Reviews related to : Avanquest

Avanquest produce a range of software games and other products including re-releases of many favourites - all at prices much less that their original publication.

Available from GSP, now part of Maximum Games, Evil Pumpkin: The Lost Halloween sets you the task of discovering what happened to Halloween.
Developed by Two Desperadoes, Evil Pumpkin: The Lost Halloween is a Hidden Object Adventure game.  This game is set in the city of Dern, a location that, for some reason, has been ostracised from the Halloween community.  You are cast in the role of a young boy named Lemuel Barnabus who is tasked with the challenge of discovering what has happened to Halloween and help the residents of Dern.
With plenty of printed dialogue, this next game takes you on a search for a Mayan artefact.
The Hidden Continent: Column of the Maya is a Hidden Object Adventure game from Daedalic Entertainment and Prime Games.  This game is now available, under licence, from Avanquest’s GSP game catalogue.  While not exactly a blast from the past, The Hidden Continent: Column of the Maya does show its age as it plays like a game that was common several years ago as it lack many of the features we have come to expect as standard.
Mice helping cats is not an everyday occurrence but it is one that forms the basis of this next game made up of puzzle solving levels.
In the past I have installed and played numerous games available from the Avanquest GSP game catalogue.  This next title, however, is a first for me with a game from this particular source.  The game in question is MouseCraft and it requires you to have a Steam account in order to install the title.  If anybody is unfamiliar with Steam, I should explain that this is an Internet-based digital distributor platform providing access to computer and console titles.
While I am a big fan of Anne McCaffrey’s books on the Dragons of Pern, I had not previously encountered the Dragons of Derod.
Guardian Dragons: The Prophecy is a Hidden Object Adventure game that is based on the novel by Falco Loffler.  The game is set in the world of Derod where dragons and demons have fought a long-running battle over the fate of mankind.  The dragons have always watched over man from afar and protected them from the constant attacks from the demons.  Many battles have raged until the demons were driven off beyond the Koan Mountains in the far northeast of Derod.
A reappearing spirit, abducted children, flowers and skulls are all featured in this next Hidden Object Adventure game.
For many years the villagers of San Cristobal have held an annual festival entitled Flores de los Muertos (Flowers of the Dead).  This festival’s purpose was to ward off the spirit of the Weeping Woman whom the villagers believed was responsible for the disappearance of young children. The story behind the legend of the Weeping Woman began with the marriage of the village beauty Maria Gonzales to Domingo who has a reputation of being a rogue.
Developed by GOGII and available from Avanquest’s GSP game label, Vault Cracker: The Last Safe is a Hidden Object Adventure game with the emphasis on the Hidden Object aspect.
Unlike most of the game of this particular genre that come my way, Vault Cracker: The Last Safe opens with a prologue as your character is involved in the crime of breaking into a safe when steel bars come crashing down trapping you in the vault.  Fortunately there is a great deal more to this game than a failed break in as you are taken back in time.
A wicked Queen and a search for eternal beauty are the central planks for a Living Legends Hidden Object Adventure game.
With the tagline of “Eternal Beauty has a price”, Living Legends: Frozen Beauty is a Hidden Object Adventure game.  This title is available in Collector’s Edition format from Avanquest GSP catalogue. In order to qualify as a Collector’s Edition format offering the game has to come with a number of bonus items.  In the case of Frozen Beauty, you have immediate access to the Wallpapers, Screen Savers, Music and Concept Art sections plus a Strategy Guide.
With puzzles and mini-games, this next adventure game takes you on a journey through Egypt as you defeat an evil force.
Egypt, the land of Pharaohs, ancient mysteries, magic and evil curses, is the location for a game developed by Teyon.  The game, not surprisingly, uses its location as part of its title which is Riddles of Egypt.  Priced at £5.10, this game is available as a download from the Avanquest GSP game label.
Golden Trails 2, subtitled The Lost Legacy is a Hidden Object Adventure game. The Collector’s Edition of this game is available as a download priced at £10.20 from Avenquest’s GSP game catalogue.
As you would expect with a Collector’s Edition title, Golden Trails 2 comes with a number of bonus items are included with the standard game offering.  You get various wallpapers, sound tracks, a shooting gallery module, information about the making of the game plus a bonus episode.  However you must complete the main game before you have access to any of these items.
Computer gaming has come a long way since those early days when blocky monochrome pixels, simplistic sound effects and a storyline that could put a great deal of pressure on the player’s imagination. Nowadays, with photo-realistic graphics, smooth fast animated action, Dolby surround sound and an all-engulfing storyline set in an atmospheric environment, the game provides us with a virtual world to inhabit. This next title comes somewhere in between these two extremes.
Entitled Retro RPG Bundle, this offering, part of the Avanquest GSP game catalogue, brings together three retro role-playing adventure games in a single package.  The titles in question are Deadly Sin, Skyborn and Deadly Sin II.  I was rather surprised to discover that the earliest of these titles only dates back a mere six years – I expected it to be far older than that. Each of the titles needs to be installed separately from the same front-end menu.
