Luxor 3 Treasure Room Guide

After a logged 13 hours of gameplay in Luxor 3, I have finally completed the treasure room. To make it easy on those of you who don't want to make guesses at how to turn all those shadowy forms into real treasures, I offer you this little Treasure Room Guide. If you want to figure out all the treasure by yourself, then I suggest you stop reading now. But if you want to know what all the treasures are, and how to get them, read on!

Empty Treasure Room	Completed Treasure Room
	Click here to see the image Spoiler Alert!!!

The Treasures

Treasure name	How to get it
Adventure Campaign Achievement	Complete the Adventure campaign
Causal Nexus Achievement	Get 5 or more chain collapses in a row
Coin Collector Achievement	Collect over 1,000 ankh coins
Defender Achievement	Beat all Onslaught levels in the Adventure campaign
Eliminator Achievement	Get more than 10 matches in a row
Human Net Achievement	Catch all drops in a level
Master of Reflection Achievement	Get 25 matches or more using reflectors
Powerups Achievement	Upgrade all powerups to Maximum level
Revealer of Secrets Achievement	Unlock all Bonus levels
Riddle of the Sphinx Achievement	Complete the Puzzle campaign
River Crossing Achievement	Beat all Crossing the Nile levels in the Adventure campaign
Sharpshooter Achievement	Achieve 100% accuracy on one level (always hit a sphere of the color you're shooting)

If you have any questions about gaining these treasures, just post a comment! Reading this guide, but haven't played Luxor 3? I recommend it as the best marble popper game on the current market.

Take that, scarab! - a review of Luxor 3

Of all the marble popper games I've played, Luxor 3 has become my favorite. Read on to find out why!

What I liked Lush graphics Good sound effects and music Ancient Egyptian theme Upgrade system Variety of gameplay Smooth physics What I didn't like Throwaway storyline Small music library Upgraded shooters are only for looks

Quick Plot

I'm not sure exactly what the plot is because I skipped through the text screens! But it's something about Egyptian deities. I think Set is bad and you have to stop him or something. Honestly, don't expect to get into the story. This game is about pow-pow-pow sphere bashing!

Features

Luxor 3 is loaded with features that keep it interesting and just plain fun. I've listed as many of these features as I could think of:

• New sphere colors added as you progress. Aqua and Orange have good bonuses, but you can’t upgrade them.
• No lives! Just keep trying again when you fail.
• Power-ups are color coded. Every time you get 3 consecutive breaks, the 3rd break gives you a bonus of that color.
• The shop offers upgrades to power-ups, 2 new styles of shooters, and 3 new styles of spheres. Items are continually unlocked as you earn points by catching treasure.
• Environments have depth to them, so balls get smaller as they move deeper into the scene away from you.
• Lots of things to catch - treasure, ankh coins, power-ups.
• Extra things to shoot at (canopic jars, beetles) - they appear and then disappear after a few moments.
• Collecting all 4 jars for a level opens a bonus round in which you collect mass treasure (points).
• 3 difficulties of play - Easy, Medium, Hard. Insane difficulty is unlocked when you finish the Adventure game. Points earned are multiplied on higher difficulties.
• Treasure room. As you accomplish various feats, you earn treasures, which are just cool things to look at in the virtual treasure room.
• 3 types of play to choose from: Adventure, Free Play, Puzzle
• Play modes during the adventure break up monotony and offer variety. Classic Mode, Crossing the Nile, Puzzle Mode, Treasure Collecting, Survival Mode.
• Each time you finish a level, a pyramid gets build a little higher. Your goal is to complete it.

Here's a screenshot of the Store, where you buy all of your upgrades:

Power-Ups

Luxor 3 has a collection of useful power-ups, which are color-coded:

• Red: Speed shot, Fireball
• Green: Net, Reverse
• Blue: Slow, Lightning
• Yellow: Stop, Wild Sphere
• Purple: Color Bomb, Scorpion
• White: Color Cloud, Color Replacer
• Black: Pyramid Blocker, Match Highlighter
• Aqua: Color Sort
• Orange: Sandstorm

