I am baffled that this game has nearly the same rating as Shadow of the Comet. Shadow of the Comet is a complex, atmospheric game with brilliant puzzles and an interesting story - despite its outdated keyboard-based interface. Prisoner of Ice is the exact opposite. It is a very simple and short game, based on an uninspiring story that mashes together themes from Lovecraft myths, Indiana Jones tropes, and low-grade sci-fi comics. Although some background graphics are good, the pre-rendered 3D characters and their atrocious animations feel completely out of place. This, combined with the terrible voice acting, makes Prisoner of Ice more comical than atmospheric, which is a very negative point for a Cthulhu game. The puzzles are incredibly easy (basically find the key in a drawer and use it to open the door nearby, that's the average complexity!). I never hesitated a minute during the game, and the only difficulty came from a couple of small items that required pixel hunting. Summarizing, it is a game that has zero challenge, no atmosphere and a bad story. For me, it is really difficult to recommend this, even to the most devoted Lovecraft fans.
This game is an old school adventure whose strong points are the atmosphere and originality of the puzzles. The graphics, music and gallery of characters are notable and have a considerable charm, even if outdated for modern standards. The story is interesting and unfolds nicely during the game, although it is a bit cheesy and not very original. My wife and I liked the puzzles and we found them logical and non trivial, which is not easy to achieve. The puzzles require some thinking, but the automatic journal helps a lot. Overall, the game is very challenging but not absurd, and we could complete it withot consulting the walkthrough. The interface is not the best one out there, but it kind of works if one uses the keyboard. Those who wish to play with the mouse are going to have a very hard time, as the mouse support was a late game addition and is made to mimick the keyboard commands.
This game is rather charming and has a captivating story. However, it is very much focused on the narrative and not really on the gameplay. The game is based on a few inventory puzzles, many mini-puzzles and many interrogations. The last ones are the core of the game, and you are supposed to select the answers/questions that Poirot would likely give. It is impossible, or at least very difficult, to fail, but the game mechanics consists in gathering as many points as possible. This means that the game is super easy and flows like a graphic novel. Moreover, there are deduction puzzles that consist in selecting the right clues for the right questions, but again they are really really easy and at the end they become a series of trials and errors. On the plus side, the point system gives an incentive to replay the game, trying to emulate Poirot and obtain a higher score. Overall, it is a game worth playing for a nice story, but do not expect any challenge.
This game is a typical point-and-click adventure game aimed at kids. Everything is very polished. Nice graphics, a good interface, reasonable voice actors, a variety of environment and puzzles. The beginning is a bit slow, and Anna really speaks a lot, which may be slightly annoying for an adult audience. As the game progresses, however, the story becomes more interesting, and the game in enjoyable until the very end. Focusing more on the puzzles, in my opinion they are very good. Most of them can be solved by logic but also require some creativity. I did not find any impossible obstacle, as I could finish the game without external help. There is some social justice "preaching" in the game, but it is not excessive to break the immersion in the story. Overall, this game is mostly enjoyable for young kids or by parents and kids together. For an adult, instead, this adventure is all right, but there are frankly more interesting products out there.
This game is a randomly generated platform game. You impersonate a hero and you have to go around in the world defeating monsters, avoiding traps and facing level bosses. The gameplay reminds a bit of "Wonder boy in Mosterland", but the character progression does not happen through the game itself. Instead, when your character dies, you are sent back to the castle when you can use the gold you collected to improve the skills of the next character or unlock new abilities, classes, etc. Overall the gameplay is superb, as the experience is challenging, addicting and rewarding. I really recommend it to everybody who likes old school platform games.
This is a real Sherlock game. At the beginning there is a lot of pixel hunting, which indeed reflects the observation of a crime scene. Collecting clues may be frustrating for some, especially when one realises to have missed a small piece of evidence in a very crowded screen. On the other hand clues are really visible on screen, so if one is a careful observer things do not become too frustrating. The real essence of the game is however the deduction part. At the end of each day there is a set of questions to answer on the basis of the evidence collected. These questions are fundamental to the game, since they force you to analyse what you discovered so far. My only concern on this part is that one has to change the replies until they are all correct. This procedure may be a bit frustrating. My girlfriend and I adopted the following strategy. If we did not manage to reply all questions correctly, we repeated the process up to a maximum of 4-5 times. If we did not get it after so many times, we then loooked at the walkthrough. The end of the game is also a pure Sherlock-moment, since one has the chance to gather all elements together, reconstruct what happened and guess the culprit. It is very difficult, but come on this is Sherlock Holmes! All elements for a correct deduction are there, but one has to think carefully on all details. Finally, a comment on graphics, music and acting. They are all very good, and the game has aged very well. The game is very atmospheric and I strongly suggest it for the long winter nights.
