Vacation Adventures: Park Ranger

Vacation Adventures: Park Ranger
by Casual Arts - July, 2013

Series links: Vacation Adventures: Park Ranger, Vacation Adventures: Park Ranger 2, Vacation Adventures 3: Cruise Director

Available at:
Big Fish
GameHouse
iWin



Spend an exciting and adventurous summer working as a Park Ranger in a stunning National Park. Visit log cabins and areas of outstanding natural beauty such as lakes, woodland trails and mountain vistas. Set up outdoor activities like boating, rock climbing, horse riding, mountain biking and much much more. Perform your duties as a Park Ranger and protect the environment by collecting all the bonus trash items to recycle. Earn even more bonuses for finding all the Lost & Found items scattered around the Park. Enjoy this outstanding collection of Hidden Object Scenes and puzzles set in the great outdoors.

• Stunning scenes of natural beauty.
  
• Fabulous hidden object scenes and challenges.
  
• Spend a Summer Vacation as a Park Ranger!
  

Click images to enlarge
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This is a really fun game! When I read it was by the same developer that gave us those fun holiday games I knew I would like it. These games make a nice change from serious adventure/hogs. It isn't easy either! Some items are hidden in plain view! Besides the hidden objects, there are "lost and found" and other special objects to find. I like how the HOGs are separated by puzzles. It's really nicely done. Besides, I had a PCC and got a PCC with this purchase!

Awesome!  A BOGO deal (in effect) -- love it!

Thanks for the info!  Did I see a score meter, like in the Big City Adventure games?

Yes, there is a score meter at the top. I hadn't really noticed until you asked. On the menu page there is a "high score" button.
I don't like Big City Adventure games at all! I try them all though. I try nearly any game that comes out, because you never know...

Very Nicely Done ‘Family’ Game! ***

BASED ON ONE HOUR DEMO

This is a well put together HO game designed primarily for the younger crowd (and their grandparents of course!). It offers a GAMEPLAY style we don’t find so often anymore, as games have moved away from stand-alone HOs. So although it’s got things like COLLECTIBLES, they presented in a manner that only PRETENDS to be ADVENTURE GAMEPLAY.

Really, there are just HO SCENES and PUZZLES. The HOs are LIST type, where items must be found in the LOCATION, not in separate scenes. There is some interaction, and sometimes an item on the list is actually an ACTION you must perform. A nice touch are the 3-4 LOST ITEMS to be found in each location. These are indicated by a silhouette of the item, and you have to find the first item before being shown the next, and so on.

The PUZZLES come between HO locations. At the completion of a chapter, you tally up your points (more for the faster you find all the objects). You have the option to replay the location (immediately or anytime later) to improve your score. You then return to the map, and start the next phase. This usually begins with a VERY EASY & SKIPPABLE puzzle. Then you move into the next location. All the puzzles were topical on the theme of the National Park and its inhabitants.

There are GREAT COLLECTIBLES. Being a PARK RANGER, you are of course, a proactive environmentally aware person, so you nab every RECYCLEABLE item to be found in a location. Namely, bottles, cans, papers etc.

The LOOK of the game is immediately recognisable as ‘for kids’.  Well done graphics are bright, crisp and colourful. The items are presented in realistic settings with true perspective, so some are very hard to see, being pretty small. The SOUND is pretty ORDINARY, I would rather have heard forest sounds than the (soon repetitious) pleasant enough MUSIC.

The STORY is not going to be a best seller. It is your first day on the job as Park Ranger, and you are very excited. You are given the ‘grand tour’ and told about how the work gets done. In the process you get to visit all the wonders, and enjoy all the adventures the park offers.

It’s a NICE LITTLE GAME and even though it was not designed with me in mind, I played the FULL HOUR simply because I ENJOYED IT.

I recommend this game!