Swans with nettle vests and a speechless Queen accused of black magic feature in this Hidden Object Adventure game.
As the second title in the Grim Legends series, Song of the Dark Swan is available in Collector’s Edition format from the Avanquest GSP catalogue of games.  This Hidden Object Adventure game comes with a number of bonus items, some of which are available immediately while others, such as replaying the Hidden Object scenes and watching various cut-scenes, require the main game to be completed before you are granted access.
Television continues to provide fertile ground for games’ developers looking for inspiration. This is one such occasion.
Psych, as you may guess from its title, is an offering based on the popular television series that revolves around the two central characters of Shawn Spencer and Barton Guster, better known as Gus.  Shawn is a private detective who has an almost Sherlock Holmes observational skill which allows him to market himself as a psychic detective while Gus acts as a Dr. Watson type sounding-board for his theories.
Bringing together two classic murder mysteries in a single offering, Avanquest has published, as part of its GSP catalogue, an Agatha Christie double pack. The two games are of the Hidden Object genre and feature Hercule Poirot and Miss Jane Marple as the leading characters. Hercule Poirot is the detective in charge of solving the mystery of Dead Man’s Folly while Miss Marple steps in to take charge in the 4:50 from Paddington. In both cases you take on the role of the detective’s assistant in order to help solve these murder mysteries in chapter based titles.
Both of the titles in this pack are installed from a single installation procedure that creates a single desktop icon.  This icon gives you access to a front-end menu that allows you to select from the two games.  Profiles can be set up for individual players with each of the games.  You can set the volume level for music, ambient sound and general sound effects.
With its different types of Hidden Object game play, this next title sets you the task of defeating Eternal Darkness.
7 Roses: A Darkness Rises is a Hidden Object Adventure game developed by Dragonseye Studios and TAG Publishing.  This game is now available as part of Avanquest GSP catalogue and evolves solving the riddle of eternal darkness. From the game’s main title screen you can create profiles for individual players.  Profiles can contain adjustable levels for the volume levels for music, ambient and SFX audio.
In this game your on-screen persona makes a mistake that releases an evil demon. Will you be able to correct this mistake and recapture the demon?
Theatre of the Absurd is a Hidden Object Adventure game.  Developed by GoGii, this game is now available from Avanquest’s GSP game catalogue.  Although the packaging does not actually mention it, this game comes with a number of extra features that usually qualify such titles as being a Collector’s Edition game.
Taking the old favourite of Match-3 game play and placing it within an ancient Egyptian environment with a touch of high culture is a Legend of Mystery or so the title says.
Developed by Magnussoft, a German based company, The Legend of Mystery: High Culture is a Match-3 game.  This title, available as a download from Avanquest GSP website priced at £10.20, is spread over more than 100 levels.  Set in an ancient Egyptian environment, the game requires you to unlock a series of treasures that become available throughout the course of the game. Profiles can be created for individual players with a choice of three levels of difficulty.
With a title that might discourage you from installing the product, Infected: The Twin Vaccine is described on the packaging as a “spine-tingling Hidden-Object thriller”. Developed by GoGii and available from Avanquest’s GSP game catalogue in Collector’s Edition format, this game sets you the task of searching the town of Oxford for a missing girl who holds the key to preventing a global epidemic.
As usual with game of this type, you can set up a profile for individually named players.  There is a choice of windowed, full screen or wide screen action with a custom of system cursor.  Using slider bars you can adjust image quality and the volume levels for music, sound effects and voice dialogue.  You can also opt to play in Casual mode which offers a tutorial, help text and quick recharging rates for the hints and skipping mini-games plus the appearance of glints.
Eastville Chronicles: The Drama Queen Murder describes itself as a “whodunit Hidden Object game full of love, passion and intrigue”. Developed by Queen Media and published by TAG, this game is now available as part of the Avanquest GSP catalogue.
As usual with games of this genre, you can set up profiles for individual players containing their own range of settings.  Adjustments can be made to the volume levels for music and sound effects.  As the sound effects just consist of a couple of noises that occur when you locate one of the hidden objects, you may want to reduce this particular volume level.
Placed on a remote island, your task is to locate various dinosaurs buried beneath the scenery. Are you up to the task?
With all the hype surrounding the latest movie to be released in the Jurassic Park franchise, it does seem appropriate to revisit a game I first encountered nearly ten years ago.  Actually I had totally forgotten the game but memories came flooding back when a copy of the game turned up for review and I fired up the software and saw the Enkard logo decorating the screen.  This was quickly followed by the title of Jurassic Realm.
This next title transports you back to the year 1450 as you enter the world of Royal Settlement created by the German based team of Magnussoft.
This game, entitled Royal Settlement 1450, is available as a software download from Avanquest’s GSP website.  For some reason this game has been categorised as belonging to the Jewel Match-3 genre which it definitely isn’t.  Royal Settlement 1450 is a time management offering. Times have been extremely hard in the kingdom on which this game is based.  The king, who is the Supreme Head of the Empire, is not best pleased with the situation and you can hardly blame him.