Myths of the World 2: Stolen Spring

Myths of the World: Stolen Spring
by Eipix Entertainment - November, 2013

Series links:  Myths of the World 1: Chinese Healer, Myths of the World 2: Stolen Spring, Myths of the World 3: Spirit Wolf, Myths of the World 4: Of Fiends and Fairies, Myths of the World 5: Black Rose, Myths of the World 6: The Heart of Desolation, Myths of the World 7: The Whispering Marsh, Myths of the World 8: Born of Clay and Fire, Myths of the World 9: Island of Forgotten Evil, Myths of the World 10: Bound by the Stone, Myths of the World 11: The Black Sun, Myths of the World 12: Fire of Olympus

Available at:
Big Fish as Collector's Edition / Standard Edition
Steam as Collector's Edition




The rich folklore continues with this exciting tale set in an old Slavic land. As Child of Spring, can you save the world from eternal winter?

A cruel and cold Goddess of Winter has hijacked springtime, and her victim has called on you for help. You'll be surprised by what you, a lowly peasant, can do in the face of evil – and what cute little furry friends you’ll meet along the way in Myths of the World: Stolen Spring.

The Collector's Edition includes:

• Explore your legacy in the bonus game
  
• Buy pet toys and treats with coins
  
• Earn achievements as you play
  
• Soundtracks, wallpapers, screensavers and art
  
• Integrated Strategy Guide
  

For the Standard Edition

• Strategy Guide
  
• Walkthrough (Big Fish)
  

Click images to enlarge
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Lovely Second Myth!

  

BASED ON COMPLETED GAME

FIRST IMPRESSIONS
It must be said upfront I guess that this is a story that’s been done to death in the last couple of years. It is yet another Ice Queen banishing Spring and attempting to hold the world forever in Winter. Having got that objection out of the way, there is very little fault to find here, in this the second game in the series “Myths Of The World”. I loved it.

WHAT’S HAPPENING
Vesna, the Goddess of Spring has come to you, a lowly peasant girl, for help in defeating the Goddess of Winter, who apparently has a bee in her bonnet and has banished Spring forever. Following Vesna through your mirror you do indeed arrive in a world that is totally frozen in ice and snow.

Vesna gives you a Spring Brush which helps you defrost smaller patches of ice, and counsels you to seek help from the animals you meet. The first of these is an ermine who is thrown into a well of ice by the Winter woman. You save him and he becomes your pet. He has interesting less-than-obvious talents that help you out along the way.

SIGHTS & SOUNDS
Just lovely. Beautifully drawn locations which are often depicted in both winter and spring states, making a marvellous transition. The HOPs are the least cluttered I’ve seen in a long time, and the objects are clear and usually quite large. Sometimes the loading of one location to another is slow enough to create a black screen, but it is not there for long. The sounds are relaxing most of the time, with some exciting stuff when the action justifies it. I loved the (lip synch’d) voiceovers.

MAKING PROGRESS
This is a Hidden Object Puzzle Adventure, with roughly the same number of HOPs and other puzzles. The HOPs come in 3 types; interactive lists, silhouettes, and multiples. The list HOPs are visited twice and can be swapped for a Match 3 game instead. The puzzles are fun and not overly difficult, with a number of them being original and creative.

The progress is usually clear enough, with a directional hint system, plus a 3D interactive jump map and a diary which lists objectives.

FINAL VERDICT
Despite the lack of originality of the story, in essence, it is actually treated in a sufficiently different way that it is not repetitive or boring. I loved this game, and found myself so caught up in it, I was sad to see it finished.

PS. One thing I hate about this game is you have to go through 4 movie clips to get to the main menu page every time you open the game.  

I Recommend This Game!

(Bonus Content Review to follow)

BONUS CONTENT REVIEW!

  

BASED ON COMPLETED GAME

Note: For a full review of this game, please see my Standard Edition review.

BASED ON COMPLETED GAME

BONUS GAMEPLAY
Disappointing in some ways. It looked beautiful, there were all new locations, 5 new HOPs and 5 new mini-games. But it didn’t track well. The story was an epilogue (not needed for feeling of completion in main game), but was a little out of left field. There wasn’t a whole lot to it, and it didn’t take me very long to finish it.

The ending was really annoying. It involved fight scenes that took only seconds, despite being an ‘earth shattering’ part of the story. And when the final battle occurred, the game just ended. No rounding off of the last ideas, no thanks from the crowd, no ‘happily ever after’ even. Very unsatisfying.

I really wouldn’t rate this bonus chapter very highly. But a couple of things I forgot to mention in the SE review are worth noting here, because these features were carried through on the bonus.

I loved, loved, loved the entirely twee special effects associated with the Spring Brush – a rainbow and a spray of sunflowers. Made me smile every time I saw it. The other detail I enjoyed was the need to do something – light up a dark corner, move some junk out of the way, blow something up – in order to open the HOPs. They weren’t just an annoying useless part of the location.

GALLERY ITEMS
Wallpapers (couple of them are lovely, they’ll on my desktop for a while), Concept Art (Ditto), Movies, Music.

REPLAYABLE HOPs & MINI-GAMES

STRATEGY GUIDE

PET’S HOUSE
You can buy clothes for your ermine with pet coins, and decorate his room with a few free options. Nothing inspired here. (Or you can dress up a studly dude in the Bonus Chapter – much more interesting.)

ACHIEVEMENTS & COLLECTIBLES
Nice looking Achievements room with the usual achievements, some story, some game. Enjoyable ‘trophies’. The Collectibles are the coins you collect to dress up your ermine.

MAKING OF
This is another cheeky and amusing home movie from the developers. I find these quite fun, and I certainly feel like I know them more than other developers.

FINAL VERDICT
Not the greatest, and certainly not up to the standard of the main game. But I enjoyed the game very much and was not too put out by the mediocre final chapter.

I Recommend This Game!