Christmas Stories: Hans Christian Andersen's Tin Soldier Collector's Edition

Another HOPA game. I planned to play this game on Christmas, but as things happened, I only got to play it this year. As the name suggests, this story is about a villain that turned people into tin soldiers, because he wanted to be together with the heroine. Well, the game was not that great, I expected a lot more of it. The gameplay was not that good, with the same old puzzles and bad hidden object scenes. A huge let down due to its price.

This is part 3 of the Christmas Stories series. TLDR: if you can get it on sale, it's worth adding to your series (if you like part 1 and 2 from the same line), but it is definitely the weakest version so far. Especially if you're like me and want the achievements. I gave it a thumbs down because it was short and had annoying bugs, but it's not all bad! Gameplay: So far, the difference in quality between the first two games and this skidmark of a third edition is very noticable. The minigames and HOG are way too easy, the stuff you find is mostly needed right away/in the same room, and the game feels shorter than the previous ones. The story (as far as this type of game has one) and artwork is really good imo, which is one of the reasons I like the entire Christmas Stories series. Technical problems: I had a bug where a minigame right in the beginning did not work. I solved it by changing the difficulty to easy/normal, but that means the game literally could not be played if you like playing hard mode. Another noteworthy thing is the addition of not one, but TWO bonus chapters. This had me excited at first - because yay, more game to perhaps compensate the short maingame, but unfortunately I found out there was absolutely zero reason to call this "two" bonus chapters. If you put the two together, it counts as 1 and a short one at that... Achievements: Something that bothers me is that there isn't a lot about these games online about the achievements, and it also isn't added on steam like it usually is. There are a few achievements that I definitely did, but it didn't show up as an achievement in the game itself. Also the collectibles are impossible to find: e.g. 50 puzzle pieces or thingamejiggies and they're all SUPER obvious, but then at the end of the game you miss ONE! And I kept going back and even replaying the entire game to double check everything, but I still can't complete the collection. Very frustrating. And finally, there is also an achievement which requires it takes you longer than 10 minutes to finish a HOG. In my opinion, this is a waste of time and a ridiculous achievement. Most people finish a HOG in 2 minutes or less, so you're basically forcing people to literally wait and do nothing instead of letting them enjoy a nice game. If you read my rant, thanks :p and I hope you enjoy some nice games (and I hope you can get them on sale lol).

great game. bubblegum for the mind

The animations here are seriously aborable! Definitey the cutest of all HOG games I've ever played. This is a great game for getting into the Christmas spirit!

Perfect for a mulled wine session with the girlfriend :3

For what it is, it's pretty good.

Of the two "Christmas Stories" games I´ve played, (Christmas Carol and Tin Soldier), I like Christmas Carol a LOT, but do not like this one. Although it´s almost the same - same graphics, same game style, same cheesy dialogues... the tin man story is just weird, there is no christmas spirit and some of the riddles are just plain boring. Believe me, get cristmas carol instead!