What's happening at AGFE?

To all of you who keep checking A Game For Everyone despite my infrequent posts: thank you.

I have several reviews I'm eager to write, and I want to keep working on my Royal Envoy strategy guide since so many people seem to find it useful. Life has kept me constantly busy, so I haven't had the opportunity to post everything I want to.

In the meantime, I've been trying to post deals as I find out about them.

As you know, I carefully seek out the best games on the market, and I think I've found a good batch of recommendations for you. Once I can find time, I'll get some reviews posted.

Thanks again!

Luxor: 5th Passage - tragic disappointment!

Yesterday morning, I posted about how excited I was to discover that a new Luxor game had been released. So, last night, I finally had the increasingly rare opportunity to sit down and spend a few minutes gaming. I fired up Luxor: 5th Passage, ready to enjoy some excellent gaming. I was very disappointed, and a bit shocked. To me, Luxor 3 and Luxor: Quest for the Afterlife were as close to perfect as any casual game can get. They abandoned the mediocre marble popping of the first three Luxor games, and made the enterprise into something really special. Now, imagine that these two games had never been released. Imagine that the developer (MumboJumbo) had never upgraded their programming, style, and presentation to create the awesomeness that we saw in these last two Luxor games. Well, for a reason that I can't fathom, on this new game, the developers chose to revert to the old-school production values of the first three Luxor games! From the moment that the game opened to the menu screen, I could tell that something was wrong. It looked half-baked from the get-go. This game uses the old versions of

• the marbles
• the interface
• the scarabs that push the marble chains, and
• the look of the levels.

The music, sound effects, and graphics have lost their shine, as if they were created 2 years ago (with the exception of some of the standard sound effects that never change). They even brought back limited lives! It's like I'm playing the first game in the series. What was MumboJumbo thinking?! They even tried to cover up their slop by introducing new power-ups and a new Blast mode. They also incorporated some levels from previous Luxor games that are thought to be player favorites. None of these features save the game. Additionally, they scrapped the Puzzle mode, which was one of my favorite features of the previous two games. I couldn't play more than 3 or 4 levels before I quit and opened Luxor: Quest for the Afterlife just to remind myself that the series used to be excellent. Why does this matter so much to me as a gamer? A few reasons:

1. I have a detailed and picky eye for quality, and this game lacks it.
2. I had come to trust MumboJumbo, and they didn't deliver. I imagine that with the current economic struggles, they wanted to cut costs, and so reverted to the old, unpolished style, hoping fans wouldn't notice.
3. The graphics look grainy, and you can't adjust the resolution.
4. The controls feel jerky and hesitant.
5. When marble chains are approaching the exit, the marbles don't load into the shooter in as nice of a pattern as before.

So, if you loved Luxor 3 and Luxor: Quest for the Afterlife like I did, I advise you to skip this new game. To see why I loved the previous two games so much, read my reviews:

• Luxor 3
• Luxor: Quest for the Afterlife

Sequel to Drawn: The Painted Tower, and other thoughts!

Drawn Sequel

If any of you liked Drawn: The Painted Tower as much as I did, you might be interested to know that the sequel is coming. That's right. Go here to watch the trailer for Drawn: Dark Flight! w00t!

Recent Games

I've been trying a bunch of new games, to see if they're worth buying and reviewing. But I find myself unable to make up my mind about most of them. Perhaps you'll be willing to post a comment and add your own 2 or 10 cents? Echoes of the Past: The Castle of Shadows: I can't even get this game to work. It just black-screens. The same thing happened with Vacation Mogul, and I never got to try it. It would sure be nice if developers would iron these things out before the release date. Robin's Quest: A Legend Born: This game has sweet production values! It's lovely to look at and plays smoothly. But I have two gripes that are keeping me on the fence.

1. In a culture where we have already feminized men beyond recognition, do we really need a game that casts Robin Hood as a woman, and gives her the brains and brawn to break out of jail and save her helpless husband from the same jail?
2. There's not much challenge in the game. And I've heard others say that the game is a bit short. These are two heavy strikes against a purchase for me.

