Castle: Never Judge a Book by its Cover Game Review and Puzzle Walkthrough

I just finished playing “Castle: Never Judge a Book by its Cover,” a detective point-and-click and hidden object game based on the TV series, Castle. This is not a very detailed review. Suffice it to say that I enjoyed the game overall, especially because it was also fun on a replay. The graphics and character illustrations are spot-on, although having voice-overs from the actual stars would have been a huge plus. I’m not a huge fan of the series itself, but I enjoyed this game nonetheless.

One definite annoyance in the game is its need for illogical item collection (I always wonder why detectives never seem to carry screwdrivers or wrenches with them – they seem to need it all the time. Surely they could afford a Swiss knife at worst!). Somethings just plain made no sense like why someone would hide the spare bathroom key in a safe with a complicated opening mechanism. But what does shine through are the puzzles which have a good mix of easy to somewhat challenging to plain ol’ head-scratchers. I had to bring out a notepad and pen to solve some of them. But that good mix of puzzles definitely keeps the game interesting. Plus, the story itself is quite engaging and has a definite whodunit feel to it. So overall, my rating is 3.5 out 5 for good puzzles and graphics and overall enjoyable gameplay.

Now, I have put together a walkthrough only for the puzzles, simply because there’s a handy Hint button for the rest of the gameplay including the hidden object screens. Hopefully this will help you if you’re stuck on some of the trickier ones. I’ll be glad to hear from you if you enjoyed or hated this post or if you need further help with something. So here goes my walkthrough.

Game review: Searching for the Elephant

Searching for the Elephant is a wonderful point-and-click game featuring an intrepid little bear. The bear’s best friend, the Elephant, is missing. And so the Little Bear sets off to find his friend. The game seems to be the manifestation of a child’s imagination, in which stuffed animals come to life.

As the little bear progresses through its little world, it must get past various obstacles such as doors with lasers or create a path by having an anteater fall through the floor. On its way, the bear becomes something of a hero, rescuing trapped animals in what seems to be a research facility run by robots.

The standout in the game is definitely its art with its adorable characters set in a black and white world. The game has a whimsical, fairy-tale like feel about it, with a definite hat tip to the ever-influential games from the Amanita Design stable (specifically Machinarium). I also enjoyed the lilting accordion music by vhava with a definite throwback to the music from the movie Amelie.

The gameplay is very straightforward, with very few areas that might leave one foxed. The puzzles are straightforward and experienced gamers may actually find them a little infantile. One drawback is that it is not immediately obvious what situation one is falling into. For example, an anteater hanging by its snout and an aggressive squirrel protecting its hoard of acorns—when I came across this, there seemed to be no logical option to move forward. So it came down to clicking everything and combining everything with everything else to figure it out—something I personally hate seeing in games.

But despite that one crib, Searching for the Elephant is a delightful half an hour spent guiding the little bear on its journey.

My rating:

• Artwork: ★ ★ ★ ★
• Gameplay: ★ ★
• Story: ★ ★ ★
• Music: ★ ★ ★
• Replay value: ★

Play Searching for the Elephant.

Game Review: Avenue Flo Series (1 & 2)

Ok.. I’ll admit it… I’m a sucker for the sweet, fun games with cute graphics and sugary sweet characters. And Avenue Flo checks all the boxes. If you’re familiar with the Diner Dash series and the Dinertown series, you’ll probably know that the series typically boasts of great voice acting, lovely graphics, and fun gameplay. Sure, these aren’t exactly meant to stretch your brain muscles, but hey, can’t a girl just enjoy some mindless, cute fun?

The first in the series (yes, Avenue Flo is turning out the third episode pretty soon) is Avenue Flo. Here we are introduced to the world of Dinertown and its characters, the most popular of whom is Flo. This poor girl has been traipsing all over the world saving diners, restaurants, weddings, and what-not, and in this series, she is full-on rescuing Quinn from one disaster after another.