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PC Game Review: Fabulous Finds
Great Aunt Beatrice left you her home in Carmel, California. The home needs a makeover, so you dig through the house for stuff to sell in the yard sale to collect the needed funds for redecorating. The three-in-one components include collecting items for the yard sale (hidden object), selling them in the yard (connecting customers with what they want), and decorating rooms (puzzle).
The hidden object portion contains no list of things to find. Instead, you read the newspaper to identify a trend and then search rooms for items fitting that trend. One trend is gardening. Click all items that have some association with gardening. This offers a creative twist, but it has flaws. I see a garden hose and click it. Nope. It’s not acceptable. This sort of thing happens at times.
Since you’re weeding through junk, some items have missing parts or need repairs. These have helper items, but those won’t show up on the list until you’ve picked up the original item. A high heel shoe, for example, has a missing heel. After you find the shoe, the missing heel appears on the helper list. Find the broken heel to reunite the two items.
Sometimes the clues can be obscure. It makes the game more challenging. Each customer has a happiness bar. The longer it takes you to find what they need, the shorter their happiness bar. So not only do you need to find the right customer, but also the item he/she needs. Kind of a mix between hidden objects and a puzzle (using content to figure out what you need).
When the sale ends (after all customers receive what they want), you can proceed to redecorate a room. Or you can start looking for items for the next yard sale. The game doesn’t care which order you take. The only thing that matters is that the yard sale can never come before finding the items for it — obviously.
In decorating a room, Fabulous Finds gives you clues as to how to decorate the room. The closer you match the clues, the higher score your room earns. Most of the time, this is too easy. At least, after you finish the game, you can decorate the rooms in any way you’d like.
Download the game from your favorite site:
- Big Fish Games
- PlayFirst
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PC Game Review: Fabulous Finds
Great Aunt Beatrice left you her home in Carmel, California. The home needs a makeover, so you dig through the house for stuff to sell in the yard sale to collect the needed funds for redecorating. The three-in-one components include collecting items for the yard sale (hidden object), selling them in the yard (connecting customers with what they want), and decorating rooms (puzzle).
The hidden object portion contains no list of things to find. Instead, you read the newspaper to identify a trend and then search rooms for items fitting that trend. One trend is gardening. Click all items that have some association with gardening. This offers a creative twist, but it has flaws. I see a garden hose and click it. Nope. It’s not acceptable. This sort of thing happens at times.
Since you’re weeding through junk, some items have missing parts or need repairs. These have helper items, but those won’t show up on the list until you’ve picked up the original item. A high heel shoe, for example, has a missing heel. After you find the shoe, the missing heel appears on the helper list. Find the broken heel to reunite the two items.
Sometimes the clues can be obscure. It makes the game more challenging. Each customer has a happiness bar. The longer it takes you to find what they need, the shorter their happiness bar. So not only do you need to find the right customer, but also the item he/she needs. Kind of a mix between hidden objects and a puzzle (using content to figure out what you need).
When the sale ends (after all customers receive what they want), you can proceed to redecorate a room. Or you can start looking for items for the next yard sale. The game doesn’t care which order you take. The only thing that matters is that the yard sale can never come before finding the items for it — obviously.
In decorating a room, Fabulous Finds gives you clues as to how to decorate the room. The closer you match the clues, the higher score your room earns. Most of the time, this is too easy. At least, after you finish the game, you can decorate the rooms in any way you’d like.
Download the game from your favorite site:
- Big Fish Games
- PlayFirst
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Roadclub Review
Roadclub, developed and published by Solid Core Entertainment.
The Good: Exceptionally comprehensive editor suite, robust career mode, top-quality physics model, lots of cars and tracks, very challenging AI
The Not So Good: Lacks multiplayer, overhead perspective won’t appeal to everyone, maximum of six cars per race, brutally tough computer drivers can’t be adjusted globally, requires perfection to be successful, fixed screen resolution
What say you? A satisfactory and highly customizable 2-D racing game: 6/8
MY POORLY WRITTEN INTRODUCTION
Now that the NFL season is over, it’s time for my annual five-month obsession with NASCAR (until the NFL starts up again and I ignore NASCAR). Yup, watching cars going around in circles for three (to four (to five)) hours is edge-of-your-seat excitement! Even better than watching is doing, so computer games have filled the void for people not talented enough to drive real race cars without crashing into things (*author raises hand*). Since we’ve already had a stock car simulation, we can turn our attention to the more general selection of automobiles offered up by Roadclub. This 2-D racing game features both stuff and things. Let’s check it out!
GRAPHICS AND SOUND
The fact that Roadclub is a 2-D racing game will probably initially turn off a lot of people; I mean, when was the last time you played a top-down computer game? Nevertheless, we are stuck with the bird’s eye view in Roadclub, and it’s not all bad. There are some nice effects, from time of day to weather, that at least somewhat immerses you into the game. There is slight visual damage to the vehicles, such as smoke, fire, and flickering headlights, but no noticeable body damage, although you’re playing the game far enough away from your car that you’d probably not see it anyway. The environments are fairly bland, with a small amount of objects scattered around the place to get in your way. Your view never rotates with the car, so you must be able to figure out that the turning controls are with respect to the car and not your view. Roadclub is also played at a low resolution; this is fine, if you let me play the game in a window, which Roadclub does not. The game also does not like to be alt-tabbed out of, which makes writing a review more difficult. However, the advantage of having 2-D graphics is that everything in the game is very easily edited, using simple .TGA graphics files. I’m willing to make a sacrifice in graphical quality in order to gain the level of customization found in Roadclub. The sound in the game is dominated by the soundtrack that consists of songs from independent artists; while it doesn’t necessarily fit the genre all of the time, the music isn’t bad. While the racing game has generally left 2-D behind a long time ago, Roadclub still clings tightly to two dimensions and all of its limited glory.
ET AL.
The first major decision you’ll have to make in Roadclub is whether to use the arcade or simulation difficulty levels. I, of course, chose simulation right out of the box, opting for a more realistic physics model. The main crux of Roadclub is the career mode, and it is quite a significant feature with many options available. There is a number of leagues to join in the game, from ones designed for beginners to the Roadclub that offers five levels of competition that you can move progress (or regress, much like soccer) through. Each league has its own schedule of races and AI drivers who are also trying to rise to the top of the global skill rankings. You can also take part in challenges offered by AI drivers (or make your own) for cash or new cars: a neat feature. Roadclub features almost fifty cars (49, to be exact) you can purchase and upgrade within the career mode, improving their stats or buying new attributes; you can opt for completely new cars, used cars, or free “junk” cars if you are desperate. Your fleet can be upgraded (in many different aspects) or repaired between races. There is some strategy involved in choosing which league to compete in, which cars to drive and when to upgrade them, and which challenges to undertake. The amount of variety here does keep you interested in Roadclub for quite a while. Once you unlock (boo!) tracks in the career mode, you can do quick races where you can customize the time of day, weather, and number of opponents. Unfortunately, Roadclub only supports a maximum of six cars in each race, which worsens the first-or-last finishing phenomenon. While Roadclub does record ghost cars of the best laps that could theoretically be sent to others, the game does not offer any multiplayer, either online or on the same computer. A racing game with no multiplayer? Blasphemy!
