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    Mystery of the Ancients 4: Deadly Cold

    genkicoll
    genkicoll


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

    Mystery of the Ancients 4: Deadly Cold Empty Mystery of the Ancients 4: Deadly Cold

    Post by genkicoll Thu Feb 05, 2015 3:38 pm

    Mystery of the Ancients: Deadly Cold
    by Mariaglorum - February, 2015

    Series links:  Mystery of the Ancients 1: Lockwood Manor, Mystery of the Ancients 2: Curse of the Black Water, Mystery Of The Ancients 3: Three Guardians, Mystery of the Ancients 4: Deadly Cold, Mystery of the Ancients 5: Mud Water Creek, Mystery of the Ancients 6: The Sealed and Forgotten

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

    Mystery of the Ancients 4: Deadly Cold Mystery-of-the-ancients-deadly-cold-ce_feature

    It's been too long since you've seen your best friend Kira, so of course you jumped at the chance to visit after she invites you to scenic Baumholder for the weekend. You've barely arrived and met her new husband Victor when a freak blizzard sets in, ruining a perfect summer day. When a dark tower of ice rises from the city square, ice giants rain down on the streets, freezing everyone and everything in their path. Who is controlling them and what do they want? Work together with Victor to save Kira and survive the deadly cold.

    • Save those you love in the bonus game!
    • Collect lushly illustrated wallpapers and concept art
    • Gain access to the detailed strategy guide
    • Big Fish Blog Walkthrough

    Mystery of the Ancients 4: Deadly Cold Screen1
    Mystery of the Ancients 4: Deadly Cold Screen2
    Mystery of the Ancients 4: Deadly Cold Screen3
    genkicoll
    genkicoll


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

    Mystery of the Ancients 4: Deadly Cold Empty Re: Mystery of the Ancients 4: Deadly Cold

    Post by genkicoll Mon Aug 12, 2019 9:34 pm

    Mystery of the Ancients 4: Deadly Cold (IHOG)
    This is a standalone story.

    Ice giants are ravaging the city.  What do they want, and who is controlling them?

    Options include separate sliders for Music, Sound and Ambients, Custom Cursor and Full-screen. Choice of three preset difficulties, or you can go with Custom Mode.  Difficulty can be changed at any time via the Menu screen, and your inventory can be locked.

    Story:

    You haven't seen your best friend to way too long, and she even up and got married since you last saw her!  Of course you were happy to take her up on her invitation to visit and have a nice vacation.  You've only just reunited with Kira and met her husband, Victor, when you hear an ominous rumbling, feel the ground shaking under your feet and see a large castle emerging from nowhere in the distance.  Snowy missiles tattoo the city, and Kira is trapped!  Help Victor find a way to free her - and the city - from the cold's deadly embrace.
    Mystery of the Ancients 4: Deadly Cold 7C9F723DC6EB3D06C1BD84D154818FD042A5203B

    I have to say that this is probably the only IHOG I've played where you can actually get help from the people around you.  Sure, in some titles you might get one person to help you, but in this game, everyone you meet actually does whatever they can to assist you, rather than standing around expecting you to do all the work.  How refreshing!

    Our Journal is a task list where we can also re-watch cutscenes.  Any clues you find will go into your inventory.

    Gameplay:

    Be on the lookout for collectible hares and statuettes as you play.  Pro tip:  There is a non-timed, non-dexterity-reliant action sequence, and it DOES have a collectible!  It's the only one I missed. *face palm*

    The interactive MAP has insta-travel available, but everything is so memorable and intuitive that I didn't need it much.  Directional HINTS are available if needed.

    Hidden Object Scenes are wonderfully-varied in type, ranging from lists to matching pairs to silhouette puzzles to riddles and more!  They aren't all this beautiful, but they are all interesting and fun:
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    Interactive story HOS are also used to progress the storyline - something I absolutely adore, as it feels like they pull you more deeply into the tale.

    Mini-games were sometimes interesting, but many were absurdly easy to solve.  There is one mini where you have to move quickly (by clicking the mouse to change "lanes") that my dexterity-challenged friends might have trouble with, but you have three tries before you have to start over, and like the rest of the puzzles, it can be skipped.

    Although I really loved the gameplay, it felt like we spent an awful lot of time hunting for things to unlock other items... Way more than usual for this game type!

    Sights and Sounds:

    The graphics are just stunning.  I love this style, and Mariaglorum does it beautifully. ♥
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    The voice overs are well done, especially for a casual game.  As usual, I didn't really notice the music, meaning that it suits the environment well.

    CE Content:

    • Integrated Strategy Guide
    • Bonus Chapter
    • 25 Collectible Hares (one at each location) and 6 Statuettes (at scattered locations)
    • In-game Achievements
    • 15 Wallpapers
    • 24 Concept Art
    • 6 Music Tracks (can be saved)

    For each achievement you earn, you'll get a picture scrap.  Once you've collected all of the pieces, you'll have a nice mosaic-type puzzle to put together.

    Bonus Chapter:

    The extra chapter takes up literally 1 second after the main game ends, meaning that you have to play the bonus to find out what happens next.  The gameplay was good, but because the story was (intentionally) a bit disjointed, it didn't feel as fun as the rest of the game.

    There are no collectibles in the bonus chapter.

    Verdict:

    I have had so much fun with this series, and Deadly Cold was no exception. I was immediately charmed by the environment.  The gameplay is solid and fun overall, but surprisingly, it was the interesting hidden object scenes that I enjoyed the most.  Mystery of the Ancients is a fantastic and underrated series, which I recommend to all fans of the genre.

      Current date/time is Tue Mar 19, 2024 7:03 am