by bfgImbrium on Mar 22, 11 1:51 AM
Hey Fishies! What do you think of FBI: Paranormal Case? We value your reviews, as do many of the other fishies in our pond, so feel free to post your comments and opinions in this thread!
by thistle809 on Mar 22, 11 1:54 AM
Another resounding dud from the folks at Hdo. The real mystery, to me, is why sites like BFG keeps distributing this junk. I decided to see just how bad this one would be; and it only took the opening sequence to find out. This is supposed to be an FBI (therefore, USA) operation, but it immediately takes off for places from Antarctica to the Bermuda Triangle. About twenty minutes research on the part of the developers would have provided them with the fact that the FBI does not operate that way. By the time I got to the Bermuda Triangle "assignment", all I could do was laugh and wonder how long these developers had been permanently living there. (As I was searching for the bottle of rum as one of the hidden objects, I decided I think I know what they have been drinking.) The graphics are rudimentary at best, the music is screamingly annoying, and the storyline is absurd. The dialogue is stilted, to say the least; and the instructions and interactions for the mini-games are even worse. Oh well, I had some time to kill and it proved, once again, that garbage will sell. This is absolutely a "No Sale" for me. (I posted this in another thread before the C and R thread was started, so I have re-posted here.)
Edited on 03/22/2011 at 1:55:14 AM PST
by cherbtoo on Mar 22, 11 2:37 AM
The first thing I didn't like was being told to turn the brightness up ... why should we have to adjust our computers when they are already set on our preferred settings and the majority of games work brilliantly on that setting.
The graphics started out reasonably clear for the first case, in the antarctic the syringes were unrecognisable blobs, in the yeti scene everything was really blurry . Also you went looking for the yeti and had to find several teddy bears ... I didn't know that sasquatch had toys .
The story was weird in that each case was stamped closed but I didn't feel that the explanations given were satisfactory plus the fact that the same strange symbol was found at each scene so how can the cases be closed when obviously something is connecting all these different places .
Alas the quality of this game isn't sufficient enough to make me want to buy it to discover what made the sybol and why ... not at a DD price or at any price . Sorry devs but that is my personal opinion and I know truth hurts.
The only thing I can honestly say that I liked about the game was the pipe puzzle and that I did enjoy .
by Lucy1997 on Mar 22, 11 4:12 AM
I posted this last night before I went to bed, but the review file wasn't up so I'll repost it. I had only played about fifteen minutes of the game.
The game has two modes--timed and untimed. I started with the timed and failed twice to find all of the items, so restarted in the untimed mode. It pays to read the instruction screens on this game because you can click away items to reveal other items they hide, and in the left hand row you can see some buttons that are helpful. One is a magnifier. You also can click on stars, though I'm not quite sure what the stars do for you (more hints, maybe?) The game also has one panoptic scene in the first few minutes in which you have to scroll from side to side to find the items.
I only got about four scenes into the game, which seems a pretty straightforward hidden object quest: you clean your new office, your clean up the computer files, and then you set out to investigate your cases. I was a bit mystified why an FBI agent was investigating first in Antarctica and then in France even if he was a member of some new paranormal unit, but then I looked up the developers, who are French. Some of the terminology is British ("torch" for "flashlight." for example), but I didn't find it troublesome.
by heatherington on Mar 22, 11 4:13 AM
Developers Beware! When we don't like a game we can't say enough bad things about it. For a moment when I first saw the screen shot I thought of "Heritage" but after hearing the reviews I thought, no, Heritage was better than that, weird, but better. In case you haven't been noticing. When we play murder mysteries or the like we want realism and logic!
Uninstalled after 15 minutes, don't know how I lasted that long, also uninstalled yesterday's game, which was not as bad, but was not as good either.