The editors are such an integral part of Roadclub (and one of its two key buying points, along with the career mode), they deserve their own paragraph. So here it is! You can easily edit pretty much every aspect of the game apart from the physics engine itself: tracks, cars, leagues, and opponents. I’m a big fan of track editors in racing games, and the one featured in Roadclub is as simple to use as Paint: just draw your track with the mouse, add the starting positions and some waypoints and triggers for the AI, and you are done. You can embellish your tracks with fences, houses, trees, and various road markings if you wish as well. You can also edit the properties of tiles (such as grip) for a more precarious or stable setting. You can seriously edit a functional track in three to four minutes with absolutely no knowledge of three-dimensional modeling that’s required in most other track utilities. The fifty cars in the game can also be edited (or new ones created): mass, center of gravity, tires, grip, brake bias, steering, brake strength, plus many more. You can even import your own .TGA image file to add custom drivers to the mix: outstanding. That import feature goes for the track elements too: just make a simple 2-D image and bring it in. Roadclub also includes a league editor for custom seasons and an opponent editor to adjust the AI behavior. Simply put, all racing games should have the amount and easy of editing that Roadclub does.
All of these features would be for naught if the game didn’t drive well, and Roadclub strikes a good balance between simulation and arcade racing. You will have to slow down for tight turns and there is a significant amount of sliding around corners, although it doesn’t feel like the driving in Roadclub approaches the level of realism found in its 3-D competition. The developers claim to have sophisticated torque, tire, and collision physics, which I do not doubt, but it’s harder to access the realism of a 2-D racing game since you are viewing the action from a high perspective. I have encountered some collision problems: the “corners” of objects seem to be a little farther out than they are shown in the game. Roadclub discourages contact with a severe damage model where a couple of good licks will put you out of submission: the cars behave more like F1 cars than stock cars in this aspect. Because the view doesn’t rotate with the car, you have to be able to think about turning left and right even if your car is headed down the screen. Some people won’t be able to do this inherently unintuitive task, so Roadclub is not for them. Still, I found the driving physics to be enjoyable enough. The AI is a very good opponent that approaches being frustratingly talented. Typically, one mistake during a race will prevent you from winning, while two or three will relegate you to last place. While I have no problem with a challenging AI, Roadclub kind of cheats in this aspect, giving the AI drivers superior cars that you don’t initially have enough money to compete directly with, even in the beginning leagues. You can individually customize the AI skill on a per-driver basis, but there is no global setting for difficulty, and I found (as a person who plays a significant enough number of racing games and is OK at them) that the beginning leagues were more difficult than they should be. The fact that you gain no experience or money from a last place finish only exacerbates the problem: the AI drivers, even in the beginner’s league, are given much better cars than you can afford, setting you up for frequent failure.
IN CLOSING
Roadclub has a balance of good and bad attributes that, thanks to the editors, leans more towards the positive end of the spectrum. You can very easily edit almost every aspect of the game: cars, AI drivers, leagues, and (most importantly) tracks. All of the editors are very simply to use, utilizing sliders for values, .TGA files for images, and mouse-drawn painting for track surfaces; if only more racing games made it this easy to modify the game. The editing features makes the archaic 2-D graphics a forgivable offense, although I suspect there will be a lot of potential drivers that will simply not be able to adapt to an overhead viewpoint. The physics are quite plausible: although Roadclub still leans towards the arcade side of things, sliding through turns and taking on the AI in tight tracks makes for some enjoyable racing. The career mode is also very comprehensive, with multiple leagues to choose from, car upgrades, and user- and AI-created challenges. Roadclub might be too tough, however, as you can’t adjust the overall difficulty and the AI drivers usually have better cars than yours; you need to be almost perfect in order to proceed through the career mode, a level of stress that can make for exasperating gaming. Despite the positive features like the editors and career mode, Roadclub falls short in other areas as well: the game lacks multiplayer of any kind and you can only race against five others at most. If you are looking for a customizable racing game and you won’t be deterred by the 2-D presentation or high difficulty, then Roadclub would be a good choice.
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PC Game Review: Mystery Case Files: Return to Ravenhearst
Wow! MCF: Return to Ravenhearst surpassed all expectations and blew away all previous Mystery Case File games. I believe that this one truly takes the Mystery Case Files franchise and hidden object to a full-fledged adventure where hidden objects take a back seat rather than rule the game.
Most hidden object games give you two or three scenes you can roam, one at a time, from a map. This one reminds me of the first adventure games from Sierra that I played on my Apple ][+ as a kid. Of course, the overall production transcends those old adventures.
Navigate around MCF: Return to Ravenhearst by clicking the sides of the screen when you see an arrow pointing indicating you can go in that direction. As you move your mouse around the screen, the cursor turns into a magnifying glass or a white sparkle showing there’s more to that item.
Other games with a similar casebook just rehash the story. This one provides useful details. Review the casebook as it contains clues and information that will come to play later.
Good news — if you haven’t played any of the Mystery Case Files, it won’t affect playing this one. There’s little reference to the previous games.
The game picks up from the previous after the release of Emma Ravenhearst’s soul. But Charles Dalimar — the villain of both stories — continues to torture other souls. He was also responsible for the strange goings-on at the carnival in MCF: Madame Fate. We must help free the tortured souls so they may rest in peace.
We’re seeing an influx of adventure games (yeah!), but some come too easy. Not MCF: Return to Ravenhearst. I got stuck in a few places and had to walk all over the house a few times before I figured them out. Gamers who feel games are too easy shouldn’t find that a problem here. The nice thing about getting stuck is that you don’t have to figure it out right then to move forward.
Big Fish Games, publisher of the series, has also released a separate sound track. Why? The music was annoying that I turned off the sound early on.
Some objects are nearly impossible to find. One was hidden behind a toy in a glass case. Even with the hint, I couldn’t see it. There’s no limit on the hints, but you do have to wait for the meter to refill after use.
Another negative was the game’s snarky comments when you make a useless move. I’d think, “Gee, thanks for the insult.”
Nonetheless, these little peeves hardly interfere with the experience of playing the almost perfect game.
What will MCF bring next? When? I hope it continues to build upon the superb MCF: Return to Ravenhearst.
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PC Game Review: Chocolatier Decadence by Design
Whether the game brings new things or not, I’m happy to see it back in the fold knowing it’ll have a new story, characters, ingredients, and products. Those will always occur with every new release. Nonetheless, new features shake up a game to give it a fresh look. As expected, Chocolatier Decadence by Design adds all of these, coffee products and a new ingredient mini-game for coffee products.
You work with the Baumeister family as with all the previous editions. This time it’s after WWII and the story includes love, drama, competition. All the factors that go into an engaging story with a variety of characters. Some characters won’t stand out and others will. You travel the world to find the finest ingredients — to manufacture bars, truffles, infusions, exotics and more — as Baumeister expects nothing less. Thank goodness, this one contains no bugs as ingredients.
Still, you discover fruits such as mangoes and strawberries, spices like saffron and peppers, dairy, nuts and much more. I appreciate the game makes it take a long time to discover all the ports and ingredients so something new comes along almost the whole way through the game.
The ingredient mini-game remains the same for the various candy products. The ingredients flow through the machines and you shoot them into moving containers that must match the primary container. For instance, a truffle requires two cacaos, truffle powder, flavor, and spice. Make sure each container has these five ingredients.
The additions of colors and a recycling bin aren’t enough to shake up this mini-game. The coffee mini-game, on the other hand, brings something new. You still shoot ingredients, but this time you need to make matches of three or more to get a serving. Make a match of four or more and your servings increase. I’m glad the game doesn’t use this one in all of the factories, but it would be nice to see something different.
