Beta Thread

Bad me! Forgot to at least get the links here for you! Here's the latest.

Sea Of Lies 2: Nemesis

Rite Of Passage 3: Hide & Seek

Worlds Apart: The Descent

Grim Legends 2: Song of the Dark Swan BETA #2

Manor Memoirs 2 (Playrix)

Wow, looks like some awesome games coming soon!

IIRC, I also beta'd The Secret Order 3 & liked it very much.

Secret of the Dark 4...I really liked the first & second one, not crazy about the third.

Fright...I'm looking forward to the release. Cornfields scare me ever since watching "Children of the Corn" numerous times.

Cadenza...love this developer, so I know I'll love this game!!

OMG! A new Nevertales!

Nevertales 2: Shattered Image

Oh my gosh, a new Nevertales???

I picked a bad time to start my game diet because I want all of them.  

I can relate! My game diet was supposed to start this month too - but how can I? It's just not fair! I'm joining your tantrum djrum!   

Nevertales??   Nuuuuu, just too good!

lol, JustTheFacts!

It just isn't fair when I'm trying to be good & not buy so many games and actually play the ones I've already bought. 

I'm hoping for a BOGO sale this weekend. I want the new Nightmares from the Deep & whatever else I can get my hands on, possibly the new Dark Tales.

I've got another beta to try, Worlds Apart: The Descent.

Have decided in the interests of my sanity I will just jot down a few quick notes for you here for the Betas, and do a proper review when game is released. Too much doubling up otherwise!   

Nevertales 2
Collector’s Edition

Release Date: ? 2014
Developer: Mad Head Games


A Bit Disappointing? Too Early To Tell****

BASED ON BETA

FIRST IMPRESSIONS
Not very interesting or visually spectacular intro, although makes a nice story set up for the series. Don’t remember that from first one.

SIGHTS & SOUNDS
Graphics look rough in opening sequences but are gorgeous in the locations and HOPs. Music is lovely.

WHAT’S HAPPENING?
You, your husband and your daughter are all “Travellers”, able to move between different worlds through the use of books. Daughter can travel with mirrors. 12th birthday, daughter first goes into coma, then gets grabbed into another world. Interesting thing, husband actually useful and sometimes you play him.

GAMEPLAY
A good variety of puzzles, mini-puzzles (like inventory-assembled items) and HOPs. The HOPs are quite different from each other. All have morphing object in them. There are interactive word lists, progressive find and use, unique matching pairs, replace items in scene, and find pictured type of item. E.g. a flower x3. They will all be flowers, but won’t all look the same. There are some other nifty gimmicks in them as well. Some of the HOPs actually advance the story or provide back history as you complete them.

Other puzzles and general game play is much easier than first Nevertales, so far. But it still took me well over an hour to complete the beta. There is a handy interactive jump map with available tasks, a journal with replay cut scenes for notes, and objective list. Hint is directional. 3 levels of difficulty plus custom. Aspect correction. 4 sound sliders. Lockable inventory bar. Game timer.

A couple of extras. Alice’s dollhouse has lost its rooms. You find them as you play, don’t know yet to what purpose. There is a greater degree of flexibility in the dialogues with other characters. You can choose how little or how much you want to have, or you can turn this function off. altogether.

CE BLING!
20 collectible book symbols. Morphing items. The rest upon release.

COMBINED IMPACT
Don’t like it as much as the first one, unless they improve the cut scenes and intro. Easier to play. I found the first one a bit tough.

Thanks Just.  I played the beta also and totally agree with your review.  I am sure I will buy it as I can't help myself! Maybe the graphics and stuff will improve before release.

A couple more:

Fairly Twisted Tale 2: Snow White Black Night

Witch Hunters 2: Full Moon Ceremony

This second one is actually a revamp of earlier betas entitled Nightmare Visions. It is the one with the snake. If you've played it, you won't need to ask which snake? Only one like it ever in my experience lol.