Edited on 03/22/2011 at 4:28:24 AM PST
by sinshack on Mar 22, 11 4:41 AM
5th day in a row with Hidden Object games? And there are TWO today? There is a soft release - if you hate this game, give Aladin and the Wonderful Lamp: The 1001 Nights a try!
by Purplerabbit on Mar 22, 11 5:44 AM
From bitter experience, it is an Hd0 game and is bound to be short.
by hannah57 on Mar 22, 11 5:59 AM
Well that was one of the most irritating and stupidest games I've ever played. Please BF give us some credit for having brains, did you really think we'd like something like this or do you just not care. It's a NO BUY here
by dfringer on Mar 22, 11 6:04 AM
I have tried to play many games by HdO and they have all been awful!
HdO= Horrible, dull, odius
by bella81762 on Mar 22, 11 6:37 AM
ok maybe too early in the morn for me but what does Hdo mean
by bella81762 on Mar 22, 11 6:39 AM
there is no forum for it....will you post a review in ccc?
by sinshack on Mar 22, 11 6:46 AM
This is a straight HOG, so if you have to have interaction, you will hate this game. It has a slight bit of interaction and there is an inventory, but it isn’t Phantasmat so don’t expect that type of gameplay. Because it’s a HOG (Hidden Object Game,) it has Hidden Object scenes. “Duh,” I know, but some gamers always seem surprised by that fact.
I’m not as organized as Goofyduck, but I’ll do my best. I’ll just give you my thoughts/discoveries about this game as I found them.
The graphics are good, but not the HD quality we’ve seen in recent games. They have a nice hand-drawn quality, though, and I didn’t have any problems finding items due to the style of graphics. Some items are small, however, so those with less-than-perfect eyesight or small screens may have problems. As usual, give it a try and see.
There are some language differences, but nothing to get upset about so far. Hints are called “Clues,” which makes perfect sense. As another fishy mentioned, British terms are used instead of American for some items (Torch for flashlight, for example.)
You find a gold star in the scenes to earn an extra hint, and mini-games give you 2 extra hints if you solve them. The hints still need to recharge even though you have more than one available, and that takes in about 1 minute. I was surprised to see the gold stars in the mini-games, too, so there are plenty of opportunities to earn extra hints.
As CasualGran mentioned, at the beginning it recommends that you increase the brightness of your monitor for optimal viewing. I think this is for those who normally keep their screens darker, because my “normal” setting was plenty bright enough and I didn’t have to change anything.
You don’t get the whole list at once in the H0 scenes. As you find an item, if the description of the next item “fits” in the list box at the bottom of the screen, the next item will be added to the list. Some item descriptions are longer so sometimes you find two items before the next item is added. The items to find seemed to fit the situations and locations, and they were proportional (nothing bugs me more than looking for a paperclip and finding it is the size of a door.)
If you see a glow on the screen, click on it. Sometimes something is hidden there, sometimes you need to click on it to access items on the H0 list.
I clicked quite a bit and didn’t get the dreaded spinning curser, so it looks like there is no click penalty.
by sinshack on Mar 22, 11 6:47 AM
Sometimes there is an extra item to find after you finish an H0 scene, but it glows so you can find it.
There is an inventory, and I think it has about 4-5 boxes. You don’t use the item right away, I think it was about 10 minutes after I got the first inventory item and a few screens later that I used it. Certainly not iHOG, barely iHOG-lite, but still something interesting and different for a straight HOG.
The mini-games can be skipped, I think the skip button recharged in about 2 minutes. You get 2 hints for completing them, for a maximum of 6 hints at a time. I didn’t use more than 1 hint before I either found another gold star or played a mini-game to earn more.
If you quit before you play 10 minutes, you really don’t get into the game – you start with the usual “clean the office” because the agent is taking over the office from another agent. They added a little twist to that because he redecorates a bit after he cleans.
Play it and make up your own mind. As I said at the beginning, you will probably hate this if you need interaction, and you will certainly hate this if you don’t like hidden object games. It does have a story, but it develops slowly. The story is interesting but not edge-of-your-seat, can’t-wait-to-see-what-happens, gotta-get-it interesting.
