Whispering Willows - Fright Night on the Ouya Bus

Whispering Willows is a rather odd title. Not because of its genre, adventure games are not exactly a rarity after all and nor is it because of the theme of the game, horror being a rather frequent popup title on the likes of Steam. Instead its odd because of its origins, being released originally as a Ouya title, then ported across to the PC because it wasn't making a bit of money there. I call it odd simply because the Ouya presence still seeps within the game itself... This isn't exactly a bad thing however...

I say that because if there is one thing that the Ouya did try and be a beacon for was for original gaming, games that usually wouldn't have been given a second look on more traditional platforms such as baby hiding simulators, couch-multiplayer arena games (something that's having a resurgence it seems across consoles and PC) and then there's this.

Papo & Yo - My Froggy Favela

The Playstation Plus 'Instant Games Collection' is a bit of a weird area with a rather combustible membership group. It seems like everyone waits near the end of each month for information on whats going to be free with Playstation Plus next, all making outlandish predictions and then when news of the games finally does arrive, its followed by a comment wave of 'OH MY GOD. RUBBISH INDIES' by childish members which causes certain titles to be lost in the discussion and Papo & Yo sadly seemed to be one of these lost titles. Its a bit of a shame that this is the case as this title fits the Playstation Plus collection to a tee... which is both a good and bad thing at exactly the same time...

Hotel & Crystals of Time - Casual Crash

Im not feeling too smart. Ive had these two hanging in drafts for ages and had forgotten to publish them. Whats the answer to me being stupid this way? A two for one post, thats what! Its just as well that its a two-for-one post though as both of these games manage to crash and burn in similar ways, just one managing to do so in a much more spectacular fashion than the other... Where shall we start then... Hotel?

Cinders - Happily Ever After?

For some reason 'Fairytale' films and TV seems to be something that is 'In fashion' at the moment, from dark and blood-soaked versions of old tales (Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters) to backstory explanation (Maleficent) to large TV drama series (Grimm, Once Upon a Time). With all this in mind comes Cinders, a re-telling of the old Cinderella story set up as a Visual Novel.

Real Horror Stories: Ultimate Edition - They Snooze, We Lose

I paid 15 pence for this and I still feel ripped off. What is this? Its a selection of flash pictures, there are things you can click, some things that you cant. The game is never clear what does what, or even why clicking certain things does stuff. Instead you'll spend most of the time hammering the 'tab' to highlight clickable areas, hammering said clickable areas till a blurry and badly animated random thing pops in the screen, yawn and repeat till done. Just leave this stinker alone.

7th Guest - Feeeling Lonely?

FMV gaming was a weird little thing that happened around the early to mid-nineties where suddenly gaming wanted real actors and a feeling of a TV show and/or film to accompany their gaming experience. Overall however FMV gaming in my eyes has aged badly and overall was a bit of a failed attempt at bringing movie-like film techniques to games, this is down to poor acting, low budgets and cheesy storylines and nothing really showcases all of this (and more) than one of the games that really kickstarted this off, the adventure title '7th Guest' by Trilobyte software.

Unhack - Everyone do the Worm!

Unhack is an odd little title that centres around 'Unhacking' computers and systems. Aka: Removing viruses from them. To do this you have to speed around various levels, avoiding dangers, ten levels and full voice acting is present and a lot of effort has gone into the game... So why, after finishing it, do I feel let down?

Eldritch - Don't Blink...

Eldritch is a rather interesting little title... Based off various mythos, the game chucks you head-first into randomly generated dungeons where the main objective is to try and get out of each one alive. Its basically first person Spelunky. Does it work? Hm... That's a debatable question there...

Nightmares from the Deep: The Cursed Heart - Back and Forth and Back and Forth Again...

Hidden Object titles can really vary in quality. Some don't put in any at all and just paste pictures on top of pictures, placing in the minimum of music and hope that nobody notices. Some others on the other hand actually try and put work into their titles with clear plots and well-made graphics. So where does this game fall quality-wise then?

Magical Diary - Pass the Walkthrough Please

Magical Diary is one of those sorts of games which under normal circumstances, I would run in the opposite direction of and if it wasn't for bundles, its usually the sort of game I wouldn't have even touched, let alone played through properly. Magical Diary is essentially a mix of two different Japanese genres, the visual novel and the raising sim. Visual novels being where you follow a story, going off in different paths and reaching the ending. Meanwhile 'Raising Sims' follow a different approach, where the story changes more depending on what skills and areas of expertise you have chosen to follow.

