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    Matchmaker 2: The Curse of the Deserted Bride

    genkicoll
    genkicoll


    Posts : 8426
    Join date : 2011-12-28
    Age : 50
    Location : Pacific Northwest

    Matchmaker 2: The Curse of the Deserted Bride Empty Matchmaker 2: The Curse of the Deserted Bride

    Post by genkicoll Sun May 12, 2013 10:43 am

    Matchmaker: The Curse of the Deserted Bride
    by Sugar Games

    Available at:
    Sugar Games for PC and Mac
    Big Fish for PC
    GameHouse
    iWin

    Matchmaker 2: The Curse of the Deserted Bride Matchmaker-curse-of-deserted-bride_feature

    It's the return of the famous matchmaker in Matchmaker: Curse of Deserted Bride! Helen Jones settles in a town veiled in mystery, and takes on its intrigues. Your task is to puzzle out a sinister curse and help the townspeople find love again! Assisted by the appealing matchmaker, you will plunge deeper and deeper into the town's whirlpool of secrets and find yourself in the middle of events leading to a surprise ending.

    • 100 different scenes and mini-games
    • Photorealistic graphics and romantic music
    • A love story wrapped in mystery and secrets

    Click images to enlarge
    Matchmaker 2: The Curse of the Deserted Bride Th_screen1 Matchmaker 2: The Curse of the Deserted Bride Th_screen2Matchmaker 2: The Curse of the Deserted Bride Th_screen3
    JustTheFacts
    JustTheFacts


    Posts : 5142
    Join date : 2013-09-01
    Age : 61
    Location : Western Australia

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    Post by JustTheFacts Sun Mar 09, 2014 9:40 am

    Excellent HOG With Old-Fashioned Style!****

    BASED ON COMPLETED GAME


    FIRST IMPRESSIONS
    Don’t like pure HOGs. Can’t stand romances. Never glad to see photo-realistic graphics. Yet I love this superficially simple little game. Old fashioned graphics, no voiceover, no fancy cinematic cut scenes. Yup, they are all there, the signs of a low budget game. But it is actually an excellent game, capable of producing hours of absorbing and involving fun.

    Provided you recognise it for what it is. A really well produced and intelligently designed HOG. It has puzzles, and you will still need some adventuring skills, but the fun lies in how those things are woven into a simple HOG game.

    SIGHTS & SOUNDS
    Although the graphics are not widescreen, they are very impressive. Good colour, clear images, nice detail work. Just beautiful to look at. The sounds are also superior to many games. Excellent ambient sounds, and relaxing not too repetitive music, with a light touch of romance without going schmaltzy.

    WHAT’S HAPPENING?
    The story is pleasant and quite interesting, even though it is not the major focus of the game. A deserted bride brings a curse down on a town, which then sees no marriages or wedded bliss for 20 years. You, matchmaker extraordinaire recently retired from your previous Matchmaker game, decide the town needs your kind of help.

    But there is much to be done apart from matchmaking, and more to the story than a simple loss of romance. You must solve the mystery of the “Curse of the Deserted Bride”, and free the town from its loneliness. So you must juggle clients, social engagements, interviews with people who may offer you clues, and searching for the dolls that are linked to the curse.

    GAMEPLAY
    This is the fun part of the game. There is no one type of game dominating here. There are HOPs of course, interactive lists that are interesting in themselves, with many zoom in spots, and locked compartments, and they involve a large variety of mini-puzzles within and without.

    But there are also many other visual puzzles to solve! Including: spot the difference, jigsaws, rebuilding or repairing from a diagram, completing a list of actions that require you finding and using things in the location.

    The adventure gameplay is relatively easy, our work is nominal at most, and there are hints (that are hints) from a little cupid fellow who looks just perfect. There are also 13 dolls to be collected as part of the resolution of the curse. These are nasty things that clash with the overwhelmingly pleasant atmosphere of the game, but I love them for that and their eerily imaginative conception.

    There’s a map which shows us where we found the dolls, a journal that keeps the history up-to-date, and objectives list that is where we find the next scene to play. I really like this method of introducing the next HOP locations. Just a bit different, whilst logical and easy.

    And wrapped around this structure is your choosing of suitable matches, based on items found in their personal spaces. Assessing their compatibility, setting up a date for the couple and so forth, all tied neatly up in a bow. Love it.

    COMBINED IMPACT
    I managed to lose track of time during the demo on this, which I tried just today. Had to have it immediately to continue. Playing the full game only confirms my initial impressions. This is a fine game. The making of it must have been a work of love. Different, and thoroughly enjoyable.

    I recommend this game!
    genkicoll
    genkicoll


    Posts : 8426
    Join date : 2011-12-28
    Age : 50
    Location : Pacific Northwest

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    Post by genkicoll Sun Mar 09, 2014 10:54 am

    Great review, Justie, and especially interesting that it has so many elements you don't enjoy, yet you still were completely absorbed!  Sounds like a great deal at the DD price! Sunny
    JustTheFacts
    JustTheFacts


    Posts : 5142
    Join date : 2013-09-01
    Age : 61
    Location : Western Australia

    Matchmaker 2: The Curse of the Deserted Bride Empty Re: Matchmaker 2: The Curse of the Deserted Bride

    Post by JustTheFacts Sun Mar 09, 2014 11:31 am

    Yup, I think it's a steal for $3.

    It's actually even better than I am saying it. For the moment I seem to have lost my touch. Just glancing over what I'd written, I realised I hadn't even mentioned the other two types of HOP. Silhouette and find the same objects in both scenes.

    There's just lots of stuff like that. Don't know how I missed it when it was released.

    Oh, and it's long as well.

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