The world map shows locked ports that you won’t open until later in the game when you meet the right people. Not all ports will have shops. Several ports only sell one ingredient and there’s nothing else to do there. These places have exotic items. Of course, you’ll have to get special cacao from specific locales and the same goes for coffee. It’ll involve a lot of traveling. Chocolatier Decadence by Design prepares players for the frequent and longer trips by providing more transportation upgrades.
I appreciate the game tracks all the agreements I make because I get carried away at times. The screen that tracks all the things you need to do is a vast improvement with a larger and clearer screen. A couple of font choices, however, need improvement as they’re barely readable.
The new features and additions enhance to the game, but I would like to see a couple of more new features especially for the ingredient mini-games. Nonetheless, Chocolatier Decadence by Design occupied an entire weekend including a couple of late nights — something I don’t do often. I look forward to the next adventure. Until we meet again, Baumeisters.
Download Chocolatier Decadence by Design.
Free PC Games on Amazon
Amazon has great discounts on four full versions of popular games. No need to do anything special. Just go and click “Get the game free.”
- Build-a-Lot
- Jewel Quest 2
- The Scruffs
- Big Kahuna Reef
These aren’t cheap or poorly made games. They’re good quality. I love Build-a-Lot.
Note: “You must run the game (not just install it) while the Amazon games and software downloader (AGSD) is still running, otherwise these are 30 minute trials. Make sure the AGSD is running in the system tray and launch the game, it should say “Thanks for your purchase” and have a “Play Full Game” button. You only need the AGSD running for the first run of a game, from that point on the AGSD does not need to be running. Also note that the AGSD starts with Windows by default, most of us will likely want to disable this via MSCONFIG.”
Game du Jour: Week of February 2
The following games will be discounted next week on Game du Jour, the ‘one-deal-a-day’ website dedicated to indie and casual games:
Mon. February 2nd: 50% off on Red Zone
Tue. February 3rd: 60% off on Penny and Paul’s Adventures
Wed. February 4th: 60% off on Gunbolt
Thu. February 5th: 50% off on T.W.T.P.B.
Fri. February 6th: 50% off on Burger Shop
Sat. February 7th: 75% off on Super Gerball
Sun. February 8th: 50% off on High Seas: The Family Fortune
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President’s Day Sale on Games
Both Big Fish Games and PlayFirst have President’s Day Sales going on. While most of us don’t get the day off, we’ll take the sales. Thank you to our Presidents for serving our country in a difficult job.
Big Fish Games: Celebrate President’s day with a special offer from Big Fish Games. Get Floating Kingdoms for only $1.00 when you enter the coupon code: ONEBUCK when purchasing the game. Offer expires 02/17.
Game du Jour: Week of February 9
The following games will be discounted next week on Game du Jour, the ‘one-deal-a-day’ website dedicated to indie and casual games:
Mon. February 9th: 50% off on Fruity Logic
Tue. February 10th: 50% off on Bookstories
Wed. February 11th: 50% off on Monkey’s Tower
Thu. February 12th: 50% off on Fashion Story
Fri. February 13th: 60% off on Spirits of Metropolis
Sat. February 14th: 50% off on Lost In Reefs
Sun. February 15th: 50% off on MiniOne Racing
Chocolatier Goes Mobile for Verizon Customers
Make yummy chocolates during Valentine’s Day with Chocolatier on mobile! Verizon customers Text CHOCO to GAME (4263) to play Chocolatier anytime, anywhere on your cell phone.
Text CHOCO to 4263.
Man, it’s a shame I don’t have Verizon mobile. I’d love to see how this looks and plays on the small screen. If you know — please share.
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Game du Jour: Week of February 23
The following games will be discounted next week on Game du Jour, the ‘one-deal-a-day’ website dedicated to indie and casual games:
Mon. February 23rd: 60% off on Cy-Clone
Tue. February 24th: 50% off on Cannon Blast!
Wed. February 25th: 50% off on MinuteMatch
Thu. February 26th: 50% off on Fab Fashion
Fri. February 27th: 50% off on Spuds
Sat. February 28th: 40% off on Arctic Rush
Sun. March 1st: 50% off on Spider Wizard
PC Game Review: Emerald City Confidential
The Wizard of Oz meets L.A. Confidential. Emerald City Confidential brings the world of film noir detective mysteries into the world of Oz along with a sordid tale of love, scandal, betrayal, and corruption. If you don’t read further, then know this point and click adventure has it all: Characters with unique personalities, strong story line that doesn’t lose you, smashing graphics and animation, humor, and long play time.
Dorothy may have had a happily ever after ending, but things have changed big time in Oz. Lion is a lawyer. Scarecrow is the former ruler of Emerald City and now advisor. Tin Man is the mayor of a town on the outskirts of Oz. Dorothy isn’t the sweet innocent girl we remember. No Auntie Em, but Toto does more than just run around and look cute.
Lots and lots of dialogue occurs that it might tire some gamers, but it tells a gripping and funny story with a few good one-liners. You can listen to the dialogue, read it, or both. Petra, that would be the main character and detective, has flaws. She looks angry all the time, but we learn why as we unwrap her own story.
Dee enters Petra’s detective agency asking for help in finding her love. Of course, the story goes much deeper than that sending Petra on an adventure that affects the future of Emerald City. Don’t expect any predictability in Emerald City Confidential. Like Wicked, the musical, it reveals surprises of its own introducing new perspectives.
Players receive dialogue choices – sort of like Choose Your Own Adventure, except you might eventually use all of the dialogues or you might not. Scenes and characters hold objects that help Petra in her adventures including magic spells.
Emerald City Confidential brings a new world complete with culture, rules and procedures to complete the picture. Scenes contain things that aren’t critical to the story that if you skipped them, it won’t hold you back. However, this makes exploring more fun knowing that not everything has a part in the mystery.
The options allow you to adjust the sound for music, sound, and voice as well as mute. It also comes with a walking speed adjustment to push Petra faster. Speeding her can make some folks dizzy. She moves at a comfortable pace that won’t have you tapping fingers waiting for her to move it.
You win medals whenever you complete a chapter and complete a few milestones. The medals feel like an afterthought. They’re not noticeable and don’t feel special. The game offers plenty without the need to tack on more stuff.
This almost perfect game contains a few pests. For one, typos show up in the dialogue at times. “Discrete” should be “discreet, “than” should be “then,” “greatful” is “grateful,” and “Won’t unlock unless I wish it too” doesn’t use the right “to.” Considering the many lines in the story, I forgive a few typos – but it annoys some folks.
You collect buttons and objects from the scenes. A color sparkle hints a button hides there. While in the middle of a dialogue, I try to pick up the button to ensure I don’t miss it. Instead, I sped up the dialogue and missed part of it. So the interaction between the dialogue and scene has quirks. While Petra takes notes in her journal, it doesn’t hold all of the dialogue including the introduction. It would help to have the complete dialogue in a separate part of the journal.
Another problem shows up in exiting the game (we need sleep, too!) and returning to it doesn’t quite return to the last scene. It requires replaying a scene before catching up.
Despite the little annoyances, Emerald City Confidential entertains for hours compared to many of today’s games especially point and click adventures, which tend to be short. The game’s wonderfulness will have people clamoring for more especially if the story takes place in a different world with different characters. Emerald City Confidential is a beautiful original with heart, brains and power (couldn’t use fear to represent lion).
P.S. This point and click truly brings back the adventure games like the old ones from the ’80s. Thus, it compels the need for a new category here called “Adventure Games.”
