Dream Chronicles 3: The Chosen Child

This is my last foray into the Dream Chronicles series for now - the third installment in the Faye's Journey trilogy, The Chosen Child. This game, like its predecessors, was met with positive reviews and awards when it was released in 2009. It is another evocative, dreamy puzzle/adventure game with stunning visuals, absorbing puzzles and peaceful music that makes for a relaxing, fun gaming experience.

The game story continues on from where The Eternal Maze left off, but we begin with Faye waking up with no memory of who she is and thinking she is someone named Brenna who lives in a treehouse. However, she has recurring dreams of having a husband and a daughter who is lost. Eventually she regains her memory, and continues her journey through the Fairy Realm to rescue her daughter and reunite her family.

The Chosen Child does not so much improve graphics-wise from the standard of the first two games - the graphics and animation are rather similar, which initially disappointed me as I was expecting improvement there. Still, for the era and for the casual gaming market, they are beautiful visuals. There are some marked improvements in the mechanics of the game - the journal is improved, the Dream Jewel system is (again) improved. But the area where this game really does improve on the previous installments, is in the gameplay. Strikingly non-linear compared to the last two games (though The Eternal Maze was less linear than the first game), the really interesting mechanic used in The Chosen Child is the "Nexus", a mechanical room with unlockable doors leading to different areas. Using the Nexus the player can (and must) travel back and forth between locations, which means you are better able to fully explore and appreciate all the areas in the game. It gave this game a far more Myst-like feel. You must collect various objects from one location and use them in another - and in a more involved way than in The Eternal Maze, which mostly involved simply piecing things back together. In The Chosen Child, you must follow involved potion recipes, perform a number of different steps to forge Dream Jewels (players actually create them for the first time in this game) and solve puzzles within puzzles. This definitely makes for a much more interesting game.

Again, however, some of the hidden objects are frustratingly hard to find. Personally I found this disrupted the flow of my game, as after I had spent some time figuring out how to solve a puzzle (the difficult part) I spent a much longer time searching for one blurry tiny object that I needed to complete said puzzle. Another annoying thing is the game's poor hint system. The hint system was similarly non-existent in the first two games, which was excusable because those games were easier and didn't really need them. In this far more non-linear game, I think a better hint system was needed. The "sparkles" showing locations of hidden objects have been removed entirely, and the guidance by Fidget through the crystal ball you are given at the start of the game is almost completely useless. Dream Pieces are a little easier to find - they are still small and white, but slightly bigger than in The Eternal Maze. A new collection object is introduced in this game - gold pieces, which contribute to your score at the end.

I really liked the system used for unlocking the various gates inside the Nexus. Dream Jewels are used for this, and each lock uses a combination of dream jewels in an interesting colour puzzle. The puzzles in the game are improved from the last games - they are a little bit repetitive (there are a fair few musical/rhythm puzzles) but a lot more fun, in my opinion. Following the recipe book to mix involved potions and searching through a telescope for various constellations (a step in creating Dream Jewels) were a couple of my favourites. I think the multiple steps in these rather involved puzzles was what made these the most fun for me.

I liked the twist at the end of the story (I won't give it away) and overall this has been an absorbing and relaxing gaming experience. I highly recommend the Dream Chronicles series to anyone who is into the puzzle/adventure genre. The story, visuals, music and puzzles are all stunning. On top of that, playing these games in procession, it's been really interesting watching how the developers progressed with the series, seeing the things they improved on. I really liked seeing how problems I had with previous games were resolved in the subsequent games. Anyway - if you're interested in trying this game out for yourself, click the link below - and if you missed them, see my previous two posts for reviews of the first and second games in this beautiful series.

Dream Chronicles 2: The Eternal Maze

My life's been a bit hectic lately (conventions and things!) so I haven't really had much of a chance to do any gaming. However, I've now played through Dream Chronicles 2: The Eternal Maze, so it's time for an update! :)

Dream Chronicles 2: The Eternal Maze was published in 2008 and is the sequel to its 2007 predecessor, Dream Chronicles (see my previous entry for my review of that game). Like the first game in the series, The Eternal Maze also won awards - "Top Adventure Game of 2008" and "Best World Design" in the first annual RealArcade Great Games Awards held in mid-2009.