Highlights

The things that made this game so fun for me were the power-ups (and their upgraded versions!) and the variety. You get variety of gameplay modes, variety of interesting stage backdrops, variety of power-ups, and variety of goals. There's always a reason to keep playing. In Classic mode, you just shoot the marbles (Luxor games call them "spheres") until you've destroyed a certain number of trains (in Luxor 3, the sphere trains are pushed by beetles). In Puzzle mode, you are given a number of stationary sphere trains and a pre-determined set of spheres to shoot. Your goal is to clear the board using only the spheres you've been given. In Survival mode, you are fighting trains of spheres against a set time, which eventually gets up to 4 minutes. You have to survive until time runs out. In Crossing the Nile mode, you are on one side of the river and the train of spheres you need to destroy is on the other side. The problem is, there are multiple layers of sphere trains moving back and forth along the river, blocking the path to your target. You have to knock out enough of these interfering trains to clear the way so you can destroy the train on the other side of the river. If you collect all 4 canopic jars for a series of levels, you unlock a bonus level in which you collect treasure. Beetles scurry across the screen in all directions carrying two spheres of the same color. All you need to do is hit them with a sphere of the same color to destroy them, which drops treasure. As long as you don't mess up any shots, the treasure drops increase, starting with 1 piece of treasure, then 2, then 3, and so on. Treasure is points, and points unlock items in the store, so these levels are helpful for hoarding riches. In order to upgrade power-ups in this game, you need to collect ankh coins which fall periodically as you break spheres and shoot the twirling beetles (these pop up at random). Then, you spend ankh coins in the Store. The audio in the game was good. The Egyptian-sounding music is fitting, but there is very little variety, maybe 2 or 3 tracks. I would have liked a more diverse soundtrack, but it didn't bother me hearing the same tracks over and over. The sound effects are also very good. Another minor disappointment was that after all that hard work collecting points and unlocking the different shooter models, the new shooters don't give you anything other than a new look. They could have at least given them gravitational pull (I loved that feature of Atlantis Sky Patrol) or made them wider so they can more easily catch drops. Similarly, you can unlock 3 different styles of spheres to use. I never used them because the default set is the coolest-looking! I did like that I could choose a different look for my shooter though. My favorite was the blue Sci-fi model, so I used that for the rest of the game once I bought it.

Default shooter Sci-fi shooter 5,000,000 points to unlock Xtreme! shooter 15,000,000 points to unlock

The least useful power-ups for me were Speed Shot (red), Net (green), Wild Sphere (yellow), and Match Highlighter (black). Late in the game when I was really hoping for a Pyramid Blocker (black), Scorpion (purple), or Color Sort (aqua), these less-useful power-ups were a let-down. Fortunately, you have control over which power-up color you receive. Just make sure your third break in a row is the color you want. One other great feature: you don't have a number of lives in this game. You don't have to worry about losing and having to start over. If you fail a level, you just try again until you beat it.

Suitable for the family?

This is the kind of game that my little kids could watch, yelling, "Get it, Daddy! Get the beetle!" But don't expect to gather the family around the computer to enjoy working as a team. Expect to ride solo on this one. I suppose if your kids were studying ancient Egypt in school you could use this game as something to go along with the study for fun. The kids would probably recognize names and themes from the time period. The only other thing to mention is that some puzzle levels can be very challenging. Fortunately, if you get stuck during the Adventure, you can choose to skip puzzle levels.

The family man's final ruling

If you like marble poppers, or plan to try one, this is the game to play. It never gets too difficult. When it does get tough, you have all the power-ups you need. This game was just a blast. It's really an activity explosion as you swoosh your shooter across the bottom of the screen, bashing spheres and catching drops left and right. I've finished the game, but I'm playing through it again in Insane mode, trying to complete my treasure room!

You'll like the game if... You like marble popper games You like ancient Egypt You won't like the game if... You don't like marble popper games, especially ones with layers of complexity

My rating:

Two kids on an adventure! - a review of Treasure Seekers: Visions of Gold

Today, I review one of my favorite casual games: Treasure Seekers: Visions of Gold!

What I liked The high quality art and graphics The youthfully adventurous story Puzzles offer a break from finding stuff The interface Hint system What I didn't like Some objects are hidden in the shadows and very hard to spot

Quick Plot

Nelly and her little brother Tommy set out to discover a secret family treasure!

