Recent reviews by mcquigan

This was actually kind of cute.
Was playing Sanitarium and needed a break from The Maze.
You have a coupon that entitles you to free meals as long as you do not leave the diner; you have been there for years.
Your beloved diner is being foreclosed on so you must find a way to keep it open.
This game has traditional point and click game mechanics, everything worked as it should.
You can play windowed or full screen
There is an auto-save feature that starts you off where you left should you exit the game.
You flip through this game panel (page) by panel, or you can enable "still camera"
It is short. I played for an hour looking at everything and exhausting all dialogues.

Framing Dawes, Thyme to Leave is a polished point and click adventure game.
Stunning hand-drawn 2D art, magical rabbits, spells, just the right amount of humor.
You and and your best friend, who happens to live in another dimension, are off on a quest to see who is framing her for murder.
This is a demo worth taking the time to play!

My Jigsaw Adventures - Roads of Life is a point and click jigsaw game.
Are you stuck at home with your kids looking for a family friendly game you can all play?
This game will work for you!

Roads of Life is an ongoing episodic, family friendly jigsaw game that takes place in several fantasy worlds that you discover as you try to find a cure for your spouse; she is deceased by the way. You will only read about that; there is no graphic depiction of it.

Along the way you will meet mages, witches, alchemists, and dragons as you search for a cure for her ailment.

There is a bit of reading and lore here; you will be immersed in this fantasy world very quickly.

The game is very polished with fabulous hand-painted art; the scenery is beautiful, as are the puzzles.

Music was quite good too, fitting of the scene it was in.

With each puzzle you play more of the story is unlocked. The locations were interesting and different. Each jigsaw is tailored to the part of the story you are in.

Not every game needs to be “bang you head difficult” to be enjoyable. You can make this as easy or difficult as you like: Timed or untimed challenges, you can vary the background, the number of pieces you play with, even the shape of the pieces! If you really want a challenge go into mosaic mode!

This game has great options, including:
28, 60, 112, 170, or 220 pieces.
Puzzle shape can be traditional, mosaic, or arrow
Timed or untimed
Windowed/Fullscreen
Music: on/off
Zooming! I found the ability to zoom in and out on the puzzle particularly helpful when I selected 220 pieces!

The game auto-saves, you can exit mid-puzzle and when you restart your pieces will be as you left them.

This review is based on playing the easiest level, 28 pieces in untimed mode. Note that the release schedule is quite reasonable, you do not have to wait long in between episodes.

Storycentric Worlds is an ongoing series of narrative game/books and point and click/adventure games that takes place in the same fictitious universe

Characters are weaved in and out of the stories. If you have played Shadybrook, it is like that; it deals with disturbing subject matter.

You do not need to have played the other games in the Storycentric World to have a full understanding of what is going on; this is a stand-alone game.

This is (at times) sobering, but a heartfelt amazing story based on true events.

Some parts of this game were disturbing, but it is an enjoyable game. The locations were interesting and different, puzzles were well done and made sense!

There's plenty of humor in the game, at the right time, even though it deals with mature subject matter.

There are four timed events, but they are slow, even I managed them thus far!

As a side note: People will have a better understanding and empathy for what survivors go through after playing this; that is a great thing.

There is a lot of reading and lore here; you will be immersed in this fantasy world very quickly.

Game Mechanics:
The game autosaves, there are three save slots that can be overwritten.
Game options include:
Windowed/Fullscreen
Sound: on/off
Music: on/off
Voices: on/off

You have a diary so you can keep track of things. You can see what your current objective is at any time, and also what percentage of the game you’ve played. There is also a map because this is a large world!

I have ten hours in the game and am not quite done yet.

The Park is a horror walking sim.

The Good:
It ran fine.
Graphics were okay.
The controls were normal WASD
The auto-save function was pretty good, it looked like it saved every 30 seconds and after certain triggers.

The Bad:
Story: It was a mish-mash of mental illness and cheesy jump scares. The story wandered around all over the place and tried to be too many things that in the end are unresolved.
I'm trying to be spoiler free... so:
An example would be some of the books you examine that have nothing to do with the story, They are just busy work.
Not all, but some.
That left me thinking, okay, we are heading towards sci-fi, then it was a historical reference that would have taken the story in a new direction, then something else...
Do one or two things and do them well.

The Complex

Because of the world situation I was hesitant to play right now. I launched it to make sure it ran well and was hooked within minutes.

+Beautiful cinematics
+Acting, topnotch
+Story

You are responsible for making sure a pathogen is not released upon the world.

This is a very engaging story. Settle in and devote the 90 minutes it will take to play in one sitting.

You are just a bystander 95% of the time. You are in a movie. You will have some scenes where you have two options to select from. They are (naturally) tough decisions.

This ran like a dream, no bugs, stutters, crashes etc.

