Haunted Legends: The Queen of Spades (Collector's Edition)

The Good
This is a decent game. It is not earth shattering and does nothing that I haven't seen before. The puzzles are generally good, challenging without being horrible and although I skipped a couple it was mainly because I needed to be doing something else rather than they were impossible.

The Bad
My main problem with the game was the load time. It loads via the Big Fish Games: Game Manager and it took ages. I had to break my game playing into four or five sessions and in the end I'd fire up the game and go and do something else for a while, like putting the kettle on and making a coffee.

Other than that there is nothing really wrong with the game at all. I did note a few minor niggles as I played but These would not stop me recommending the game to anyone, albeit with caveats.

There may be no penalties for skipping a puzzle but usually, when there is a strategy guide, I have no need to. It was therefore a bit of a shock to turn to the strategy guide and find text saying something like 'This puzzle is different every time so we cannot give you a solution!" There are a couple of puzzle like this and because they could all be skipped it did not spoil the game.

The hidden object puzzles are generally very good but there are three, maybe four, such puzzles in the game where the sought item was hidden inside another item and at least one instance where I had to make an item (I had to fill a cup with hot water). In the games I have been playing recently these items are indicated by a different colour text but not so in this game.

There are fifty two cards to collect throughout the main game. I got them all and was left wondering why I bothered because there was no reward for doing it.

The Bottom Line
This is an older game and allowances have to be made. I guess I've been spoiled by the game's I have played recently. I missed a mini map and the fast travel options some games have. The HINT option only works in the hidden object scenes so when I lost track of where I should be going the helpful "You have nothing to do in this area" message or the arrow telling me where to go next was missing.