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Mad Head Games did well for themselves in the end, with the Rite of Passage series gaining at least nine unrelated sequels. In fact, the developer would end up breaking into making bigger budgeted non-casual games like Scars Above (2023). That’s not bad considering the developer’s humble beginnings. As for Rite of Passage: The Perfect Show (2012), the game is absolutely fine. It has nothing to ultimately make it stand out from the competition, but what it does; it does with polish and atmosphere. I could argue that some of the puzzles need refining as they’re a little too difficult, but overall, it's not a bad first game to release. You could do worse than this game, although I would recommend the collector’s edition bonus story for providing a more satisfying conclusion.

Shaolin Mystery: Revenge of the Terracotta Warriors is a subpar sequel to a game that was already flawed to begin with. The game’s story lacks developed characters and doesn’t make any logical sense. The puzzle difficulty starts off hard and continues without any gradual adjustments, although at least there are clues this time to help the player. The other problem with the puzzles is the overreliance on matching colours and moving blocks into the correct place. The HO segments are alright, but the puzzles feel lazily put together, lacking any kind of variety. What should be commended is the obvious ancient Chinese history and mystical elements that Shanghai Quarter Digital once again drew upon and realised. It’s perhaps a shame for what is their last title that they couldn’t have gone out with a stronger game. Now that would have been a legend to pass down.

Shaolin Mystery: Tale of the Jade Dragon Staff has a lot to recommend it. Is the game long? Yes, it is. There are seven chapters, and they’re quite lengthy, so it will keep players busy. The developers also have the benefit of drawing on their own country’s history and legends to make the game. But is the game worth buying? That’s a tricky one. To an extent, the game is polished, however the problem is that the characters lack depth, so you don’t care about them enough. Various puzzles could also use some tinkering with, as the solutions aren’t always apparent, while finding parts to inventory items is more challenging than it needs to be. It’s probably one of the best hidden object games about ancient China; unfortunately, it’s definitely not one of the best hidden object games.

Due to a lack of availability, Gunman Chronicles tends to get ignored today by the masses. It’s not a bad game at all with its high levels of weapon customisation, being able to control a tank in an FPS, as well as the fact that it was a game by the modding community, made virtually. It’s something we kind of take for granted today, but back then Gunman Chronicles was and still is an achievement in game development. Still, the problem with the game comes from its short game time, its lack of planet variety and the fact that it doesn’t mine its concept enough. At times, the elements that make it up, such as dinosaurs, a rogue general, a rogue AI and mutated lifeforms, feel disparate. It doesn’t stand out enough. A western in space sounds like great fun, yet bar some small glimpses here and there, it all ends up feeling very run-of-the-mill.

Mysteries of Magic Island is fairly routine and quite playable, but in the grand scheme (or is that Grand Magician?) of things, it's uninspiring. It plays absolutely fine. The hidden object scenes are straightforward, and while some of the puzzles are difficult, the solutions always make sense. The game’s use of magic to solve puzzles makes this HO game unique, and that music is way too impressive for this game. Unfortunately, it doesn’t feel very involving. The plot is one note; you’re working towards one goal without that story being explored in any depth. For a game set on a desolate magic island, even with the booby traps, the place feels lifeless. If having to journey through what this solitary place offers makes you a magician, it’s not worth it.

It’s difficult to recommend Ultimate Christmas Puzzler as anything but a lazy compilation. The puzzles themselves are fun in short bursts, but they lack any enjoyment without the hidden object scenes. Compiling mini-game puzzles from previous Christmas Wonderland games into a ‘Best Of’ isn’t the worst idea, but without any extra content like achievements, online multiplayer or anything extra, the whole thing feels like a cynical cash grab. The later Christmas Wonderland games are more worth buying than this, so it’s probably best to stick to those.

Christmas Stories: The Nutcracker is a lavish production and up to the usual standard with Elephant Games. Fans of E. T. A. Hoffmann’s story may object to this retelling, but there’s enough adventure and fun here to be worth taking part in. Graphics are lovely, Tchaikovsky’s score is, as usual, a delight to listen to and gameplay, bar a few impossible puzzles, is involving. I would recommend the Collector’s Edition for the extras, although be careful with that achievement I mentioned earlier, it comes across like something the Mouse King himself programmed. In all, well worth playing.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

Haunted Hotel II: Believe the Lies is a slight improvement over the original game, but it still has issues that prevent it from being a fun time. The plot keeps the players' attention more, but still makes little sense. A removed timer and no repetition in locations is an improvement, yet on the other hand, this makes the sequel generally shorter than the original, while the developers make up for the repetition of the original by making players hunt for too many hidden objects in this game. Poor resolution screens will not make object hunting any easier. Also, ‘believe the lies’? What lies? It feels as though something got lost in translation, or maybe it got thrown through time.

