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I saw a modern day movie adaptation of The Masque of the Red Death back in the early 90s, and this game is far better than that movie. When it comes to Poe’s stories, no one brings them to life like ERS Games. With every new story they take on, the graphics get more streamlined, and the gameplay gets better. Also, there is more focus on the hidden object part of the game than constantly looking for logic puzzles to unlock things.

We have a new mystery to solve, our dashing and brilliant companion, Inspector Dauphin, is with us again, and now we are hunting down a vigilante that is taking down corrupt government officials in 19th Century France. The whole of the game has a smoother feel, as the animations are more fluid, and the choppiness that was commonly seen in older ERS games is gone. We have don’t really know whom the true villain is in this case. Is it the cloaked figure in red masque, or the town politicians that are taxing their constituents dry? Murder is murder, but the slower blood-letting of financial drain can be just as macabre, as it brings on a suffering that cannot be taken out quickly, as one would to kill someone with a quick slash of a sword or piercing of a bullet.  Read more... (261 words, 32 images, estimated 1:03 mins reading time)

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Take your favourite mahjong game, and add a splash of hidden object, then some of your classic logic games like Memory, and choose those game with a wheel of fortune, and you have Liong: The Lost Amulets.

With a beautiful Chinese theme, Liong is a wonderful culmination of classic games in one great mix, but every time you get a new challenge, it is not like the last. Even the hidden object puzzles are different, as in some you search for items on a list, and in others you simply look for many variations of the same object. There is a spot the difference game, and so many more. Even the mahjong is different from the classic, as we are not searching for outer matching tiles, but tiles that match the list below the grid, and if you find more matches quickly, you get bonus points. Liong is a wonderful way to while away the hours on a rainy afternoon. Call your favourite take-out place for some General Tso Chicken and steamed rice, and put on a pot of black tea, because you will want to be in a very Asian mood when you play Liong. Test out the trial, and you’ll be hooked in no time.

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I had promised that I would review the original 2 Tasty after doing its sequel, and I am so glad I did! This game played far more smoothly than the second one. The hidden object/time management premise was still there, but instead of scrolling the screen to find ingredients, we simply right-click to switch to another screen, which takes us to a pantry. Libby and Cole are running their first hometown bakeries and outlets, and we still get all those wonderful recipes, but with a more at home feel. Well, these are just as fattening as anything we’d see at Food Network, but what do you expect at a bakery? We are still getting that story between levels about how Libby and Cole got together, but without the narrative and the voice acting, which made the game run smoother, since it is quicker to read the dialogue than listen to it. Thanks to that, we can get on with the game, and it made it much more fun. There were more beverages in this game, too, so we had another option of equipment to work with while the mixers and oven were occupied. 2 Tasty was much more enjoyable than 2 Tasty Too, but both are worth the time.

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This hidden object mystery/logic puzzle game has pretty much the same game setup as most games similar to it, but the plot line and story are pretty much what kept me going. In 9: The Dark Side Collector’s Edition, we are drawn into a magical war that has been going on since the days just after the Black Plague. Set in the city of Prague, this game has a very Olde World feel to it, and is quite enjoyable to those whom like European history.  Read more... (349 words, 31 images, estimated 1:24 mins reading time)

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This is the first in the Ravenhearst series of hidden object mystery games. I found it to be both mediocre and provocative at the same time. The graphics were pretty much the standard antique puzzles, and the sound just background noise, not unlike something ripped from one of those “Sounds of Halloween” CDs. At least there was no distracting music, and it was playing low in the background. The thing that kept me hooked to the game was the storyline. We have been sent to investigate the disappearance of a young woman from Iowa that occurred at Ravenhearst over a century ago. She came to England to work as a teacher, and got caught up in the world of high society and romance, then she was gone, but her diary has been found, and we are going to search the manor room by room to find clues and figure out what happened to Emma from Iowa.  Read more... (333 words, 31 images, estimated 1:20 mins reading time)