Reviews for Twilight Phenomena: The Lodgers of House 13 Collector's Edition

I bought it ! Who can resist a sale....right? And no Hos Yay ! But after playing Botanica this game is a big come down. Ers cranks them out and cranks them out so it appears their motto is "quantity not quality" and it shows. I like not having Hos but would rather they added hos and made the rest of the game more exciting. There is just no fun to their games anymore. And why can't they get rid of that haze or fog that always lingers in all of their games. The hint and skip button takes too long and the hint button should give you an actual clue instead of saying there is nothing to do here. Other developers have made big improvements in their games, but Ers I think is stuck in a real rut. I know they could do better if they only tried.

tuttepeever wrote:

peachesmom50 wrote:I have to agree with everything well stated by "cbtx" .. thx for saving me the trouble!!

ERS... get it together .. cause right now you're losing fans!!!

I totally agree. At one time I loved their games but now have become tired of the same old, same old and the washed out graphics. I prefer games that have crisp and clear graphics. Far more enjoyable to play. So much of the gaming experience is based on the visual aspect. ERS have lost that vision.

Agree with the above posts, plus the game play is too simplistic find the item -use the item, and the tasks are illogical. ERS, other developers pass you with lightning speed, it's time to renew if you want to be in the top 10.

Totally agree with cbtx - I refuse to buy any games from ERS until they actually start to put in some real effort and stop recycling their games.

I've just finished the demo and went straight and bought the game. Its downloading now. This is a great and fun adventure game (my fave). Playing in hard mode. It does seem a bit easy i guess but it's still lots of fun.

Tundei wrote:

tuttepeever wrote:

peachesmom50 wrote:I have to agree with everything well stated by "cbtx" .. thx for saving me the trouble!!

ERS... get it together .. cause right now you're losing fans!!!

I totally agree. At one time I loved their games but now have become tired of the same old, same old and the washed out graphics. I prefer games that have crisp and clear graphics. Far more enjoyable to play. So much of the gaming experience is based on the visual aspect. ERS have lost that vision.

Agree with the above posts, plus the game play is too simplistic find the item -use the item, and the tasks are illogical. ERS, other developers pass you with lightning speed, it's time to renew if you want to be in the top 10.

Me too. Totally agree, though I did spend longer on the demo than I usually do. But not the full hour!

ETA Just thought I used to be thrilled when an ERS game came out. Now i just sigh. What a shame.

I am confused because both Valdy and Cbtx say they didn't have widescreen and yet, on the full screen setting, the game filled my 24" monitor albeit being streeeetched slightly. Out of curiosity I clicked on the "Maintain Aspect Ratio" button and the game promptly shrank to a small square . When a screen is stretched it doesn't look too bad unless you just have one large object in the middle of the screen such as the BFG logo and the close up pics of my and then it does disfigure them. Needless to say I played on the full screen setting.

I thought the start of the game was a bit farfetched as who would sign a lease on a room without seeing it first ... believe me I tried LOL ... but alas the game would not let me progress until I had signed that tea/coffee stained piece of paper.

Spoiler highlight to read Pssst ... In you want to I suggest you take some clean sheets with you .

I love adventure games but I don't like wasting a big chunk of demo time on the first puzzle and that is what happened with this game because I kept managing to do the puzzle apart from 1 section. After what seemed like forever I decided to cheat and look at the strategy guide for the solution. This was absolutely no help at all because the solution only works when you haven't moved any of the sections yourself and there is no reset button to allow you to do this without starting from the beginning again with a new profile which is what I did after changing to Casual Mode in the hope that the skip button would fill faster ... it didn't because I ran out of patience before it filled any of it .

Cherb

ETA ... Needless to say if you try to click on the wallpaper etc you are once again told that the extras will be unlocked after completing the extra game play . The only thing in favour of the CE version (apart from BFG reducing the price) is that you can replay the 30 minigames.

ETA2 ... For information purposes I use a desktop monitor not a laptop and that is probably the reason why I can get widescreen and some of you can't. I guess they must need different programming .

Poor cherb! I somehow managed to solve the monkey puzzle - mostly luck I think!

gmac - again - sound advice on renting real estate!

My initial thought was to be really dissapointed there aren't any H0 scenes (if this proves to be the case; haven't played the whole game) - but then remembered Penumbra was the same & I really ended up enjoying it!

Game is running well for me so far, no lags, no hinky cursor. As always I love, love the artwork & detail & bits of humor & fun (detail i.e. the stains on the lease & the free chocolate - how can you not like a game with free chocolate? )

I'm looking forward to seeing where this plot will go! So far the game play is fairly logical - but generally the demo portion of a game does move pretty quickly & as the game progresses things get more difficult...time will tell if this holds for this game.