I don’t generally believe, unlike some people in games ageing, but the flaws of Haunted Hotel upon release have not made the game anymore playable over the years, so it has indeed dated. It’s a shame really, because the plot is quite interesting but needs further expansion. The low-resolution graphics don’t do the visuals any favours, and everything from the visual design to the story is way too repetitive to be fun. I can only look at that same corridor and those same rooms a few times without feeling completely bored, let alone doing it fifteen times. The upside to all this is (at least at the time of writing), Specialbit Studio, as a developer, still exists, making better quality games than this. If anything, this game is a historical curiosity; it’s interesting to go back and look at the humble beginnings of what the Haunted Hotel series later became.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

Gourmania 2: Great Expectations (2010) appropriately lives up to its subtitle. The Playground SDK engine was growing antiquated even back in 2010. Butterfly iSoft is still making the kind of mistakes a lot of these games do, whereby I need to click on corn (which there are two cans available), but because the game wants me to click on a specific corncob, it won’t allow anything else. Enjoying this sequel really depends on whether you thought the original was competently made. The integration of a story makes it a fair bit different to the original but not enough. Just keep your expectations in check, and you might find an experience similar to the original.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

Summer SuperSports is a fairly inoffensive game, but not one that really demands to be played. It’s a sneaky way to tie into the 2012 Summer London Olympics without needing a licence, so we should give the developers credit for that sneakiness. The problem is that there isn’t much going on. You’re only playing this for the excitement of being at the Olympic Games, which brings a unique take on Mike and Sally’s adventures. The game length is fairly similar to previous games by Casual Arts, so it’ll take around a few hours to complete. Let’s just say, while it’s worth wasting a few hours on it, the game is not quite at gold medal status. It probably needed a parachuting Queen Elizabeth and James Bond...

A landmark title in gaming history, Half-Life revolutionised the FPS genre with its focus on storytelling, puzzles and environment navigation over shooting enemies. Ironically, this became both a blessing and a curse as, in a reversal to what happened with Doom, the focus on a narrative-driven FPS bar a few examples effectively ended for a while what’s today called the “Boomer Shooter”. It’s amazing how much when things change, they remain the same. Looking back, the focus on Black Mesa is to the detriment of the game, as the setting only has so much mileage before it becomes a dull, repetitive setting, not helped by a difficulty that makes the Easy setting look like Hard in most other games. The success of Half-Life eventually led to the creation of Steam, the biggest marketplace for PC games. For Valve, I would say that wasn’t such a bad interdimensional what-if to open up. All it took was a scientist with a crowbar...

Haunted Past: Realm of Ghosts has an interesting gameplay mechanic allowing the player to bury items in the ghost world (or is it the past?) so they can be found and used in the real world. The rules of how this works aren’t, however, made entirely clear. Aside from this, there isn’t much to recommend this game. Gogii Games released better games than this before and after. Unique gameplay mechanic and a cool tagline aside, everything feels lacking in development to the point that the player feels emotional detachment from this tragic love triangle. Anyway, we need more games with taglines.

The Dark Hills of Cherai: The Regal Scepter (2011) ended up somewhat being ChaYoWo Games swansong. There are improvements. For one the game is bigger so it will last the player longer yet the more fantasy plot loses the game its unique identity and since the game is larger the meet-ups in order to swap items between the cousins are more frequent. I personally prefer the sequel as it holds my interest but it’s fair to say the first game showed ChaYoWo Games identity as a developer shine through better. In contrast, this sequel conforms more to what people are expecting from their hidden object adventures so that’s both good and bad but it’s still worth playing.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

Nostradamus: The Last Prophecy is certainly the premium game here and the rest should be treated as mediocre bonuses. The question is whether the asking price is enough for you to want to buy this collection just for that one game.

Nostradamus: The Last Prophecy (2007) didn’t have a big budget. Released in 2007 the graphics aren’t fantastic compared to what came out that year; Assassin’s Creed (2007) being a good example Also, due to the game having a limited open world field it does feel like the game has a lack of ambition at times although if you originally bought this game via Masteronic’s Mysteries Through Time collection it’s by far the better game on that DVD. The music by Ludovic Sagnier nicely mixes both classical and contemporary styles. In all, The Last Prophecy is not the best adventure game ever made, but an average one, a ‘good’ average one. Its budget shows, but some level of competence and creativity is there. Be warned, you’ll get stuck quite a bit, the dice mini-game is unnecessary on so many levels, and while walkthrough guides are available online, I found I had to rely on more than one to help me. Please note I ran the game on a fairly standard computer, and the game felt slow, which is odd considering it’s an older game. An anti-climactic ending may also leave people confused. One of Kheops Studio’s best games, and while that’s my assumption, you don’t need to be Nostradamus to predict that is probably true for most.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

Casual Arts appears to have put more effort into Easter Eggztravaganza 2 than the original game. It’s still by no means a must-buy game however the variety and depth of the locations visited make it an improvement. The sequel aims straight for the child demographic more so than most games from the developer and adults will find the whole thing quite patronising at times yet there’s a lot of fun to be had here. The range of mini-game puzzles on offer will certainly keep people of all ages entertained. It’s not a massive improvement but in terms of Easter based video games, you could do worse than this.

