Cruel Games: Red Riding Hood

The Good
The artwork was good, typical of the genre but well done nevertheless.

The music was good, nothing I'd save and listen to again but it added to the mood and was enjoyably minimalist while it lasted

The game design was a surprise. I had expected a standard hidden object game with just hidden object puzzles. What I found was a pleasing mix of point and click adventure / hidden object game which I thoroughly enjoyed.

The game mechanics work well too. The game autosaves when the player exits, has a good hint system when objects cannot be found and a map system to tell the player where there's an incomplete scene/puzzle.

The Bad
There's really nothing to dislike about this game. I suppose the storyline is a bit weak, more a bit of fluff to hang a game on than something that's deeply immersive, but this is a casual game and such a story is expected.

Big Fish who published the game also produced a detailed walkthrough which shows where every hidden object can be found. This means that nothing changes from one play through to the next so the game has very little replay value.

The Bottom Line
It's not going to set the world alight and it's not breaking new ground with it's creative ideas. It's a good, solid, well done bit of fun that can be finished in a day.