Lost Legends: The Weeping Woman
Collector’s Edition

Release Date:  2014
Developer: Gunnar Games

Lively & Fun****

BASED ON BETA

FIRST IMPRESSIONS
Very “Calavera” & “Mexicana”, this game is Mexican in flavour, so lots of bold bright colours, Latino accents, mixed legends and religions, and don’t forget the painted skulls. This one is set 2 weeks before Halloween and the Day of the Dead, but has the same carnivale atmosphere.

SIGHTS & SOUNDS
Loud! (The graphics that is, lol). The background noises and music are much less obtrusive. Accents vary from what feels to me like a parody of Mexican accent (but I honestly wouldn’t have a clue so don’t take my word for it), to almost Accentless to this Australian pair of ears. Lip synced. Music nicely varied.

WHAT’S HAPPENING?
Legend has it the Weeping Woman in the river steals a child every year on 17th Oct. It is a revenge thing for her children were stolen from her by a cheating husband. The town tries to appease the Woman by holding a festival that looks suspiciously like the Day of the Dead to me, but again, what do I know?

You are a reporter, and you are here to investigate the true facts of the very real children who are disappearing each year. But you are not into any of that silly legend stuff. The people in the town fall into two categories, those who believe in the festival and those who don’t.

GAMEPLAY
Mostly easy, but fun. And a couple of unique ways of presenting familiar ones.  Well integrated into the story. HOPs are interactive list. More of them than is usual in these days, but this game was first put together a while ago, judging by the age of this beta. Adventure gameplay is easy, very logical, but not linear. There is an interactive jump map and a directional hint. Journal. 4 levels of difficulty, including custom. Inventory lock.

CE BLING!
I like the collectibles. There are morphing flowers, which are lovely, and hidden golden skulls, where you actually have to move something in the location to see them. There is a separate achievements area in the Main Menu, also available from the journal. Achievements are painted skulls, and have both performance and story. Morphing flowers have own area too.

COMBINED IMPACT
I really enjoyed it. I was just going to glance in at it to see what it was like – because it is very old, been on the back burner for at least as long as True Fear – and I got caught up in it. It may be a bit on the short side, that was my feeling, but I am hoping they make it.

I recommend this game!

Lost Legends: The Weeping Woman

Worlds Apart: The Descent

Release Date:  2014
Developer: Tropo Entertainment

A Fixer-Upper***

BASED ON BETA

FIRST IMPRESSIONS
Was curious about this game after the comments people made about it being slow and would she never stop falling?   

So, checked it out. While I see what you mean, I think it could come good with some fixing. It's the first draft, after all.

SIGHTS & SOUNDS
The first thing I noticed about this game was the graphics. They are strangely pixelated, but with very fine pixels. It is enough to interfere with my enjoyment of the visuals, and is in fact a serious deterrent to my buying the game. The game looks good on a smaller screen, so perhaps only those with large monitors like mine will even notice. In windowed form, the game is quite beautiful, in fact.

The music was the next thing I noticed. Lovely, orchestral, alternately dramatic and dreamlike. The voices were also done well. Didn’t notice background sounds.

WHAT’S HAPPENING?
Ah, well, um, I dunno! It is very confusing, but out of all the side issues, the glaring necessity is the need to find the tree of life in order to save the king. To do so, you must perform an illegal ritual, plummet to your seeming death, and fight off an evil force. Actually, the story wouldn’t be half bad if they just stuck to essentials.

GAMEPLAY
Quite a bit more than standard dialogue and cut scenes slow this game down too much, but the gameplay itself is quite good. And varied.  There are a number of different types of HOPs. Interactive word list, progressive silhouettes, multiples, fragments, even in location HOPs. The puzzles have been relatively few, and so far easy. I did enjoy a couple of them very much. The shoot-em-up mini-game is fun because it is not hard even for the uncoordinated. Much of the play is of the adventure kind, and at this stage, again fairly easy.