The Eternal Maze continues the story directly from where the first game left off. At the end of the previous game, Faye (the player's character) finally found her husband Fidget, who had been kidnapped by the Fairy Queen of Dreams, Lilith, but they were once again separated when Lilith cast a sleep spell on Faye. The Eternal Maze begins with Faye waking up in a chamber, which she must escape from and once again journey to find and rescue Fidget. On her way she discovers that Lilith has now also kidnapped her daughter, Lyra.

The gameplay in The Eternal Maze, while similar to the first game, is more complex. Instead of moving from scene to scene in a linear fashion, Faye can go back and forth between areas, to collect objects to help solve the puzzles she encounters. The collection of "Dream Pieces" continues in this game, but in my opinion is handled in a far better fashion - instead of the game pausing to give you a tedious description with each new piece you discover, you can collect pieces quickly in succession, and description only pops up when you find a Dream Jewel - a container for the pieces. In the first game, the Dream Jewels/Dream Pieces did not serve a purpose other than to add to your final score, however in The Eternal Maze they are useful - fill a Dream Jewel with Pieces and you will be given a word scramble to unravel, which when solved rewards you with a clue to help you in the game. These can be clues to help you immediately or later in the game. I liked how the first clue I received was not useful until right at the end of the game, but it was slightly annoying to keep having to find the page in my journal to refer to the clue while I was solving the puzzle.

The puzzles in The Eternal Maze are definitely harder than the first game, but this is mostly due to the fact that the hidden objects needed to solve the puzzles are really difficult to spot. I often found myself just waiting for a telltale sparkle to appear in order to find a hidden object - sometimes I had no idea how it would even be possible to spot an object without a sparkle or mousing over it, and on one occasion I had to put my game on full screen just to spot a couple of particularly annoying missing objects. The Dream Pieces are also a lot harder to spot - unlike the first game, they aren't coloured, just tiny white spots. The fact that the Dream Pieces are harder to find (rather than ridiculously easy, as in the first game) does make getting a good final score a bit more of a fun challenge, but because the Pieces are useful for getting clues now it's also a little frustrating. The Dream Jewels are also pretty hard to spot - I managed to miss an early one entirely, so missed out on a clue and a little storyline, which was annoying. Despite the annoyances with finding hidden objects however, I really enjoyed these puzzles a lot more than the puzzles in the first game (which really offered no challenge at all). These puzzles were fun, involved and original - some were quite similar to the first game, but redone in a more challenging way. I especially enjoyed the maze puzzles... though they weren't particularly eternal. :P

As in the first game, the graphics in The Eternal Maze are beautiful, peaceful, and quite stunning for their era. I think one of the most appealing things about this game series is the overall mood of it. It's a very peaceful, visually rich game with relaxing music and an engaging fantasy storyline. The Eternal Maze continues with this mood, with art and animation improved quite a bit from the first game. It's still a game I prefer to play in windowed mode, as full screen tends to make the game a little blurry and less visually appealing for me.

If you enjoyed the first game in the Dream Chronicles series, I highly recommend The Eternal Maze. I'm very much looking forward to playing the final game in the Dream Chronicles trilogy, The Chosen Child. More pretty art and the final chapter of the story! ^_^ If you'd like to try The Eternal Maze for yourself, click the image below. :)

Dream Chronicles

Since I've previously played Dream Chronicles: The Book of Air and thoroughly enjoyed it, I've decided to play through all of the games in the rather epic Dream Chronicles series. My next few posts will focus on these games as I play through them. Dream Chronicles was released in 2007, developed by KatGames and released by PlayFirst. It was a bit of a milestone in casual gaming, marking the birth of a new "hidden object & adventure" style of casual game. Critics likened it to a simplified version of the epic Myst series (a series of games that I personally adore, and which were the first really beautiful games I ever played). The first game in the series, Dream Chronicles, won a Zeeby Award from Gamezebo ("People's Choice Award for the Best Hidden Object & Adventure Game of 2007") in July 2008, and the game was subsequently followed by Dream Chronicles 2: The Eternal Maze and Dream Chronicles: The Chosen Child. There are now two further games in the Dream Chronicles saga, set ten years in the future from the time of the first trilogy ("Faye's Journey"). These are Dream Chronicles: The Book of Air and Dream Chronicles: The Book of Water (in a new series called "Lyra's Destiny").

