Tales of Lagoona 1: Orphans of the Ocean

Tales of Lagoona: Orphans of the Ocean
by Suricate Software

Series links: Tales of Lagoona 1: Orphans of the Ocean, Tales of Lagoona 2: Peril at Poseidon Park

Available at:
Big Fish
GameHouse
Iwin



Welcome to the magical undersea world of Lagoona,
to the town of Coral Bay. New Anemone Orphanage is in trouble of being
shut down, and it’s up to you to save it. Explore a host of
breathtaking, underwater locations as you search for valuable items and
sell your wares at the market so you can upgrade the orphanage. Test
your skills with challenging minigames, and even accept quests from
people around town. Help Islabelle the Mermaid save the orphans!

• Exciting gameplay
  
• Fantastic atmosphere
  
• Enter magical Lagoona!
  

Click images to enlarge

Soothing & Consuming
   

BASED ON DEMO

FIRST IMPRESSIONS
My first reaction was this game is going to be too cute, juvenile and silly for me. But it is not at all. It is really quite a good time. And there is so much to do!

SIGHTS & SOUNDS
Being able to adjust the aspect ratio to suit my widescreen is always a good start with me. The locations where you repair and rebuild the orphanage, that is, the areas outside the HOPs are cartoony but beautifully done, bright and bold, and aquatic, which is my personal favourite environment. The HOP scenes are pseudo realistic and not so good. You notice the rough edges to items that just doesn’t happen outside.
The music is divine. So soothing and relaxing, just a light piano twinkle. Very cool. There are no voiceovers for our cast of characters and no ambient sounds. Again, it’s a shame because underwater sounds can be so nice.

WHAT’S HAPPENING
You are trying to save the orphanage from nasty developers who want to close it down. In order to do this you are going through the building and collecting surplus items to sell at the markets. As well, you take on quests, searching for specific items that they need. With the money you make you can upgrade the orphanage and beat the sharpie sharks.

MAKING PROGRESS
There are about a zillion items casually left where they lay in countless rooms of the orphanage building. This is a strictly HOG, so you won’t be choosing which room you go into or when, and there is no inventory to worry about. You are given a list of items, 15 or so, exposed only 6 at a time.

As well, there are gems in each scene to collect for extra cash. Each item has a different points value depending on how long it took you to find it. (There is also a untimed option). There is also present in each scene a catalogue you need to open up new improvements for the orphanage.

Once you have completed a room you can send the items you have found to market and complete any quests you have fulfilled. You can also choose to buy upgrades depending on which catalogue you retrieved. With each, you have 3 choices of design for that particular improvement.

There are puzzles that are not too hard, at the end of each level, about 12 in all, I think. Each of these you can unlock as you beat them in the game. And each has 8 levels of difficulty.

You can also unlock wallpapers as you go and set them on your desktop as you unlock them.

FAMOUS LAST WORDS
This is definitely a nice game, in type it is similar to the other aquatic games such as Fishdom series and Aquascape, but I think the overall game design provides a more sophisticated gaming experience.

Certainly worth a trial.

I Recommend This Game!