Otherworld 2: Omens of Summer

Otherworld: Omens of Summer
by Boomzap - February, 2013

Series links: Otherworld 1: Spring of Shadows, Otherworld 2: Omens of Summer, Otherworld 3: Shades Of Fall

Available at:
Big Fish for PC as Collector's Edition / Standard Edition
Big Fish for Mac as Collector's Edition / Standard Edition
iWin as Collector's Edition /
Steam as Collector's Edition



Join Fiona, a young girl born with magic, as she stops dark creatures in this hidden-object puzzle adventure. There is a magical world hidden beneath our own -- and only you can see it! Can you stop the Shade and his minions from casting our world into darkness?

With the help of Ms. Thomas, Fiona's schoolteacher, find magical artifacts that will stop the Shade for good. Solve tricky puzzles and explore fantastic landscapes. Choose your own path and decide which location to visit first. Test your wits in a battle between good and evil in Otherworld: Omens of Summer.

WARNING: This game contains mature content which may not be suitable for all audiences.

The Collector’s Edition includes:

• Bonus gameplay
  
• Replayable mini-games
  
• Challenging achievements
  
• Smart strategy guide
  
• Wallpaper and concept art
  

Click images to enlarge

More Mature Sequel ****

BASED ON COMPLETED GAME

Another WONDERFUL Otherworld game, Omens Of Summer brings us all the things we loved about the first game in more “grown up” TALE, with not-quite-so-cute but unbelievably GORGEOUS CHARACTERS & LOCATIONS and MORE DIFFICULT & ORIGINAL PUZZLES.

There is still a very wide range of HO SCENES, including MORE LISTS, MULTIPLES, FRAGMENTED OBJECTS, and PAIRS, as well as a few FIND THIS PIECE OF THE PIC. All the objects are clearly visible, although some are very well hidden.

The PUZZLES & MINI-GAMES include even more ORIGINAL ones than the last game, and some very IMAGINATIVE TWISTS on older ones. So much so that the majority of the games are MUCH HARDER.

Having saved Fiona in Spring Of Shadows, we now must continue to protect her from the EVIL SHADE, a really well conceived CHARACTER. This time, we have the help of Fiona’s old school teacher, but the SHADE has now got RAVENS and MINIONS. Ms Thomas has been researching MAGICAL ARTIFACTS that will help us, and has created 3 PORTALS to where they can be LOCATED, and these are our destinations.

This game is chocker block full of amazing and beautiful characters on both sides. One CHARACTER on our side that I really loved was the SCARECROW, a staunch GUARDIAN and FRIEND.

This is quite a difficult game (at least for me) and it reduced my fun factor a little because I had to skip so many puzzles. Even still, the game took me five and a half hours to complete.

I think the CE, with its SG, ACHIEVEMENTS & COLLECTIBLES would actually be the better game, but this is wonderful.

I recommend this game!

Otherworld: Omens of Summer (IHOG)
The Steam overlay does not work with this title

NOTE: I did not see anything in the story or the graphics to warrant a warning about content, so I'm unsure why it's "not suitable for persons under fourteen (14) years of age."

Options include separate sliders for Music, Sound and Voices, Custom Cursor, Full-screen (has auto-widescreen) and Achievement Popups.  Choice of Casual, Expert or Hardcore Mode.  Difficulty cannot be changed during gameplay.

Story:

We've rescued Fiona but the danger to her and all of mankind will not end as long as The Shade roams free.  He is weakened but not beaten, and his minions will do anything to stop you in your quest to defeat him.  With the help of Fiona's schoolteacher, Ms. Thomas, we search for a way to remove him once and for all.

Our Journal has three tabs: Goals (task list), Clues (story) and Characters (background info).  There is some extra story in the journal, and no hints are listed in the Clues area.

The story progresses via cutscenes, clues that we find as we play and "memory mirrors".  These mirrors give us a lot of information in short bursts, giving us small amounts to read across several images.  It's an effective storytelling technique, and especially good for those who don't like a lot of reading.

Gameplay:

Be on the lookout for Collectible Fairies as you play.  There can be more than one on a scene, and they can also be on zoom-ins (I didn't see any during HOS, though.)

Our MAP is interactive, and can show active areas, as well as give us insta-transport to other locations.

Using a HINT during the adventure portion of the game will pinpoint an area on the screen, give you a directional hint or tell you what you need to do, ie. "I can open the mailbox now."

The Hidden Object Scenes vary widely, but seemed like they were mostly interactive lists - sometimes VERY interactive with a lot of zoom-ins.  Other HOS types include finding related pairs, solving riddles, finding inconsistencies, finding pictured areas on the screen, one fragmented object scene, find-x-number of items, etc.

There will come a point in the game when you can choose between three locations - in whatever order you choose - but I highly recommend playing them from left to right, as you'll get an early hint about a plot point if you play them randomly (like I did :p).

Gameplay was heavy on the adventure at times, and puzzle-heavy at others, but never felt HO-heavy.  This may be due to the many different types of HOS that are present, though, so keep that in mind.  The puzzles themselves were sometimes hard for me to understand, so I skipped quite a few.  You CAN use HINTS during the puzzles, however, which is very nice!

Sights and Sounds:

The voice acting, sound effects and music were all good, and the artwork - while not eye candy - was very pretty at times.

CE Content:

• Integrated Strategy Guide
  
• 60 Collectible Fairies
  
• 15 in-game Achievements
  
• Bonus Chapter
  
• 14 Wallpapers
  
• 34 Concept Art
  
• 7 Replayable Cutscenes
  
• 13 Music Tracks (no option to save)
  
• 66 Replayable Mini-games
  

Bonus Chapter:

The extra chapter is basically all setup for the next game in the series, Shades of Fall.  We search for an elder Fae, who can give us the information that we so desperately need... Only he's a not an easy person to talk to!

The gameplay seemed especially puzzle-heavy during the bonus, but was otherwise much like the rest of the game.

Verdict:

Otherworld: Omens of Summer took me about 5 hours to complete with the bonus chapter.  This is a puzzle-heavy hidden object adventure with a lot of story, yet not a lot of reading.  Recommended to those who love the genre!