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I’ve almost finished the main game of House of 1000 Doors - Evil Inside CE and can say that my impressions now are that they have definitely gone from more realistic settings to abstract ones and have amped up the color pallet quite a bit, but I still see the Alawar hand in the composition. The screens and puzzles show much more imagination and I looked forward to each section with anticipation. The robots were fun and used very cleverly.
If anything, they went a little overboard with the addition of THREE helping devices including the companion, but they were spaced so they didn’t overwhelm the game player There’s plenty of game time. Several times I thought I might be on the penultimate screen just to be surprised with quite a bit more.
I’d give the game a hearty 4/5
EDIT: I just checked out the “reviews” on Big Fish and couldn’t believe we played the same game! I found no lag at all, there WERE achievements, if that’s your thing (they’re not mine and I usually ignore them especially if they’re hard to find), and quite a number of incorrect surmises about the full game. The game is a bit more whimsical than the others and that seems to have put some of them off.
I finished both 1000 Doors and the new Puppetshow.
As for 1000 Doors, the second credit on the intro screens is LOGRIS Games, a company I never heard of before. I can’t say I see much of Alawar in the finished product. Which is why I said that my bet was on Alawar doing the design document and turning it over to someone else for implementation. That someone else being LOGRIS Games.
Still, the game was very good. I would agree with your 4/5 rating. Still I prefer the more realistic graphic rendering of the first three games over the amped-up color palette and abstract rendering in this game.
The new Puppershow, on the other hand, isn’t as good a game as 1000 Doors. But it does bring the same style we became familiar with from past games. So, at least there was nothing new that we had to become comfortable with.
Alawar may have put its stamp on the design document, but it’s still a “portal” game. If I had not seen the opening credits, I would not have thought it was an Alawar game. Lost Lands - The Four Horsemen was also a very good portal game. I think if Alawar is going to put its name on a franchise series, they owe it to the player to make sure it is true to its origins.
For whom the games toll,
they toll for thee.
The new Puppershow, on the other hand, isn’t as good a game as 1000 Doors. But it does bring the same style we became familiar with from past games. So, at least there was nothing new that we had to become comfortable with.
Just curious—why do you think the new Puppetshow game isn’t as good a game as the new 1000 Doors?
Hard to answer that question because it all boils down to personal opinion.
Number one on the list is that it comes from ERS Games. A few pages back I wrote several paragraphs on the possible demise of casual games as we know them, as well as the supply chain that feeds them to us. I talked about the “homogeneous mass” that constitutes much of what’s available in casual gaming. If there is one company that personifies that, it is ERS Games.
Number two on the list would be lack of inventiveness. While I may not have cared for the new graphic style or use of color in 1000 Doors, I can’t fault it for lack of inventiveness. The story was completely new. Instead of saving the world, your real goal is saving your compatriots. Saving the world is a side benefit of your success. With Puppetshow it is the same “puppets run amok” we’ve always had.
Puppetshow was not a bad game. I would give it somewhere between 3 and 3.25 stars. Puppetshow and the Dark Tales series based on Poe’s stories are the only two ERS games I play anymore, and I don’t play them all.
For whom the games toll,
they toll for thee.
I just finished the standard edition of Alawar’s Eternal Journey: New Atlantis. The story line had elements of Stargate and The Fifth Element, which I enjoyed, but there were too many hidden object scenes.
“Rainy days should be spent at home with a cup of tea and a good book.” -Bill Watterson
Eternal Journey: New Atlantis is one of my favorite casual games because the setting is so unusual—at least it is for a casual game. I agree with you that there were too many HO screens.
I thought I had played that game, but it was Emerald Maiden: Symphony of Dreams that I was thinking of.
I’ve finished both the new Puppetshow and 1000 Doors games, although I haven’t played the bonus game for either.
I’m currently playing the new Mystery Trackers - Nightsville Horror CE. This is where it gets confusing. Mystery Case Files: Dire Grove Sacred Grove was produced by Elephant Games. The new Mystery Tracker game is also put out by Elephant Games, and with some tweaks here and there, uses the exact same interface. I.e., visit a scene, collect clues, make a deduction, report deduction to the local person in charge.
Mystery Case Files used to be developed by BFG Studios. So, apparently that franchise is being farmed out to other companies just like the other games we’ve discussed recently.
There’s an old cliché that says “You can’t tell the players without a scorecard!” That certainly applies in the casual gaming community.
For whom the games toll,
they toll for thee.
I finished Mystery Trackers - Nightsville Horror CE.
As I said in my last post, the interface was quite familiar as it is the same one that was used in Dire Grove - Sacred Grove. For those of you who have played neither game, it’s quite simple. You go to a scene, or series of scenes, to collect evidence. The evidence can be physical, e.g. a bloody hammer, circumstantial, e.g. an incriminating note, or something else, e.g. a video or audio cassette. When you have acquired three pieces of evidence you will make a deduction, and you will then deliver that deduction to someone.
As a Mystery Tracker detective you find yourself at the intersection of two neighboring towns, Willowsville and Nightsville. Willowsville is your regular Southern US community, (think Louisiana or Mississippi,) complete with a bi-racial family, overbearing sheriff, some kids who didn’t finish all their laps in the gene pool and a few other “odd” characters.
On the other side of the town line the people from Nightsville have “special” abilities. Telekinesis is one of those abilities.
One of the kids from Willowsville has disappeared. Rather, he has been kidnaped. It is your responsibility to find the boy as well as identify the kidnapper. Nothing new so far, except that the prime suspect, at least in the eyes of the Willowsville residents, is a resident of the neighboring community. That individual is called Owl Man. You will find out for yourself that the Owl Man moniker is not without some justification.
