Farm Mystery: The Happy Orchard Nightmare

Farm Mystery: The Happy Orchard Nightmare
by TagStar Games - April, 2013

Available at:
Big Fish
GameHouse
iWin



Everything is not what it seems down on Happy Orchard Farm as residents of the local town are mysteriously disappearing into the mist that enshrouds it at night. Is there an innocent explanation or could the farm at the mercy of supernatural forces? It’s your job to find out what’s happening and try to uncover the chilling mystery. Search for objects, collect key items, and solve mini-games and puzzles all set in the seemingly haunted farm. Can you conquer your fear and discover the truth in this thrilling supernatural adventure game!

Features:
-Strong characters with a dark and mysterious plot
-20 chilling adventure screens
-15 unique Hidden Object scenes
-Interrogate five key suspects
-15 challenging puzzles and mini-games

This game is getting *slammed* at Big Fish.  From the comments I'm reading, there's no choice of difficulty mode, tons of sparkles, older-style graphics, and if you rush through the dialogue, you can finish the game within the demo time!   So... free game if you've got an hour to kill and the desire to play it.

Haven't tried it, and not really interested in doing so.  I have a ton of excellent games just waiting to be played, so I'd rather not waste my time on a game with (apparently) so little substance.

It does seem like a very old game. I think a HOS that has us look for a floppy disk must have been programmed a while back! Spelling errors too. But, that's isn't unusual.
Sparkles not just for HOS, but every single place to investigate! Very HOS heavy, and the puzzles were pretty good ones. I thought the graphics were better than a lot I've seen, but at one point in the game they change. It's like I was playing a different game at that point.
I finished it in 55 minutes, playing the demo. I only demoed it to see if I could get a "free" game this morning! The story could have gone so many other directions.

That is really a shame -- I can't imagine anyone buying the game when they can play the whole thing in an hour! Even TWO hours isn't worth $6.99 to me (usually)!

This one is getting totally blasted in the reviews. It's also short too. Haven't seen reviews this negative in ages. It kind of makes me want to play it just to see how bad it is! 

No Frills, But Well Done  

  

BASED ON DEMO

I don’t expect the EXPERTS will like this one at all, in fact, I ADVISE them DON’T BOTHER downloading. Not only is this game VERY EASY in EVERY ASPECT of GAMEPLAY, it also has only ONE PLAY MODE, and there are SPARKLES EVERYWHERE. Literally NO HOT SPOT can be missed.

Now for the rest of us...

This is CLEARLY LOW BUDGET. There is next to NO INTRO, NO VOICEOVERS, BASIC GRAPHICS, SAME for MUSIC, NO AMBIENT SOUND.

But, I LIKE it.

The GRAPHICS are PHOTO-REALISTIC and EXTREMELY WELL DONE. The HO SCENES are CLEAR as a bell, NOT AT ALL CROWDED, every object easily seen. There is no ANIMATION or INTERACTION, it is just a simple LIST. There is one other HOS not of this style where you must find all the dolls hidden in the scene. There are a LOT of HOS (I counted 7 in 30 minutes of play), but none are repeated.

There are almost AN EQUAL number of SIMPLE PUZZLES (5 in 30 minutes). These are STRAIGHT FORWARD and WELL KNOWN. But I did skip one. SKIP is reasonably fast.
HINT is VERY FAST, and gives actual hints (much as I don’t care for dolls, I should inspect the cabinet, eg.) or sometimes it is DIRECTIONAL. NO MAP, there is a JOURNAL which keeps the STORY up to date. Nothing by way of serious head scratching is needed to play the ADVENTURE side of the game, we are spoon fed on that as well, and inventory items become available just when they’re needed.

The STORY is a GHOST STORY, our friend has invited us to a FARM, but is not there when we arrive, our mobile doesn’t work, and when we finally break into the house, we are greeted by a GHOST, who seems friendly and helpful. The PROBLEM is, this farm seems to be overrun with VENGEFUL SCARECROWS (although I’m not sure what was done to them to get them so riled up).

After a rash of FRIENDLY SCARECROWS of late, I’m interested to see what ANGRY ones get up to.

This is DEFINITELY a game that BEGINNERS could really ENJOY (or those with poor eyesight – the HOS really are very clear),and I think it’s not a bad one for a LAZY DAY’S game.

Personally, I am very glad after so many duds lately to be able to RECOMMEND a STAND-ALONE STANDARD EDITION unreservedly.

But, as I said, EXPERTS, forget it!

I Recommend This Game!