Okay, let me preface this by saying that I HATE straight HOGs, like Gardenscapes, where you just play HOS after HOS to get enough money to purchase and upgrade whatever.  Hate them with a passion!



And I just bought one!



Okay, so this game is very different to the usual straights HOGs.



It's called ... Castle Wonders 2 ... and I love it!



So, let's see what I love about it ...

Firstly, the graphics are crap, especially when you zoom in.  Nothing like the HD graphics I think we're all used to.  But the gameplay more than makes up for it.

I doubt I can remember half of what I've come across so far, but here it goes ...

You not only have HOSs, but also    -    2 M3s (one for gathering resources to build what you need to furniture/restore your castle, one for cleaning out all the spiderwebs)    -    crafting (where you use special items you "find" when you complete some HOSs to make other things to either use as powerups or to trade for coins)    -    trading (a businessman keeps on popping up to trade for things you have - you can either keep them to use in your crafting or trade for coins)    -    STD (spot the difference)    -    furnishing/restoring a room in your castle (you buy some things, other things you have to first buy the blueprint then play a M3 to get enough resources to have it built by your craftsmen)    -    quests that you're given by different people, eg, reach a certain level, find so many coins in the HOSs, make so much money, play a M3, etc. etc. etc. - there are heaps of them and you get rewarded once you've completed each one - some of them are to show you aspects of the game, eg, one for looking at your trophies, one for playing the M3 to clean the spiderwebs in the castle, one for buying your first object for your castle room, etc.    -    a lucky wheel (you can spin it once a day - real time - and it tells you how long until you can spin it again) where you can win things to use in the game, like extra coins, or some magnifying glasses, which you use to help you find objects in the HOSs, etc.    -    trophies (lots).  I don't know what else there may be as I haven't played it all that long and new things have been added as I've been playing, so I don't know if there are more things yet to discover!

The HOSs ... each location in/around the castle is just one static scene with maybe 2 dozen objects to find, and they rarely change and only a few change position, so you get to know where everything is once you've played a location a few times, making it much easier to find everything.  Sometimes you have to zoom in as some objects are too small or well hidden to easily find, when things get blurry.  You also have to find coins (3-5 per scene and I've never found all of them, normally I only find 2, but once found 4/5, so they're really, really well hidden), and a logo that's barely discernible (there's a quest for finding some and then for every 5 you find you can exchange them for 100 coins). You have to find 15 objects each time you play a HOS, normally only getting about 5 (?) to find at any one time, with another being added each time you find an object.  You get some extra money for each coin you manage to find ($2 per coin) and also a time bonus (if playing in timed mode).  The different types of HOS I've come across so far are:

  1.    Straight list
  2.    Straight list with 1 letter missing in each object name
  3.    Straight list with each object's name being jumbled
  4.    Straight list with the scene being flipped back to front
  5.    Picture
  6.    Silhouette
  7.    Half (or sometimes only part - really hard) of each object
  8.    X-ray - each object looks like an x-ray image
  9.    Timed 1 object at a time - if you run out of time for any 1 object the level ends
10.    Find the added object - a new object is added each time you find the last one
11.    Find 15 of something, eg. garden equipment
12.   Telescope - objects only visible when they're within the telescope circle as you move it around
13.    I'm sure I've forgotten at least one ....

Oh, and there's a story!  And everyone chats and there's quite a bit to read, especially when you're given quests - they not only tell you what your quest is, explaining what you have to do, but also tell you stuff once you've finished, if only to you tell you what a great job you did, or how you're getting closer to their own level.

It's totally addictive as there's always so much going on.  Not only are you playing the HOSs (and you can choose which scene you want to play each time, opening up new areas of the castle as you get enough of something - I've forgotten what - to get keys to open them)    -    but you always have at least 2 or 3 (if not more) quests going on, as some are immediate (eg. play a minigame) whereas some take some time (eg. level up to a certain level)    -    and you always have the 2 M3s minigames to play (one is playable every 15 mins, one every 30 mins) to get enough resources to build things for your castle    -    as well as restoring your castle    -    crafting objects (I haven't got enough of the found special objects to craft anything yet!)    -    dealing with the businessman    -    spinning the lucky wheel once per day    -    and I'm sure there are others I've either forgotten or maybe not come across yet ...

