The game has a deliberate retro style - the pont-and-click gameplay and pixelated look are part of its charm. The humour is of the farts and double entendres variety, but the puzzles are pretty good. I disagree with the reviewer who says there is an hour of gameplay: without undue delays, it took me about three hours, but (as we are fairly warned in the game description) this is only episode 1 in a series, so be prepared to have the story interrupted. It was entertaining and adequately challenging.

First you need to crate a dummy user to register the game (really hate this), than you come to the start screen. The game does not respond to the Enter key on Apple keyboards, maybe you have to buy a PC keyboard, maybe they did not even test the start screen.
When you click with the mouse on the Enter text you can go to the options, but you can never come out of the menu again because the backspace key is not recognized from the game.

I gave it 2 stars because of the amount of work that went into this . . . exercise

I think reading the book or listening to an audio version would be better than wading though this version.

The controls are unusual to take a kind view of them for example to open some doors it takes 4 mouse actions and nothing is achieved except you enter the space beyond the door. to read text your move your mouse in clockwise or counter clockwise rotation often having to rotate in the opposite direction as you have over shoot what you wish to read.

Most of the animation/films are shadow images like the first image above.

Clicking on newspapers if allowed brings up an old type newspaper but most items you cant click on and if you do they only show a blown up view.

Being able to blow up zoom views is done well and needed in some cases to read text letters etc.

There are No puzzles as far as i can tell and awards are given as you advance though the book and for no other reason as far as i can tell.

Sadly the amount of work spent on the art work and voice acting to tell the story is wasted due to the cumbersome interface

This could have been a MUCH MUCH better Application but was let down by the interface design and implementation

I just purchased an iMac and found a lack of games available. This one is reasonably priced and is entertaining. You can get new upgrades within the game quickly and your park can grow without having to wait very long. It also gives good directions on what to do next. My hour of free play made me want to choose to pay for it - I'm looking forward to building an Amusement Park.

What can I say? Never spent so much of my life on one game since Age of Empires. This game is the best of both RTS and TBS in one...love the roman era melee violence, Empire and Medieval just cant compare even though they have better graphics...will be excited to see Rome:Total War II but for now, I will play this game everyday and never get bored!

Holy cow! There's a lot going on in this game!

The story - you and your partner captured a poacher of endangered marine life. Transporting him back to land you encounter a strange fog, your boat crashes, you wake up alone, no poacher, no partner, a strange ship is near where you are floating, you manage to get aboard. I don't want to ruin the story - let's just say the ship is very old and filled with quite unusual artifacts...

Okay, the stuff (in no particular order - it's almost all good):
• Wide screen
• Voice overs
• graphics fit the atmosphere - they are pretty good
• Achievements - #8 is different in the SG than in the game.
• Lockable inventory bar
• Collect 44 "beyond" objects - morphing
• Collect hummingbirds (I forget how many)
• Collect 5 artifact parts to get the ship's story - find the artifact base during play
• Calendar keeps track of "pieces" - find the calendar during play
• Interactive HOS OR mahjong
• Puzzles are theme based, seemed to outnumber the HO scenes.
• HOPA with 4 modes of play including Custom - very nice feature; unfortunately black info bars are hint laden.
• Map - shows where you are; and indicates active objectives except in hardest mode. In Custom settings you must select Hints-OFF. Find the map during play.
• Journal - keeps your notes and pertinent finds
• 6 chapters plus Bonus chapter

CE extras:
• Strategy Guide
• Wallpapers
• concept art
• screen saver
• music - can be saved
• mahjong - games are available once you complete each in game HO / mahjong

That's it folks. In the hours and hours of game play you will spend entertained by this game, you will encounter practically every feature possible in a Hidden Object Puzzle Adventure wrapped in a rather odd, intriguing story.

Please demo this and discover all the fun to be had!