My mother gifted me this game, knowing I do so love hidden object games, and despite the negative reviews upon it, I decided to give it a shot. It is indeed as it was explained on the tin, a hidden object game. However, I sadly found it a bit lacking.
First off, gameplay. Scenes didn't have quite as many items in them as previous hidden object games I've played, which I guess made it overly easy for me. Save for a few points of which I must address. There are a few mispellings, as well as wrong labels for intended objects. In fact, once while playing a hammer was labeled as 'Goblet', and vice versa, making it a bit difficult if I was relying closely on the list. Other times, it was... Insanely easy to pick out the items due to how their texture quality clashed with the others around them. I would highly advise the makers with the next game, to make sure they don't enlarge items just to put them in the game. If you want it in so badly, add it in as it's current size to make it look further away.
Now, on to the puzzles between the games. Now, some of the puzzles sure were fun, and were a nice touch. However the sensitivity on some of the puzzles were off. I recall having to try and finish a puzzle three times, due to the fact it was not registering I finished it. And it took a little to figure out what I was supposed to do with some of them. It'd be a nice idea for the next installment to try and polish such things, and also let the player know what exactly is needing to be done.
And to the art. I must say, the art involving the characters was, actually quite to my liking. Characters looked quite lovely, and had plenty of differences between them. Which, given the small cast, is not all that surprising. Personally I would have loved to see more characters involved, especially with the talent of the person who drew them. A pity that there were not many scenes with the drawn characters though. Mainly dialogue snippits involving their base portraits.
And finally, the Story. I found myself disappointed, really. I was hoping the story would have more involvement with the gameplay. But there were very, very few intervals where storyline was inserted. It made the game... Grueling, almost. Having to deal with back to back searches and puzzles at times, just to try and progress the story some. I understand that they wanted to give the players more game to play, but that's not the direction to go with it. Now, nobody wants dialogue and story that drags on, but I'm sure no one likes speckles of storyline either. It's all about retaining a happy balance. Inserting plenty of interaction, without overdoing it, and plenty of story without dragging things out.
Either way, it was a decent game, perhaps okay for someone starting out with hidden object games. But for anyone who's looking for a immersive story to follow, or a challenging point and click game, I would not suggest it. Either way, it really depends on the kind of person who's checking it out.