Highlights

The first thing you'll notice when you play a hidden objects game from Artogon is the high quality. The hidden objects scenes have smooth animations, atmospheric lighting, and wonderfully modeled scenery. The music and sound effects, while not great, get the job done adequately. After each scene, you see the characters pop up for conversation (text boxes, not voiceover), and the character art is very good. The same is true of the other characters you'll meet along the way. One thing I like in Artogon's hidden objects games is the animated sequences which run after every few scenes. Essentially, the game introduces the next part of the story by showing a scrolling letterboxed view of the coming scene while the characters dialogue. These animations are beautiful to look at, and they give you the option to skip it if you so desire. Now, you won't always be finding hidden stuff. You'll also face a number of puzzles (which are fun but never too difficult) and some procedural tasks. For instance, in one scene you're required to prepare a meal following a cookbook. You have to refer to the cookbook and follow the steps in order to succeed. This type of thing has been boring in other games, but somehow the developer made it fun in this game, partly due to the fact that the graphics and animations are just so enjoyable to watch as you work. There are couple more things to note. First, the hint system is the refillable kind, so you don't need to worry about running out of hints. There is also no time pressure and no penalty for clicking on the wrong things. The whole mood of the game is relaxed and low-pressure. Second, Artogon's user interface is my favorite for this type of game. You'll mouse around until you find something clickable. When you click it, a ring pops up showing you small versions of the items you need to find. As you find the items, you drop them on the ring. Once you have found each item, you get something new to help you. You'll complete a few of these object sets per scene. Let me just warn you that you might want to play in a dark room because if you have screen glare at all, some objects might be really hard to locate. Sometimes I felt that the developer took cheap shots by hiding objects in the dark shadowy recesses of a scene, making them nigh impossible to see. Still, that guilt-free hint button was able to save me from those struggles.

Suitable for the family?

This is a game that I played all the way through with two of my little kids. The only thing I wondered about was whether or not they would be scared of (spoiler below, highlight text to read):

the ghost of a young woman who shows up to talk to you at various parts of the adventure. She is non-threatening, but she does look white and wispy. I just happily told my kids that it was a ghost and that ghosts aren't real. The ghost never seemed to bother them.

So, I'd say this is as good as it gets for families. I found nothing offensive or disturbing. I will also say that one of the themes in the game is piracy. The game highlights the romantic side of piracy (treasure, yar!), but fails to mention the debased moral nature of historical pirates. Still, having played Ravenhearst and its sequel (see my review), this game is very welcome as a family game.

The family man's final ruling

I look forward to going back to play this one again someday. The whole package was a delight, and I was able to get my kids to contribute to the searching process. It seemed that my kids gravitated to this one because the main characters are children. I like how Treasure Seekers forces you to suspend your disbelief as you travel along with this young brother and sister on their fanciful quest.

You'll like the game if... You like hidden objects games, especially cute family-friendly ones You like treasure You won't like the game if... You don't like hidden objects games

My rating:

Are the jewels worth it? - A review of Hidden Mysteries: Buckingham Palace

What I liked The story Inventory items What I didn't like Too many objects per scene Music

Quick Plot

You are investigating some mysterious letters containing information about Buckingham Palace's secrets.

Highlights

The best thing this game has going for it is the story. As you follow the clues in a series of anonymously penned letters, you will discover as-of-yet undiscovered secrets within the great palace of Buckingham. You are frequently given little tidbits of historical information about the palace, which is strictly offered for educational value. This information is actually interesting, even though it doesn't really tie into the story. The graphics in the game are well-designed, putting you into 3D-rendered rooms, not like the Mystery Case Files games which have a more 2D look to them. But, I found that I actually preferred the Mystery Case Files style. The rooms in Buckingham Palace just didn't do much for me. Your opinion may vary. The main things that frustrated me in this game were the repetitive mediocre music, and the long list of items to find in each room. Again, Mystery Case Files games have the edge here, with much shorter lists of things to find. Hints are available. You spend hint points to buy varying levels of revelation. You gain hint points by finding two hidden crowns in each scene. The more points you spend on a hint, the better the hint. Additionally, this game had a feature I like in any hidden objects game: inventory items. As you find the hidden items, you keep a few, and then you use them all at one time on a puzzle scene. This is a nice way to break up the tedious monotony of find, find, find.

Suitable for the family?

I will caution family gamers here. For the most part, this game is safe for children, with educational elements to it, (although my little kids weren't very interested in watching this one). But, there is one scene with some female nude figure statues right in your face in one scene. These statues stand on either side of a fireplace. There are a number of other female nude statues in various scenes as well, but the fireplace one is the one to watch out for if you're concerned about protecting your children's little eyes.

The family man's final ruling

Hidden Mysteries: Buckingham Palace was a pleasant diversion for my wife and me to click through together, but with many more enjoyable hidden objects games out there, this one shouldn't be high on your list, unless the theme is interesting to you. If you love English castles and their history, this game will be enjoyable for you. And you may find that you disagree with me and that you actually love the 3D-rendered art style and the music. The only way to find out is to try the game!