The story of Dream Chronicles tells of Faye, a human who wakes up one day to find her husband, Fidget, missing and her daughter, Lyra, in a magical slumber. As she explores on a quest to rescue Fidget (from the Fairy Queen of Dreams, Lilith) and release Lyra from the spell, she discovers many secrets about the fairy roots of her family, and about the town in which they live, called Wish.

Dream Chronicles, in my opinion, does definitely live up to the hype. I wasn't expecting absolutely stunning perfection from this 2007 game, but the artwork and detail is quite beautiful and dreamlike. The music is soothing and the gameplay is fun and relaxing. The game is a little slower paced than others - hardcore gamers may not enjoy it because there is a fair amount of dialog and story. At first I was a little put off by the descriptions of the fairies that appear with every "dream piece" you discover, but after a while - when I'd become more used to the pace of the game - I kind of enjoyed reading the little fairy blurbs. I also wished later in the game - when I finally decided to actually open the journal you are given - that I'd kept up with the story in the journal while I played through the chapters. It's actually quite a well written and interesting little story (it is a journal written from Fidget's perspective before he was kidnapped by Lilith).

The puzzles in this game start out very easy, and do get progressively harder, but not overly so. On the whole the puzzles are relatively easy, and I have seen these type of puzzles (jigsaw puzzle, seek-and-find, etc) in many other games - but keep in mind that Dream Chronicles was one of the earlier games in the genre. I especially liked the cryptic puzzle at the end - I haven't encountered cryptic clues like that in another game thusfar. There is no hint system in this game, but Faye sets up each scene so it's quite clear what your objective is, and like I said, the puzzles are quite easy. The only times I got stuck in the game were due to not being able to clearly see hidden objects. The game makes it easy for you by periodically creating sparkles where hidden objects are - but these seemed to be random and sometimes did not work at all for me. I played the game in windowed mode - in fullscreen it's probably easier to see the hidden objects.

The ending of the game was a little odd. After a cutscene, you are abruptly given a "score" (for speed and the number of "dream pieces" you find). The game does not have a tidy ending, it clearly sets up for the next game in the series. Which is what I will be writing about next! Meanwhile, I recommend checking out this award-winning game. It may not be quite as polished as some of the newer games in this genre, but it's a pretty little adventure with a great story and more story to come. Click below to try it for yourself.

Drawn: Dark Flight

Drawn is an adventure/puzzle game series by Big Fish Studios. I'm a fan of Big Fish games in general (particularly games of the adventure/puzzle genre) but this game - Dark Flight, the second installment in the Drawn series, really impressed me. I haven't yet played the first game in the series (The Painted Tower) but Dark Flight, while being a continuation of the first game, has a strong story in its own right and is still able to stand on its own story-wise.

Drawn: Dark Flight tells the story of Iris, a young girl who has the magical ability to make anything she draws come to life. Iris manages to escape (with the aid of her father's closest advisor, Franklin) when her kingdom is taken over by the evil dark King who eliminates her parents (the rightful King and Queen) and the rest of her family. Dark Flight begins after you have succeeded in helping Iris to escape the tower where she was hidden in exile (the storyline of The Painted Tower) - she still needs your help. You must explore the Kingdom of Stonebriar and help Iris re-light the three beacons which have been extinguished by the dark King. If you succeed, Iris will be able to take her rightful place as Queen of the kingdom and dethrone the dark King.

Probably the first thing that grabbed me with this game is the stunning hand drawn visuals. I loved the little details, like the way you can open all the windows in the streets and bat at lamps to make them swing. Tiny details like that really make games come alive for me. There is a strong theme of "paper" throughout the game - not only are the majority of the puzzles based around cut-outs and paper pop-ups, but the scenery itself resembles some kind of Tim Burton-esque pop-up book.

The theme of the kingdom - and what the dark King has taken away - is creativity. So the puzzles are based on art, music, drama, etc. The puzzles are all so unique - I've never seen puzzles quite like these in any other game. One of the really nice features of the game is the drawing mechanic. There are several puzzles in which you must trace the outline of an object (for example, with a piece of charcoal) in order to solve them. It added to the "hands-on" type feel of the game. During many of the puzzles I felt like I was working on a fun craft project, rather than playing a game.

