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View posts by Balthier:
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Balthier's Review - September 5, 2008 |
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$6.99
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| Restore the ruined temples in an ancient tournament of divine puzzles! |
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Just brilliant
Every once in a while, a game comes along that really stands out in every aspect. Being it graphics, sounds, music, gameplay, variety, and sheer content.
Ancient Quest of Saqqarah has all that.
While this may looks like just a match-3 game, there's nothing more wrong than that. While the first temple (of seven) has the "pure" match-3 mechanic, the six other temples offer great variety in gameplay, from solving puzzles, chaining, collapsing, swapping, sliding and rotating tokens to clear the level.
Also on your side, there this blue (!) monkey that helps you out with magics, tips, and even narrating some parts of the story. By the way, all the voice actors used in the game sound GREAT!
Often along, there's some occasional bonus rounds, which requires you to find different hieroglyphs, unlocking some new powerups along the way.
Saqqarah is one of those games that everyone should try (and buy!). It has AMAZING graphics, great music, sounds, voice over, and replay value. And on top of that, it doesn't not get tiring, since you can always play the other temples with all new different puzzle mechanics and such. With a huge amount of levels (more than 500), two game modes (normal and relaxed - no time limit), and 7 different gameplay mechanics (not counting the bonus rounds), this game is really worth your time and money.
Now excuse me, as I need to go back and play some more! |
This review has an average score of 5 - Based on 1 ratings
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Balthier's Review - June 26, 2007 |
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$6.99
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| Hunt for hidden treasures to restore the Lost Temples of El Dorado! |
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Surprisingly good
What a surprise. Based on the screen-shots, I almost didn't give this game a chance, since it looked like another match-3 game. How wrong I was.
You see, this is one of those Japanese puzzle games that usually comes in the newspaper - my favorite by the way - also know as japanese logic puzzle, griddlers, etc.
The objective here is to use logic to fill the grid based on the numbers next to the rows/columns. After filling the grid, a picture is revealed and the level is complete. It may sound hard to understand, but trust me - the tutorial in the game makes it really really easy to learn.
I won't go on explaining since the game does a much better job than I would.
Th graphics are good, very polished, and the Mayan theme surprisingly fits the game.
The whole rest is also really well done, and the most important part - the game is really fun and addicting. There's lots of levels, lots of ranks to earn and a lot of fun waiting for you.
You WILL be missing a really good puzzle game if you at don't at least try the demo.
Trust me, you will probably love this game just like I did. |
This review has an average score of 4.3 - Based on 19 ratings
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Balthier's Review - April 16, 2008 |
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$6.99
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| Pack your bags for an exciting trip to fun with Airport Mania! |
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Fasten your seatbelts, we're taking off!
Reflexive's new game, Airport Mania: First Flight, made in collaboration with South Wind Games, is finally here. It's a click management game, but still a rather refreshing one. It's not a game about serving in-flight meals, or anything like it. In this one, you actually control the planes. That's right, there is no single character to control here, instead you get to control all the planes as you please. But don't worry, it's simpler than it sounds, and a lot of fun.
Playing the game is really simple and intuitive. As planes fly above your airport, you must make them land, unload, load, and takeoff. As usual, you can expect more interactions as you progress, like the need to do some painting, repairing and refueling.
The graphics may look like too simple from some screenshots, but they're not, and they shine in motion. The graphics have this happy, cartoony feel, and all the airplanes have big eyes to show their emotion, with fluid and smooth animations. Also, keep an eye on the backgrounds, as they usually have hidden easter eggs.
One rather notable aspect of the game is the difficulty. It won’t leave you stressed out, and there are always challenges for those who want it. Also worth mentioning is the Awards Room, full of badges and trophies for you to achieve. And then there's the brilliant Paper Plane mode, unlocked when you finish the game for the first time.
Overall, Airport Mania is fresh, addictive, simple, and fun. It takes the click management genre, improves it, expands upon it, and still manages to be entertaining and relaxing. There's something about this game, maybe the cute planes, or maybe the tunes that the planes whistle, that really puts a smile on your face. The whole game, from the graphics, to the sounds, music and gameplay have this happy and pleasant feeling. It's the best click management I've ever played. Don't hesitate on playing it. Have a nice flight! |
This review has an average score of 4.1 - Based on 53 ratings
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Balthier's Review - June 28, 2007 |
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$6.99
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| Munch your way through 120 delicious puzzles in Chocolate Castle! |
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Best castle ever
Who wouldn't want a castle with all the rooms filled with chocolate?
I sure would!
This great new puzzle game is from the same company that made Zen Puzzle Garden, another really good puzzle game. As the name states, you play in a castle where every room is filled with chocolate, cute animals, puzzles, etc. The goal is to eat all of the chocolate in each room. I wish I could eat all of them myself, but sadly I can't, only the animals can.
There's four types of chocolate and four different and cute animals, and each animal has a color matching the chocolate to make it easy for you. You must drag the animal to it's corresponding chocolate, and them both disappear. Do it to all the chocolate in the room and you win the level.
But there's some tricky twists, you see as an example, if there's two dark chocolate bars on the room with only one matching animal, you must drag the same kind of chocolate together and THEN drag the matching animal so it eats all the dark chocolate at once. Not very healthy I think, but it must be like that here.
Chocolate of the same type stick when you drag them together, so be careful with it. Also, there could be walls, snakes, blocks, magic blocks, snakes, ice and an explosive Turkish Delight in you way. But it's really easy to learn how to deal with these, so don't worry - and you UNDO every move you make.
The game has 120 rooms (40 easy, 40 medium, 40 hard) and it starts really easy and gets harder on a really good pace, so you it never looks too easy or too hard too hard to figure it out. Beyond that, the game comes with a really intuitive level editor so you can make your own levels, save them, play them and send to your friends. You can also download levels in the official website, which is something that greatly expands the game. You can play it forever!
The graphics are simple and clean, with this nice retro feeling to them. The music and sounds are also simple and good, and gameplay is really easy. Get it now. |
This review has an average score of 4 - Based on 15 ratings
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Balthier's Review - November 1, 2007 |
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$6.99
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| One family's junk is another's hidden treasure! |
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Pure entertainment
The father of the Scruffs has been fired. Now, he needs to sell the house. But wait! Grandpa knows a secret, one which would help the family keep the house. But he forgot about it... Now it's up to you to help them, finding the objects leading to secret relics hidden in the house.
This is just the intro, an amazing cut-scene with animated cartoon-ish characters, great voice-acting, humor and clever dialog. I must say, one of the best introductions I’ve seen.
As you may know, houses (specially in this genre) can be quite chaotic. But in this one, all the clutter is a actually believable. There's no objects out of place, as everything fits each room. Also, there's the dog, that work here as your hint system in exchange for a dog biscuit, which can be found in every room.
And then there's the Scribble, a mini-game you get to play (if you want) for every family picture you find. It's a great distraction and can be played at any time after finding each picture.
Everything here is above average. But the one thing here that really shine is the characters. They appear every now and then, all voiced and with funny comments. This one is the most entertaining hidden object game of this year, along with Mortimer Beckett and the Secrets of Spooky Manor. Everyone (specially hidden object fans) should check out this one. Two thumbs up! |
This review has an average score of 3.9 - Based on 13 ratings
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