Unfortunately, there isn’t much to Easter Eggztravaganza. There’s things to see and do but it’s very much a copy and paste from Casual Art's own Christmas Wonderland series except this time given an Easter theme. The game is short and very repetitive without much in the way of unique game design. It’s a fairly inoffensive, mediocre title that might appeal to the less demanding casual gamer yet everyone else will be asking for something more substantial. That Easter bunny sure could have laid a more decent gold egg **** than this.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

I wasn’t expecting much but there are other games with the same budget but higher quality than something like this. The graphics look bland and you’ll never get stuck due to a built-in hint system. You can tell there is some effort by French developers SOLILAB and Mzone Studio to dive into some exciting history but the gameplay is so dull and rushed that nothing works. A lick of paint with the extended edition is superficial and lazy when the game requires a complete overhaul. Dull and unfinished.

Elephant Game's sequel to Christmas Stories deviates quite a bit from Charles **** story to the point it feels like an alternate timeline. This is especially true if you play the collector’s edition. Yet it would be wrong to say the game is a failure. Its intentions to change the story show the developers putting effort into making something new while trying to make it still feel like the **** story. In other words, it retains enough of A Christmas Carol but isn’t afraid to change things. The fact the developers have created an adaptation that still somewhat no pun intended keeps the ‘spirit’ of the **** story is frankly a Christmas miracle. God bless everyone!

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

Behind the Reflection 2: Witch’s Revenge contains the same issues as the original game. As a sequel, it does provide more back-story, ambition and a less ridiculous ending but still suffers from outdated graphics, a lack of character development and the developers not quite keeping consistency with the world they’ve created. The puzzles also drastically shift from being too easy to being overly difficult. It’s comparable to the original in terms of quality so I can’t say it’s an improvement in any way. Not properly solving the key problems with the original for this sequel is what hurts it.

Shining in the Darkness is a frustrating game with so much potential. The graphics are lovely, the music that can be heard is memorable, the story is fun and the gameplay for a little is immensely exciting. In terms of structure, the game is unique in design by limiting its game to various levels of a maze. Unfortunately, it’s the repetition of all these positives that makes the game dull. Boredom sets in quickly as you have to keep grinding the same areas for hours to level up. The music drives you crazy while the graphics all begin looking the same regardless of what level of the Labyrinth you’re on. The game is more a victim of a lack of resources than anything else. It’s probably the biggest maze game ever and I’m not sure if that’s a good thing. If you can find a way to get past its tiring repetition what you have is a small but significant achievement on the Sega Mega Drive.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

With Mystery of Joyville ERS G-Studio managed to successfully translate the killer doll subgenre to the HOPA game. It will always be remembered for its spooky twisted atmosphere, operatic music and the baby doll head spider. The plot does lack substance though so it needed more development, animation is limited and navigation as well as the inventory is a bit of a pain. These problems however don’t detract from what is an interesting horror-themed HOPA. Mystery of Joyville isn’t as scary or as violent as its inspiration but it’s a suitably creepy experience nevertheless.

Dark Parables: Curse of Briar Rose successfully interprets the classic story of Sleeping Beauty but puts its spin on things in order to provide a fresh look at its narrative. There’s nothing terribly wrong with this HOPA but in terms of story, you feel more could have been done with the source material. The concept of these classic stories existing in reality to be investigated is intriguing but the story plays out in a fairly pedestrian manner which may send a few players to sleep themselves.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

Journey of Hope is a very dull game and basic in its execution. Both gameplay and plot are not fleshed out in any detail. The graphics are from a period where Alawar was very keen on using an awful 3D graphics engine so they’ve dated very badly. It all feels like a proof of concept rather than a finished product. The only reason I’m not rating it lower is because it does manage to incorporate animated cutscenes even if they are short. Still, for a game released in 2010, this was a poor effort. The player always seeks an entertaining experience but that won’t happen here as while you begin playing you’ll realise there is in fact no hope of fun left for this game.