There is a limited number of directional hints available. You have a locket that can earn you extra hints by completing a match 3 game. There are 4 other jewels on the locket – I do not know what they are for. Skip is slower than most. You can combine items within the inventory. A jump map that does not indicate active areas. Journal with achievements, goals, story notes and character descriptions – very handy that last one, I kept getting them confused. No choice of difficulty levels.

CE BLING!
Achievements are both story and performance.

COMBINED IMPACT
I quite like where this game is heading, but it needs a lot of work on it to get it there. With the story tidied up and the cut scenes and dialogues sorted out, this game has potential. I wouldn’t be looking to making a CE out of it though.

Wouldn't be too enthusiastic about recommending it yet.

Try It Here!

I'm enjoying your reviews and plan on trying some of these betas this weekend.

There's so many new ones coming out every week now, I am flat out trying to keep track, let alone review them all!

And so many are from good series... My wallet is going to suffer.

Glad you are still enjoying my reviews, and love to hear your take on the betas as well.

Mystery Castle 2: The Mirrors Secret


Release Date:  2014
Developer: Meridian 93

Looks Old & Battered, But Might Suit HOG Players***

BASED ON BETA

FIRST IMPRESSIONS
This game feels old and battered even though the artwork style is hand painted and the puzzles are different. It is partly the story – evil magic mirror, travel by painting – which has been done before. It is also the somewhat amateurish production, and simplistic and linear gameplay, which is too easy for grownups, I felt.

SIGHTS & SOUNDS
Graphics are rough around the edges, and have a grainy feel. Sometimes hard to see details. And sometimes too dark. Get some really dark and eerie locations, then bright colourful ones, it doesn’t quite seem to work. The girl is drawn in a very inanimate and cartoony way. Sound is totally nondescript, both ambient and music. VOs are badly acted, speaking too slowly, like a kindergarten teacher. But you can switch off the narrator’s voice, which I recommend! The evil guy’s voice, on the other hand, is gorgeous, but again, too slow. Treacle in a cool room.

WHAT’S HAPPENING?
Out camping with your young daughter. She’s snatched by mysterious evil wizard-like character. You follow. Come to a mirror inside a castle. Bad guy smashes it, you must collect pieces to save daughter. Travel by paintings, each locked by different form of magic. Each room has a ghost. You help ghost, ghost helps you, get a mirror shard. Bad guy grabs girl again just as you reach her, repeat (there are 20 mirror shards, roughly, so 20 rooms? I completed 3 in the demo.) Have played this exact game (Haunted Manor: Lord Of Mirrors).

GAMEPLAY
Simple puzzles, a HOP visited twice, and a fair bit of in-location searching. The HOPs are interactive lists, where most of the items require interaction – although you may find half of them simply by opening a drawer or pulling back a curtain. There is a list of items that are just in the location, so instead of working out what inventory items are needed, you have them there. This list gets in the way of the inventory bar, and is a pain when you are trying to remember to “go down” to use the inventory items.

A map and journal are basically unwarranted, as you must complete one room before you move to the next. Tasks are announced as they arise by a little banner that unfurls near the inventory. Hint points directly to the next action. Each location has a gratifying number of things to do, but overall I found the game too slow.

CE BLING!
There are achievements both performance and story. 50 morphing objects, found anywhere, including HOPs and within a puzzle close up, more than one per location, and hard to spot. They are the best part of this game.

But this is not good enough to be released as a CE. As a standalone SE HOG, it’s okay.

PS. Apparently, this is a sequel of an old X-Box/PC game. But Big Fish no longer sell it.
 
Try It Here!

Off The Record 2: The Italian Affair
Collector’s Edition

Release Date:  2014
Developer: Eipix

Gloriously Artful*****

BASED ON BETA

FIRST IMPRESSIONS
In a word. Beautiful. All of it. Everything about it. From the first seconds, this game is beautiful. And classy. And extremely professional. In a different league, really, to the first Off The Record, which was a great game, but for reasons that didn’t specifically include the beautiful art and sound.

