Mystery of the Ancients, Curse of the Black Water CE Your traveling to the seaside town of Black Water to check up on 2 archaeologists who have not been heard from in several days. The remaining residents of the town were evacuated once the water turned black and scary sightings started happening. I?ll start by confessing up front ?I?m a wimp!!! Start the game by watching the opening screen with the buoy floating in the water? then the buoy is then moved by something?something BIGGG! I made it past that without a problem & about to the 45 minute range but almost fled while still on the pier. If you make it through the 1 hour demo then you have nerves of steel and my hat is off to you! For me my dreams are too vivid for this kind of game this late at night! I live on the Southern Oregon Coast and maybe this is just too close to what my nightmares are already made of. Awesome graphics, very appropriate music, options to adjust the music, effects & ambient sounds, custom cursor & full screen options. Each player has a running total of time spent in the game where you sign in under your name the time total is off to the right of your name when you re sign in after exiting. This game is by the same developers that made Lockwood Manor and Kate Arrow Deserted Wood. Extra content in this CE is 7 sound tracks, 10 Concept Art drawings, 11 Wallpapers and bonus game material. The music titles were Memories of Water, Abandoned Town, Monuments, Kraken, Castles in the Air, A Dream and Clue to the Riddle. The Concept art were more incomplete than I like in the artwork and reminded me of water color art. The Wallpaper art were very nice and as scared as certain scenes made me I am surprised a couple other scenes were not in the selections. There are also 15 Achievements. The first is for finding all of the 39 items, one from each scene(?See forum review to highlight what the item is??) and you?ll earn the elite detective if you complete the game in under 6 hours so a very good length. Recommended fo

Loved this game! Everything about this game was developed well. The only complaint I have is that alot of the time when you went to grab something to use from your inventory, that action would take you from the item you were zeroed in on. Don't know if that was a glitch in the game or if I was clicking too fast but other than that, graphics were great, cutscenes great, VO's great. Not too many HO scenes but just enough to have fun. The game flowed easily and I always enjoy collecting a certain item to be on the "look out" for plus getting achievements for certain accomplishments. Thanks BF for a really great game and a great way to start this month out!

Played 25 minutes, casual - 3 modes, casual, advanced, hardcore - 15 achievements to perform throughout the game, no hint in H0, no skip, etc - Throughout the game you have to collect 39 turtles - Note book - Map which show objectives, you can jump from one place to another - Voice overs - Hint useful outside H0, refill quickly casual - Skip button fills quickly too - H0, you interact, you have to find an object to get another one - Interesting mini games - Gorgeous graphics - Good music A monster has taken over a deserted town but for archeologists. Interesting story (ancient undersea city). Beautiful game which is an instant buy for me (crush)

A deserted town, a mysterious sea monster and two missing archeologists all add up to a fairly entertaining game by the developers who once brought us the Lockwood Manor story, a personal favorite of mine. Personally I think the graphics have improved and I really like this style of artwork. There are ambient sounds like rain, sea and gulls which I think always enhances the overall atmosphere of the game. As for voice-overs, there was the introdution scene and I have yet to hear anyone talk during the demo trial. I expect we will run across someone else during the game. As always there are three play modes to chooses from and unfortuately I saw that there was still some odd sparkles in the advance mode. I will have to play the hardcore mode which means no hints or skips. You have excellent game features like a journal, a map which you can use to teleport and also collectables that are sea turtles that you pick up along the way. There are also achievements to earn which always adds to replay value. Gameplay is your standard HOPA with HO scenes that are interactive and mini-games that vary in idfficulty but are nothing outstanding. Overall, I found the gameplay fairly easy and depending what mode you play, it really wasn't much of a challenge. However, I still enjoyed the overall gaming experience, the story has a mystery to uncover and I do like the features which means that it is a definite buy for me. I realise that lately CE games are alot alike and it is rare to find that game that has that WOW factor. This one comes close but does not actually hit the mark for a Great game. However as it is the first of the month and I do have change to spare, I will be definitely be getting this one to add to my collection.