This is a good, solid, PLAIN, but well-executed HOG. Nothing fancy, just good solid gaming. Make up your own mind, go ahead and say you hate it if you do, but please say why you hate it to help the other gamers. Personally, I will put this in my “probably” pile. It’s getting toward the end of the month, and I’ll probably need to buy one or two more games to fill in another punch card. This will be one of them, if I don’t get bored and buy it sooner.
Happy gaming to those who enjoy this type of game!
ETA: I forgot one thing - if 360 panning gets you seasick, don't panic when the game opens. The swooping-scrolling thing is just at the very beginning in the titles, not in the game itself.
Edited on 03/22/2011 at 6:54:38 AM PST
by sinshack on Mar 22, 11 6:51 AM
bella81762 wrote: ok maybe too early in the morn for me but what does Hdo mean
by jkuci on Mar 22, 11 6:55 AM
Thanks for the great review sinshack!!
by doccat5 on Mar 22, 11 6:59 AM
Another Stinker! Do these developers not get it?? Tiny items to find again and the story line is so-so. Another no buy, here.
by Purplerabbit on Mar 22, 11 7:00 AM
The screen shots of that look like the same developer!
by bella81762 on Mar 22, 11 7:02 AM
lol duh me...i thought it was a new type of hog game..thanks
by sinshack on Mar 22, 11 7:22 AM
They are - and the gameplay is EXACTLY the same (I thought I'd clicked on the wrong game title when I started to play) so if you hate this one, you will hate Aladin, too.
On the other hand, if you LIKE this one, you will also like Aladin, so give it a try!
by barbee44 on Mar 22, 11 7:23 AM
Well, some of us complained about all the games being CE's so BFG dug deep and found us some games to use our credits... So they are just trying their best to please us... Thank you. The first few were very good and I did purchase them and now have used up all my credits. Whew!
by bfgImbrium on Mar 22, 11 1:51 AM
Hey Fishies! What do you think of FBI: Paranormal Case? We value your reviews, as do many of the other fishies in our pond, so feel free to post your comments and opinions in this thread!
by thistle809 on Mar 22, 11 1:54 AM
Another resounding dud from the folks at Hdo. The real mystery, to me, is why sites like BFG keeps distributing this junk. I decided to see just how bad this one would be; and it only took the opening sequence to find out. This is supposed to be an FBI (therefore, USA) operation, but it immediately takes off for places from Antarctica to the Bermuda Triangle. About twenty minutes research on the part of the developers would have provided them with the fact that the FBI does not operate that way. By the time I got to the Bermuda Triangle "assignment", all I could do was laugh and wonder how long these developers had been permanently living there. (As I was searching for the bottle of rum as one of the hidden objects, I decided I think I know what they have been drinking.) The graphics are rudimentary at best, the music is screamingly annoying, and the storyline is absurd. The dialogue is stilted, to say the least; and the instructions and interactions for the mini-games are even worse. Oh well, I had some time to kill and it proved, once again, that garbage will sell. This is absolutely a "No Sale" for me. (I posted this in another thread before the C and R thread was started, so I have re-posted here.)
Edited on 03/22/2011 at 1:55:14 AM PST
by cherbtoo on Mar 22, 11 2:37 AM
The first thing I didn't like was being told to turn the brightness up ... why should we have to adjust our computers when they are already set on our preferred settings and the majority of games work brilliantly on that setting.
The graphics started out reasonably clear for the first case, in the antarctic the syringes were unrecognisable blobs, in the yeti scene everything was really blurry . Also you went looking for the yeti and had to find several teddy bears ... I didn't know that sasquatch had toys .
The story was weird in that each case was stamped closed but I didn't feel that the explanations given were satisfactory plus the fact that the same strange symbol was found at each scene so how can the cases be closed when obviously something is connecting all these different places .
