Mystery of Sargasso Sea

Mystery of Sargasso Sea
by Germanicus Head Games - December, 2013

Available at:
Big Fish



While on a yacht trip in the Sargasso, you suddenly find yourself trapped in a fierce storm. Struggling with the elements you've lost consciousness, and when you come to your senses, you see a strange place resembling an island of abandoned ships. But soon you realize that the island is far from deserted...

What is this mysterious place? How did you get here? What secrets are hidden on this island of abandoned ships? Is it possible to get out? Answer all these questions and more in Mystery of Sargasso Sea!

• Over 60 light adventure locations
  
• Beautiful graphics
  
• Ships of different eras
  

Click images to enlarge
__

Not Horrendous, But...  
 
  

BASED ON DEMO

FIRST IMPRESSIONS
The intro cut scene was promising. Unfortunately, the game did not deliver. The only aspects that were not mediocre, were the ones that were bad. There are certainly worse games out there. But there is just nothing in this one to recommend it.

SIGHTS & SOUNDS
The graphics were fuzzy. Mainly pseudo-realism, it is also unfashionable, leaving most gamers unenthusiastic. Cut scenes remain the best visuals. The wind in the background is suitably ghost-like. The voiceovers, well, while I quite enjoyed the accents, many won’t. The lines were said with little emotion and too slow.

WHAT’S HAPPENING
We seem to have wandered into a ships’ graveyard, haunted by a ghost/man who needs souls to feed the “Dark Stone” that rewards him with eternal life. We meet other ghosts who help in whatever ways they can. The story is too slow at this point, and fairly confusing.

MAKING PROGRESS
It is a HOG game, not a puzzle in sight. There is some adventure, but basically there is our loosely fitting story wrapped around a framework of HOPs. These are interactive lists, with some interesting activities, each visited twice. There is not much animation, which makes a game feel flat to me. As I say, can’t remember a single puzzle so far, but there is a fair amount of (easy) adventures, finding a key, getting into safes, that sort of thing.

FINAL VERDICT
I won’t be buying it. For me, it was boring. If you love HOPs, and are not too interested in brilliant visuals, this game is worth a look.

I Don't Recommend This Game!

Did you catch who the developer is, Madam?

yup, always do   Germanicus Games

DELETED

I thought you would like this one sporty. I noticed we both liked something else, was it the other release that day? Anyway, always read your reviews, to get another perspective. Sometimes, if I've not used up my demo time, I go back and look at them with a fresh eye after reading yours, so keep up the good work!   ;)

DELETED

Yes, clearly they are sorting this way to get better-looking ratings, and to get the competitive reviewers to always post 5s so they can get their votes. Pretty sad. And already I see pennmom is doing it, rating even the worst games at 5.  

I keep track of my average rating and it's always been 3.9, so the minute I find that going up, I'm gonna strangle myself for being such a sucker for votes.

One side benefit is we at least will not be confronted with the same people all the time on the top spots. I think that probably played a part. And I've noticed that games that have never received any vote because I posted them months or years after release, so no one ever saw them. Some of them have suddenly got votes! All leads to greater randomisation any way you look at it.

I enjoy publishing here most of all now. I only post the just released reviews on bfg because they are not worth the hassle. And completed games go here first.  

Let's hope bfg will be through their changes soon and everyone can start to relax again. In the meantime I have learnt so much I didn't know about games outside the pond!! Cool!   

DELETED

You and I have much in common. I also am disabled and the reviewing makes me feel that at least I'm being productive and making myself useful. And it adds an extra dimension to playing the game. I used to just read before bfg, because I do not much like tv and never watch it. This is more engaging because it is interactive and uses more senses.

And I too dont like puzzles much and get fed up with people knocking games for having too few puzzles or not hard enough, etc. You'll notice even though my reviews are fairly long, the puzzles get 1-2 lines only.

Sportygal, I'm also finding myself leaning more towards the "dated" games. For me, if a game has too many collectibles, morphing objects, achievements, and what-have-you, it's extra overload and distracting to the main storyline.
I also think if any developer should decide to leave all that extra stuff out (in a CE) they would be subjected to public outcries of "No Collectibles or Achievements or Morphing Objects? Then it's not CE worthy."
(I don't agree with that, btw)

I don't even want to think about the cutesy animal helpers, I've had quite enough. "Elf" from the Mystery Trackers games is my #1 furry helper, love him, but I wouldn't want to play dress-up with him & refuse to.

I have a big, furry, baby dog. Well, she's not a baby, but I treat her like one. Yeah, I know it's my fault, but so what. If I would even attempt to dress her up, she would throw one giant conniption fit on me.  