As you can see, there's a lot to this game and it will last a long, long, long, long, long time!  I love it, even though I hate straight HOGs, and highly recommend it, especially if you actually like straight HOGs!

Oh, and it's set in a medieval castle and in between levels you get some little tidbits of interesting information about the Medieval Ages, like that the Black Death killed half of the entire population of Europe, that parents arranged marriages for their children, that women wore makeup at their wedding, that peasants normally owned only 1 set of clothing and never washed them, however that bathing was very important in the beginning of the Medieval Ages and that every town had a public bathhouse, as well as some information about fireworks - that China made the first fireworks about 2000 years ago, that China makes 90% of the world's fireworks, that the largest fireworks display was in Vienna (?) in 2006 and consisted of over 66,000 different fireworks, etc.  There's a trophy for setting off fireworks but I haven't come across any yet, so that's probably why there's info about fireworks.  There's another trophy for collecting honey but I haven't come across collecting honey yet in the game and I haven't had any info about honey yet, either ... I wonder if I will ...

It's only available at GameHouse at the moment but I hope BFG will get it as BFG only has 3 of the 7 games made by Tamalaki that GameHouse has:

1.    Hidden Object - Home Makeover
2.    Hidden Object - Home Makeover 3
3.    Stranded in Time

Others that GameHouse has by Tamalaki that BFG doesn't have:

4.    Rory's Restaurant
5.    Rory's Restaurant - Winter Rush
6.    Mary Knot - Garden Wedding
7.    Castle Wonders 2

Enjoy!


 

When you first started describing it, it sounded like some of the FTPs~different quests, objects in the same spot in locations you search for things, the spinning wheel, etc.  

I was playing GOLDEN TRAILS 2 and quite enjoying it.  It's an easy HOPA but it had a good story.  All of the sudden it just stopped.  According to the walkthrough there should be 6 chapters and I only played 5.  I looked it up in the BFG Forums and you have to get 150 clovers in order to get the last chapter.  And, of course, the last chapter provides a satisfying ending.  I only had 110 clovers. I guess I'll be playing it over again. 

Well there are good casual HO games out there. This Hidden Expedition, was yes, light on logic at times, although there was a precursor and dialogue to do with how you were then excepted in the facility. It was not my favourite at all and was easy so I do get your opinion there.

I've been playing Revived Legends Road of Kings and it has loads to do.  The collectible is pretty hard to find sometimes.  As well as Gizmos Halloween and Lagoon 2.  Trying to get the last two on my old list for the month cleaned up.  I am going to break out the Christmas Carol games soon.  I had thought about starting the Ravenhearst games from the beginning and playing them thru but I think I'll hold off til January for that darkness.  I need to find out the correct order as well. I'm hoping the Xmas games pep me up.  I just haven't been as into my games lately. ie I go to bed before 1am!

Last edited by oscar66 (November 24, 2015 5:47 pm)

Anybody buy anything in the Black Friday sale?  I decided I'd wait and hope for a BOGO in December.  There's nothing I have to have right now.

I finished Halloween Patchworks: Trick or Treat!  The last 2 worlds were so much easier than worlds 3 and 4.

I also finished Dark Tales: Edgar Allan Poe's The Mystery of Marie Roget Collector's Edition.  It was better than the previous Dark Tales, but was still a disappointment.  I liked the hidden object scenes, but the puzzles were meh.  Town of Hanoi?  A simpler version of transporting missionaries and cannibals across the river? 

ERS doesn't do a very good job of integrating the special CE content into the game.  Many times it's an annoying distraction that disrupts the flow of the game.  In this game, you had to find morphing objects that went into your aquarium.  But you could only click on them when the aquarium object was visible.  Finding all them unlocked a bonus puzzle, a nothing special M3 game.

ERS games probably play better as SE's except for the fact that more often than not, the bonus chapter is needed to end the story.

Not sure what I'll play next.