Alas the quality of this game isn't sufficient enough to make me want to buy it to discover what made the sybol and why ... not at a DD price or at any price . Sorry devs but that is my personal opinion and I know truth hurts.
The only thing I can honestly say that I liked about the game was the pipe puzzle and that I did enjoy .
by Lucy1997 on Mar 22, 11 4:12 AM
I posted this last night before I went to bed, but the review file wasn't up so I'll repost it. I had only played about fifteen minutes of the game.
The game has two modes--timed and untimed. I started with the timed and failed twice to find all of the items, so restarted in the untimed mode. It pays to read the instruction screens on this game because you can click away items to reveal other items they hide, and in the left hand row you can see some buttons that are helpful. One is a magnifier. You also can click on stars, though I'm not quite sure what the stars do for you (more hints, maybe?) The game also has one panoptic scene in the first few minutes in which you have to scroll from side to side to find the items.
I only got about four scenes into the game, which seems a pretty straightforward hidden object quest: you clean your new office, your clean up the computer files, and then you set out to investigate your cases. I was a bit mystified why an FBI agent was investigating first in Antarctica and then in France even if he was a member of some new paranormal unit, but then I looked up the developers, who are French. Some of the terminology is British ("torch" for "flashlight." for example), but I didn't find it troublesome.
by heatherington on Mar 22, 11 4:13 AM
Developers Beware! When we don't like a game we can't say enough bad things about it. For a moment when I first saw the screen shot I thought of "Heritage" but after hearing the reviews I thought, no, Heritage was better than that, weird, but better. In case you haven't been noticing. When we play murder mysteries or the like we want realism and logic!
Uninstalled after 15 minutes, don't know how I lasted that long, also uninstalled yesterday's game, which was not as bad, but was not as good either.
Edited on 03/22/2011 at 4:28:24 AM PST
by sinshack on Mar 22, 11 4:41 AM
5th day in a row with Hidden Object games? And there are TWO today? There is a soft release - if you hate this game, give Aladin and the Wonderful Lamp: The 1001 Nights a try!
by Purplerabbit on Mar 22, 11 5:44 AM
From bitter experience, it is an Hd0 game and is bound to be short.
by hannah57 on Mar 22, 11 5:59 AM
Well that was one of the most irritating and stupidest games I've ever played. Please BF give us some credit for having brains, did you really think we'd like something like this or do you just not care. It's a NO BUY here
by dfringer on Mar 22, 11 6:04 AM
I have tried to play many games by HdO and they have all been awful!
HdO= Horrible, dull, odius
by bella81762 on Mar 22, 11 6:37 AM
ok maybe too early in the morn for me but what does Hdo mean
by bella81762 on Mar 22, 11 6:39 AM
there is no forum for it....will you post a review in ccc?
by sinshack on Mar 22, 11 6:46 AM
This is a straight HOG, so if you have to have interaction, you will 
hate this game. It has a slight bit of interaction and there is an inventory, but it isn’t Phantasmat so don’t expect that type of gameplay. Because it’s a HOG (Hidden Object Game,) it has Hidden Object scenes. “Duh,” I know, but some gamers always seem surprised by that fact.
I’m not as organized as Goofyduck, but I’ll do my best. I’ll just give you my thoughts/discoveries about this game as I found them.
The graphics are good, but not the HD quality we’ve seen in recent games. They have a nice hand-drawn quality, though, and I didn’t have any problems finding items due to the style of graphics. Some items are small, however, so those with less-than-perfect eyesight or small screens may have problems. As usual, give it a try and see.
There are some language differences, but nothing to get upset about so far. Hints are called “Clues,” which makes perfect sense. As another fishy mentioned, British terms are used instead of American for some items (Torch for flashlight, for example.)
