Reincarnations 1: Awakening

Reincarnations: The Awakening
by: Vogat Interactive - Find wallpapers at the official site, HERE (scroll down to find the walls)

Series links: Reincarnations 1: Awakening, Reincarnations 2: Uncover the Past, Reincarnations 3: Back to Reality

Available from:
Big Fish for PC and Mac
iWin



Jane is a professional copywriter who makes her living writing about makeup and fashion. A major magazine has given her a huge opportunity to write the article of her career on Reincarnation! Help her explore and experience her eclectic past lives and write her award-winning story. Go on an exciting adventure as you travel through time and space in this fantastic Hidden Object Puzzle Adventure game.

Click images to enlarge

Reincarnations: Awakening (IHOG)

Options include separate sliders for music, effect and environment. There is also a wide-screen, full-screen and custom cursor option. The opening scene is skippable, and you can click through the dialogue if you wish. The narrator's voice is a bit... odd, but it works well enough. The tutorial is optional.

You have a journal, a hint button and there is also a task list, which you can access by clicking on our character's icon (next to the hint button). HINTS are refillable.

There is a random-click penalty, but you have to click around quite a bit to get it to activate.

Mini games are varied and skippable... and there are quite a few of them!

The game starts out normally enough, with a writer at her office, trying to get her article ready before the deadline. I really don't care for the graphics in this earliest part of the game, but hang in there! Things are going to change...

Once we play through the office scene, things get much more interesting. Soon after it started reminding me of Enlightenus and Hidden Expedition: Devil's Triangle. THEN we get to the meat of the story, exploring past lives. Each "life" is a different theme, with different music and of course, different graphics:

Life #1 - Indian woman seeking enlightenment
Life #2 - Imprisoned man, seeking freedom
Life #3 - Magician trying to perform well for Duke... or else!
Life #4 - Dog roaming the streets of Paris
Life #5 - Lonely little girl sending Teddy to the stars to grant her wish

There are many tasks, but the game kind of prods you in the right direction. There aren't really any helpless, "What am I supposed to do now??" moments.

There are some items in the wrong time period, but the game is well done enough that I can forgive the slip-ups.

One thing I kept forgetting to do is check the journal. You do not need it in order to complete the game, it just gives you background information on each character. You CAN access each incarnation's journal via tabs, so if you want to go back and read, you can

Some of the graphics are startlingly beautiful, especially when combined with the lovely music. Some are creepy, some odd, and all are environmental. It's like playing multiple mini-games, all tied together with the reincarnation theme. My only gripe is that each incarnation is woefully short for my tastes - I'd have liked more time to experience them, as each had something unique to add to the story.

Since there are definitive chapters to the story, this is a good IHOG to play when you don't have a lot of time to sit - since the chapters start fresh on each "life", you have the perfect breaking points to do other things - you know... laundry, the dishes, go to work...

Happy gaming!