Game du Jour: President’s Day Week 2009
The following games will be discounted next week on Game du Jour, the ‘one-deal-a-day’ website dedicated to indie and casual games:
Mon. February 16th: 40% off on Funny Chewer
Tue. February 17th: 50% off on Freecell Wizard
Wed. February 18th: 50% off on Pet Vet 3D Animal Hospital
Thu. February 19th: 50% off on Crazy Machines 1.5
Fri. February 20th: 50% off on Pet Vet 3D Wild Animal Hospital
Sat. February 21st: 50% off on Engineer 2
Sun. February 22nd: 50% off on Solitaire Wizard
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PC Game Review: Mystery Case Files: Return to Ravenhearst
Wow! MCF: Return to Ravenhearst surpassed all expectations and blew away all previous Mystery Case File games. I believe that this one truly takes the Mystery Case Files franchise and hidden object to a full-fledged adventure where hidden objects take a back seat rather than rule the game.
Most hidden object games give you two or three scenes you can roam, one at a time, from a map. This one reminds me of the first adventure games from Sierra that I played on my Apple ][+ as a kid. Of course, the overall production transcends those old adventures.
Navigate around MCF: Return to Ravenhearst by clicking the sides of the screen when you see an arrow pointing indicating you can go in that direction. As you move your mouse around the screen, the cursor turns into a magnifying glass or a white sparkle showing there’s more to that item.
Other games with a similar casebook just rehash the story. This one provides useful details. Review the casebook as it contains clues and information that will come to play later.
Good news — if you haven’t played any of the Mystery Case Files, it won’t affect playing this one. There’s little reference to the previous games.
The game picks up from the previous after the release of Emma Ravenhearst’s soul. But Charles Dalimar — the villain of both stories — continues to torture other souls. He was also responsible for the strange goings-on at the carnival in MCF: Madame Fate. We must help free the tortured souls so they may rest in peace.
We’re seeing an influx of adventure games (yeah!), but some come too easy. Not MCF: Return to Ravenhearst. I got stuck in a few places and had to walk all over the house a few times before I figured them out. Gamers who feel games are too easy shouldn’t find that a problem here. The nice thing about getting stuck is that you don’t have to figure it out right then to move forward.
Big Fish Games, publisher of the series, has also released a separate sound track. Why? The music was annoying that I turned off the sound early on.
Some objects are nearly impossible to find. One was hidden behind a toy in a glass case. Even with the hint, I couldn’t see it. There’s no limit on the hints, but you do have to wait for the meter to refill after use.
Another negative was the game’s snarky comments when you make a useless move. I’d think, “Gee, thanks for the insult.”
Nonetheless, these little peeves hardly interfere with the experience of playing the almost perfect game.
What will MCF bring next? When? I hope it continues to build upon the superb MCF: Return to Ravenhearst.
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PC Game Review: Chocolatier Decadence by Design
Whether the game brings new things or not, I’m happy to see it back in the fold knowing it’ll have a new story, characters, ingredients, and products. Those will always occur with every new release. Nonetheless, new features shake up a game to give it a fresh look. As expected, Chocolatier Decadence by Design adds all of these, coffee products and a new ingredient mini-game for coffee products.
You work with the Baumeister family as with all the previous editions. This time it’s after WWII and the story includes love, drama, competition. All the factors that go into an engaging story with a variety of characters. Some characters won’t stand out and others will. You travel the world to find the finest ingredients — to manufacture bars, truffles, infusions, exotics and more — as Baumeister expects nothing less. Thank goodness, this one contains no bugs as ingredients.
Still, you discover fruits such as mangoes and strawberries, spices like saffron and peppers, dairy, nuts and much more. I appreciate the game makes it take a long time to discover all the ports and ingredients so something new comes along almost the whole way through the game.
The ingredient mini-game remains the same for the various candy products. The ingredients flow through the machines and you shoot them into moving containers that must match the primary container. For instance, a truffle requires two cacaos, truffle powder, flavor, and spice. Make sure each container has these five ingredients.
The additions of colors and a recycling bin aren’t enough to shake up this mini-game. The coffee mini-game, on the other hand, brings something new. You still shoot ingredients, but this time you need to make matches of three or more to get a serving. Make a match of four or more and your servings increase. I’m glad the game doesn’t use this one in all of the factories, but it would be nice to see something different.
The world map shows locked ports that you won’t open until later in the game when you meet the right people. Not all ports will have shops. Several ports only sell one ingredient and there’s nothing else to do there. These places have exotic items. Of course, you’ll have to get special cacao from specific locales and the same goes for coffee. It’ll involve a lot of traveling. Chocolatier Decadence by Design prepares players for the frequent and longer trips by providing more transportation upgrades.
I appreciate the game tracks all the agreements I make because I get carried away at times. The screen that tracks all the things you need to do is a vast improvement with a larger and clearer screen. A couple of font choices, however, need improvement as they’re barely readable.
The new features and additions enhance to the game, but I would like to see a couple of more new features especially for the ingredient mini-games. Nonetheless, Chocolatier Decadence by Design occupied an entire weekend including a couple of late nights — something I don’t do often. I look forward to the next adventure. Until we meet again, Baumeisters.
Download Chocolatier Decadence by Design.
Free PC Games on Amazon
Amazon has great discounts on four full versions of popular games. No need to do anything special. Just go and click “Get the game free.”
- Build-a-Lot
- Jewel Quest 2
- The Scruffs
- Big Kahuna Reef
These aren’t cheap or poorly made games. They’re good quality. I love Build-a-Lot.
Note: “You must run the game (not just install it) while the Amazon games and software downloader (AGSD) is still running, otherwise these are 30 minute trials. Make sure the AGSD is running in the system tray and launch the game, it should say “Thanks for your purchase” and have a “Play Full Game” button. You only need the AGSD running for the first run of a game, from that point on the AGSD does not need to be running. Also note that the AGSD starts with Windows by default, most of us will likely want to disable this via MSCONFIG.”
Game du Jour: Week of February 2
The following games will be discounted next week on Game du Jour, the ‘one-deal-a-day’ website dedicated to indie and casual games:
Mon. February 2nd: 50% off on Red Zone
Tue. February 3rd: 60% off on Penny and Paul’s Adventures
Wed. February 4th: 60% off on Gunbolt
Thu. February 5th: 50% off on T.W.T.P.B.
Fri. February 6th: 50% off on Burger Shop
Sat. February 7th: 75% off on Super Gerball
Sun. February 8th: 50% off on High Seas: The Family Fortune
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President’s Day Sale on Games
Both Big Fish Games and PlayFirst have President’s Day Sales going on. While most of us don’t get the day off, we’ll take the sales. Thank you to our Presidents for serving our country in a difficult job.
Big Fish Games: Celebrate President’s day with a special offer from Big Fish Games. Get Floating Kingdoms for only $1.00 when you enter the coupon code: ONEBUCK when purchasing the game. Offer expires 02/17.
Game du Jour: Week of February 9
The following games will be discounted next week on Game du Jour, the ‘one-deal-a-day’ website dedicated to indie and casual games:
Mon. February 9th: 50% off on Fruity Logic
Tue. February 10th: 50% off on Bookstories
Wed. February 11th: 50% off on Monkey’s Tower
Thu. February 12th: 50% off on Fashion Story
Fri. February 13th: 60% off on Spirits of Metropolis
Sat. February 14th: 50% off on Lost In Reefs
Sun. February 15th: 50% off on MiniOne Racing
Chocolatier Goes Mobile for Verizon Customers
Make yummy chocolates during Valentine’s Day with Chocolatier on mobile! Verizon customers Text CHOCO to GAME (4263) to play Chocolatier anytime, anywhere on your cell phone.
Text CHOCO to 4263.
