Study Shows Casual Games Relieve Stress and Improve Mood

I don’t need a study to tell me that playing casual games helps relieve stress and improve my mood. When the writing muse stays away or my spirits drop, I play a game I need to review. Almost every time (don’t like to use 100%), I feel better after a few rounds of a casual game.

See the results of the study and the Popcap Games press release.

PC Game Review Natalie Brooks - Secrets of Treasure House

I love games where they make me feel part of the story by letting me interact with the scene and its objects. Such stories contain puzzles where anything goes and you find them in Azada, Dream Chronicles, and Mortimer Beckett and the Secrets of Spooky Manor. Artfully illustrated Natalie Brooks - Secrets of Treasure House comes with a game full of puzzles for solving and a few hidden object scenes.

As Natalie Brooks, players inherit her grandmother’s house only to find that the city plans to move or destroy the house to make room for its new road. Natalie starts a petition to help keep her grandmother’s house where it belongs and discovers the house has secrets of its own as well as some of the city’s citizens. Natalie learns she can trust no one.

Natalie’s story appears in comic strip format between scenes and in her conversations with people she meets in her unexpected adventure. The story captivates, but typos and imperfect grammar detract from the story at times.

Players need to pick up objects to add them to the inventory. These objects work together or with items in the scene to solve a puzzle whether it’s to open a safe or build something. Natalie also keeps notes in her notebook, but they don’t come in handy.

While the playing beguiles for a few hours — two sittings at most — the game has serious flaws. It feels like the developers wanted to make a deadline regardless if the game is complete. Solving the puzzles to make something happen almost satisfies though the story and some of the game don’t come together.

For example, scattered postcard pieces appear throughout the game. Nothing comes of them. Natalie Brooks - Secrets of Treasure House ends without a reference to those postcards. What’s the point? To offer a mini-game without purpose? No, it needs to have a purpose. Another time, I copy down a series of numbers for later use. The code never has relevance.

The incomplete postcard mini-game is one of many issues that caused the game to surprise me with its abrupt ending. It reminds me of Lost— more questions than answers, but everything in the TV show has a purpose (supposedly).

Natalie comments on things players click. That’s another annoyance - the first time she tells us, it’s fine. But she repeats it every time we click near the item in trying to find nearby things. I understand people miss the commentary on the first click and want to see it again. There has to be a more effective way to do this. Funny, I miss a few comments (because I accidentally clicked the screen to make it go away) and couldn’t bring the game to repeat itself.

Natalie Brooks - Secrets of Treasure Houseincludes a few scenes that let you find hidden objects to gain bonus hints. These scenes appear in the first half of the game only to never be seen again. This makes the game feel uneven. The hidden object scenes should show up evenly throughout the game.

Some scenes come with a mini-game. For instance, one calls for a slingshot where you need to make all the circles light up to open the cage. I find the slingshot and look for something to use with the slingshot until my eyes hurt.

Stupid me. I click the slingshot and the target — the game automatically gives me what I need to shoot at the target. Yet in other similar games, I collect the “bullets” myself. So inconsistency is another problem.

Some scenes and puzzles are easy while a couple of them trick me. I think experienced gamers might call this one easy, but I’m glad I played the game despite its incompleteness.

Games in this genre tend to run short because of the work that goes in creating original puzzles as opposed to repetitive puzzles (hidden objects, match three, etc.). Natalie Brooks - Secrets of Treasure Houseisn’t the shortest, but it could stand a little more game play.

The “little faster than classical” and “slower than rock” sound fits the game’s atmosphere. It isn’t my favorite, but that’s a personal opinion and not a judgment of the sound quality. The attractive illustration engages and wows.

Flaws aside, Natalie Brooks - Secrets of Treasure Housedoesn’t feel like a waste of time. Its blending of wonderful art and a variety of puzzles prove entertaining.

Try Natalie Brooks - Secrets of Treasure House.

Game du Jour: Week of 2008-05-05

Build-a-lot 2: Town of the Year already available at a discount! The following games will be discounted this week on Game du Jour, the ‘one-deal-a-day’ website dedicated to indie and casual games:

Mon. May 5th: 60% off on The Butler Did It!

Tue. May 6th: 40% off on Build-a-lot 2: Town of the Year

Wed. May 7th: 60% off on SnakeTris

Thu. May 8th: 60% off on Frutti Freak

Fri. May 9th: 50% off on 5 Star Mahjongg

Sat. May 10th: 50% off on First Star Software’s Greatest Hits

Sun. May 11th: 50% off on Towers