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Showing posts with label Big Fish Games. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Big Fish Games. Show all posts
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Spa Mania sale
For a limited time, get Spa Mania, a time management game, for $.99 from Big Fish Games! Use code: SPA99MANIA.
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Azada: Ancient Magic
Azada: Ancient Magic is the next in hit series Azada ™. Created, produced, and currently only available from Big Fish Games, Ancient Magic is another puzzle game.Before writing the review, I replayed Azada. At the end of Azada, you free Titus. He says to keep in mind the words "Magic Book." Indeed, that is the trouble he calls you to solve. His great-grandfather Angus noticed that book characters had come to life, complete with bad and good personalities. They were complaining about not being read recently, or wanting more story lines. You are called in to help decipher what evil has brought the characters to life.
This involves flipping through pages of each storybook and solving the puzzles that arise. Some are search and find; some involve deciphering code. The answers aren't always apparent, such as when you bury a bottle of wine so it can become vinegar. When the puzzles are solved, the icon at the bottom right of the page will indicate that the page is complete. One of the items that must always be located is a card (almost like a Tarot card) that will 'free' the character from the book.
When the series of books are complete, the cards are collected in another book, and you analyze them for secret symbols to decipher which character is causing mischief. Symbols appear on the card as you look through the magic decoder ring. As in Azada, there are hints available for a time penalty, and orbs are earned to skip puzzles.
What they did well: You will be introduced to many childhood favorite characters. To name a few (but not give too much away), there is Rapunzel, Robinson Crusoe, one of the 3 little pigs, a character from Secret Garden.... It's fun to flip through the pages, and the satchel is handy for having the items from previous pages. There is more inventiveness in the puzzles, and I actually found them more fun than the first Azada. The story line also works well as a mystery, since the player is trying to figure out who is behind the evil. New music is an added benefit and also an improvement over Azada. Additionally, the puzzles are not as repetetive as in Azada. I giggled over how the garlic that was hidden in Dracula's kitchen had a BIG poison sign over it. The art is good for a puzzle game.
What could be better: While you do actually get to move from the library, which is an improvement over the first Azada, it's just to work the machine. Every time you finish with a set of books, it tells you to go use the machine. I found both the linearity and the reminder annoying. Why couldn't I wait to check the cards until I'd completed 2 sets of books? The cut scenes where Angus is explaining things have two buttons: a forward and a back. The forward button does not work. So I either had to skip through and miss the information, or wait the set amount of time before the text moved on to the next point. Unfortunately, the back button *does* work, but it meant I had to wait for the next few screens of text (that I'd already read) to complete their timer again. I also got pretty frustrated with one of the puzzles where you had to put things back in their original place from a hazy, black and white image. Finding where to put a necklace took me an annoyingly long time.
Even given the negatives, Azada: Ancient Magic is definitely a different and enjoyable take on the puzzle genre.
Recommended for: fans of Azada, puzzles, or brain teasers, or people interested in checking out the puzzle genre.
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Azada - 99 cent special!!
So, what do do now that McDonalds is upping their price on the dollar menu?Quick, act fast! Big Fish Games is running a special for Azada ™, the puzzle game, for just 99 cents! Yes, for less than the cost of a Double Cheeseburger or the same as a Frosty, you can have hours of fun! The special runs from August 8th to the 15th.
Azada ™ has been around for some time, so, if you haven't tried it, I highly recommend this game as one of the best puzzle games I've played. If you like crossword or logic puzzles, sudoku, or point and click, Azada ™ is for you.
The story starts out where you are in a strange room that looks like a library. A voice instructs you to investigate a specific book to help free an old man from his endless prison. Little bits and pieces of the story unfold as you solve the puzzles. There are 12 chapters, each of which has a unique puzzle to solve. Each chapter has a point-and-click puzzle to solve where you have to figure out how to use the elements you find. For example, in one room, you find a match, then a matchbox. You must strike the match on the matchbox and set a fire. While that may seem pretty easy to figure out, there were a few times I needed some hints on the point-and-click portions.
I occasionally found the instructions to be a bit unclear, but overall, the game is well designed and interesting. The puzzles are unique with no repetition.
So get it now, while the special lasts! Click on the Azada ™ link and enter "AZADA99" to get the discount pricing.
Happy solving, everyone!
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
"The Race"
The Race, a hidden object game, is available from the BigFishGames website today. The Race is developed by Gogii games.As the game starts, you choose from one of 6 teams. The appearance of the 6 teams are: muscles, hicks , "euro" couple, mom/daughter, grandparents, or Ken and Barbie. I wondered if the team choice influenced any of the play, but it does not appear to.
There are 3 venues: Country, Continental, and World championships. Starting out with Country, you begin in Canada. There are 3 sites where you locate 10 hidden objects, and "race" against the other teams to see which team can find the objects fastest. For each site, you get a magnifying glass that allows you to zoom in on the objects. There are 3 tools that help you to locate objects: a hot/cold cursor, a compass, and a time bomb that will send the team closest in time back.
The teams that finish first through third receive points. The points are talleyed for each country, and an overall winner is declared.
Like most hidden object games, there is a penalty (5 second) for random clicking. There are no bonuses for finding items in quick succession.
The music at the intro screen heightens excitement, but the music during the play is mediocre. Overall, this is not the most challenging or pretty hidden object game I've played, but it wasn't terrible. I found that the resolution of the magnifying glass was very grainy and unlikely to help me locate small or shadow objects. I was disappointed that a choice of teams had no effect on the outcome. Also, one of the things that keeps me replaying a casual game is having "achievements" I can unlock (such as getting 100% accuracy at 10 locations, or placing 1st 10 times.) This game did not have achievements.
I think this game would be great for kids, or people new to hidden object games, as it wasn't that challenging. It seemed to me that if I took a long time to find my first object, the other teams also got off to slower starts.
Happy hunting!
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