You find a gold star in the scenes to earn an extra hint, and mini-games give you 2 extra hints if you solve them. The hints still need to recharge even though you have more than one available, and that takes in about 1 minute. I was surprised to see the gold stars in the mini-games, too, so there are plenty of opportunities to earn extra hints.
As CasualGran mentioned, at the beginning it recommends that you increase the brightness of your monitor for optimal viewing. I think this is for those who normally keep their screens darker, because my “normal” setting was plenty bright enough and I didn’t have to change anything.
You don’t get the whole list at once in the H0 scenes. As you find an item, if the description of the next item “fits” in the list box at the bottom of the screen, the next item will be added to the list. Some item descriptions are longer so sometimes you find two items before the next item is added. The items to find seemed to fit the situations and locations, and they were proportional (nothing bugs me more than looking for a paperclip and finding it is the size of a door.)
If you see a glow on the screen, click on it. Sometimes something is hidden there, sometimes you need to click on it to access items on the H0 list.
I clicked quite a bit and didn’t get the dreaded spinning curser, so it looks like there is no click penalty.
by sinshack on Mar 22, 11 6:47 AM
Sometimes there is an extra item to find after you finish an H0 scene, but it glows so you can find it.
There is an inventory, and I think it has about 4-5 boxes. You don’t use the item right away, I think it was about 10 minutes after I got the first inventory item and a few screens later that I used it. Certainly not iHOG, barely iHOG-lite, but still something interesting and different for a straight HOG.
The mini-games can be skipped, I think the skip button recharged in about 2 minutes. You get 2 hints for completing them, for a maximum of 6 hints at a time. I didn’t use more than 1 hint before I either found another gold star or played a mini-game to earn more.
If you quit before you play 10 minutes, you really don’t get into the game – you start with the usual “clean the office” because the agent is taking over the office from another agent. They added a little twist to that because he redecorates a bit after he cleans.
Play it and make up your own mind. As I said at the beginning, you will probably hate this if you need interaction, and you will certainly hate this if you don’t like hidden object games. It does have a story, but it develops slowly. The story is interesting but not edge-of-your-seat, can’t-wait-to-see-what-happens, gotta-get-it interesting.
This is a good, solid, PLAIN, but well-executed HOG. Nothing fancy, just good solid gaming. Make up your own mind, go ahead and say you hate it if you do, but please say why you hate it to help the other gamers. Personally, I will put this in my “probably” pile. It’s getting toward the end of the month, and I’ll probably need to buy one or two more games to fill in another punch card. This will be one of them, if I don’t get bored and buy it sooner.
Happy gaming to those who enjoy this type of game!
ETA: I forgot one thing - if 360 panning gets you seasick, don't panic when the game opens. The swooping-scrolling thing is just at the very beginning in the titles, not in the game itself.
Edited on 03/22/2011 at 6:54:38 AM PST
by sinshack on Mar 22, 11 6:51 AM
bella81762 wrote: ok maybe too early in the morn for me but what does Hdo mean
by jkuci on Mar 22, 11 6:55 AM
Thanks for the great review sinshack!!
by doccat5 on Mar 22, 11 6:59 AM
Another Stinker! Do these developers not get it?? Tiny items to find again and the story line is so-so. Another no buy, here.
by Purplerabbit on Mar 22, 11 7:00 AM
The screen shots of that look like the same developer!
by bella81762 on Mar 22, 11 7:02 AM
lol duh me...i thought it was a new type of hog game..thanks
by sinshack on Mar 22, 11 7:22 AM
They are - and the gameplay is EXACTLY the same (I thought I'd clicked on the wrong game title when I started to play) so if you hate this one, you will hate Aladin, too.
On the other hand, if you LIKE this one, you will also like Aladin, so give it a try!
by barbee44 on Mar 22, 11 7:23 AM
Well, some of us complained about all the games being CE's so BFG dug deep and found us some games to use our credits... So they are just trying their best to please us... Thank you. The first few were very good and I did purchase them and now have used up all my credits. Whew!