However, these puzzles are hard. I don't think I've encountered harder puzzles in any other Big Fish game. Don't let that deter you though - the difficulty makes it all the sweeter when you actually figure out the solutions, and if you really, truly get stuck, you can opt to "Skip Puzzle" after a short time limit is up. Personally? I took the "sit-for-two-hours-til-my-brain-melts" approach to these puzzles, heh. If you get stuck while exploring, or can't figure out where to head next, you can click to ask advice from Franklin at any time. His hints start out vague but will get more precise the more you ask, which is a great hint system for a game like this.

Drawn: Dark Flight is highly recommended to anyone who's a little burned out on hidden object games, wants a visually rich gaming experience with a strong storyline, and wants a bit of a challenge with some extremely unique, fun puzzles. I will be waiting eagerly for the next installment (not yet released). Click the links below if you're interested in trying out Drawn for yourself.

Machinarium

I thought a great game to review to get the ball rolling here would be one of my favourite games of all time, an indie game by the name of Machinarium. It's a beautiful little puzzle/adventure game by Amanita Design, a small independent game developing studio based in the Czech Republic. Amanita started out with educational and advertising minigames, followed by the short adventure/puzzle games Samorost and Samorost 2, and then the award winning Machinarium, which was released in 2009 - their first full length game. I adore all the games that Amanita makes, due to their distinctive style. Completely hand drawn, with peaceful background music, they have a relaxing and immersive feel that some other games are now proceeding to replicate.

Machinarium tells the story of a small robot, who has been ejected from his city onto the scrapheap. He must enter the city and explore, solving many puzzles and brain-teasers, to confront the evil Black Cap Brotherhood and save his robot girlfriend. The story is intriguing and player-paced, as you play the small robot (named Josef) you must figure out how to solve each "room" to move onto the next area.

The animation and artwork of the game are hugely appealing. Each new area elicited a new sigh of wonder from me, and finding the small clickable objects in each scene to solve the puzzles is a lot of fun. There are a lot of cute details. If you leave Josef standing around for too long, he will produce a thought bubble remembering various past adventures and scenes with his robot girlfriend. There's also an awesome little puzzle in which you get to play a recreation of the arcade classic Space Invaders.

One of the really beautiful things about this game is the hint system. If you get stuck on a puzzle, you can either click on a small lightbulb icon at the top of the screen, which will cause Josef to produce a thought bubble containing a picture of what he needs to do next (these hints become increasingly vague), or you can consult a mechanical book which has been "programmed" to show a walkthrough of the entire puzzle in picture form. To open the book however, you must play a little minigame involving a key moving slowly through a side-scrolling screen. There are spiders on the screen which you can move the key to avoid, or you can shoot little pellets from the key to get rid of them. If you successfully navigate the key through to the end, it will reach a keyhole which unlocks the book and the walkthrough for the scene. I really love the ingenuity of this - it makes the game completely solvable even if you aren't very good at puzzles, but it makes you work for the hints it gives you. It's really the best hint system I've ever encountered in a puzzle game.

Overall Machinarium is a particularly beautiful and immersive game, and one which introduced me to a love of indie games. With many hours of gameplay along with gorgeous visuals and music, it's a game I recommend to everyone - casual and hardcore gamers alike - for a little peaceful, fun adventure.

Welcome ^_^

Hello & welcome to my brand new baby blog!

My name is Jeski, and I'm a 29 year old unconventional single mum from Australia. I spend my time looking after my four year old daughter Pandora, making strange and creepy jewellery for my online shop (http://jeski.etsy.com), watching horror and fantasy movies, and of course, gaming.

The purpose of this blog is to review and discuss the particular flavour of games I'm interested in. I play a lot of games, and have been gaming for most of my life. But I really enjoy a very specific niche of games. I don't play many first person shooters, war or sports-based games. I like quirky games, indie games, pretty games. Mostly the games I play would be classified as "casual" games, but I don't game casually, heh. I've also spent a lot of time playing big MMOs like World of Warcraft (played from vanilla to Cataclysm), Aion and Rift, but I don't really have the time to dedicate to MMOs anymore. So in this little blog I will be reviewing and discussing that particular niche of beautiful games I really enjoy, and can be picked up by a casual player as easily as a hardcore gamer.

I hope you enjoy the blog! Let me know what you think. ^_^