Rated 4 out of 5 by mrm2006 from Can you solve the mystery of the quatrains? I'm not even sure what to say about this game.
I'm still in a state of 'stun'. This game has it all - a wide variety of activities to keep everyone busy and all enthralled.
As with the best of Nostradamus’ prophecies, however, this interpretation will prove to be quite simple and shall reveal as a plain fact how well the esteemed sage could see into the future. Beginning with the first line, we have talk about the unleashing of “live fire” and “hidden death”. The Hidden Prophecies of Nostradamus mixes a fairly easy classic hidden object game with a variety of 8 types of mini-games, some very challenging. Levels are timed, but with 45 minutes to find about 50 objects, most players should be able to complete the tasks without difficulty.
First, there's the HOGs (hidden object games) - more on that later. Then, there's a 'bonus' type of game which could be anything. Following all that, there is the guessing (because that's all it can be) of the quatrain by putting the appropriate letters in the appropriate place without running out of either time or errors. Let's talk HOGs.
Unfortunately, while I do like HOGs, this part of the game had a lot to be desired. Definitely needed lots of work. The items you needed to find (could be upwards of 10 or more at each location (which also varied in number) were sooo very tiny in an area that had an over abundance of unnecessary items that were definitely larger than the ones you were looking for. It made for very, very, very difficult game play and the ONLY aspect of the game I disliked - a LOT. The mini games I came across didn't seem too difficult, although some definitely were thought-provoking and I only skipped one because I just could not figure out the answer. But, overall, I LOVED the mini games.
Putting together the lines of the quatrain was soooo much fun, I didn't want to stop. It's almost like hangman. You add letters and keep guessing and placing letters until you either run out of time, patience or allowable mistakes. There's a tally bar for mistakes at the bottom of the screen. I also LOVED this part of the game. I am soooooo on the fence about this game because the parts I LOVED, I really LOVED. But, to get to those parts of the game that I LOVED, I had to play at least 3 HOGs and because of the issues with that portion of the game, well, THAT put me on the fence.
I definitely recommend this for those who love sleuthing, a mystery, HOGs (albeit difficult to find), mini games and puzzles. This is definitely NOT a game for beginners but Intermediates and Experts will, I believe, enjoy it immensely. Happy Gaming! Rated 4 out of 5 by rosekaufmann from HOS AND PUZZLES ONLY This is a pure list-driven HOS with a wide variety of puzzles of varying difficulty. There is no story and you’ll learn no history. But I like it. You select your HOS from a map; each location tells you the number of HO you need to find and objects are easy to find in the richly-detailed colorful HOS.
Purists will be aghast to learn that not all objects are true to the 16th Century France period. Objects move around each time you go back to a location. As you progress, you will find a higher number of objects at each of the 15 levels.
There is no inventory. After successfully completing the HOS for each level, you must solve a puzzle to discover a missing element of Nostradamus’s crystal ball. Puzzles have varying degrees of difficulty (easy to challenging) and include Wheel of Fortune, unscramble the pictures, knocking out targets, scrambled cards. The searches are timed. In timed mode, you get about 40-50 minutes while untimed gives you about 80-90 minutes per level.
In other words, there is no hurry. You have a limited number of skips, so I would advise saving them for the puzzles you have difficulty solving. One annoying factor was a “clearing the throat” noise – it adds nothing but irritation. You can silence it by changing the ambient sound to zero.
Rated 3 out of 5 by meandgarfy from Just Ok This is a slow pace HO game, with some interesting mini games. Some items are hard to find. No real story with it kinda old fashioned style. Just a nice wind down game. Music is just OK as well. If you don't give up right away your eyes adjust and items are easier to find. Hints recharge fairly quickly, There is the timed mode and relaxed mode which I played.
Not one I would buy, but you should at least give the demo a try and you make up your own mind.