There are eight chapters with an auto-save feature.

If you compare the price of a movie ticket it is similar. Compared to the price of the games I usually play it is rather high.

Most of the acting is good, but the dialogue falls short at times.

Will update on how the replay options work out.

A fun, traditional Point and Click game!

Cats! We have cats that need saved! Mix one-part cat, one-part clever story and dialogue, another part art and then game mechanics and you have Mad Cats World

+Story
+Graphics/Art
+Puzzles
+Game Mechanics

This review is based on playing the beta version of the first act in: Mad Cats World.m My play time was about 2.5 hours, so I thought a very fair price for a quality game.

The dev has written an accurate description of the game; I’ll let you read that rather than go into it.

The dialogue and story are smart and funny. The artwork is great, I had no crashes, bugs, nothing.

You have a manual or auto-save function, your inventory is on the top of the screen when you hover.

This game has great mechanics, this dev even took the time to explain them! That is a beef I have with some devs. I want to jump right in and not have to learn that they have redesigned “point and click” gaming.

I always knew what my objective was, I didn’t need a walk-through to figure out what I was doing.

Great game from a new dev and I happily await the next chapter!

Beyond This Side is an episodic game. This contains the first two episodes.




This dev is transitioning from HOPAS to adventure.

This is a perfect game for someone who plays Hidden Objects and wants to learn to play Point and Click or Adventure games. It does not fit into any one category. It is a bridge between.

Sometimes I want to play am easy game that I do not have to work at, just sit back and look at the art; this is that game.

The puzzles are not difficult for seasoned players, there is a skip button if you do not want to do them.

Beyond This Side does have a solid story and the artwork will blow you away! It is hand drawn beauty done right.

Movement is click and drag; not Point and Click, not WASD; It takes two seconds to get used to.

You can read the synopsis yourself, the dev described it accurately.

There is an autosave feature, no manual saves, the check points were where they needed to be.

I had no freezes, but some hot spots were a little touchy.

I really look forward to the next installment and am going to watch this devs future games.

My actual play time was about three hours.

DARQ

Darq is a side-scrolling adventure game. I’ve seen “platformer” mentioned. I’m on chapter four and have not seen any platforming yet. You do walk on walls, ceilings, flip the room around and defy gravity in all kinds of fun ways!

The artwork in this game is amazing; even if all you did was walk around and look at things I think I would be happy.

There is no dialogue, it is up to your imagination to figure out what is going on.

+Artwork- Just amazing
+Atmosphere
+Music and sounds

The game begins by plopping you directly into it; your nightmare journey begins now.

The puzzles are pretty easy in the beginning as you acclimate to the game-play. They increase in difficulty as you progress. You are given no hints in puzzles regarding what you need to be doing, you have to figure it out. I’m a slow “figure-outer” and have really taken my time looking at things.

There are a couple of jump-scares. There is a monster, I had no problems eluding it.

Chapter three has a timed sequence that took me several tries to get through, but I did it.
That puzzle (thus far) is the only thing I would change).

You can access settings via the escape key and adjust video quality, volume, and keyboard controls. You navigate with the usual WASD keys, or a controller if you have one. Comparing the two, I much preferred the controller.

There is no manual save option, but there are checkpoints and chapters options.

I have about five hours of playtime in it. I accidentally started a chapter over, and, I got lost in chapter three.

I see some have three hours in the game and say they've completed it. This surprises me to no end. I guess I am just a slow player that battles until I figure it out myself.

Why would anyone rush through art?

When I go to a museum I do not run through the gallery as quickly as possible; I leisurely stroll and enjoy myself. Stroll people, enjoy yourself.

I will update this review upon completion. Wanted to come up for air and say how much I am enjoying this!

Slow Cooking comes to gaming.
Patience, you will need patience because you move very slowly. This will be too tedious for some.

+Story
+Graphics
+Atmosphere
+Play Length
+Music

If you are a fan of quickly moving around, you will struggle with this game; there is nothing quick about it. It is tediously slow. You have to put that aside. You may even find you want to as you wander the halls in the cave that is your home.

The atmosphere is so lonely and desolate. You guide your Shade through the labyrinth finding items as you go to accomplish tasks. To what end? I do not know; I have 396 days to go to find out.

After closing the game for the evening questions like “what’s the purpose here, what is the intent?” sprung to mind. Upon waking, had to launch game and see if the little dude is okay; the Shade gets into your head.

Is this a philosophical statement that we all need to slow down and not expect instant gratification? Still don't know, but I keep playing.

Mechanics:
There is a slick bookmark location feature on the left. Click a bookmark and off he goes.
All game controls can be accessed via the menu or the upper right icons while in-game.

While friends have double the hours as I already, I am only at six, will need to update this later.

Btw, you can speed time up in the game while waiting for areas to change. Try reading and clicking the "next page" icon manually.