You'll like the game if... You are interested in English history, especially if you like castles You are an elite hidden objects fan and need one more game! You won't like the game if... You have played the best hidden objects games and only want more of the best You like hidden objects games to have depth and variety

My rating:

Spooky enough? - A review of Return to Ravenhearst

What I liked The point-and-click interface The adventure game/hidden objects mechanics The music What I didn't like The story The creepiness

Quick Plot

You've been called back to Ravenhearst manor to investigate the events that transpired after the events of the first Ravenhearst story.

Comparison to the original Ravenhearst

• There are still many hidden objects scenes to solve
• A new point-and-click interface which allows you to travel around the manor grounds
• An inventory which allows you to collect items and use them at various locations
• The graphics are much improved, with nice animations in the hidden objects scenes
• The music is greatly improved, partly recorded with live orchestra
• If you thought the first Ravenhearst was creepy and weird, this is even worse
• Locked door puzzles, as in the first Ravenhearst

Highlights

The first thing I noticed were the improved graphics and music. This draws you in, like any adventure game should. One feature I really liked was how, if an object in a scene can be examined, it sparkles. There are plenty of hidden objects scenes, but not so many that it begins to feel like the first Ravenhearst - too long and tedious. One thing I that made this a great experience was that none of the puzzles are too complicated, and inventory items are generally very logical in their usage. You never have to spend too much time wondering what to do. This gave the game a very smooth flow. The music was very good in this game. Big Fish has been utilizing an orchestra for some of their games, and joined with the compositional talents of the crew over at Somatone, the result is an effective soundtrack. You'll hear spooky underscore with screeching strings and haunting motives.

Suitable for the family?

Unfortunately, no. Like many casual game players, I like to be able to enjoy these games with my family. The game was so creepy and disturbing that my wife bailed after a short time, and when my kids were around, I had to tell them to cover their eyes every time I clicked on something new, just in case something freaky popped up. The box below contains slight spoilers, so skip it if you're concerned about spoilers.

Every once in a while ghosts of people materialize and talk to you. You will also see a few corpses and diabolical looking devices. There are many mannequins and dolls whose heads fall off, and a statue whose face transforms and talks to you at one point. In this game, you see the fruits of a twisted mind.

Almost every room in the house is disturbing to look at. I'm surprised it didn't give my kids nightmares. I would not recommend playing this game with small children around, or anyone who is easily disturbed by twisted themes. You have been warned.

The family man's final ruling

My feelings are mixed regarding Return to Ravenhearst. It does almost everything right. The mechanics are as close to perfect as I could hope for in this genre. It's never too difficult - I solved the entire game with no hints - and the production quality is top notch. On the other hand, the theme and story were so disturbing that I had to repress it as I went. If the gameplay wasn't so good, I would have abandoned ship. I would love to play a game with the same mechanics, but with less creepiness. One thing I can say for myself: I'm never going back to Ravenhearst Manor. Two trips there are enough for me. As fun as this game was, I just couldn't stomach the story again. But, if you like twisted and creepy ghost stories, this game might be just right for you.

My rating:

Nancy Drew games - so many options, so little time!

My wife has played all but one of the games in Her Interactive's Nancy Drew adventure game series. I have played a handful of them as well. Then, several months ago, Her Interactive released a new style of Nancy Drew game - a casual-style game called Nancy Drew Dossier. I played through Lights, Camera, Curses once and narrowly missed achieving enough points to gain Master Detective rank, which is required if you want to get the bonus ending. So I played the game again, and it was still fun a second time.

 

The main mechanic of the game involves going from scene to scene, locating objects, and combining the objects in the right order. Each time you combine the correct items in the correct order, you gain points. The points increase for every additional success. If you mess up, the points start small again. Another big part of the game involves interacting with a cast of voice-acted characters who all seem suspicious in one way or another. During conversations, you are given a list of responses to choose from. If you choose the correct response, you earn points. Finally, there are mini games dispersed throughout the game. They are usually simple puzzle games which allow you to earn more points. As you collect points, your detective ranking increases. If you achieve the rank of Master Detective, you get to watch the secret alternate ending. I'm really looking forward to the next game in the dossier series. One other feature worth noting was that the music in the game (composed by Matt Sayre) was excellent and perfectly fit the mood of the game. This is still probably my favorite casual game to date, and among my top 3 Nancy Drew games. It's definitely worth trying. Big Fish Games has it for $6.99 which is much less than what you'll pay at the Her Interactive website.