Its absurd to think this is a decent HOG compared to others available...

The Good:

• Beautiful artwork
  
• Animations are nicely drawn
  
• Somewhat nice variety of locations
  
• Protagonist's voice acting is good

The Bad:

• Bonus content voice acting is terrible
  
• Hidden object searches were not accurate (I could easily pick off 3/4 of the items just randomly clicking)
  
• Cannot skip conversations, narrations, most cutscenes. Even clicking descriptions, you have to wait for protagonist to finish saying "I have to put something in there"
  
• Story length is short. Finished game in less than 4 hours + 'bonus content' on Expert first time
  
• UI is not intuitive or consistent. Sometimes you drag an inventory item, sometimes you just click, sometimes you click lots for multiple items.. who knows until you have to try!

The Ugly:

• Collector's edition has extra content- they remind you on every screen in there and on your items (serious example: Ruby [Collectors Edition])
  
• Story didn't flesh out at all and don't really explain very much. Bonus content only serves to open more holes while badly plugging the ones you had finished with.
  
• No extra features - no achievements, no cards, no side quests, no lore, no epilogue (I lie a little, you get to see... concept art after bonus is completed).

For people who know their HOG's:

This game is probably one of the lowest ranked HOG's I've seen in a long time. There are games in the Apple store for tablets that go for $2 that are better than this. The story is unengaging, short and unpolished; the puzzles either easy or annoying. This is the first time I've felt like skipping easy puzzles because I couldn't be bothered, as there was no motivation nor interest from story to encourage me, let alone some of them were very arduous.

The fact you can't skip most of the dialogue in the game, including 'monologues about what to do next' really kills your interest and since you're left with no epilogue or extra features makes you feel like the whole game was a chore with little to show for it. For $A5, you're not getting your money's worth. I would buy it at <$1 sale as it still had beautiful artwork and well, its still a HOG :)

For people who are new to HOG's (Hidden Object Games):

This is not one of the better ones on the market folks. There are much more fun HOG's on Steam that give you so many extra features that they're now generally accepted as standard including Steam Cards, side quests (e.g. extra hidden objects in different maps), achievements and more. It is especially important to note that this game did not have a very good tutorial nor really orientate you to what you're meant to do so it may not be the best one to start with or base your opinion of HOG's.

[i] Its absurd to think this is a decent HOG compared to others available... [/i] [b]The Good: [/b] [list] [*] Beautiful artwork [*] Animations are nicely drawn [*] Somewhat nice variety of locations [*] Protagonist's voice acting is good [/list] [b]The Bad: [/b] [list] [*] Bonus content voice acting is terrible [*] Hidden object searches were not accurate (I could easily pick off 3/4 of the items just randomly clicking) [*] Cannot skip conversations, narrations, most cutscenes. Even clicking descriptions, you have to wait for protagonist to finish saying "I have to put something in there" [*] Story length is short. Finished game in less than 4 hours + 'bonus content' on Expert first time [*] UI is not intuitive or consistent. Sometimes you drag an inventory item, sometimes you just click, sometimes you click lots for multiple items.. who knows until you have to try! [/list] [b]The Ugly: [/b] [list] [*] Collector's edition has extra content- they remind you on every screen in there and on your items (serious example: Ruby [Collectors Edition]) [*]Story didn't flesh out at all and don't really explain very much. Bonus content only serves to open more holes while badly plugging the ones you had finished with. [*] No extra features - no achievements, no cards, no side quests, no lore, no epilogue (I lie a little, you get to see... concept art after bonus is completed). [/list] [b][i]For people who know their HOG's: [/i][/b] This game is probably one of the lowest ranked HOG's I've seen in a long time. There are games in the Apple store for tablets that go for $2 that are better than this. The story is unengaging, short and unpolished; the puzzles either easy or annoying. This is the first time I've felt like skipping easy puzzles because I couldn't be bothered, as there was no motivation nor interest from story to encourage me, let alone some of them were very arduous. The fact you can't skip most of the dialogue in the game, including 'monologues about what to do next' really kills your interest and since you're left with no epilogue or extra features makes you feel like the whole game was a chore with little to show for it. For $A5, you're not getting your money's worth. I would buy it at <$1 sale as it still had beautiful artwork and well, its still a HOG :) [b][i]For people who are new to HOG's (Hidden Object Games): [/i][/b] This is not one of the better ones on the market folks. There are much more fun HOG's on Steam that give you so many extra features that they're now generally accepted as standard including Steam Cards, side quests (e.g. extra hidden objects in different maps), achievements and more. It is especially important to note that this game did not have a very good tutorial nor really orientate you to what you're meant to do so it may not be the best one to start with or base your opinion of HOG's.