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The Tarot’s Misfortune Preview

Posted by Ruff on February 8th, 2010

(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

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The Tarot’s Misfortune is a currently under development casual game coming from Triple Hippo. I got a fairly complete demo of the game and I must say there are definitely many good things to expect coming from its release.

Well no, it doesn’t have new gameplay mechanics because it’s still the hidden object gameplay we all love, but it won’t stop the game in delivering a refreshing interface that is both enjoyable and challenging for the seasoned player. I mean for example, each stage may contain more than one room of hidden objects, and most of these rooms can’t even fit on a single screen. Just like looking to your left and right searching for objects in the list, instead of looking blankly on a single bland side of a room.

I know this is not something new to casual gaming fans but there’s just something in the mix of mini-games, searching and using tools, and the dark and mysterious nature of the story that makes The Tarot’s Misfortune special. Special enough to make us anticipate its release.

Well, no more blabbering here. Head on over to The Tarot’s Misfortune website and download the demo. Or even sign up as Triple Hippo’s game tester if you’re up to playing under development games in your free time.

For now, I bring you the screenshots:

The Tarot's Misfortune 1

The Tarot's Misfortune 2

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Little Folk of Faery

Posted by Ruff on December 30th, 2009

(3 votes, average: 3.67 out of 5)

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Before 2009 ends (and after a long absence from Casualicious), I hope to squeeze in a casual game review that I even promised to do a long while back. Little Folk of Faery, a game made by Kylotonn and Orange Entertainment, is a simulation game much like Virtual Villagers but with better graphics and a new twist to the genre. And what is this new twist? Well, it’s simple really, but I’ll leave out the explaining to the rest of the review.

The story of the game starts as the heroine of the game (that’s you) inherited a curiosity shop from her grandparents. Of course, she’ll begin to see the shop in shambles with a matching great tree growing at the shop’s center, but that’s where she comes in and cleans the shop up. Well, before all that though, you’ll have to help the fairy creatures that appeared near the tree rebuild their home too, prompting the game tutorial to run afterwards.

The gameplay of Little Folk of Faery is really much like Virtual Villagers. You grab little fairy folks around key points in the area and watch as they complete the quests you make them do. Max their stats through training on 4 different kinds of skills – harvesting, knowledge, discovery and music in order to make them work faster and more efficient. Of course, a couple of them should be gathering food, or else, you’ll be failing the main idea to keep the population happy and growing.

Little Folk of Faery Complete all the quests and you get to finish the game, it’s just that simple. But even though there are just 9 main quests and 11 secondary ones, it will still take days to complete the game as each quest branches out into separate tasks to fulfill. If you’re able to, having more than 1 fairy folk doing a quest will greatly help in finishing faster, and random events may also help or hinder your progress. Just watch out for wistful spirits when doing quests, since a fairy’s morale will drop fast if the spirit is not distracted by an able musician.

Completing quests will get you more enchantment points than just the daily routine of the fairies. Points are spent at the Tree of Knowledge section of the Tome of Lore (the book that tracks all your achievements in Little Folk of Faery). More knowledge will mean better fairy performance on tasks. Knowledge will also unlock quests, serving as prerequisites for your fairies to access them.

The Tome of Lore also tracks the characters you come across during your adventure through its Bestiary section. In here, you learn more about each fairy folk type as well as other creatures that inhabit your realm. Aside from this, the tome also keeps track of collectibles – little sparkling things that appear randomly throughout the whole map, giving you additional knowledge when you collect all of them. Just be sure not to pick up a fairy holding some collectible or else the item will be dropped and lost.

All the gameplay of Little Folk of Faery certainly feels like playing Virtual Villagers or any other similar game; however, there is still a little bit of twist as what was said earlier on the review. Completing quests in the fairy realm not only develops the realm’s state but the outside world too, which is the curiosity shop the heroine inherited. The main character will have flashes of memory as she recovers items in the real world. I noticed how the ambience of the shop also gets better as you progress through the game.

I know it’s not nice to compare one game from another since I’ve been doing it very much during the course of this review, but in the case of this game, comparison will fare it well. Little Folk of Faery has great graphics, an expanding and engaging storyline, and of course, the little twist that distinguishes it from the rest of the pack. Of course, it still plays much like any other simulation game – that is it will take you a very long time in order to finish the game and watch the story ending. Well, you can always just leave the fairies doing their share of tasks and turn the game off, come back tomorrow and I bet the tasks are all finished already.

All in all, Little Folk of Faery is definitely a game worth buying and I count myself very lucky to get to play it for free. It’s simple to play and engaging enough to keep you for hours until you give up and have a crack at it early the day after.

