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Playrix just keeps getting better and better with these undersea trips, except that in Aquascapes, the underwater adventure is not your typical hidden object mystery. We are building high end aquariums and populating them with happy fish, both mundane and exotic. We earn upgrades by playing hidden object puzzles, and earning coins to buy new decorations and pets, along with other accessories for our fishbowls.

Also, a sneaky little thing they do is get you to collect shells, and you might be tempted to click on just the scallop shells, but the shells can take any more, conch shells, snail shells, and even the text “shell” spelled out om some wood. Those shells are great to collect, because you can buy even better stuff with them. You know you’ve made a hit with the fish when little hearts float about them when you place a new plant or decoration down, and they love the food you give them.  Read more... (229 words, 31 images, estimated 55 secs reading time)

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If you liked Playrix’s Gardenscapes game, then you will most likely enjoy Barn Yarn. This is a sequel to the hidden object auction game, but now we are playing as designer to Farmer Joe, a relative to that old butler, and we are remodeling the farm. We start off with a beat up old barn, and immediately start looking for ways to make cash to fix it up.

The customers we run into while selling off the junk at the old farmstead are fairly patient people, and they will pay very well on everyday objects that we might find out in the wild in real life. While this is not a hidden object mystery, you might find it to be mystery on how quickly you can rack up the cash by selling junk from around the farm and looking for extra coinage that just seems to show up all over the place. Playrix also managed to get their logo, the young dragon, into the game itself as a child’s toy that Farm Joe’s grandson, Tommy, carries around, as well as part of the remodel sale.  Read more... (246 words, 31 images, estimated 59 secs reading time)

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I’m not sure exactly when this game came out. While the graphics in the artwork looked great, the storyline looked it bit washed out and lines seemed broken. This story is about Lana Vassari, a talented art restorer that is suddenly up to her ears in work when art thieves hit her hometown.

It seems that everyone in Lana’s loop has an angle. From the museum and gallery directors to the auction house. Old friends that just love art, and the odd buyer here and there. Even the FBI agent is keeping her busy in this hidden object mystery, but on the upside, this is not nearly as dark as many of these kinds of games are, and finding the little anachronisms is classic paintings from the Renaissance and Baroque periods is pretty fun. The background music sets the tone for whatever painting you are working on, including street noises and animals. Some of the hidden objects might be nearly impossible to find, but hints come at a price. Also, the focus was pretty much on the hidden object aspect of the game, and there were logic puzzles or weird locks to figure out. This was a big plus.  Read more... (302 words, 31 images, estimated 1:12 mins reading time)

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When I first saw the title of this hidden object mystery, I had a feeling that AnnGames was using the current pop culture obsession with the Twilight movies and books as a marketing ploy. One of the secondary characters is even named Bella, but Bella is not the focus of this game. It has more of Harry Potter kind of a feel, yet it is set in North America. This story involves a young woman whose parents went missing, and when a distant relative, Hovenheim, gives her a letter from her mother, she finds out that her parents are alive, but they are trapped in a parallel plane called simply, Dark World.  Read more... (300 words, 33 images, estimated 1:12 mins reading time)

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Myth People did a nice bit of a touch up on their Azkend series with this game, and treated us to a steampunk era adventure in this match 3 game, with a little hidden object mystery thrown in. We play this through the eyes of a scholarly Englishwoman, maybe a teacher, or a professor, so we see the story unfold through her eyes, and the gameplay is down as a match 3 chain.

Your chains feature icons that were popular in science studies from the period, trilobites, t-rex skulls, and other paleontological or archeological symbols. It plays not unlike Azkend, and there is still the image matching mini-game, which distracts from the story more than enhances it. Had this been a true HOM, it could have been a great contender with any of the tales from ERS studios. I am curious to see what our heroine will find, and will get back to her story, but with many great scary games to be had before Samhain comes, we might get back to her before Nikolai Tesla’s birthday. If you are really into match 3 games, take her for a spin, you might enjoy it. It has a very Vernian feel to it.