Work with the world’s most cunning detective in the shadowy underbelly of the Emerald City of Oz! As Petra, you’ll be lured deep into mysteries involving new foes and familiar faces; Scarecrow, Lion, Dorothy and Toto included. This is Oz as you’ve never seen it before! Solve your detective’s quest and unravel a conspiracy of magic and intrigue! Follow a case through five chapters full of puzzles, witnesses, suspects, and allies.
The Emerald City Confidential game features:
* Over 50 beautiful and detailed environments to explore
* First PlayFirst game with full voiceover – 36 characters and over 6,000 lines of spoken dialog
* A new story and twist on the timeless world and classic characters of Oz
Emerald City Confidential
Luxor: Quest for the Afterlife
More of the same: That’s the immediate impression returning fans will get from Luxor: Quest for the Afterlife, latest in the popular Egyptian-themed action-puzzle series. In an unexpected twist, this installment mostly focuses on peripheral features, adding a cool narrated storyline, roving targets to pursue and collectible artifacts. Therefore, while still impressive in its own right, the game’s nowhere near as much of a leap forward as its immediate predecessor.
Don’t be discouraged, however. Kicking off with a bang in the form of catchy cutscenes complete with suave voice-overs and subtle, but engaging animations, the title instantly commands one’s attention.
Apparently, assassins have desecrated the tomb of Queen Nefertiti and Akhenaten, preventing their spirits from enjoying eternal repose. Charged with recovering the canopic jars these fiends have stolen, you must pursue the culprits across an attractively-rendered campaign map that spreads throughout half a dozen exotic lands including Persia, Syria and Egypt.
Happily, additional cinematic plot updates periodically punctuate the tale, adding incentive for forward progress. In addition, for the first time ever, to meet the game’s cast of characters, you’re given the option to take user-selectable branching paths through the adventure. Naturally, doing so requires that you complete multiple self-contained scenarios to progress down each road.
Actual play itself follows the same formula as in previous outings. Armed with a horizontally-movable “falcon winged shooter,” which lies at the bottom of the screen, you’ll left-click to fire orbs of varying hue at advancing chains of colored spheres. (Right-clicking lets you swap your current choice of ammo out for a differently-shaded alternative.) Place three of more similarly-adorned balls adjacently, and they disappear from play. Additional spheres then roll forward to fill created holes or objects of similar color instantly magnetically come together when they bookend such a gap.
Use careful aim, or resulting combos, to make a trio of matches, and collectible power-ups – area-clearing fireballs, time-slowing devices, crackling lightning bolds, clouds of vapor that paint multiple spheres a single shade – rain down from the sky. Finish a stage, and point-awarding jewels or ankh coins (tradable between stages at the shop for power-up-improving performance upgrades, new shooters and alternate ball sets) can also be retrieved. The ultimate goal being, of course, to prevent rolling balls from reaching the endpoint of tracks that weave under buildings, through holes and around other 3D objects that obscure your view or prevent shots from landing.
Sadly, while the action remains spry as ever, there’s little new to report in terms of additional play modes, an expanded arsenal or supporting bonuses. True: You can occasionally battle on-screen opponents to push treasure into your coffers and fresh extras do help in terms of sorting colors or letting you see where to best place shots.
And yes, as you advance, you do collect pieces of artifacts like the Eye of Horus, Cow of Hathor and Sphinx, which, when recovered, let you keep spot hidden goodies, prevent enemies from running away and unlock puzzle mode options. But really, periodic sequences where you assemble artifacts by arranging broken pieces in silhouettes or the need to track down jar-bearing baddies notwithstanding, such additions feel more like token filler than must-see game-boosting enhancements.
Along the same lines, great as featured aesthetic elements look, and slick as backing tunes (including subtle drumbeats that let you know when potential failure looms) prove, quite a few audiovisual assets are recycled throughout the tale. Playing through classic, onslaught and scarab swarm (wherein lots of small, sphere-chain-pushing scarabs flood your monitor) challenges, you’ll notice that many scenes, i.e. dockside views and starry nighttime skies appear several times.
More so than any previous entry in the series, the odyssey feels like an attempt to quickly churn out a new, half-baked sequel in time for the holidays. Given that its forerunner, Luxor 3, was released a mere 7 months back, these suspicions may not be far off the mark.