Everything works. The opening cut scenes are interesting, in an investigative journalist way, not insane crashes or wild witchery, and beautifully crafted. Venice is, of course, a great location if you want to showcase some artwork of your own. The sound tracks are also great. The music is mostly light and airy, gentle – creating an atmosphere that is delicate with a whiff of intrigue. But there is plenty of variety. The voiceovers are excellent. Again with that Eipix signature dialogue device, lip synched cameo shot, with the larger shot still. I loved the sound of gulls. It never occurred to me to think of gulls in Venice, but of course, it makes perfect sense.

WHAT’S HAPPENING?
You are journalist who did Linden Shades, now famous. Le Volpe, The Fox, an art thief who allegedly retired 5 years ago, has committed another heist on the Museum in Venice. You are supposed to be going there for a holiday, but your boss has got a lead, and you would never knock back a chance to find this character, who has managed to remain both anonymous and at large. So you’re off on a working holiday now, with little time for the sights.

GAMEPLAY
Easy gameplay for the most part, plenty of help with directional hint, interactive jump map, with spectacular aerial shots of the locations. Lockable inventory. Journal with notes. Later, tapes with interesting historical info. Camera. This is used in specific situations where it can, with the help of an acquired special filter, and via a mini-game, reveal otherwise hidden information. Inventory plus items that combine or require extra actions.

HOPs: all silhouettes so far, but... one is progressive interactive, another is replace the silhouetted objects, another has zoom in windows with mini-word lists. Some, the scene involves only 4 or 5 objects, cuts to another place and another small silhouette list. I preferred the panning found in other Eipix games. Puzzles, not many and none that I’d call hard. Which means too easy for the hard core crowd. Way too easy. But there are 3 difficulty levels, plus a custom level. You receive useful cards, such as press pass, which are kept in a separate section of the inventory. Adventure play is straightforward, intuitive mostly, but fun. Plenty to do.

I love the interface, but it is a little crowded, with journal, achievement indicator, menu, map, useful cards, hint, camera, and at least one other thing I have forgotten. I found myself backing out when I didn’t want to, or pressing the wrong thing if I got sloppy.

CE BLING!
Plenty so far, and more to come if typical of Eipix.
Collectibles: 36 fox figurines. Not easy. I did not find one! 16 travel guide pages. 16 letters of the alphabet. Morphing objects in the HOPs – I forget how many. I found one. All the other beauty is definitely distracting.

Achievements, lots of both performance and story. Displayed from main menu in a gallery in the museum, also accessed from the journal. I like the way the achievements are grouped together by type into different show cases or other furnishings.

COMBINED IMPACT
A glorious game filled with beauty, art and intrigue. A high brow and more sedate version of  “Smithsonian Hope Diamond”.

I recommend this game!

Try It Here!

JustTheFacts wrote:Worlds Apart: The Descent

Release Date:  2014
Developer: Tropo Entertainment

A Fixer-Upper***

BASED ON BETA

FIRST IMPRESSIONS
Was curious about this game after the comments people made about it being slow and would she never stop falling?   

So, checked it out. While I see what you mean, I think it could come good with some fixing. It's the first draft, after all.



Try It Here!

  
So, you fell for it???    (I couldn't resist.. sorry! LOL)

Must agree that yes, the music was lovely. I will give it that much credit.

lol    

I did quite like it, in a way, but then, I have been accused of being a game tart on occasion.     So perhaps I was a little soft lol   

Sea Of Lies 2: Nemesis
Collector’s Edition


Release Date: 2014
Developer: Eipix

Glorious Variety****

BASED ON BETA

FIRST IMPRESSIONS
Great interface! That was my first thought. Graphics are below par throughout the game, but particularly rough in the intro, which detracts from an otherwise sound beginning. Not too flashy, but interesting and involving, particularly if you played the first “Sea Of Lies” game. Although it is not necessary to this story, it is nice to see the return of a friend.

