I really liked the Angelica Weaver game.  I happened to play it at the same time I was watching Whitechapel (rented from Netflix), and that helped with the storyline, since both were about copy-cat Jack the Ripper crimes.

I finally finished my replay of Awakening: The Sunhook Spire Collector's Edition.  I didn't like this one as much as the previous games.  It might have been better to have ended the series happily with the Skyward Kingdom.  And I'm not sure I ever finished the bonus chapter before.  Parts of it looked familiar, but not the end.

Finally I'll get to play a new game: Awakening: The Redleaf Forest Collector's Edition, which I bought exactly a week ago.

I've got 4 punches on my third card!  On Monday, I bought:
Mystery Trackers: Nightsville Horror Collector's Edition
Grim Tales: The Final Suspect Collector's Edition
Final Cut: Fame Fatale Collector's Edition
Off The Record: Liberty Stone Collector's Edition

TiramaSue wrote:

Finally I'll get to play a new game: Awakening: The Redleaf Forest Collector's Edition, which I bought exactly a week ago.

Year ago, I bought it a year ago. 

Netflix only has the first series.  I don't know why they never got the others.

I'm listening to The Pallisers on BBC radio, but I don't know why.  I loved the mini series with Susan Hampshire.  The radio play has Sophie Thompson as Glencora, and she is dreadful.  None of the voices sound right, and the plot has been butchered as well.
 

I just got 2 CEs in the sale and 2 SEs with expiring PCCs (gotta love those BPMs that they got rid of).


 

I've managed to finish a HOPA over the last few days! 

I played New York Mysteries: High Voltage CE.  I loved it.  The bonus game wasn't very exciting and had no collectibles or morphs, but it was quite long.  It was a prequel but wasn't necessary to the game.  I'd just recommend the SE if the bonus game is important as it wasn't very interesting.  However, some of the morphs were really hard to spot (I had to look in the SG a few times to see roughly where they were so I knew at least where to look) and there were 4 different collectibles to spot - but this time they weren't in batches so you never knew which of the 4 you were looking for and the little itty bitty kitties were really well hidden! - as well as 20 slides to find so that you can play the diascope game in Extras, so I'm glad I got the CE.

PROS:

+   long  -  MG about 6 hours
+   bonus about 1:15-1:30, plus another 15-20 mins trying to find a missing planet
+   plus another 30 mins replaying half to get missing achievements
+   so all up, not including the diascope (long), about 8-8:30 hours!
+   very few HOPs
+   great attention to detail - eg. tiny cockroach scurrying over the floor in jail
+   fantastic atmospheric music and ambient sounds
+   collectibles - never knew which one and kittens really well hidden
+   morphs - very subtle and very hard to spot
+   eg. pattern on one floor tile changes subtley, or something simply turns on its side
+   or one small thing on a poster on the wall changes minutely
+   loved trying to find them
+   although the MGs were mostly very easy they were fun
+   one MG frustrating and I looked at the SG for the solution
+   replayable MGs
+   they use correct maths in a puzzle - x and / before + and -
+   lots of locations!
+   great graphics - main character moves just like a real person!
+   good V/O - one Chinese character in Chinatown sounded Chinese
+   map - easy to follow - hover over a location thumbnail to get the name of the location
+   then, when you've found the correct one, just trace the link arrows to work out how to get there
+   or you can just use the jump feature (which I prefer not to do)
+   sometimes try to use an inventory item, only to realise that it won't work
+   eg. try to use something to break ice, the ice won't break, so you say that you need something heavier
+   diascope (you collect 20 slides in the game)

CONS:

-   how are you supposed to get 3 items in 3 secs in HOPs that are super complicated?
-   especially as you can't replay them in the Extras - grrrrrr 'cause they were great
-   ditto for no extra clicks in a HOP!
-   Answer - replay the bonus chapter
-   no HOP solutions in the SG and they're hard!
-   some of the things that need an inventory item
-   you don't find what you need until so much further into the game that you forget about it
-   there were so many locations that I sometimes forgot where locations were
-   one character in Chinatown had no V/O, just text - the only one with no V/O - weird
-   no Souvenir Room so you have to find all the morphs and collectibles in the main game
-   but the map shows the ones you haven't found, including the tapes you find
-   I missed one planet - after 20 mins at end found it on a gate in the background in one scene

HOPS:

*   there are no zoom-in HOP scenes
*   they're all rooms - you enter one and the list/silhouettes are shown on the bottom
*   every single time I walked into these rooms I tried to find the morphs/collectibles
*   only when I couldn't find anything did I look down the bottom and realise they were HOPs
*   definitely not easy - there were all like a very long inventory puzzle
*   but not like the usual find one object then use it on another
*   more complex than that
*   I loved them but you can't replay them in the Extras - grrrrrr

MORPHS:

*   as stated above, very difficult to spot
*   one was even hidden behind the character in a room and you couldn't see it
*   you have to wait until that character has finally gone and you can then see the morph
*   but before he leaves you have to go off on a fever-medication hunt and make it for him

BONUS GAME:

*   prequel, not necessary to the game, you can easily skip it
*   long but neither very interesting nor exciting
*   shows why the father did what he did for his son
*   one planet invisible on a gate in the background of a scene - no reason to click there
*   revisit some old scenes but they're different and now in winter (prequel 5 years previously)
*   also some new scenes, like a boarding school
*   not nearly as deep or complicated as the MG (which was really complex with lots of locations)

EXTRAS:

*   bonus game
*   replayable MGs  -  21  (15 MG, 6 BG)  -  NO replayable HOPs!
*   6 swap jigsaw puzzles - reward for getting achievements - you need all of them to play all 6
*   22 achievements
*   35 collectibles  -  4 different ones  -  9 + 11 + 8 + 7
*   diascope  -  20 collectible slides  -  play mirror-turning light game - 20 levels  -  good extra
*   plus all the usual wallpapers, etc.

RECOMMENDATION:   SE or CE

I loved the main game, which was long, complex, with lots of locations (I often couldn't remember in which location the scene was that I needed to go - there are several locations which you get to by train through a central hub) and you have to have a good memory (or use the map with all the locations named).  The bonus game was a real letdown as it was really straightforward with only a few locations and there was no excitement nor was it very interesting.  There were also no morphs or collectibles.  However, I loved the hard-to-find morphs, all the collectibles, the replayable minigames and the disascope game in the extras. 

So I'm really glad I got the CE as I love hard morphs and collectibles, as well as extra puzzles in the extras.  However, if these don't mean much to you, then I would only recommend the SE as the bonus game, although long, isn't very exciting and very straightforward, and as an SE you'd get a complex, long story with great graphics, special effects, music and attention to detail.



 

That's one indepth review!  Good info and I agree with a good deal of it.  I think my review said great story, beautiful game, not a challenge and not worthy of a CE. Tee I say use stusue's review! lol