders are too realistic and too many at once.  I had to go for an nice quiet cup of tea to settle the creepy crawlies.  They do warn you about those spiders!
I really wanted to play this game, but ~ ~.

     
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Big Fish is apparently dipping their toes into the free-to-play waters in regards to HOG games.  They have released a game called Found, which they call a “free-to-play hidden object adventure”.  One caveat, though, it is only for iPad (not PC or other).  I tried the game last night and it seemed like a good amount of fun.  I don’t plan to pay anything into it, though, so I’m not sure what kind of mileage I will get.  If other people try it out, PM me and I can friend you on GameCenter.  I’m just guessing, but I bet within the game you can trade with friends for objects, etc., you might need.

     
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Is that an Adventure/HOG? Sounds like a casual arcade game. Meh

     

Stuart Bradley Newsom - Naughty Shinobi || Our Game: Shadow Over Isolation

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Sorry that I haven’t been here to participate. Went into the hospital on 10/20 and just got out today. Will try to catch up.

     

For whom the games toll,
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rtrooney - 27 October 2012 05:58 PM

Sorry that I haven’t been here to participate. Went into the hospital on 10/20 and just got out today. Will try to catch up.

Sorry to hear that. Hope you are feeling better.

     
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Monolith - 18 October 2012 03:31 PM

Man, I still wish AG.com had a ‘Casual’ gaming menu option to go to the sites database of casual games played and can be reviewed by everyone. I can remember the last time I found a review for a game on here and not finding it. lol

Yeah, I never played Raincliff. It looked interesting, though I’m a little pooped again from HOG scenes so i’ll hold off once again. Tongue

At least there have been two casual games which are full adventures. First one I just started playing is Gothic Fiction: Dark Saga. Very interesting game, some pretty cheesy FMV moments, but it is a full casual adventure. No HOG scenes. All puzzles. Beautiful scenery too.

Second one I have but haven’t played is Guardians of Magic: Amanda’s Awakening. Its funny, I seem to find that games with no HOG’s tend to have a much lower rating? Is it because those games are usually done by bad developers? Possibly since one’s with HOG’s sometimes are done by Tried and True developers.

Man, its disappointing to see Dreams from the Past rated so badly. Meh Gorgeous visuals, widescreen, and looked like it could of been a nice romance. Oh well.

In the end, I just want to say that we need more widescreen casual games and not the old 4:3 ratios. Widescreen adds to much to the experience, becoming a beautiful game and not just some casual application.

I think this is similar to the conclusion we all reached in a prior discussion. I.e., anything that is outside the “norm” of what a person thinks is a casual game is not perceived favorably. That not only includes the absense of HOG scenes, but also widescreen. As hard as it is to fathom, I’m sure there are a great many people playing casuals on equipment unsuitable for widescreen. And if they can’t play it, they won’t like it.

     

For whom the games toll,
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In response to the earlier discussion about Halloween-ish casual games, I think I may have found the most appropriate one yet.  I just started playing Campfire Legends: The Hookman.  I’ll leave more thoughts when I’ve finished it, but I just wanted to mention it now because Amazon has it on sale for $3.49.  The game is framed by some people telling a spooky campfire story about a killer on the loose.  You then take over the game as the protagonist of the story, left alone at a cabin in the woods.  Anyway, in my first half hour of play, the game seems solid enough, and perfect for Halloween week.

     
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Big Fish Games is blowing out all the stops now for their Halloween sale.  They have 80 “spooky” games on sale for $2.99 each.  It’s a nice list (I wish Madame Fate was on there).  I’m going to pick up Enigmatis, the fourth Women’s Murder Club game, and Redemption Cemetery: Children’s Plight (I liked the first one).  I’m considering picking up the first Shadow Wolf Mysteries game (I figure it must be good if there are two sequels).  Has anyone played that one? 

Also, if anyone looks at the list and sees an absolute must-play game on there that I don’t mention, please let me know.  The sale ends tomorrow.  You don’t have to be a member to get the $2.99 price.  Several MCF games, the first Shiver game, and Phantasmat are on there; they are all great for those of you who haven’t tried them.

$2.99 sale, woo hoo!

     
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Of the 80-odd games listed, I’ve played and can recommentd a few.

Urban Legends: The Maze (Has some anxiety, but isn’t really scary.)
Phantasmat
Any of the MCF games
Vampire Secrets
Dark Dimensions: City of Fog
Dark Tales: Edgar Allen Poe Black Cat and Premature Burial

I think you’ll like Enigmatis. It’s quite creepy in parts.