SIGHTS & SOUNDS
By below par, I am referring to Eipix games specifically, it is only in comparison to them that this game falls short. So by most standards, the graphics are good. The artwork is nicely done. The sound is excellent. Voiceovers wonderful. Just the right degree of accented speech. Lip synched in the speaker’s cameo, still in the main scene. The music included the Eipix signature tune, but also a good variety of other music in several moods.

WHAT’S HAPPENING?
As Senorita Addams, famous lady detective, you are called upon by the Governor himself to investigate the suspicious death. The victim had received a figurine of the the goddess of revenge, Nemesis, leading the Governor to believe that perhaps Ramirez’ recent paranoia was, after all, justified. He cannot be seen to be involved with this investigation, but he leaves you Sergio to assist you.

GAMEPLAY
Adventure (easy), with a bunch of various styles of HOP and a few puzzles. What the game really consists of is what I am, for the sake of brevity, going to call micro-puzzles. The miniature games are usually no more than a dozen steps in content, and they occur WITHIN some other action. For example, some of the inventory items have micro-puzzles that must be completed for the item to reach its final useful form.

And the HOP scenes in this game all represent a collection of micro-puzzles, nested within a single HOP hot spot. They could be any mix of interactive lists, silhouettes, multiples or fragments. So, no one form of HOP dominates. You will find several within a scene, in close up windows. Some are obvious, a few are not, but no micro-puzzle is seriously hard – because there is no skip for them. The HOPs also include the pan technique, where you move through 3 or 4 segments of a HOP scene, completing a shorter list at each before moving on.

Or you can skip all that glorious variety and play a Match 3 game. As well as the usual tools (journal, objective list, interactive jump map and teleporting hint system), you have a forensic kit for taking finger prints where indicated. I think this gadget could be better. The rest is as you’d expect. Lockable inventory. 3 levels of difficulty plus a custom level.

CE BLING!
Achievements are performance based only and do not include an award for getting all the collectibles. Which are 20 treasure chests. Quite large and easy to see, but not always in the open. Some you have to move other stuff to find it.

COMBINED IMPACT
Despite its strong nautical theme (a favourite with me, and appropriate to the series), this story doesn’t appeal to me as much as most Eipix games do. I do, however, revel in the gameplay with all its glorious variety.

I recommend this game!

Sea Of Lies 2: Nemesis (Beta)

(Unrecognised Geniuses: The) Master Of Living Things

Release Date:  2014
Developer: Vendel Games

Love The “Metal” Rock Band! *****

BASED ON BETA

FIRST IMPRESSIONS
Great opening credits to the main menu. Original – rock’n’roll style – music! The robot band the best I’ve ever seen. Mechanical puppets again, which I am so tired of, but these ones are so quirky, I love them. The intro is a bit too confusing, though. I ‘lost the plot’ momentarily. Oh, no, sorry, that’s just me. What I meant was, it was difficult to see exactly what happened, it all flew by so fast.

SIGHTS & SOUNDS
Okay, not great, graphics, but very pleasant on the eye and clear as a bell in the HOPs, if unfortunately inanimate. Not a high budget game. I love the imaginative interface, so in line with the theme of this game. Throughout the game, the music is more sedate and relaxing, in fact beautiful in its own right – but then rock would not make good background music, would it? Far too distracting. Voiceovers few but okay, the English is sometimes a little wonky.

WHAT’S HAPPENING?
You are on your way to a camping weekend with two of your friends, who are taking you to “get away from it all” because you have been so stressed out about not being able to have kids (I’m guessing the relevance of this will come later). Running late, you take a short cut, which leads into the forest. Your friends stop the car and step out to examine a strange little machine, and are suddenly grabbed by a crane and hauled off, and you are left behind, dazed but not quite alone. The mechanical dog-like creature asks for your help, and guides you in return.

GAMEPLAY
The gameplay is mostly HOPs, of the interactive list variety, but you have the choice of TWO alternative puzzles. You can choose, each time, to do a spot the difference or jigsaw puzzle instead. Each time you complete one of these by any means, you unlock it in the “my room” section accessible both in the main menu and the game. There you can replay it, in either mode. In total, there are 30 each of these, so I am guessing there are 30 HOPs in the game proper.

