Adventures of Robinson Crusoe

A hidden object game inspired by Daniel Defoe’s classic 18th century, Adventures of Robinson Crusoe traces the remarkable story of the title character after he’s shipwrecked en route to Africa and must fend for himself on a tropical island, gathering resources to stay alive while trying to find a way home.

The gameplay of Adventures of Robinson Crusoe is a typical blend of hidden object challenges, mini-games, and inventory puzzles where you must pick up an item then use it somewhere else in the scene to reveal the final items on your list. Sometimes the list of items to find are random, and other times the list is themed: for example, you might be asked to find “all the hand-held weapons.”

You’ll start by investigating the wrecked ship for provisions, and when Robinson stumbles onto the ship’s blueprints he hatches an ambitious plan to reconstruct the ship and sail home. As you complete each of the game’s six chapters you’ll get to return to the shipyard and see the ship’s progress based on the materials you’ve collected.

To find building materials for the ship (not to mention food and other essentials for Robinson), you’ll explore different scenes all over the island, including the beach, a lost temple, a forest, and a swamp. Eventually Robinson will even discover that he’s not alone on the island after all.

The game can be played in either Survivor or Relaxed mode. Relaxed offers no countdown timer, and more hints (10) per chapter.

The story is interesting enough whether you’ve read the novel or not, but the scenarios are occasionally a bit silly. For example, in one of Robinson’s narratives he says: “My village is located on this beautiful hillside… but before I can go there, I need to find 15 mushrooms!” which doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.

The puzzles themselves were fun, and I appreciated unique touches like having to move an object out of the way with the mouse in order to reveal something hidden underneath. The very first puzzle is an example of the ingenuity you’ll encounter: in order to find the “black seagull” on my list, I had to pick up a “clean stick,” rub the stick inside a cannon to get it covered in coal dust, then rub the “dirty stick” onto the seagull to turn it black.

The mini-games are enjoyable as well. I especially liked the sound-based mini-game that involved matching two birds based on the different tweets they made (for hard of hearing gamers, there’s also an accompanying visual cue so you won’t get stuck). That said, another of the sound-based puzzles later on that involved playing back a melody on a flute went a little over the top in the difficulty department. The game, however, does allow you to skip mini-games occasionally if you don’t feel like doing a particular one.

The game’s classical soundtrack works well within the setting and theme.

I only wish that Adventures of Robinson Crusoe was a little longer, since it clocked in at around 3 hours for me. Overall, though, it’s a decent hidden object game with some clever and thoughtful twists.

Dream Chronicles: The Chosen Child

The third instalment in the Dream Chronicles series, Dream Chronicles: The Chosen Child is another visually stunning Myst-like adventure that transports players into a fantasy world of fairies. Like its predecessors, the excursion is immersive and fun but over all too quickly.

Taking place soon after the events of the second game, Dream Chronicles 2: The Eternal Maze, The Chosen Child begins with Faye waking up with no recollection of her past or who she really is, except that she keeps having dreams that she has a husband and a daughter who’s taken by the Fairy Queen of Dreams.

Guided by a good-looking man who communicates with her through a crystal ball (those who have played previous games will quickly figure out who it is), Faye sets out to save her child once more. She’s thwarted at every turn, though, by mischievous fairies who seem to be doing everything they can to impede her progress with their magic in the form of mini-games and brainteasers that must be solved to move on.

Like the second game, The Chosen Child consists of scenes that can be moved through freely in order to search for and pick up items that can be added to the inventory and used elsewhere in the location. One of the earliest puzzle, for example, involves repairing a torn carpet by first finding all of the pieces, then figuring out how to repair the sewing machine so that you can sew the mat back together.

The Chosen Child introduces the Nexus, a series of gateways that allow you to travel to different interconnected locations after you figure out how to unlock them. To unlock the Nexus Gateways you’ll need special devices forged from dream pieces and gold nuggets that are hidden throughout the game.

The Dream Chronicles series has earned a reputation for having beautiful visuals and music, and The Chosen Child is no exception. Each of the game’s environments has been lovingly crafted with a soft, distinctive art style bursting with detail, and the soundtrack is equally evocative. In short, The Chosen Child boasts production values that put many of the recent hidden object game releases to shame. It really does seem like there’s an aura of magic about the game with the way things can change on a whim and objects suddenly appear in different places.

That said, there are a few issues that I can nit-pick about. For one thing, the game could have used a better hint system. You’re completely on your own in the seek-and-find portions of the game (where you have to find, say, 14 planks to repair a ladder), so if you get stuck you simply have to keep looking until you find the item. I would have loved to have been able to spend some of the jewels or gold that I had found to make the game reveal the location of a particularly hard-to-find object.

The man in the crystal ball isn’t always much help either. One of the most frustrating parts of the game was when I found myself backtracking through a maze looking for the last item I needed to solve a puzzle – a small gold plate – and all the crystal ball said was something like, “Sorry, I wish I could help you but I can’t see very well.”

In terms of length, the game is on the short side (expect to finish it in 2-3 hours provided you don’t get stuck on a particular puzzle). When you finish, your score can be uploaded to a global leaderboard, and you can always replay the game to try to find more dream pieces and gold nuggets. What’s more, some of the key items themselves will be in different places the second time around.

The length is disappointing when compared to other adventure games, even while acknowledging the attention to detail that care that KatGames put into every scene and puzzle. I was also let down by the abrupt ending, which left me feeling that The Chosen Child was just a set-up for the inevitable fourth game.

The Chosen Child is well-designed and fun while it lasts (aside from the aforementioned maze, which I honestly could have done without), but its length comes up short.

Review by Erin Bell

Gamezebo Inc.

Ice Cream Craze: Tycoon Takeover

Take on the Ice Cream Craze: Tycoon Takeover time management challenge! Go against the odds and beat the top ice cream maker, BigCo, with Anna! Armed only with an old ice cream truck and the wisdom of her grandma, Anna will try to defy the odds. Guide her through challenges from fickle business owners around town, earning respect, cash, special truck upgrades, and even ice cream stands that make money on their own. Stack and serve your way to success!

• Over 100 levels, with progress determined by your own choices
• 50 awesome upgrades
• A slew of customers with unique tastes and behavior