I didn’t like the first Shadow Wolf game all that much.

     

For whom the games toll,
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rtrooney - 30 October 2012 07:46 PM

Of the 80-odd games listed, I’ve played and can recommentd a few.

Urban Legends: The Maze (Has some anxiety, but isn’t really scary.)
Phantasmat
Any of the MCF games
Vampire Secrets
Dark Dimensions: City of Fog
Dark Tales: Edgar Allen Poe Black Cat and Premature Burial

I think you’ll like Enigmatis. It’s quite creepy in parts.

I didn’t like the first Shadow Wolf game all that much.

OK.  I picked up the three games I was talking about.  I’m probably going to hold off on the Shadow Wolf game.

     
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Decided to throw Angelica Weaver on my more powerful computer/laptop in my room so I can finish it without any lag and view it in all of its glory. Sad to say, it is lagging like hell. Can’t get past the intro or main menu because everything lags. Frown I liked this game, wish I wouldn’t have to play it on a dinky screen and slow hardware. It just bothers me no one else had this problem. Frown

     

Stuart Bradley Newsom - Naughty Shinobi || Our Game: Shadow Over Isolation

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Sorry about the Angelica Weaver game. I bought it based on your recommendation, and just loved it.

Also based on your recommendation I bought Guardians of Magic, Gothic Fiction and Dreams from the Past. (A good sale is a good incentive to buy.)The former I thought was quite easy, but I loved the style of the game. Of the three I’ve played, Gothic Fiction is probably the best HOG-free game I’ve played from ERS Studios Meh I haven’t tried DotP yet. I also picked up Cinderstone Orphanage which I said I would do if a good sale came along.

I’ll write something when I’ve finshed with them.

     

For whom the games toll,
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That is good to hear. Grin There is this new HOG out called Abyss: the Wraths of Eden. It looks like a HOG Bioshock to be honest. haha I’ll let you know how it is.

EDIT: I can confirm it has a lot in common with Bioshock. Looking at the reviews on BigFish, I can also confirm, BigFish is full of women who don’t know anything about gaming in general. Not one mention about Bioshock. lol

Can’t wait to dig into this.

Eden == Rapture. There was an uprising at Eden….yeah pretty much Bioshock. Tongue Same Art Deco architecture, cryptic messages written in blood, a city build at the bottom of the ocean.

     

Stuart Bradley Newsom - Naughty Shinobi || Our Game: Shadow Over Isolation

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I finished Gothic Fiction - Dark Saga.

I liked it. It’s an ERS Studios game, so the style will be familiar to anyone who has played one of their games. There are no hidden object scenes. It’s all inventory and puzzles. I would rate it superior to Azada in Libro and Dark Alleys: Penumbra Hotel which are the two other non-HO gamnes I’ve played from ERS.

The game is quite long. While I didn’t time myself, I’d say the game took a good six hours to complete.

The puzzles are not terribly difficult, but there are a few that will drive you nuts. I used the skip button three times. There are both a hint button and a skip button. It’s unusual in a game to see this, but the two buttons refresh at different rates. The hint button refreshes much faster. This not being a HO game, the hint button serves one purpose; it will tell you if there is anything you’ve missed in the current scene, and if there isn’t, it will give you a generic “search elsewhere” message.

There is a map feature, but I found it fairly worthless. One, it is not interactive, so even though you can see where you are in relation to other scenes, you can’t click on a scene and be transported there. (There is major walking in this game.) Two, the map only tells you if is a “major” objective to be accomplished in a certain scene. Something minor such as putting a key in a lock doesn’t always show up. If it has any value it is to refresh your memory. If you’ve forgotten where the Library is, pull up the map. Because the game covers five environments, and each environment can have eight or more scenes/rooms, it’s not hard to forget exactly where you are.

The music neither adds nor detracts from the story. It’s just there. I turned the music and effects volume way down. Other than the intro, there is very little voice acting. So, nothing to complain about there.

I bought it during the $4.99/game sale. It is/was well worth it. That said, this is an ERS game. Several of us, me included, have expressed the opinion that ERS games have become predictable. I can tell you that this game is not predictable, but if you’ve grown tired of the ERS “style,” this game is probably not for you. For everyone else, I rate it 3.5-4 stars out of five.

For reference, I’m almost finsihed with Cinderstone orphanage. The game is fun, but loaded with errors. One that I ran across calls an ammeter (voltage meter) an altimeter which, of course, measures elevation. Even though I kind of like the game, this lack of attention to detail would cause me to rate it 2.5 stars.

     

For whom the games toll,
they toll for thee.

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