There are a moderate number of HO scenes in the game. They vary from the standard random list, to find similar pairs, to place pieces of inventory in appropriate spots on the screen, to match outline. By an large all the HO scenes were both fair and fun. There weren’t so many that they became a distraction. Usually, whatever you found as a result of an HO scene could be used immediately.
The mini-games/puzzles weren’t terribly difficult. I only used one Skip. Although for that one Skip I simply couldn’t make sense of the puzzle’s objective. And after trying for several minutes to solve it via brute force I gave up. I do think the objectives overall could use some editing for clarity.
Music is good. Graphics are good. Voice acting is good. Background noise and effects are good. But, before starting the game I recommend turning them all down to 40% or lower.
You do have your companion, Elf the pup, to help you at various points during the game. (I played the game at the easiest level. If you click on an item where Elf might be useful, the game’s Hint system will tell you as much. If I replay the game, I will play at a more difficult level to see how much information you get as the difficulty increases.)
There is the Hint system. While I rarely used it for things like finding HO objects, it was very useful as an adjunct to the interactive map. While the map is useful, if you want to know where you should go next, click Hint, and for all intents you’re automatically taken there.
The CE bonus game takes you to the same environment one month after you solved the case. It does give you some history of the two towns. And it leaves you with the thought that the animosity that existed between the two towns might be drawing to a close. All that said, unless you get a great deal on the CE, (mine was $6.99,) the bonus material isn’t worth the extra cost.
I’m giving the game 3.5/5 Stars.
Side note: Speaking of bonus games, the bonus game for the new 1000 Doors game seems as if it was created by a whole different company than the Elephant/Logris-created base game. I started it, but got so frustrated that I quit. Definitely a no-go on that game’s CE. And, to-date, I have been unable to get the Puppetshow bonus game to load. If I eventually do, and I like it, I will report that fact. For now the Puppetshow CE is also a no-go.
For whom the games toll,
they toll for thee.
Side note: Speaking of bonus games, the bonus game for the new 1000 Doors game seems as if it was created by a whole different company than the Elephant/Logris-created base game. I started it, but got so frustrated that I quit. Definitely a no-go on that game’s CE.
I also thought the bonus game was bad. I didn’t like the “Wild West theme park” environment and cardboard cutouts of people. I think the bonus was supposed to be a “prequel” to the main game. It lacked the quality of the main game, which in turn lacked the quality of earlier games in the series.
I also didn’t like that you have a complete stranger as the player character—someone out of the blue who for some reason the 1000 Doors group never knew of before, and who has “special powers” and has to rescue all the established characters. As one of the user reviews at Big Fish mentioned, she smelled like a “Mary Sue”. That’s barely excusable in fanfic, and I expect better than that from a professional company. They may have created her (and her power) as a gimmick for game interactivity rather than some sort of “wish fulfillment,” but she still smelled like a Mary Sue.
I have played through the new Puppeshow game twice, and have been unable to access the Bonus Game. So the CE still remains on my do not buy list. Tonight I deleted and reinstalled both the game and Game Manager. We will see what happens. Even if it works, I’m pretty tired of playing this game. So the Bonus, if I get to play it, had better be spectacular!
For whom the games toll,
they toll for thee.
Start thinking of your new nominations. They start on May 1, only three days away.
For whom the games toll,
they toll for thee.
Third time was a charm. I was able to play the bonus game in the new Puppetshow.
The bonus game starts immediately after the main game ends. I thought the main game’s ending was satisfactory. So, other than giving me a good one hour-plus of additional gameplay, it really didn’t add much more to the story. Although I will say that the bonus game, itself, had a satisfactory conclusion. Thus it was more a game unto itself, with a self-contained story, rather than anything else.
The big question is…. was the CE version worth the extra money. For me, there was no extra money. I bought it on sale for $6.99US…the same price I would normally pay for an SE game.
But, I have to say that the bonus game would have been worth the extra cost if I had been able to play it “right out of the box.” But, seeing as I had to play the game three times including an uninstall/re-install, I don’t think it was worth the extra cost. I was so bored with the game by the time I finished it the third time, that the bonus material was anti-climatic.
For whom the games toll,
they toll for thee.
If anyone is interested, the SE versions of the new 1000 Doors, Puppetshow and Mystery Trackers games are now available on BFG.
For whom the games toll,
they toll for thee.
Eternal Journey: New Atlantis is one of my favorite casual games because the setting is so unusual—at least it is for a casual game. I agree with you that there were too many HO screens.
I finished as well. I played the SE so I don’t know if the CE provided anything worthwhile. I thought the ending was fine as it was. Complete, yet leaving room for a sequel.
I would be tempted to nominate the game for a playthrough. Great graphics and special effects. Good voice acting. Decent puzzles. I particularly liked the fact that you needed to carry the inventory around with you while looking for a place to use it. (Not like the typical “Find key. Use key” scenario.) The interactive map was very useful.
The only thing stopping me is the large number of HO scenes. And above the number of scenes I found the objects themselves to be totally out of place. Really! Would you actually find a traffic pylon in such an environment? That, plus the rare occasion where the same object was reused in the scene when you revisited it.
I just don’t know if those issues could be overlooked for the sake of the overall game experience.
For whom the games toll,
they toll for thee.
I just finished Beyond the Invisible Evening. I thought it was a good game. I played on hard, which means you can change the difficulty, if needed.I’m always worried that I’ll get an arcade game or AI match that I need to skip. The HOGs always had 1 item that was hard to find (one was mislabeled). The scenes repeated themselves twice. Thank goodness for the map with the task highlighted. There would have been lots of back and forthing without it. The mini games were easy. there were move the pieces from one side to the next, match games, riddles, and follow the sequence.
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