Little Folk of Faery Download

Fishdom: Frosty Splash

Posted by Ruff on November 22nd, 2009

(4 votes, average: 3.75 out of 5)

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We had been reviewing Fishdom sequels for weeks now at Casualicious and Playrix doesn’t show signs of stopping now that the winter Christmas season is already in the air. Fishdom: Frosty Splash is the third Fishdom sequel we get to review, and right on time against the winter months ahead, you now get to fancy yourself taking care of fishes inside your own decorated Christmas tanks.

Well, getting to the point early, I say that if you like the Fishdom mechanics and just can’t get enough playing it, then you’ll certainly love this game. The main gameplay is still match 3 wherein your objective is to clear all tiles from the board by matching 3 or more same objects on them. Either in timed or relaxed mode, you earn money depending on how well you performed during the match 3, and of course, get to spend that money afterward on the aquarium simulation part of the game.

Aquarium maintenance is still divided into 3 parts for Fishdom: Frosty Splash. Buy Fishes, Beauty and Comfort to liven up your once empty aquarium of busy marine life and decors. In this part, your objective is depending on what you want to see in your tank. Buy all of the fishes and decors, or save enough money to just buy the most expensive ones. It doesn’t matter what you want to do, just make sure you enjoy what you’re doing inside the game.

Fishdom: Frosty Splash If you want to, you can also aim for earning the bronze, silver and gold trophies during the aquarium simulation game. By filling up all 3 meters (fish, beauty and comfort), you’re bound to get a trophy for all your efforts. Afterward, you’ll have a choice whether to buy a new tank or to continue earning the next trophy for your current tank. Yep, just like all Fishdom sequels you might have tried these past few weeks.

Fishdom: Frosty Splash does introduce new sets of fishes and decors for you to choose from. Just as the name suggests, it’s all snow and Christmas this time around for your swimming friends. With this, all I can say is: Nice Timing! Really, it’s so easy to get into the festive mood with this game around to play with, and even though I know that all gameplay is the same, I still got addicted for some reason since I really wanted to get that next Christmas decoration into my fish tank at all costs.

As bonuses, you can still take pictures of your tank as you progress during the camera view of the game, and set your tank as a screen saver just through a click of a mouse button. This is just like Spooky Splash and Harvest Splash, so it’s hardly not that unique at this point, but still, it’s always fun to play around and makes the game worth your money considering the bonuses.

Again, getting back to my earliest point, if you like match 3, never played Fishdom before or played Fishdom and can’t get enough of it from the earlier installments, then I say you’ll definitely love Fishdom: Frosty Splash. In my opinion, it’s the better of all 3 Fishdom sequels just because I believe it’s great timing for the festive winter seasons. Well, Spooky Splash is in good timing too, but I like Christmas better than Halloween (and yup, I’m biased when it comes to seasons too).

In the same sense, if you’re expecting more of a groundbreaking uniqueness in gameplay, then go look somewhere else rather than these sequels. Fishdom is designed to be expected and played with its classic gameplay, with large changes in design enough to make fans keep wishing for more.

Fishdom: Frosty Splash Download

Fishdom: Harvest Splash

Posted by Ruff on November 2nd, 2009

(1 votes, average: 1.00 out of 5)

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After the release of Spooky Splash a few weeks back, Playrix once again releases a sequel to its award-winning Fishdom game. Fishdom: Harvest Splash features a farm-themed Fishdom game with all the things you enjoy about Fishdom in it. And yes, I did write Fishdom five times in this opening paragraph alone, so I guess let’s get on with the review before the count goes to six.

Fishdom goes way back since the first game without any story to back up any reason for you to create a fish tank from scratch. After starting the game, you will receive a welcoming screen that will introduce you to the theme of the game. And after creating your profile, you’re off to create an award-winning fish tank of your own.

If you played the original or Spooky Splash, Fishdom: Harvest Splash follows the same concept and gameplay that you don’t even need to go through the tutorial anymore and just dive straight into playing. However for others, basically the concept is to start your own aquarium and fill it with fishes, ornaments and comfort pieces to keep your marine organisms happy and content. In order to do this, you’ll need money, and that’s where the match 3 gaming comes into play.

Fishdom: Harvest Splash The roots of the game is in match 3, and the points awarded to you after each puzzle corresponds to the amount of money you can use to purchase tank fillers. To clear each puzzle, just break all the tiles in the board by matching objects above them. As you can see, it’s a straightforward match 3, and all graphics and sounds are familiar from the past Fishdom games, so veterans of the series will still be comfortable with the gameplay and controls.