Man, it’s a shame I don’t have Verizon mobile. I’d love to see how this looks and plays on the small screen. If you know — please share.
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Game du Jour: Week of February 23
The following games will be discounted next week on Game du Jour, the ‘one-deal-a-day’ website dedicated to indie and casual games:
Mon. February 23rd: 60% off on Cy-Clone
Tue. February 24th: 50% off on Cannon Blast!
Wed. February 25th: 50% off on MinuteMatch
Thu. February 26th: 50% off on Fab Fashion
Fri. February 27th: 50% off on Spuds
Sat. February 28th: 40% off on Arctic Rush
Sun. March 1st: 50% off on Spider Wizard
PC Game Review: Emerald City Confidential
The Wizard of Oz meets L.A. Confidential. Emerald City Confidential brings the world of film noir detective mysteries into the world of Oz along with a sordid tale of love, scandal, betrayal, and corruption. If you don’t read further, then know this point and click adventure has it all: Characters with unique personalities, strong story line that doesn’t lose you, smashing graphics and animation, humor, and long play time.
Dorothy may have had a happily ever after ending, but things have changed big time in Oz. Lion is a lawyer. Scarecrow is the former ruler of Emerald City and now advisor. Tin Man is the mayor of a town on the outskirts of Oz. Dorothy isn’t the sweet innocent girl we remember. No Auntie Em, but Toto does more than just run around and look cute.
Lots and lots of dialogue occurs that it might tire some gamers, but it tells a gripping and funny story with a few good one-liners. You can listen to the dialogue, read it, or both. Petra, that would be the main character and detective, has flaws. She looks angry all the time, but we learn why as we unwrap her own story.
Dee enters Petra’s detective agency asking for help in finding her love. Of course, the story goes much deeper than that sending Petra on an adventure that affects the future of Emerald City. Don’t expect any predictability in Emerald City Confidential. Like Wicked, the musical, it reveals surprises of its own introducing new perspectives.
Players receive dialogue choices – sort of like Choose Your Own Adventure, except you might eventually use all of the dialogues or you might not. Scenes and characters hold objects that help Petra in her adventures including magic spells.
Emerald City Confidential brings a new world complete with culture, rules and procedures to complete the picture. Scenes contain things that aren’t critical to the story that if you skipped them, it won’t hold you back. However, this makes exploring more fun knowing that not everything has a part in the mystery.
The options allow you to adjust the sound for music, sound, and voice as well as mute. It also comes with a walking speed adjustment to push Petra faster. Speeding her can make some folks dizzy. She moves at a comfortable pace that won’t have you tapping fingers waiting for her to move it.
You win medals whenever you complete a chapter and complete a few milestones. The medals feel like an afterthought. They’re not noticeable and don’t feel special. The game offers plenty without the need to tack on more stuff.
This almost perfect game contains a few pests. For one, typos show up in the dialogue at times. “Discrete” should be “discreet, “than” should be “then,” “greatful” is “grateful,” and “Won’t unlock unless I wish it too” doesn’t use the right “to.” Considering the many lines in the story, I forgive a few typos – but it annoys some folks.
You collect buttons and objects from the scenes. A color sparkle hints a button hides there. While in the middle of a dialogue, I try to pick up the button to ensure I don’t miss it. Instead, I sped up the dialogue and missed part of it. So the interaction between the dialogue and scene has quirks. While Petra takes notes in her journal, it doesn’t hold all of the dialogue including the introduction. It would help to have the complete dialogue in a separate part of the journal.
Another problem shows up in exiting the game (we need sleep, too!) and returning to it doesn’t quite return to the last scene. It requires replaying a scene before catching up.
Despite the little annoyances, Emerald City Confidential entertains for hours compared to many of today’s games especially point and click adventures, which tend to be short. The game’s wonderfulness will have people clamoring for more especially if the story takes place in a different world with different characters. Emerald City Confidential is a beautiful original with heart, brains and power (couldn’t use fear to represent lion).
P.S. This point and click truly brings back the adventure games like the old ones from the ’80s. Thus, it compels the need for a new category here called “Adventure Games.”
Game du Jour: President’s Day Week 2009
The following games will be discounted next week on Game du Jour, the ‘one-deal-a-day’ website dedicated to indie and casual games:
Mon. February 16th: 40% off on Funny Chewer
Tue. February 17th: 50% off on Freecell Wizard
Wed. February 18th: 50% off on Pet Vet 3D Animal Hospital
Thu. February 19th: 50% off on Crazy Machines 1.5
Fri. February 20th: 50% off on Pet Vet 3D Wild Animal Hospital
Sat. February 21st: 50% off on Engineer 2
Sun. February 22nd: 50% off on Solitaire Wizard
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Perimeter 2: New Earth Review
Perimeter 2: New Earth, developed by KDV Games and published by Strategy First.
The Good: Terrain modification impacts gameplay, interface lists all units for easy access, capable skirmish AI, some Providence powers are cool
The Not So Good: Horribly balanced undersized campaign, elementary resource collection, tactically uninteresting units with unfair reinforcement and iffy pathfinding, confusing Providence controls, sloppy sprawling bases reduce significance of the defensive perimeter, lacks online matchmaking
What say you?Another follow-up that lacks the depth of the original: 5/8
MY POORLY WRITTEN INTRODUCTION
Every once in a while, a game comes along that tries something different. One of those games was Perimeter, a strategy title that featured stout base defenses and terraforming new land. Developer KDV Games took that formula and went in a slightly different direction with Maelstrom, and the result was disappointing. Well, they are back with a true sequel to that classic game: Perimeter 2. Now that New Earth has been found, you aren’t restricted to that giant Frame for your base building needs, for better or for worse (I’ll let you guess which one it is). Perimeter 2 eliminates the old unit production model, electing to provide a more streamlined experience for less veteran players. Does Perimeter 2: New Earth bring the strategic goods?
GRAPHICS AND SOUND
Perimeter 2: New Earth looks a lot like Maelstrom, which is not necessarily a bad thing. The game is certainly not at the same level as top-notch RTS titles, but it holds its own thanks to the deformable terrain. The units in the game are very generic sci-fi armored units with repetitive animations and less-than-powerful weaponry. Water, a primary tactical aspect of the game, looks good, although it can be difficult to tell shallow submerged areas from those above sea level. I'm not sure if it's having a computer two years more advanced running essentially the same graphics or not, but Perimeter 2 runs a heck of a lot smoother than Maelstrom ever did. Other than the shallow water thing, the graphics never negatively impact the gameplay, and while they will never look “great,” they get the job done. The sound design features computerized voices that are not terrible, but the weapon effects and especially the music are both repetitive. Sound notifications are also very subtle, taking a back seat to the unit effects, which can cause you to miss some important events. While not great, Perimeter 2 is good enough in terms of graphics and sound.
ET AL.
This time around, there are two rival factions battling for control of New Earth: one that loves land and another than loves water. Obviously, they can't simply just avoid each other and live happily in their niche, so out come the guns! Perimeter 2 is pretty light on the features: there are two ten-mission campaigns that can be completed in a matter of hours, assuming you can scale the intense difficulty of the game. Perimeter 2 relies heavily on outnumbering you: for example, the second mission pits your one squad against three complete enemy installations. Not fun, and that's on “easy.” Most of the missions in the game run along those lines and there isn't anything innovative in the completely linear campaign to note. The objectives almost always consist of “destroy everything” objectives given along the way. While I like the lack of cut scenes, please do not rotate the camera and reset my view when a new objective is added. Please. The campaign gradually introduces new game concepts to you along the way, but there is also a poorly-written tutorial. I failed the tutorial (yep!) thanks to vague instructions (using the Providence to raise the ground, for the record).