The puzzles are non-existent almost. Certainly no problem. Hint is teleport, and the map is interactive and jumps. “Areas of interest” are indicated. 3 levels of difficulty. Journal. The “dog” is not your typical helpful companion, but he does have specific skills that you can draw on. These functions have to be acquired within the game.

CE BLING!
“My room” has achievements (12), collectible toys (14), and jigsaws (30) and spot the difference (30) puzzles. There is also an album, which I suspect might hold the completed image once you have played either any or all puzzle games associated with that scene. And perhaps they would then be wallpaper? That would be cool.

The collection of toys is made up in part from toys found in the game and part the toys you build from having found toy parts. The fun thing about all of the mechanised characters is that they are made up of real, everyday items, such as seat springs and sieves, put together in fun new ways. And you get to make about 3 of them (I think) as part of the collection. Either the toys, or something I misclicked and acquired one of are morphing objects.

COMBINED IMPACT
I love this game. Which is really saying something, because as a rule I find mechanised puppets old hat and making things a bore. Also considering the fact that this game is not especially sophisticated, or unique in any other way. Basically, a classic HOG put together with a great deal of imagination and ingenuity and I sure do hope they make it.

I recommend this game!

Try It Here!

Love the sound of this game.  Brilliant review, Justie   

It's worth a look just for the gorgeous little rock band. Love it so much!

I quite enjoy playing these obscure little games that may never see the light of day. Most of them are quite quirky!

LOVE that wee robot band at the start.  So cute!    

Hope this one gets made.   

Tales Of Terror 2: House On The Hill

Release Date:  2014
Developer: Deep Shadows

Good Haunted House Tale****

BASED ON BETA

FIRST IMPRESSIONS
I didn’t think much of “Crimson Dawn”, the first of this series, calling it “utterly forgettable”. Not so this one. It opens with a good exciting beginning, with high quality cut scenes and very good graphics. Music that is exciting too. A little wry humour.

SIGHTS & SOUNDS
Clear, colourful graphics, particularly excellent in the HOP scenes is offset by poor integration of (bad) live actors with art. While the visuals are not especially dark,  they give off a good eerie aroma. *wink* The voiceovers are particularly well done. Some achieve lip synch, some do not. Music has considerable variety, much of it very suspenseful and then heart-racing. Clever use of sounds. Love the use of Tchaikovsky. Ambient sounds are suitably ghostly.

WHAT’S HAPPENING?
This is a classic haunted house story. We are Sophia, on holidays with our sister Hope, decide to take Haunted House tour, to be the first to enter a house that appeared mysteriously out of nowhere 3 months ago. Almost as soon as you enter, a descending wall separates you from your sister, who is dragged off by a man – or thing - in a cloak. The story is made to seem fresh by the best impression of size and scope of any house of “many doors” I’ve seen. There is definitely something very other worldly going on.

GAMEPLAY
The emphasis in this game is on adventure stuff. With a lot of dialogue, plenty of historical information about the house, and lots to do. There was only one HOP in the demo, an interactive list, which is visited twice. In the first, finding an item moves it to reveal piece of puzzle needed to retrieve the inventory item. The 2nd visit was a standard interactive list. The puzzles are new (to me). They vary in difficulty, but are none too easy even at the base level.

Other tools include: journal, teleport map that lists active tasks and covers 3 floors. Directional hint. Inventory lock. 3 levels of difficulty.

Achievements – although I couldn’t find where they were displayed. Collectible heart lockets x 42 (one in each location).

COMBINED IMPACT
Much better than I expected, after playing the first game in the series. The game is mostly a fairly easy adventure. It is a good easy game for those who want to become more confident in adventure gameplay, and a relaxing time for the more experienced player. Not much in it for the expert crowd. To me, the demo felt short. I’m wondering if the game is too.

I recommend this game!

Try It Here!