I started Mystery Age The Imperial Staff this evening.  Quite the oldie for me.

While I've been so sick these past few weeks I haven't felt up to playing any HOPAs and got sick halfway through playing Grim Facade: The Artist and the Pretender CE.  But I haven't missed finishing it too much as halfway through all references to da Vinci stop and it turns into a rather ordinary HOPA.  Of course I want to finish it but I'll have to wait until it cools down and I start feeling a bit better.

However, I have been playing some non-HOPAs when I've felt up to it.  I finished Fantasy Mosaics 4: Art of Color and thought that it was okay.  I loved the different colours but I thought it was a bit too easy.  I wish they'd brought in more and more colours as you went along, making it a bit more challenging.  I was thinking of buying it but won't now as there wasn't enough challenge for me to want to play it again.  I'm sure I've come across another game that also had different colours but was more challenging but I can't for the life of me remember what game it was.

However, I'm now on the last stretch in Imperial Island 2: The Search for New Land (I think I've completed about 75 levels out of 100).  Wow, I love this M3!!!!  Now this game sure is challenging and I will definitely be getting this game as I know I'll replay it more than once.  I've had to play some levels at least 10 times to achieve all the goals and get all 3 stars.  It's definitely different when you have to not only achieve all the goals within the time allowed, but play long enough to get enough points to get all 3 stars.  You really have to juggle goals versus points versus time.  Quite often I'd reach all the goals before the timer ran out, thus ending the level, but before I'd gotten enough points for the star timer to reach the 3rd star and so I'd have to replay it, trying not to get all the goals before I'd got enough points.  Or the timer would run out while I was trying to get enough points to get all 3 stars before finishing the goals.  That's very different to all other M3s I've come across and why there were such scathing reviews at BFG.  So many people seemed not to understand the star system.  I find it really adds some challenge.  But boy what a fantastic feeling when you get all 3 stars and goals within the time limit after you've played a level numerous times!!!!  But you can also play untimed if you want, but I don't know how that scores.  This is one M3 I definitely recommend!
 

A little earlier I mentioned a fantastic M3 I was playing, Imperial Island 2: The Search for New Land, which is a really different M3.

Well, tonight I've been playing another great M3, Floria.  Even though it got some good reviews at BFG, it also got some really bad reviews so I didn't rush to demo it.  However, GameHouse released it today and so I tried it.  Yes, it looks really childish, but it's also very different.  There are different ways to complete different levels and I've had to replay a few as I didn't complete them within the time limit.  And, to change things up even more, not only is there timed and untimed modes, but also a limited number of moves mode, all of which you can change before each level.  I'm not sure how many levels there are.  There's also a simple story.

In each level you have to clear coloured tiles by matching objects that are the same colour over the top, for example, you have to match green leaves over green tiles to clear them.  No other matches clear the tiles if the colours are different. You also clear frozen tiles or barrels by making matches with/next to them as per usual. 

However, you also sometimes have to make matches from a fire source to wood tiles to burn them, or try to avoid moving ladybugs that I think freeze tiles underneath them.  There are also sometimes barriers set up on the board, across which you can't make matches.  Sometimes there are also several keys you have to move either from left to right or right to left to open locks.  You may have one or all of these different things, as well as having to make the correct colour matches to clear the tiles on each level.  It wouldn't be too difficult untimed but in timed mode or with only a limited number of moves it is much more challenging.  I love the different boards, even though they look very simple as they aren't very big and have huge pictures on the tiles.

There are also really easy minigames every now and again.  As you make matches over different coloured tiles (sometimes only 1 colour, sometimes, as far as I've played, up to 3 per board), these cleared coloured tiles are added to your chest and every few levels they're released into whichever scene you're in, recolouring the world.  For example, purple may turn into purple flowers in the scene.  Also, every now and again you play a very simple golf solitaire game in order to repower your helper, or a HOS for some reason to do with the game.  These HOSs look very simple (simple silhouettes) but the objects are very well hidden!

I also recommend this M3 for anyone who likes M3s with some challenge (in timed or limited move modes) and some different gameplay to the usual, and who doesn't mind cute but childish graphics (I thought they were cute and suited the game).  I prefer bigger M3 boards but with sometimes so many different things to do (coloured tiles, fire, ladybugs, barriers, keys) I think it would be too complicated with bigger boards.

This M3 will also be added to my Games to Get list as I can see myself replaying this.  In the meantime I'll just keep playing it with my FunPass to see how it goes further into the game. 
 

There's ahalf price sale on all Mystry Case File Games today, in addition to the bundle sale BFG usually runs Mon-Tues.   I wonder if that mean the MCF free to play game is ready to launch?

I finished AV:Tree of Life, and the bonus.  Glad it's over, and it didn't take too long.  The CE version has blimps to collect, but they look kinda like submarines and every time you click on one they make that metallic submarine honk/chime sort of noise, very annoying.  There were a few red butterflies that flew away when you ran your cursor over them, and also owls that hooted when you clicked on them, they were a mystery collectable.  Collectables are starting to irritate me, I used to want a game to have them, now I don't really want to be bothered looking for them.  Same with morphs.  Although if it's a game without much story at least it gives you something to concentrate on.  I like how Mad Head is, you can go back after the game and look for stuff, that way you can just play the game if you want, and then do collectables later.
Anyway, I don't think the bonus took more than an hour, there were only like 6 rooms, you had a task in each of 3 rooms and had to keep running back and forth between them.  Plot spoiler... At the end of the main game you were told you're stuck there, in the bonus game you find a way home...
The game had lots of puzzles and lots of HOs, the HOs would pop up randomly, sometimes you'd do a HO in a scene, use the piece you got in a puzzle there, and when you came out of the puzzle there would be another HO!  I just used the map most of the time to see where there was stuff to do.  The second time through the HO the stuff from before would be gone and you would have to find 12 of something, I prefer that kind of HO, I really didn't mind the HOs in this game, but there were a lot, but I liked the 12 of.