The cutscene at the beginning is really appealing, and features an outstanding movie, with real people, excellent VO, and an always interesting topic - the philosopher's stone! The story is well developed, great calm sound and crisp graphics, which provides a very good look. Cutscenes are quite interesting, and some even cause a shiver, especially when the character's eyes are closer. The game holds you till the end! Interactive HOS, average challenge, but hint fills very quickly. Hint helps throughout the game too, not just in the HOS. Some mini games already very familiar and easy, as "light all the fuses" .. but also has new ones - a bit more difficult. There's some back and forth, but the locations are close. It has a journal, and helps in having to go back to see "tips", etc.. Enjoy! You wont regret !

I'm not much on 'human' characters but this is well done and not loaded with interaction with people infused into an animated scene. There is some searching and clicking bordering on frustration but what you need is quickly found. The hint button is a good assist. The mini-games are different and manageable. The HOGs are clear. The reason for the "loved it" ? It's just plain fun to travel through the great graphics and it wasn't so dark and sinister as we've seen a lot of lately. The raven even looks nice. The story line seems light but I'm anxious to follow to the end. I only played the trial so the review is based on 60 minutes of play.

Loved this game. Your mission is to rescue the Professor and find the Philosopher's Stone and while doing this, you are transported to different locations. The graphics are gorgeous, the storyline is great and the voice-overs are done very well. The opening scene was teriffic and used real actors, which really drew me into this game. I played in "expert" mode and found it to be just challenging enough. HO scenes were interactive and not muddy. Hats off to the developers. I certainly will buy this CE.

I loved this game for all sorts of reasons. The cut scenes with real real actors conjure up a great atmosphere, especially as you see flashes of other things going on too. Other animated scenes really fitted into the whole ethos of the game and I loved the ones with the little figures. The scrolls you find also have excellent animation, again adding to the atmosphere of the game. The storyline in the game unfolds gradually and well. I did guess the twist though I expect that's because I've played games like this before. It's similar to many other games but I did feel there was a freshness about the various places, the HO scenes and many of the mini-games. Slight negatives were the journal: I didn't find it very useful and in fact sometimes it seemed to have things in an odd order (bits I'd found earlier coming after other things). That's a minor niggle as I didn't use it too much. There's a lot of to-ing and fro-ing so a map would have been useful I suppose. However, in general it was pretty clear what you were supposed to do, the only problem was remembering the places where you might use the object you'd just found. As with all games like this you get the odd bit such as 'oh leaves, can I kick them aside?', but no, you need to find a rake. Still, that's the point of playing such games! On final observation: this game is supposedly set on a island somewhere off Scotland, in which case your friend the blackbird has strayed very far from home as he is a red-winged North American blackbird, not the all black, yellow-billed European one! Still, he's very useful so I supposed I shouldn't complain. A really fun game to play and highly recommended.

This is a truly enjoyable game. Lasts a good long while. Although there is no map, it is easy to get around in. The hints can sometimes be useless, sending you to places where you don't have all you need. I really enjoyed the background music and the voiceovers are pretty good as well. Liked the transition from live action to animated, thought that was done very nicely. Not as dark and gloomy a story as usual and that was a nice change, although don't get me wrong...it isn't a nice little fairy tale either. The hidden object scenes were nicely done and well lighted (I see that as a common thread through these reviews), and the mini-games are well varied--a few ones that everyone has and a few new ones. Overall--I liked it quite a bit!

Plays likes a movie with great graphics. Good story. Great VOS, especially the talking crow. Nice music. HOS clear and interactive. Games were good, more guessing than strategy. Very enjoyable 5 hours casual play.

Really enjoyed seeing human beings talking and pics. Quite a large game, good HO scenes, music good too. A game you will finish, once you start. Graphics great! Enjoyed this game completely Thanks BFG.

This is a great game! The graphics are great, the VO's are on spot and the HOS's are just right. Good storyline. I only purchased the SE but I wish now that I had bought the CE. The SE was quite lengthy and I can only imagine that the CE would have added so much too that! Definitely worth every penny. This game held my attention to the very last scene and definitely left me looking forward to another game by this developer!

I love a good HOG and this one is a good one! I read the reviews and tried it out and then I bought it without hesitation! I would highly recommend this game, I have played them all and this one is good!! Play the trial and be prepared to be hooked, that's all I can say. Let the game speak for itself.

What a wonderful HOG. The graphics are awesome. Everything is so clear. Lots of different places to go. Really am impressed with this one.