After you are done with the campaign, you get limited multiplayer features with skirmish and “online” matches. I say “online” with “quotes” because Perimeter 2 doesn't have any Internet matchmaking, either in the game or using a 3rd party source: you have to know IP addresses in advance. What is this, 1993? It's just as well, though, as Perimeter 2 only has five (5!) maps total on which to play. None of these maps are particularly interesting, either, as they range from “circular submerged area” to “another circular submerged area.” With the simplicity of the map design, the lack of a map editor is curious. I will say that the skirmish AI puts up quite a challenge and you can play with a living map mode that introduces random earthquakes and meteor showers as an interesting twist. Unfortunately, the living map mode is the only innovation found in Perimeter 2's outdated list of features.
With increased screen resolutions, strategy games have started to put all of your units and structures on the main screen for easy access. This trend made Sins of a Solar Empire playable and has continued with Dawn of War II. Perimeter 2 also exhibits the ability to evaluate your entire army from the main screen, and it's the most notable aspect of the user interface. The rest of the interface has standard features for the genre, although the build menu's location at the top of the screen (away from all of the other panels) is questionable at best. Perimeter 2 lacks fog of war, a feature missing with any real explanation, which takes the whole aspect of stealth and surprise out of the game entirely. Pathfinding, while a significant step up from the travesty that was Maelstrom, still has some issues, particularly with builder units that, more often than not, stop well short of the destination you clicked.
One of the two memorable features of Perimeter (the perimeter itself doesn't count because it's in the game title) was terrain modification, and this feature is mostly intact in Perimeter 2. Instead of everyone having to flatten the terrain, one side is trying to put everything under water while the other is making dry land. This dichotomy would result in some interesting border clashes if the maps weren't large enough to support two fully-functioning bases. Terraforming can be done automatically by your energy cores (the only structure that produces resources) or done manually using the Providence, although I've ever gotten it to work well using the second method (thanks a lot, bad tutorial). Terraforming can be a defensive maneuver (like the walls of a fort), but since units can turn into flying craft at any time, this strategy is pointless. Your base will consist of a whole heck of a lot of energy cores, since they can be built anywhere and they always make more power to construct more energy cores. Since there is no population cap for the builder units that morph into energy cores, you can just spam them all over the map, increasing your resource income essentially to infinity since cores can gather power from any location. Balancing your energy is very easy as long as you have a copious number of energy cores. Any power shortage gives you time to construct more builder units and subsequent energy cores before resources run out; the game clearly indicates a negative energy flow, but does not specify where in the system energy is being drained.
The other memorable feature of Perimeter was the ability to morph units on the battlefield and how units were actually comprised of three sub-units (soldiers, officers, and technicians) that could be tactically arranged. Unlike the terrain, this aspect of the game has essentially been completely removed, much to my disappointment. In Perimeter 2, we get three pathetically generic units: light, medium, and heavy. They can morph, but only into a “flying” or “ground” arrangement that can be easily countered with other flying or ground units. This aspect of Perimeter 2 has been streamlined into meaninglessness. There used to be real strategy in dealing with counters and what you could change your units into, but all of that has been removed in favor of this dull, outdated selection. Since you can morph units anywhere on the battlefield instantly, it’s a completely useless convention, as both sides will just keep switching back and forth with no repercussions. Add in squad reinforcement and we have a very uninteresting aspect to the game: this is a really cheap maneuver that can be done anywhere on the battlefield, keeping your squad alive for infinity, as long as you aren't greatly outnumbered. The buildings feature the same level of limitation: a research building for upgrades, one building each for light, medium, and heavy units, and one usually ineffective turret used against light, medium, and heavy units. And that's it. In addition, you need one entire factory to support one squad of units; this is a ridiculous relationship that only leads to more building spam and longer matches at it takes you half and hour just to decimate the enemy base. You can capture enemy buildings, but it's easier just to blow up the enemy cores and render the structures useless, especially since your high amount of power income from all of those cores you built will never deplete unless you are significantly attacked.
Since Perimeter 2 has done away with the Frame, you are now given the Providence (bow before the awesome power of Rhode Island!). Essentially, this allows you to move terrain around or use some powerful weapon. Abilities are unlocked by excavating psy-crystals scattered around the map and highlighted with a ring. Once unearthed, you can unleash tornadoes, blasts, meteor showers, and healing from afar. The providence is almost awesome if Dawn of War II didn't do it better. Terraforming with the Providence needs to be a lot more straightforward. In addition to using the same button to select terraforming as toggling the type of terraforming, the icons need work: is making mountains the icon with the arrow coming out of the cylinder or going into it? Look: just make a hill with an arrow pointing up or a valley with an arrow pointing down and be done with it.
The key to winning at Perimeter 2 is destroying the enemy energy cores. This is more difficult than it sounds, since there can be a whole lot of them (remember: they can be placed anywhere, will automatically terraform on their own, and will produce plenty of resources). There’s nothing preventing you from plunking down tens (hundreds?) of energy cores in quick succession, making a sprawling and impenetrable base surrounded by higher-level turrets that cannot be countered. The elimination of the giant frame you had to connect everything to before makes Perimeter 2 a much messier and unorganized affair, and the perimeter itself is almost totally useless. Playing Perimeter 2 is almost a hyperactive affair, as you must place core after core and factory after factory to keep up with the ridiculous pace set by the AI. There is almost no strategy involved in the game, as the unit and building selection is so limited. There are also some balance issues, as level 1 turrets can only attack land units so rushers will always opt for flying models (unless they want to lose). Perimeter 2 shows how a series of questionable core design decisions can ruin a potentially interesting concept.
IN CLOSING
Perimeter 2 comes with features that sound great in theory but are poorly executed. This is doubly confusing since they were executed much more convincingly in the original game, and KDV Games has taken two steps back with Maelstrom and now Perimeter 2. This iteration isn’t quite as bad as its predecessor, but it still suffers from a host of significant gameplay problems. Perimeter 2 comes with very limited buildings and units, a very surprising tactic since the original game contained so much depth in these areas. About the only option you are given with respect to the units is researching upgrades, and even then your choices are limited at best. Units can only switch between the air and the ground, a far cry from the more complex but ultimately more enjoyable options in the original game. This tactical decision is not interesting at all, since the enemy can quickly switch between the two options just as easily, so Perimeter 2 quickly devolves into a silly game of chicken. Having one building per squad and allowing unlimited base construction leads to some undesirable results. You can always afford more cores since they are low-cost and will gather power from anywhere (as you can terraform automatically), so the bases quickly grow out of control. I'm not sure how the same game can justify having one factory required for every unit on the battlefield, but allow you to reinforce anywhere with little cost. The Providence powers could have been more interesting if the terraforming was more intuitive. Perimeter 2 is also very light in the features department: twenty poorly balanced campaign missions and only five maps for skirmish and online matches using known-in-advance IP addresses. In the end, Perimeter 2 is too bland: a limited number of units, a limited number of buildings, a limited number of maps, unlimited base size, unlimited resource collection, and limited multiplayer combine for a very disappointing strategy game.
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Game du Jour: Week of February 23
The following games will be discounted next week on Game du Jour, the ‘one-deal-a-day’ website dedicated to indie and casual games:
Mon. February 23rd: 60% off on Cy-Clone
Tue. February 24th: 50% off on Cannon Blast!