As always in the match 3 game, you’ll encounter the very same challenges of chained tiles you need to match until all chains are destroyed. Another challenge would be to maneuver through the different patterns of the game board, and many of the patterns are very amusing too, adding enjoyment while you play. And to offset this, you’ll also have in your arsenal the same power-ups seen for Spooky Splash. Try to use them wisely in the game especially the lighting that clears all same objects in the board.

Still, there are new things you can explore with Fishdom: Harvest Splash, and most of these are featured in the aquarium decorating part of the game. There are new fishes, new decors and of course new designs in aquarium equipment that goes with the farm theme of the game. Most of the special fishes are very expensive though, so meaning longer hours of playing time if you really want to make your aquarium specially designed.

What I enjoy most in the Fishdom series of games is the additional feature to make your tank a part of your computer screen saver through the screen saver function in the main menu. Aside from this, you can also take pictures of your tank as you progress through the game. This is something real-life avid tank keepers do, and you can do the same yourself, but with the extra farm theme featured for Fishdom: Harvest Splash.

Frankly, I suggest that if you’re still exploring Spooky Splash, it’s still not worth it to transfer to Harvest Splash for another round of the same gameplay routine. Don’t get me wrong though, it’s really worth the try, but if you’re thinking of value for money, it’s advisable to just stick to one Fishdom game and enjoy as much as you can.

Much the same, if you’re new to Fishdom, it’s much better to start with this one and savor every fun moment from it before switching to another Fishdom series of your choice.

Fishdom: Harvest Splash Download

Elementals: The Magic Key

Posted by Ruff on October 18th, 2009

(4 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

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Elementals: The Magic Key is a hidden object – adventure game that blends both puzzle and action into one casual game experience. Set in the fantasy world of Eiron, you play as a young wizard off to save his sister from the bad guys. And even with magic and wit by your side, it’s going to be one tough ride.

Albert is the name of the wizard in training and his trusty sidekick Fellian the Familiar is always there to give him advice. After his sister Lilian was kidnapped by the evil Sibelius, and the Key of Eiron shards scattered all around the world during the process, it’s now Albert’s task to gather all the shards back in order to prevent it falling into the hands of evil. Using magic, he has to crack witty puzzles and battle dangerous villains and of course, meet other friendly creatures along the way.

The main gameplay of Elementals: The Magic Key is hidden object, that is to say, you have to find what Albert instructs you to in order to move on with the story. There are no random objects though, since all items you need to find will be needed to crack puzzles and other hindrances throughout your adventure. And if you find yourself stuck, Fellian’s hint button will help you find those items without any trouble at all.

In each scene, you have to speak with other fantasy characters, interact with the surroundings using your gathered tools and cast spells. Many times, you’ll come across mind-numbing puzzles in order to move on with the adventure. This will engage a pop-up window where you will play the mini-game. Some of the puzzles are quite hard, so if you find yourself wanting to quit, just wait for the door-like icon to activate and skip the puzzle behind.

There’s a second gameplay involved in Elementals: The Magic Key – the battle mode against the enemies you encounter along the way. This involves a unique turn-based system set on a chess-like board with various elementals for you to move. The objective is to eliminate all of your enemy’s elementals by using your own elementals against them.

This part of the game needs great planning and strategy in order to clear since in later levels, your enemy will also gain the power-ups that you also use, which is really quite frustrating if you don’t think before you act. Just remember the basic mechanics – 3 of the same level and kind of elementals can combine to form a stronger one when lined up together. Stronger elementals have more life and greater destructive power, so try to make them as soon as possible.

Power-ups for the battle mode are gained by helping characters in the adventure mode. They are very helpful whenever in a pinch, so use them whenever possible to clear as many enemy elementals as you can. Power-ups are activated through elemental fusions you make, therefore involving more strategy in order for you to win each encounter.

Elementals: The Magic Key is made beautifully with all animation, backgrounds and design made as flawless as possible. Sounds and visuals join together to form a fantasy world you’ll enjoy playing in, making the game very hard to put down once you already start playing. And there are full of surprises and twists in the story too, comparable to the most popular casual adventure games in the market today.

The gameplay is very unique and the storyline drives the adventure unlike most hidden object games that involve random item hunting. The unique battle mode and puzzle mini-games are enjoyable to play and are repeatable through the Bonus feature in the main menu. All of these making Elementals: The Magic Key one of the best adventures I’ve seen this year.

Elementals: The Magic Key Download