My initial idea was to give this game 2/5 stars but after finishing up the last quest, I realized that it's a disappointing 1/5. Let me explain. I really liked, even at times loved the first two games (you can see my reviews). Naturally I already had expectations when I started III. What was interesting to observe in the transition from I to II were the improvements. I couldn't get more excited to see how much greater III would be. And there were improvements. There were more objects on the map to click on. Some you couldn't immediately get, which implied needing the right tool. That was great. The resting mechanic was improved - you could rest by making a camp anywhere. However, to rest you needed food. You could buy it but you could also cook it! There were recipes that required different igredients, so your gathering actually made more sense. In order to cook better meals though you had to level your cooking skill. Yes, there were skills that increased in rank the more you used them! It felt like an RPG even more. That impression was made stronger by the increased presence of dungeons and fighting monsters. The map was streamlined - you could travel to general areas only but you could access vendors from anywhere without having to travel to their areas. So what's the problem? It sounds great, doesn't it? Yes, until you start to realize why all those improvements were made. Your tools break frequently so you have to constantly buy them anew. Tha map is smaller. Monsters require more potions in order to kill them. Objects and monsters respawn. They respawn, however, not after time but after a certain amount of "actions", i.e. picking up objects, harvesting, hunting, killing monsters, etc. Not only that but that "action" timer increases so objects become increasingly difficult to respawn. In other words, the game is one MASSIVE GRIND that conceals a shorter than both its predecessors game and completely sucks it out of its enjoyment and charm.
I can't give this game less than 5, maybe 4.9 if that was possible but why at the end. The first game was good but this one is even better. The story is more fleshed out and coherent. The artstyle is amazing. The graphics have improved. The depth and breadth of the puzzles have improved. The hidden object mechanic is expanded upon. For what this games sets out to be I can confidently say it's brilliant. I only hope the third is just as good and a satisfying conclusion because the first and this one set up everything quite smoothly. My only wish for this game and I guess for the series so far is to have had harder puzzles. This, however, is really not taking away anything from the game, it's just something that I personally would like and I'm not judging the quality of the game with it. If you want an adventure/puzzle/mystery/hidden object game with amazing artstyle and a decent story, this game is it. I loved it for all those reasons.
Denser and more streamlined than the original in terms of quests, items to find and things to do. Smaller in map size but more fleshed out. Feels more and more like a classic RPG game with its quests, characters and dungeons (yes, this time there's what I can only describe as reminiscing a classic dungeon crawl!). Maybe because of the smaller map the story as a whole is a bit lacking and this time there were more plot points where it was obviously rushed in favor of moving the plot forwards. The first game had similar moments but there was only one major such that stood out strongly to me. This time there were lots. At one point I was just ignoring the story. For that I take one star and although I feel I should be taking two, I'm not because the game in general delivers on its formula.
I've played other hidden object games before but never one with such good production quality especially in the story department. This game is more of an adventure mystery/puzzle game with hidden object mechanics rather than a pure hidden object game. The story is generally a familiar one but the way the mystery is uncovered is actually pretty well done even though it's not so hard to figure out by oneself fairly early. There's decent writing with twists and turns and various characters with their motivations and roles. I had two issues with it though and that's why I'm taking a star (in fact my real score is 4.3). First, there's no fast travel although there's a map with interactive icons for the respective scenes. Clicking on them does nothing though, which is annoying because there's A LOT of backtracking. Second, and this might be related to the first one but only the devs know, is that because of the way the hidden object mechanic is integrated into the game, getting stuck without a hint of what to do next happens quite often. Eventually I figured out how to solve that but still. Unfortunately I don't have an idea how it might have been avoided. I played on Expert so maybe that's part of the difficulty. That's it. If you like hidden object games and adventure/puzzle/mystery games, then this is a perfectly good blend that satisfies.
For what this game sets out to be, it delivers fully. Detailed colorful pre-rendered graphics combined with the soothing and at times invigorating music provide a casual, relaxing experience. The game is short but I wouldn't have wanted it any other way. It's a simple and easy game overall. It requires just a tiny bit of memorizing where is what in case you need it later. What I was pleasantly surprised to discover about this game was that a huge part of it was the hidden object aspect, which personally I love. There's story, which is simple and at times rushed but the writing is actually pretty fine. In fact, the way the story pans out, it turns out that the game is not exactly linear in the sense that there's a lot of "travelling around", visiting places a few times based on the story, i.e. to borrow a term seen in another review, it does has this sense of adventure. It's evident that a lot of care and detail has been put into the game. I can't give it less than 5, as I said, it does what it's designed to do perfectly even though its story wasn't something complex or special.