Wed. February 25th: 50% off on MinuteMatch
Thu. February 26th: 50% off on Fab Fashion
Fri. February 27th: 50% off on Spuds
Sat. February 28th: 40% off on Arctic Rush
Sun. March 1st: 50% off on Spider Wizard
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Play Mystery P.I. Online
Get ready for the seduction of deduction, because Mystery P.I. is here! In this hidden-object seek-and-find puzzle game, you play a Private Investigator (P.I.) and it’s your job to locate 8 hidden objects in the crime scene to crack this case before time runs out!
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Be A King Review
Be A King, developed and published by 300AD.
The Good: Elementary mechanics, good pacing with little waiting, random events and side quests, must manage use of heroes, varied objectives, voiced tutorials and extensive informative tool-tips
The Not So Good: Simplistic with a small handful of buildings and only two collectable resources, hardly any additional content, linear campaign
What say you? A well-executed casual city builder: 6/8
MY POORLY WRITTEN INTRODUCTION
The King is dead! Long live the King! This seemingly obvious contradiction is actually really used in such exciting, modern countries as Canada. Far be it for me to argue with those wacky Canucks. I know that I just can’t wait to be king (*insert musical interlude here*), and it’s good to be in charge. Offering this juicy prospect is the straightforward-titled Be A King, which, surprisingly, lets you Be A King. Developer 300AD (not to be confused with that guy) is back with yet another king-themed game (no doubt they have the same unhealthy fascination I do), this time going for the classic city builder simulation angle.
GRAPHICS AND SOUND
Be A King has “$20 casual game” written all over it, as the graphics are not impressive by any stretch of the imagination. The game is entirely in 2-D, and while that is not a terrible problem, Be A King does lack a high level of detail and every object in the game is very obviously a sprite. The best aspect of the game is the hand-drawn campaign map, but you see this infrequently and it obviously does not impact the gameplay. There are hardly any animations in the game, including the underwhelming characters and static buildings. The most noticeable effect in the game is the fireworks that are seen after a level completed, but this is practically the only enhancement in the game. Clearly, Be A King was not going for graphical excellence. Sound, on the other hand, fares much better: the game includes appropriate audio notifications and tolerable background music. In addition, the tutorials are completely voiced, something that even big budget games sometimes lack. They say you get what you pay for, and that idiom is definitely appropriate for Be A King.
ET AL.
In Be A King, you are the overlord of a city and must construct buildings to meet specific objectives and create a smoothly-run town. The game comes with a linear campaign consisting of twenty-five cities that goes by quickly since each individual town takes about 15 minutes to complete. Each town has specific objectives to meet, and the objectives are varied from town to town: one city might make you focus on defense while the next emphasizes economy. You are awarded a trophy depending on how quickly you complete the objectives, awarding more efficient players. Be A King lacks a map editor or free play mode, so once you are done with the campaign, the game is essentially finished. Learning the game is very straightforward thanks to comprehensive guided (and completely voiced) tutorials, very helpful tool-tips, and the advisor that points you in the right direction (although sometimes his advice is a bit vague). Be A King also lacks additional features like multiplayer or online scoring, although this might be expected for a casual budget title. I wish there was more content in Be A King, since the game is pretty entertaining while it lasts.
Most of your time will be spent constructing buildings for your town. There is a limited number of locations on which you can build, so there is some balancing that must be done (especially later on in the campaign). Placement also matters somewhat: monsters bent on your town’s destruction will usually spawn from the same general direction, so placing defensive structures in those locations is a good strategy. Be A King disappoints in the number of structures you can build, offering up a surprisingly limited selection for a city builder. Really, there are only four buildings in the game: dwellings for a higher population cap and gold income, food producing buildings that (surprise!) produce food, military buildings that attack nearby enemies, and service buildings that either give a huge gold income or reduce trading costs. There are two flavors of each type (a regular and a better, more expensive version) and you can upgrade existing buildings, but the limited building selection translates into limited decision making. The strategy of Be A King is very straightforward: earn gold by placing houses, make food for them with farms, protect them with military buildings, and repeat. Wood and stone required for buildings and upgrades can only be purchased with gold instead of being produced, so everything in Be A King is driven by gold income: a bit limited for my tastes.
Despite the limited mechanics of Be A King, it is a polished gaming experience. The game features good pacing, as there is only a small amount of waiting for resources to accumulate. You are also kept busy with random events and side quests you can choose to accept: you might need to send one of your heroes to attempt to get a resource boon, or hire a helper (with gold) to provide an ongoing bonus (like cheaper trading or faster construction). I’d like there to be the ability to dismiss unwanted quests, as clicking “no” leaves the icon (this is actually a good thing, as your hero may be off on another quest at the time, but I want an additional “dismiss” option). While the resource aspect of the game is very straightforward, you are given a bit more freedom with your heroes and quests: should you leave your hero in-town to assist defense against the monster hordes, or go out and collect that gold bonus (with a chance of not getting it or even losing your hero)? It’s key decisions like these that makes a game more interesting, and while Be A King lacks a huge number of these situations, it is an entertaining streamlined title.
IN CLOSING
Even though Be A King is a bit restricted in several areas, it is still a good game perfect for beginners to the genre, which is probably the segment of the population that would buy a casual game like this anyway. The game keeps you busy maintaining your city: building houses for gold, growing food, trading for construction materials, and defending against invasions. Be A King does an excellent job teaching you the game, from the extensive tool-tips to the voiced tutorials and your in-game advisor. Your hero can be used for quests and town defense, so some decision making is present in this aspect of the game. Of course, this simplicity means that Be A King is, well, simple: only (essentially) four buildings and limited resource collection reduces the strategic nature of constructing your city significantly. The twenty-five mission campaign is finished rather quickly, and with no alternative features beyond the campaign, Be A King is over before you know it. Still, Be A King is an enjoyable ride while it lasts, and it’s clear that a focus on simplicity was successfully executed here. People looking for a more straightforward approach to the genre will be pleased with Be A King.
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PC Game Review: Emerald City Confidential
The Wizard of Oz meets L.A. Confidential. Emerald City Confidential brings the world of film noir detective mysteries into the world of Oz along with a sordid tale of love, scandal, betrayal, and corruption. If you don’t read further, then know this point and click adventure has it all: Characters with unique personalities, strong story line that doesn’t lose you, smashing graphics and animation, humor, and long play time.
Dorothy may have had a happily ever after ending, but things have changed big time in Oz. Lion is a lawyer. Scarecrow is the former ruler of Emerald City and now adviser. Tin Man is the mayor of a town on the outskirts of Oz. Dorothy isn’t the sweet innocent girl we remember. No Auntie Em, but Toto does more than just run around and look cute.
Lots of dialog occurs that it might tire some gamers, but it tells a gripping and funny story with a few good one-liners. You can listen to the dialog, read it, or both. Petra, that would be the main character and detective, has flaws. She looks angry all the time, but we learn why as we unwrap her own story.
Dee enters Petra’s detective agency asking for help in finding her love. Of course, the story goes much deeper than that sending Petra on an adventure that affects the future of Emerald City. Don’t expect any predictability in Emerald City Confidential. Like Wicked, the musical, it reveals surprises of its own introducing new perspectives.
Players receive dialogue choices – sort of like Choose Your Own Adventure, except you might eventually use all of the dialogues or you might not. Scenes and characters hold objects that help Petra in her adventures including magic spells.
Emerald City Confidential brings a new world complete with culture, rules and procedures to complete the picture. Scenes contain things that aren’t critical to the story that if you skipped them, it won’t hold you back. However, this makes exploring more fun knowing that not everything has a part in the mystery.