Enlightenus II: The Timeless Tower: The game looks pretty, just like the first Enlightenus. The game has the exact same music as the first game. In fact, it is almost exactly like the first game in every way. I was hoping for a little something different, but this sequel pretty much feels like a clone of the first game with different environments. Sure, the mechanics are still enjoyable, but with no significant changes to draw me in, I can't decide if it's worth a buy. Brunhilda and the Dark Crystal: Here, you get cartoony graphics that are reminiscent of The Curse of Monkey Island. The whole presentation is attractive, with satisfactory music, professionally drawn environments, and well-integrated seek-and-find mechanics. But it's the theme and story that don't interest me much. I don't know why. As much as I like the gameplay, the story doesn't make me want to keep going. Wedding Dash 4-Ever: While I haven't played this game, my wife has. And she's asking me to buy it. Wedding Dash: Ready, Aim, Love was one of her favorite games, and this sequel has once again earned her affection. So, if you like these sorts of games, you ought to give this 4th entry a try.

Treasure Seekers 3 and Alice in Wonderland - worth buying?

Two new hidden objects games came out over the last couple of days. It comes as no surprise, since the vast majority of new games are some variety of HOG. The new games are

• Treasure Seekers: Follow the Ghosts, and
• Alice in Wonderland.

I tested both games and found them to be fun, but not worth my money. I'll tell you why.

Treasure Seekers: Follow the Ghosts

As indicated by my review, I really enjoyed Treasure Seekers: Visions of Gold, and so did my kids. Then, I played Treasure Seekers: The Enchanted Canvases. I found it to be somewhat lacking. So my hopes were relatively high when I heard that people were pleased with Treasure Seekers: Follow the Ghosts Collector's Edition. The day before the release of the non-collector's edition, I downloaded it, eagerly anticipating another exciting treasure-seeking experience. Graphics: Still just as slick as ever. The graphics style is the same as the other Treasure Seekers games, as well as The Mystery of the Crystal Portal and The Spirit of Wandering: The Legend. Music: Good, as with the previous games. It provides a subtle backdrop that supports the mood of the scenery. Gameplay: Just like the other Treasure Seekers games, with a couple of exceptions, listed below.

• When finding stuff from scene to scene, the cursor becomes visibly active when you mouse over an object that can be picked up. I was playing in casual mode, though, so this might not happen in the challenging mode. Some people will like this little bit of help, others won't.
• The game now includes...*shudder*...standard hidden object scenes with a list of things to look for. The great thing about the Treasure Seekers games, before now, was the unique way they approached hidden objects. You had to find a certain item that required other items. Then you'd look around the scene and find the needed items. But now, they've included the basic "find this list of random stuff in the mess" scenes.

Fortunately, this game still includes a good number of puzzles and inventory-based objectives. That's the fun part for me. But, once again, the story has to do with trapped and restless ghosts. I'd really like to see Tommy and Nelly try their hand at something else. The writers over at Artogon seem obsessed with ghosts and the paranormal, since all of their games use this theme. Three more little gripes.

• To avoid spoilers, I'll just say that some of the images in this game could be, I think, disturbing to little kids.
• The puzzles I played were a little to easy for my taste.
• The developers used the exact same character art from the previous game, but just slapped new clothes on them. I'd prefer more original material myself. But, I can't blame them. If they can make a little more money by doing the same old thing, then they have every right to do so.

Final Word: I know I sound pretty negative in my opinions of this game. That's because I have, admittedly, very high standards. I think most people will really like this game. My wife said she'd probably like it, having seen me play it. If you like HOGs, there's no question - you'll love this game, so go get it. My guess is that this game will give you everything you want from a HOG. I liked it, but just not enough to buy it. That's partly because, while the production quality is very good, I've grown weary of looking for hidden objects, so any new HOG is going to have to really blow my mind to get a glowing review from me. But for you HOG fans, I think this is the kid of game you'll love sinking your eyes into. I recommend this to anyone who isn't me. =D

Alice in Wonderland

Plot: You're investigating the case of the missing child, Alice. Graphics: Very nice. The scenes look good, and the stylistic choices of the artists were visually appealing. Music: A good reason to NOT play this game. Repetitive and boring, the music hinders the experience more than anything else. I suggest turning it off. Gameplay: From what I saw, the game was primarily a HOG with a little bit of "find the differences between the two pictures." There was nothing original here. Final Word: The game looked pretty and played smoothly. The atmosphere was nice, and finding objects was fun enough. Fans of HOGs will like it. But if you're after something original and immersive, this may not be the game for you. A great soundtrack quite possibly could have kept me playing longer.