Regardless, let’s be honest: Describing this as one of the Luxor franchise’s less compelling outings is like labeling a specific volume of Encyclopedia Britannica not quite as comprehensive as its peers. In other words, even with the aforementioned knocks against it, Quest for the Afterlife can’t help but still tower over the competition. As such, collectors, completists and newcomers alike will find the game a welcome addition. More discerning players and longtime series vets should take note, however: Compared to earlier outings, this jewel of the Nile doesn’t shine quite so bright.
Review by Scott Steinberg
Gamezebo, Inc.
Cooking Quest
Foodville is holding its annual Restaurant Row Chef’s Challenge and you’ve earned a spot in the prestigious contest. With a limited budget and a ticking clock, Cooking Quest is all about seeing whether you have what it takes to assemble the best ingredients and hustle in the kitchen to prepare five-star dishes that will impress the judges.
In Cooking Quest you’ll be challenged to prepare meals in six different restaurants, each of which offer a different cuisine: Italian, French, Mexican, Asian fusion, seafood and a good old American steakhouse.
Each meal is four courses, starting with the appetizer followed by the entree and dessert – and of course the meal must be paired with the appropriate beverage, whether it’s wine, sake or a pina colada.
For each course you must assemble the appropriate ingredients and tools (such as a corkscrew, knife or ice cream scoop) to cook with. These items are found scattered amongst a room full of clutter, and in typical hidden object fashion you must clear the room by finding all of the items provided on your list.
Some suspension of disbelief is required here: for example, in the wine shop you might find yourself searching for, er… a lizard, two phones, a safe and some tulips. Ok, so these aren’t the exact ingredients for the creme brulee on the menu, but occasionally you do find a special item that does have something to do with the task at hand, like a cleaver, avocados, fish and rice.
Every time you find one of the special items you’ll receive an interesting factoid along with it. Did you know, for example, that blue cheese gets injected with bacteria cultures to create veins of blue mold? Yum.
Adding another layer of complexity is the fact that you’re also working with a limited budget, and after each hidden object search you have to purchase a key ingredient from your shopping list with whatever money you have. For example, when choosing a wine you can go all out and splurge on the Vintage French Bordeaux for $65, or opt for the more economical California Pinot Noir for $32. If you’re completely broke (or cheap), there’s always the House Merlot, which is free.
You start each restaurant with a budget of $100 and have to spend it wisely, because your money has to last through all four courses so if you splurge too early you might not be able to afford higher quality ingredients in the later stages. You might also run out of hints, because using one to reveal the location of an item costs $20.
Furthermore, clicking on too many wrong items will cost you both time and money. The game is pretty quick to penalize wrong clicks, and the fact that gameplay suffers from the problem of name confusion (i.e. you it won’t let you click on the kayak when it’s asking for a boat; a ship’s steering wheel is confusingly referred to as a “helm,” and so on) makes it all too easy to mistakenly click and watch your precious budget being drained before your eyes.
The good news is that you can earn extra cash through speed bonuses (clicking on more than one item in rapid succession), and time bonuses awarded at the end of the level. If you run out of time, you’ll start the level over again with a new set of objects.
After you’ve assembled all your ingredients, it’s on to the food preparation and serving phase of the game, which is presented like an Azada-style puzzle with a bit of real-time action thrown in. You’re presented with a scene of a table setting along with pots and kitchen appliances for you to do the prep work, and an inventory of the items you’ve collected across the top of the screen. You can click and drag items to use them. For example, you can open the bottle of wine by dragging the corkscrew onto it, then fill the customer’s glass by dragging the opened wine bottle to the glass. You’ll also have to do things like cook a steak on a skillet, watching the temperature gauge to make sure you take it off the heat at just the right time.
After serving the meal you’re awarded a star rating based on the quality of the ingredients you purchased, and how precisely the food was cooked.
Some of the scenes – like a stove top with bubbling pots or the inside of a humming fridge – are pretty dynamic. However, the biggest disappointment with Cooking Quest is that with only six restaurants, it’s over too soon with limited replay value consisting of playing through the scenes with different items and trying to improve your star rating. Experienced players should be able to get five stars or close their first time around and blow through the game in about three hours. Furthermore, items repeat frequently, as do the locations.