Anyway, lets jump right in shall we?

Nancy Drew #4 - Treasure in the Royal Tower

Its been a bit since I did a post on one of the Nancy Drew titles... I should do another. This time focusing on game #4 in the series, Treasure in the Royal Tower. As usual I'll be using the method I used last time (Last Time) so lets get going!

Where Angels Cry - Dull in Every Way

While 'Where Angels Cry' isn't exactly a 'Hidden Object' game in the sense that there's no traditional Hidden Object scenes, it pretty much is one thanks to the large amount of random item collecting. The problem is that the items are just dull, the backgrounds dull, the music dull, the story dull and the puzzles are overly basic... and dull. Everything about the game seems designed to lull you into a deep slumber and there's zero reason to ever touch this title unless you have serious problems sleeping.

Edna & Harvey: The Breakout - Silly Silly Grimness

Let's start with a quick rundown, here we have Daedelic Entertainment, a games-developer and publisher from Germany who specialise mostly in point and click adventure titles. They have even been called the 'Lucasarts of Germany' which, lets face it, is an incredibly big call for any studio given Lucasarts point and click legacy. With that in mind, we are up against one of their first proper point and click titles, Edna & Harvey: The Breakout, a story about a young girl, trapped in an asylum with only a stuffed rabbit for company... Oh and a murder mystery. Let's jump in shall we?

Edna & Harvey: The Breakout - Lunchtime Glitch

Now I have finished this game, but before I even BEGIN with a review, I need to post this up for anyone who is stuck with the dreaded 'Lunchtime Glitch'. I'll try and be non-spoliery in this post too for those who want to play the game or those who are already mid-way.

At one part of the game, you will come across a Lunch menu which you have to edit to solve a puzzle. Here it is

Here we have a frustrating and near game-breaking bug where once you pick up a menu-option, it becomes impossible to place a menu option down on the spot where you originally picked one up from. It also becomes impossible to exit this screen other than shutting the game down. Thankfully auto-saving stops any real loss of progress here.

The solution is on the launcher menu, before you have even begun the game. Simply change to 'German' and the puzzle should work as intended. Just remember that 'Roast Chicken is 'Hühnerbraten' and Potatoes turns to 'Kartoffeln'. If you want to save, make sure you save correctly... or just walk out of the kitchen and back in, letting the auto-save kick in. Then quit, go back to English and everything should work smoothly from that point onwards.

Kairo - Colours, Shapes and Sounds - Oh My!

Kairo definitely is a game that likes to place its loyalty firmly and that loyalty firmly belongs to the 'Games are Art' crowd of thinking, levels awash with colour, weird geometry abound and bizarre architecture littering the place along with a heavy dose of symbolism.

Adam's Venture Trilogy - Time for ADVENTURE!

Yep, I have been a bit... lazy with the writing as of late. There has been a good reason though and that is this site http://expansivedlc.com/ where I am now writing reviews, overviews and allsorts for. Whoohoo! This may mean that I will be a little late in writing stuff here... but I will try and keep up with things none the less.

Anyway. Adam's Venture Trilogy. Lets get stuck in shall we?

Finding Teddy - I Am Your Friend

Going through some of the games on Steam I had marked as 'Non-Working' was this little title which suddenly, out of nowhere had begun working properly with no real reason why. First glances, the game looks cute and intresting but does it really hold up well against other games?

Nancy Drew #3 - Message in a Haunted Mansion

Its the third Nancy Drew game and this time its spooky goings on in a mansion. As usual I will be doing the same sort of format I did in the previous post. I guess there isn't much more left to say other than 'Lets go!'

Q.U.B.E. - Qube Me Quickly

Q.U.B.E. is pretty simple in what you have to do. Get from point A to point B by using a variety of different things, not unlike Portal. Here however we don't use Portal Guns. Instead its down to using a variety of blocks to make platforms, make walls rotate and spring you about. Is it worth going through?

9.03m

Theres not much to say about this game. Its short and is in memory of the individuals lost during the Japanese tsunami of 2011 and personally I found it quite touching. All the proceeds goes to charity and I would recommend that you pick it up. Its quite cheap too.