Surface: The Soaring City Collector's Edition

[b]Surface 3: The Soaring City[/b] (IHOG) [i]This is a standalone story[/i] Your brother, inhumane? It's just not possible! Options include four sliders for sounds, a slider for brightness, Full-screen, Widescreen, Custom Cursor and Special Effects. Choice of three difficulties, which can be changed at any time. [b]Story[/b]: Your brother Jeremy is amazing... A prolific inventor and humanitarian whom you haven't seen in many years. You pause in your travels to see the unveiling of his latest invention, which turns out to be a flying city! Moments later, chaos reigns as winged people swarm the city and kidnap Jeremy right before your eyes. It's not long before you learn that he's been accused of inhumane experiments, but why? Rescue your brother and clear his name within the city that soars in the sky. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1819666480 Our [b]Journal[/b] contains snippets of story, and is combined with the game's map (more on that below). Here you can also rewatch any or all of the game's many cutscenes. In addition to the cutscenes, the story progresses through a variety of notes that we find as we explore. There are a lot of them, but these letters are short enough that even people who don't like reading will have no problem getting the full story. [b]Gameplay[/b]: Be on the lookout for [b]collectible flowers[/b] as you play. There can be more than one at each location and on zoom-ins, but not on the HOS. You will generally only have 5 to 6 locations open to you at any given time, and once you move on from that area, you will no longer be able to collect any flowers that you missed. As mentioned above, the [b]MAP[/b] also functions as your journal. It can show areas where objectives have not yet been met, but it will be shown as active even if there's nothing you can do there at the moment. The [b]HINTS [/b]will give you a text response with exactly what you need to do, but if you can't spot a needed item on the scene, you're out of luck unless you look at the strategy guide (I had to do this a couple of times... These eyes are gettin' old, I tell ya!) The [b]Hidden Object Scenes[/b] are interactive, with items listed in yellow needing an extra step to find. You also have access to your [b]Inventory[/b] during HOS, and will often be required to use an item that you [b]found somewhere else [/b]in a hidden object scene. The game does a beautiful job explaining this, but you might not see the info if you don't have the tutorial active. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1820495895 Mini-games were generally fun and do-able, and not just the same old same old. [b]Sights and Sounds[/b]: We have live actors in this one, although they sometimes have a graphic effect (as in the picture above) to make them more part of the game. I've mentioned before that I'm not fond of FMV, but I actually enjoyed the acting in this one. I believe that the acting was filmed in another language, as NONE of the text/voiceovers synced up with the actors... and I still enjoyed it! I found the early graphics unpleasant - I did not like them at ALL, and that made me not want to play. I'm glad that I persevered, though, as I ended up really enjoying the game and some of the latter artwork, too! I especially like the design of [url=https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1819683960]this character[/url]. <--click! https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1819666000 [b]CE Content[/b]: [list] [*]Integrated Strategy Guide [*]Bonus Chapter [*]Collectible Flowers (Red, white and orange) [*]Philanthropist Area* [*]In-game Achievements [*]7 Wallpapers [*]Screensaver [*]7 Concept Art [*]4 Music Tracks [*]15 Replayable Mini-games [*]4 Bonus Videos (hehe) [/list] *The [b]Philanthropist Area[/b] (accessible from the main menu) has three locations where you can "purchase" upgrades by using the flowers that you collected during gameplay. [b]Bonus Chapter[/b]: There's a problem in the flying city, and your help has been requested. You return to find it abandoned, your brother gone to try and solve it on his own. The main story ended in a good place, and this felt like a true bonus chapter, not just a last-minute add-on. Well done, devs! [b]Verdict[/b]: This was an enjoyable game, clocking in at just over 5 hours for me. The graphics that I didn't love were outweighed by fun, but challenging gameplay, nice music and a good story. Recommended to IHOG fans!

3rd entry in a series of 12 most likely unrelated games, and one of the few with fmv, the reason I bought it. #1, #2, #11 and #12 aren't on steam and the first (mystery of another world) and second (the noise she couldn't make) also have fmv, so would buy those. except [b]big fish quietly doubled the price of most of their games to a ridiculous $20 at the beginning of 2026[/b], even though many are 10+ years old (this is from 2013) and nothing was done to them since release. I normally upvote the fmv hogs I play, they're all the same, random puzzles, cheesy story and acting, and this is no different (decent voiceovers too), plus [b]a ridiculous price alone isn't stopping a recommendation, but shady practices like this do[/b]. has very separate volumes, a brightness slider and toggles for windowed mode, widescreen, custom cursor and special effects, the usual 3 difficulty modes and separate player profiles. there's an in-game achievements and instructions screen, an optional tutorial at the beginning, inventory lock (don't have to mouseover all the time), hints, and a fast travel map where cutscenes can also be rewatched. oh, and a cute hamster buddy for a while. that's right, not a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ cat. might have to use inventory items in hidden object scenes and spamming clicks is permitted. there's a [b]1-minute cooldown on hints and before a puzzle can be skipped on casual mode[/b] though, wtf? finding flowers lets you renovate 3 areas in the philantrophy area. it's purely cosmetic and you need all 300 points. I had 296, so couldn't finish it. collector's editions are an age-old scummy big fish move to sell butchered versions cheaper and trick people into buying games twice, or simply pay more. this is a ce, so there's a strategy guide, a 'bonus' episode (i.e. cut content restored, adding an hour to the 4-hour base game), wallpapers, screensaver, concept art, soundtrack, replayable minigames (jigsaw on strings was neat) and a few fun bonus videos. [b]good package, as usual, shame about the publisher.[/b]

lots of HO and puzzles, fun graphics and story

This game is very enjoyable to play. It has a well-thought-out story and a very helpful hint system. Pros + voice acting + bonus chapter + nice graphics

I understand why Lord Thunder was jealous of Jeremy’s wife. This is one of the older adventure HOGs so it does have its own draw backs that come with it, but the FMV and entertaining voice acting adds a lot of charm that helps you overlook some of the more outdated gameplay or designs that might flaw it. The puzzles are fresh compared to current day HOGs adding more to the enjoyability of the game. My biggest peeve of this game was that I couldn't play it full screen without cutting off a third of the screen, I could not figure out a work around so I did have to play it windowed.