Review base on completed game + bonus play in casual mode (1st of 3). The 2nd and 3rd options are hard core gaming with no cursor transitions or indicators. This game has it all delivering from the opening scene to the very last of the bonus play. This is one of, and possibly the best, games I've played. About the game: STORYLINE - Save the world by traveling to an island where archaeologists disappear and so does everyone else after intriguing artifacts are unearthed, a sea monster is awakened, one of Poseidon castle's raised from the sea, and the dread Kraken called forth. BONUS PLAY - Finish the job by destroying the newly trapped evil before it can escape and destroy the world...... Fits in seamlessly, offers 3 new areas to explore, and mini-games not previously included in the game. The remaining HOS were were more challenging and complex requiring a lot of interaction, searching for shapes, and figuring out what to do with shapes in order to complete the scene. Very fun and refreshing. GRAPHICS - Phenomenally detailed and original with mythical Greek theme throughout. A bit of a resource hog as though my laptop meets stated requirements no other application could be running in the background without disrupting the graphics. MAP - Allows jumping to locations, indicates active areas. Navigating is each as game has 5 chapters, closing off completing areas. AREA COMPLETE - There were no indicators, but no need since the MAP showed active areas and the gamer typically isn't allowed to enter areas of no more use - at least in casual mode. HOS - There were roughly 10 in the main game which may not sound like much but they were well constructed, find objects from a list, somewhat interactive, non-junk pile, and strategically located. No need to wade through scores of HOS acquiring then re-acquiring the same axe, screwdriver, or wrench,.....well you get the picture. Bonus Play contained 3 or 4 HOS which were completely different that the others. --Al

Well, I have Kate Arrow and really liked it, but did not get the last Mystery of the Ancients..didn't care for that one at all. However, that said, this is a very nice game. Nice clear, clean graphics, nice music and game play. HOGs not difficult and fairly easy to see items, games not difficult at all. Interesting story for a change. Would still benefit from a few voice-overs (maybe have some later in the game, but not that far yet#, other than the girl screaming. Extremely intelligent Kraken, and pretty nasty looking up close, but it isn't scary #at least not to me). Some people may not care for it. I really like the "jump" map. Very nice SG. Hint system has fairly fast recovery (always a plus). This is one of those games that makes me want to purchase to see what happens, so I definitely am going to get it. As always, try it for yourself and see what you think. We all have different tastes in games and you may not care for it at all...your choice, your money. Thanks for the reviews.

Loved playing this one! Thrilling and mysterious story, very good, clear graphics. 3 modes to play. Interactive map! Lots of interacive HOS and new puzzles. And most important for me to purchase a CE: earning achievments (15) and looking for collectables (here 39 turtles). Yes, I do recommend this game!!!!

I played the demo version and found it to be interesting. Its a giant squid that has ran the people away and chasing an archeologist that you have to save. The HO scenes were clear and not to hard. I found the mini games to be a bit difficult but fun. Very good grafics and the music was ok. I enjoyed the demo and will purchase this game. If you like sea tales, poseiden and legends from the deep, then this is the game for you.......Happy Gaming Fishies!!!!!

What a Kraken game... sorry, I meant 'What a cracking game!" Beautiful graphics, interactive map, lovely background music and not too many H0S. This is more of an adventure/puzzle and achievements and additional items to collect always add that extra something to the overall enjoyment. In the main game I counted 11 H0S and 23 puzzles. The bonus had just 3 H0S, but they were wonderfully interactive, and 10 puzzles. It's a good length too - main game around 5 1/4 hours, bonus around 1 1/4 hours. This is actually one of those games (for me at least) where the bonus is almost better than the main event. I'd definitely recommend this for a fun half day of entertainment.

This is based on the trial game. The story is interesting There is an interactive map that shows where you have something to do. Puzzles for the most part are good HO scenes are cluttered but items are easy enough to find There are 39 turtles to find I immediately bought this game after the trial. Buy it I think you'll like it.