I'm curious, Sportygal and JustTheFacts, were you ever offered incentives as frequent reviewers on BF? I'm thinking that the all-5s reviewers are probably being (or will be) offered free games and/or other bonuses. Otherwise, what would be the motivation for all the positive reviews, especially if they're false or trumped up?

I would surely hope that's not the case, R-Mom, but you never know. It doesn't matter to me because I very rarely ever read the "Official" Reviews.
Even now, with all the clicking to get to the actual game forum reviews, I still go there.

DELETED

It's probably just me with the achievements. Truthfully, I don't feel the need to obtain every single one of them. It used to be fun, now it's more of a chore. 
Same with morphing/changing objects. Most times, I forget about them midways into the game.

DELETED

djrum wrote:I would surely hope that's not the case, R-Mom, but you never know.

Oh I don't mean to imply there's anything unethical going on. But for instance I know of some people who review A LOT on Amazon and other sites and are always being given loads of free products (to review, of course, but they don't have to give them back). However they don't write all 5-star reviews by any means.

I just wondered if certain BF reviewers - the heavy hitters, if you will - were being rewarded by "being invited to review games" or whatever you'd call the incentive of free downloads. It makes sense that those who spend so much time and care writing detailed reviews be given some kind of incentive. Why not? After all, it's advertising for BF in a way. However, it should be the case whether you give 3-star or 5-star reviews, as long as they are detailed and well-written honest reviews... but we know how these things go.  

I've never been a big fan of achievements, since they usually felt so invented and silly. An award for not getting hints! An award for needing hints! LOL    And morphing things usually make me crazy. I've always been a fan of good stories first and foremost, intelligently told and executed. Quite often the older dated-looking games were - and still are - the best!

DELETED

lol, Sportygal, same here! As soon as someone mentions it's got the "dated" look, I'm all for demo'ing. I wasn't even going to try Mystery of Sargossa Sea, but I needed to know for sure.
I did demo and I ended up getting it because I enjoyed the spooky atmosphere.

I agree, R-Mom. I'm naïve in that way and if free games were given out, well, I'd rate all games with 5 stars.
No, not really, I couldn't do it.

Funny, I've never seen some of these "Official" reviewers in the regular game forums, ever.

DELETED

I must say I prefer, or at least give a lot more weight to, reviews of completed games. Demos don't tell the whole story, and sometimes graphics, storyline, and/or gameplay erode quickly after the demo is over. Sometimes the reverse is true too!

@RMom

I do know of one site that pays their top reviewer by letting her keep all the games she reviews for free. *without prejudice, so she can rate them honestly* I've often wished a site would do that for my reviews -so far the gods of games seem to be ignoring me.   

The only incentives reviewers have ever been offered by bfg, to my knowledge, is the implied kudos of being voted as helpful.   For many regular reviewers, that's what it's all about.

I do believe I probably get treated a bit better than other fishies, they are always very very nice to me, ask me to please keep reviewing etc, when I've questioned the way reviews are handled, and seem generous to a fault about issuing game coupons if I'm having problems with a game. But, maybe they do that for everybody. It just that's not the impression I get from the forums.

Anyway, all that's why

1) there is so much cheating (voting everyone else as not helpful - sometimes more than once)

2) this new system will get those same people calling anything and everything a 5 star - they will do that to see their names at the top of the page, no other incentive required

3) the voting system is now totally irrelevant to the actual quality or usefulness of the review

It never was worth much, because people vote for their friends just because they're friends, people vote against people who don't agree with their opinions, it is so unbelievably time-sensitive that being the first review in (this is where I get a lot of votes, I know) can almost guarantee the top number of votes.

It is already obvious that many people have stopped reviewing now they can't get the votes every time. The numbers of reviews have dropped drastically.

In other words, it has nothing to do with helpfulness and even less so now. Which is why, while I admit I enjoy keeping track of the numbers (I am a statistician at heart), I would rather post here, where if people find a review interesting or helpful, they generally say so. And can disagree with me amicably. That's why it is better than the bfg forums too.  

PS. I must say, though, the new system does have some value. It mixes everyone up more, so more reviewers, not just the early regulars, get a chance to be read. And reviews of completed games that aren't in quick enough to make the early cut, will get a chance as well (if they happen to be 5 stars). I have noticed reviews that have never received a vote in the year they've been out there, are suddenly getting a few votes, particularly if the game is a daily deal.

This pleases me because I rarely can afford to buy and play a game immediately after release, so I do write completed game reviews on all my games, but most of them are never read. Now some are. Bonus!