The options allow you to adjust the sound for music, sound, and voice as well as mute. It also comes with a walking speed adjustment to push Petra faster. Speeding her can make some folks dizzy. She moves at a comfortable pace that won’t have you tapping fingers waiting for her to move it.
You win medals whenever you complete a chapter and complete a few milestones. The medals feel like an afterthought. They’re not noticeable and don’t feel special. The game offers plenty without the need to tack on more stuff.
This almost perfect game contains a few pests. For one, typos show up in the dialogue at times. “Discrete” should be “discreet, “than” should be “then,” “greatful” is “grateful,” and “Won’t unlock unless I wish it too” doesn’t use the right “to.” Considering the many lines in the story, I forgive a few typos – but it annoys some folks.
You collect buttons and objects from the scenes. A color sparkle hints a button hides there. While in the middle of a dialogue, I try to pick up the button to ensure I don’t miss it. Instead, I sped up the dialogue and missed part of it. So the interaction between the dialogue and scene has quirks. While Petra takes notes in her journal, it doesn’t hold all of the dialogue including the introduction. It would help to have the complete dialogue in a separate part of the journal.
Another problem shows up in exiting the game (we need sleep, too!) and returning to it doesn’t quite return to the last scene. It requires replaying a scene before catching up.
Despite the little annoyances, Emerald City Confidential entertains for hours compared to many of today’s games especially point and click adventures, which tend to be short. The game’s wonderfulness will have people clamoring for more especially if the story takes place in a different world with different characters. Emerald City Confidential is a beautiful original with heart, brains and power (couldn’t use fear to represent lion).
P.S. This point and click truly brings back the adventure games like the old ones from the ’80s. Thus, it compels the need for a new category here called “Adventure Games.”
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Funky Farm 2: Farm Fresh Review
Funky Farm 2: Farm Fresh, developed and published by Sortasoft.
The Good: Straightforward interface, significant budget strategy, variety of animals and actions, pleasingly chaotic in later games, quick games reduce tedium
The Not So Good: Accessories carry no gameplay impact, extraneous untimed mode
What say you? A slick combination of click- and money-management: 7/8
MY POORLY WRITTEN INTRODUCTION
As technology has increased, the agricultural industry has seen a decline in popularity. It used to be that everyone worked on a farm (as least that’s what Green Acres taught me), but now the wide open pastures are becoming more of a novelty than a reliable way of life. Personally, farming is too hard and too dirty (please insert your own joke here) for my tastes. It would be a whole lot easier if a computer did all the work for me, and all I had to do was click the mouse. Coincidentally, that’s exactly the premise of Funky Farm 2: Farm Fresh: it’s like I knew that before I started writing the introduction (weird, I know!)! This sequel is even funkier (probably because of the smell) and farmier than before, although since I didn’t actually play the original, I’m just surmising. In either case, I have to blame that smell on something.
GRAPHICS AND SOUND
Funky Farm 2: Farm Fresh features 2-D graphics, but they are well-designed and evoke a positive setting. Honestly, doing a game in this genre would be difficult in all three dimensions, so I have absolutely no problem with the presentation. The animals have distinctive models, although they can be difficult to spot when things become crowded. The world is animated enough to seem alive; even though the game elements are very obviously 2-D sprites, Funky Farm 2 does have a nice cartoon feel to it overall. The game does have some very informative visual cues when animals are hungry or ready to “process,” which makes playing the game that much easier. The resolution is fixed (at 1024x768), which can be windowed on higher-resolution monitors, and things can get quite small and require some squinting if you choose this route. As for the sound design, we get the basic notification effects and some background music that is not annoying (always a plus). The animal sounds are actually sporadic; I suppose this was a positive design decision, as too much ruckus would probably turn irritating quickly. Overall, I was pleased but not amazed by Funky Farm 2: exactly what you would expect for a budget-level casual game.
ET AL.
Funky Farm 2: Farm Fresh features a funky farm (which may or may not be fresh) where you must earn a specified amount of cash each day by maintaining animals. There is a thirty level campaign that progressively unlocks new items or bonuses along the way. You can choose from several missions at a time, aiming for the bonuses that will help you more in future missions. The thirty levels go by quickly, thanks to the quick time limits (which is actually a benefit), and Funky Farm 2 can be completed in a good day or two of solid play. After you are done, you are left with an untimed mode that simply lets you play forever: not an exciting feature. Funky Farm 2 does not contain any additional game modes, including multiplayer or any kind (some competitive multiplayer would be cool, or having one player as the wolves snatching animals). The amount of content is comparable to most casual games, though.
Gameplay basically consists of three actions: placing animals, placing food for those animals, and then harvesting them. All of these actions are done with icons that slowly scroll across the bottom of the screen; they are presented in a randomized order, which increases apprehension while playing (where is that darn pig?). Funky Farm 2 comes with eleven animals (and one crop): more than enough to crowd the screen and keep you busy. In addition to the harvesting items, there are “special powers” like VCR controls to speed up or slow down the scrolling items, fences to keep animals segregated, incubators for eggs, feeding troughs, and wolf repellant (plus others). Most animals come with several options to make money: cows, for example, can be milked for a small amount of cash, or killed for a big profit. Usually, an animal’s value increases over time as they eat, so it pays to wait until near the end of the day before slaughtering everyone. Of course, you will probably not have enough cleavers to go around then. At the end of the day, surviving animals can be lassoed into the corral for a money bonus. The profit you earn past the day’s goal can be invested into accessories you can dress your animals with (hats, shoes, wigs, et cetera). While this certainly does make your farm funky, there is absolutely no reason to do this; it would be nice if they had a strategic benefit (such as killing animals with accessories netted less money).
Each level of Funky Farm 2 lasts just the right amount of time, giving you enough time to meet your goal while not letting the game become tedious. A common problem with casual games is repetition, but Funky Farm 2 gives you just enough to keep you constantly busy during the short games, so repetition is kept at a minimum here. There is an interesting amount of strategy with Funky Farm 2, far beyond the typical click-management game. How many animals do you need? When should you kill them? How many should you kill (too little means it's harder to lasso them all at night time)? Which animals make the most money? The game seems to be pretty well balanced, with animals that make a large profit (cows), those that require constant supervision (pigs), and those that just mind their own business (chickens). Luckily, keeping animals fed is an easy chore assuming you have the icons available: the AI is smart enough to find food within close proximity. While the difficulty of Funky Farm 2 does increase as you progress through the campaign, it never becomes too difficult, although I always welcome adjustable difficulty options that Funky Farm 2 lacks. The bottom line is that Funky Farm 2 is far more interesting than your typical click-management game thanks to increased strategy.
IN CLOSING
Funky Farm 2: Farm Fresh is more than a simple click management game: the budgetary concerns elevate it to a higher status in the genre. The click-only interface makes the game perfect for novices and the game includes a wide variety of animals and tools to use. As more content becomes unlocked, the game becomes more chaotic (in a good way) and an overall strategy is a must in order to succeed without becoming overwhelmed. Watching your money and reaching your goal takes some planning and skill, beyond simple reflexes required by most click-management games, and this is what separates Funky Farm 2 from the rest. The quick game time makes the title less tedious (that’s good!), but also makes the campaign short (that’s bad!). The lack of meaningful content beyond the campaign (multiplayer, for example) makes the short nature of Funky Farm 2 a little more painful. Making your farm funky is fun, but I’d like the accessories to actually mean something instead of being eye candy (putting heels on a cow: priceless). In the end, people looking for something beyond a basic click-management game should check out Funky Farm 2.