There’s no question that the game is fun while it lasts, it’s just a shame that the game ends just when it’s really starting to cook. Still, that’s the beauty of the free trial. Try Cooking Quest by all means, and if you’re having fun but have already reached the fourth or fifth restaurant by the time the trial is over, keep in mind that there’s not going to be much more to unlock.
Review by Erin Bell
Gamezebo, Inc.
Ancient Quest of Saqqarah
You’ve got to love acclaimed casual game developer Codeminion’s commitment to innovation and quality. Whether exploring new ways to play connect the dots (Magic Match) or turning the marble-blasting genre on its head (StoneLoops of Jurassica!), the studio always makes a point of doing something eye-catching with each release. Be thankful then nothing’s changed in latest offering Ancient Quest of Saqqarah.
This flagship outing – an Egyptian-themed puzzler blessed with stunning visuals and varied play styles – blows the doors off previous debuts, raising the bar for the entire genre in the process.
The first thing you’ll be struck by is the title’s riveting presentation, which uses convincing voice-overs, slick cinematic sequences and dazzling smoke, flame and electrical effects to instantly entertain and captivate. Per the featured tale, expertly narrated by magical blue talking monkey Khufu (who also guides you through your travels), once every thousand years an eclipse covers the ancient pyramid of Saqqarah, beneath which evil god Seth lies imprisoned.
But with the wicked deity’s bonds weakening in recent times, it’s up to you to visit the secret oasis wherein he lies buried beneath the sands and reinforce the wards. How to do so? Easy – by visiting the secret temples of the seven benevolent deities who cast him into exile (i.e. Isis, Anubis and Horus), each of which contains a new, talking immortal for you to meet, and fresh play style to master.
Indeed, you heard right – this isn’t so much a single, well-crafted puzzler as it is a mix of seven stalwart, individual game types, brilliantly blended together over a whopping 500 scenarios. For example, at one point you’ll find yourself swapping adjacent colored gems to make groups of three or more similarly-shaded tokens, thereby lighting up connecting pathways to complete each stage. Later challenges might instead involve exchanging two pieces anywhere on the game board, clicking and dragging connected lines of stones, or rotating sets of gems to accomplish similar feats.
What’s amazing isn’t just how much mileage the game gets merely by assembling stages from curved as well as linear pathways, or offering several spins on a simple twist. It’s also how well everything comes together, from hieroglyphic-spotting bonus stages that let you grab magic points exchangeable for the option to skip certain levels to the ever-present ability to unlock new powers and spells.
You see, there’s a huge wealth of bonus options available, from earnable ranks to keys that let you skip a temple ahead, even if you haven’t completed the current venue’s full range of vignettes. (Thankfully, using a gorgeously-rendered campaign map, one can always return later.) Think gems which gain explosive power every few moves, letting you light up additional links and remove obstacles and token-blocking barriers with greater ease. Don’t forget magical incantations accessible by making larger matches which cause stones to fall and shatter either, with a scarab taking them to Khufu afterwards, who’ll employ his mystic powers to aid you by shooting out lightning bolts and fireballs. There’s even an option to gain wildcard tiles that’ll match with any color token, provided you connect several gems in sequence.
Minor concerns aside (curving pathways sometimes make it tricky to see when you can create matches, each stage ends with a mandatory canned score-tallying animation, etc.), it’s hard to find fault with the overall package. Quite frankly, the level of audiovisual performance, play variation and general game balancing on display is absolutely staggering, right down to spoken instructions, well-timed hints and scaleable difficulty levels that effortlessly ease aggravation and instantly boost general replay value. Mind you, that’s before we even consider optional downloadable packs users can import that offer more stages, dazzling soundtrack tunes and oodles of extras to explore.
Frankly, from start to finish, it’s hard to discount the tremendous level of playtesting and polish that’s gone into the adventure. As such, Ancient Quest of Saqqarah doesn’t just stand up there with the medium’s best desktop time killers – in many ways, it’ll also change the way you look at them going forward. Whereas most mainstream-friendly amusements attempt to do one thing well, this landmark game instead delivers multiple thrills in a single, attention-grabbing package. Download today and see for yourself: It’s the type of title you’ll easily be playing weeks hence, and, at least for the next several months, using as a benchmark against which to score all future competition.
Review by Scott Steinberg
Gamezebo, Inc.