It’s easy to see why people consider Baldur’s Gate a classic. The attention to detail is outstanding and shows an effort by the creators to present a world with history. You face almost every imaginable fantasy character, friend or foe, in your quest to find out who killed Gorion. It’s a fun game made even larger with the expansion pack. Ultimately it’s let down somewhat by the infuriating AI that will either obey your commands or refuse to. Contemporary reviews scored the game highly so critics were willing to overlook these faults yet today it’s more noticeable as something you have to deal with when playing, rather than something quaint or a quirky charm to embrace. Perhaps critics and the public were just so happy to have a fresh take on the Western RPG genre that mostly played well. It’s totally understandable as well since Baldur’s Gate successfully revitalised a genre in desperate need of being reinvented and that is no mean feat. We owe it to BioWare and Black Isle Studios that The Forgotten Realms was safe once again…

With Grace’s Quest: To Catch An Art Thief developers Blitpop Games improved over their previous work. It’s a lot of fun and while not particularly memorable in the grand scheme of gaming history Grace’s Quest offers enough interactivity and player enjoyment to make this tale of graduates foiling a gang of art thieves one of those titles that stands out in the HOPA genre. I feel perhaps the target demographic for this game might be graduates due to Grace and Chloe starting their new lives in the big world. The only real negative is the short length of the game but we can’t have everything. Also while it’s not always exciting it’s always worth playing.

Mystery Cruise fails on various levels whether it’s a story that’s total nonsense or puzzles that are too cryptic to make any sense. It’s nice to see the Amelie character in another genre but more attention should have been paid to the basic elements. Everything seems to have been patched together as it feels disjointed. Some quality control pass-throughs to check things made sense would have helped. Mystery Cruise is a missed opportunity to give its lead something more involving than waiting tables. As it stands, playing through some uninspiring and frustrating gameplay is enough to convince you that perhaps Amelie should stick to working in her café.

Gourmania proves to be a very basic experience but that’s not an entirely bad thing. Like most time management games, it shows the chaotic, tension-filled nature of working in a busy restaurant and while some of the places you buy are a little too similar in theme there’s enough to differentiate between them. The lack of guidance in terms of how you’re scored is a problem, especially for those wanting to perfect the game. Ultimately, with a complete focus on the time management gameplay and a lack of story, the simplicity of the game works against itself. Looking at the competition before and after Gourmania’s release there’s not enough to get excited about as by design it’s too humdrum. Having said that some players will enjoy the simple but demanding nature of the game.

The Mirror Mysteries: Forgotten Kingdoms is an improvement over the original. The game is a bit longer in length and the worlds are more fleshed out. The game still isn’t as involving as it could be and I question the need to change the mirror’s personality. People who enjoy the original weirdly may take issues with changes that improve the game while others who didn’t enjoy the original may see slight improvement but not enough to justify spending enough time with the sequel.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

Nightfall Mysteries: Asylum Conspiracy isn’t a patch on the original. It lacks the murder mystery setup of Curse of the Opera although it makes up for it somewhat with more compelling characterisation. There’s a tragic element to all the characters here that makes the player care a bit about them. The voice acting is competent and the graphics are fine. It does ultimately feel like Vast Studios created the game just so they could explain the motivations of characters from the first game.

Fans of the previous games will be happy to know that Nightfall Mysteries: Black Heart brings everything to a satisfying conclusion. That’s not to say it’s flawless. Far from it. While the usual issues that affected the previous games are present here Black Heart also ups the amount of plot contrivances while also increasing the difficulty of the hidden object screens. It’s entertaining enough so it’s a shame several problems have crept in. I wouldn’t be surprised if ninja Victor in that cloak swept in to cause these extra issues.

In the grand scheme of things Bubble Witch Saga has been overshadowed by sequels that have improved both graphically and in terms of fun gameplay over its original iteration. Having said that we shouldn’t put down an app game which helped pave the way for the massive phenomenon that we know as Candy Crush Saga. While the latter was released first King’s Puzzle Bobble variant proved that these games could work in mobile. Without the work of Bubble Witch Saga King as a developer and publisher would never have learned and perfected their match-three gameplay apps. It never set the world alight like Candy Crush Saga did yet considering the proximity of their releases one can’t help but think what would have happened had the critical and financial acclaim that game got shifted instead to Bubble Witch Saga. An interesting ‘what if’ where audiences eventually favoured sugary delights over bubble ball-popping witches.

The Crew will always be criticised for being too derivative of more successful racing game series but while it does feel like it’s pulled between Need for Speed and Forza Horizon the racing on offer is very good even with a slightly limited and uninspiring single-player campaign. Its heart is in the right place and there’s always something to do. What it comes down to in the end is that The Crew wasn’t just a victim of an underdeveloped single-player mode but a live service the player had to rely on in order to play so when that got taken down the game was lost, the worst possible scenario for gaming history. The Crew can be seen as a worrying but important lesson in how studios should not only treat their games in a digital world but also how not to offer their gaming in the future. Still…it was worth it just to see how a Gordon Freeman character would react in a racing world.