Cooking Quest
Foodville is holding its annual Restaurant Row Chef’s Challenge and you’ve earned a spot in the prestigious contest. With a limited budget and a ticking clock, Cooking Quest is all about seeing whether you have what it takes to assemble the best ingredients and hustle in the kitchen to prepare five-star dishes that will impress the judges.
In Cooking Quest you’ll be challenged to prepare meals in six different restaurants, each of which offer a different cuisine: Italian, French, Mexican, Asian fusion, seafood and a good old American steakhouse.
Each meal is four courses, starting with the appetizer followed by the entree and dessert – and of course the meal must be paired with the appropriate beverage, whether it’s wine, sake or a pina colada.
For each course you must assemble the appropriate ingredients and tools (such as a corkscrew, knife or ice cream scoop) to cook with. These items are found scattered amongst a room full of clutter, and in typical hidden object fashion you must clear the room by finding all of the items provided on your list.
Some suspension of disbelief is required here: for example, in the wine shop you might find yourself searching for, er… a lizard, two phones, a safe and some tulips. Ok, so these aren’t the exact ingredients for the creme brulee on the menu, but occasionally you do find a special item that does have something to do with the task at hand, like a cleaver, avocados, fish and rice.
Every time you find one of the special items you’ll receive an interesting factoid along with it. Did you know, for example, that blue cheese gets injected with bacteria cultures to create veins of blue mold? Yum.
Adding another layer of complexity is the fact that you’re also working with a limited budget, and after each hidden object search you have to purchase a key ingredient from your shopping list with whatever money you have. For example, when choosing a wine you can go all out and splurge on the Vintage French Bordeaux for $65, or opt for the more economical California Pinot Noir for $32. If you’re completely broke (or cheap), there’s always the House Merlot, which is free.
You start each restaurant with a budget of $100 and have to spend it wisely, because your money has to last through all four courses so if you splurge too early you might not be able to afford higher quality ingredients in the later stages. You might also run out of hints, because using one to reveal the location of an item costs $20.
Furthermore, clicking on too many wrong items will cost you both time and money. The game is pretty quick to penalize wrong clicks, and the fact that gameplay suffers from the problem of name confusion (i.e. you it won’t let you click on the kayak when it’s asking for a boat; a ship’s steering wheel is confusingly referred to as a “helm,” and so on) makes it all too easy to mistakenly click and watch your precious budget being drained before your eyes.
The good news is that you can earn extra cash through speed bonuses (clicking on more than one item in rapid succession), and time bonuses awarded at the end of the level. If you run out of time, you’ll start the level over again with a new set of objects.
After you’ve assembled all your ingredients, it’s on to the food preparation and serving phase of the game, which is presented like an Azada-style puzzle with a bit of real-time action thrown in. You’re presented with a scene of a table setting along with pots and kitchen appliances for you to do the prep work, and an inventory of the items you’ve collected across the top of the screen. You can click and drag items to use them. For example, you can open the bottle of wine by dragging the corkscrew onto it, then fill the customer’s glass by dragging the opened wine bottle to the glass. You’ll also have to do things like cook a steak on a skillet, watching the temperature gauge to make sure you take it off the heat at just the right time.
After serving the meal you’re awarded a star rating based on the quality of the ingredients you purchased, and how precisely the food was cooked.
Some of the scenes – like a stove top with bubbling pots or the inside of a humming fridge – are pretty dynamic. However, the biggest disappointment with Cooking Quest is that with only six restaurants, it’s over too soon with limited replay value consisting of playing through the scenes with different items and trying to improve your star rating. Experienced players should be able to get five stars or close their first time around and blow through the game in about three hours. Furthermore, items repeat frequently, as do the locations.
There’s no question that the game is fun while it lasts, it’s just a shame that the game ends just when it’s really starting to cook. Still, that’s the beauty of the free trial. Try Cooking Quest by all means, and if you’re having fun but have already reached the fourth or fifth restaurant by the time the trial is over, keep in mind that there’s not going to be much more to unlock.
Review by Erin Bell
Gamezebo, Inc.
Secret of the Fairy Queen: an Enchanted Seek and Find
Enchanted Fairy Friends
Welcome to the Enchanted Fairy Circle! The mysterious Fairy Queen has made an appearance and promises to reveal a wonderful secret on one condition – you must guess her name. Search for 8 other fairies from the Rose Queen’s court to piece together the secret. Grab your fairy dust and get ready for a woodland quest!