It's a buy for me - esp. with the sale (which I did notice this time, unlike last week when I missed out!). Again, I'll say "try this for yourself" and decide!!

Happy gaming!

This one certainly gave me mixed feelings. Bodiless heads is a pretty twisted concept, but after seeing all the goings on between that and the people terrorized by a monkey-man, I felt worse about having to use a hologram cat to scare a poor little hamster into running, after I had earned his trust! (to be fair, he reminded me of a little chipmunk who has a tunnel under the fountain in my front yard, who comes out in the morning and runs around, and I played the demo not long after watching him sitting on top of a garden statue, apparently just enjoying the day).

That being said, although I am a HOG lover, I didn't even notice the lack of HOS in the game. It wasn't until it was over that I realized there hadn't been any. I guess that's a plus here, even though I am not an adventure game player. The puzzles weren't too hard (except he blasted monkey puzzle at the end; even resorting to the SG it wasn't easy because the SG assumes you haven't done the puzzle at all as there is no restart).

Not sure how bodiless heads talk since they don't have lungs; maybe full game explains. Or not. I do wonder, though, if this game is about bodiless heads or turning people into monkeys or both? Is this going to be one of those games where the plot leaves you scratching your head?

ERS used to be at the top
Sad to say this one is a flop
The graphics here
Are not very clear
This bunny forgot how to hop.

Without widescreen I will not buy
If others can do it, why not give it a try?
Your stories get old
Have been already told
Dear ERS tell us why.

Perhaps you are churning out games way to fast
Making them seem like the ones of the past
Good thing we can try it
Before we must buy it
You are going from first place to last.

[Removed by Moderator]

Having decided not long ago that any game with a skip over 3 minutes is a no buy for me, I definitely won't be buying this one. The skip in the advanced mode took slightly over 6 1/2 minutes.
And since this is listed as a Hidden Object Game, is it too much to ask for an occasional hidden object scene?

judyglenning wrote:Having decided not long ago that any game with a skip over 3 minutes is a no buy for me, I definitely won't be buying this one. The skip in the advanced mode took slightly over 6 1/2 minutes.
And since this is listed as a Hidden Object Game, is it too much to ask for an occasional hidden object scene?

I'm with you . That, and the usual pathetic hint system, the way it looks I won't be buying any more ERS games until they get their act together and fix the things people have been complaining about for a while now. Then again....obviously either they don't read the comments or don't care......I don't see any change in the near future.....their loss.

Played out the demo - I like this one! Yes, I'm an ERS fan, I like the graphics, music, etc. This one is not a real special one, doesn't knock my socks off, but it will be a buy as a SE. I make my own wallpapers and can't afford to pay extra for the bonus game and strategy guide right now.

Give this one a try; for the non-picky folks you might really enjoy it.That is why we have more than one developer because we all have our own opinions. Me? I like ERS, but for others not so much.

The story was nothing extra special, but then what is? Very few games don't ask for a suspension of belief. It's pretty hard to come up with new games every day and I give Big Fish credit for finding over 365 new games each year!

CelticCoco

I haven't read the olher reviews yet, but will after posting this. I found the game far too easy even in advanced mode. Yes, it's lovely artwork and there's lots to do and lots of scenes, but seconds after needing a whatzit, bam there it is! No guesswork at all, and certainly no need to remember where you might need it. The puzzles are far too easy as well. I enjoyed the Haunted Halls series much better. Again, a lovely game but I found myself bored with it. I stuck with it until the end of the demo hoping it would develop more depth, but it didn't. Cheers,

I haven't read the olher reviews yet, but will after posting this. I found the game far too easy even in advanced mode. Yes, it's lovely artwork and there's lots to do and lots of scenes, but seconds after needing a whatzit, bam there it is! No guesswork at all, and certainly no need to remember where you might need it. The puzzles are far too easy as well. I enjoyed the Haunted Halls series much better. Again, a lovely game but I found myself bored with it. I stuck with it until the end of the demo hoping it would develop more depth, but it didn't. Cheers,

i love the way this game plays. it is easy but it flows so well. the humor element is great and i am not sure if it is just me but i can access all the extras now and i am not finished with the game.

Ho hum, kid's game again - cartoony graphics, silly story, non-rational action (giant swoops off with girl, and the response is "pretty butterfly"?) The cat would have been cute if I'd been 6 years old, but then at 6 I'd have had lifelong nightmares over the severed talking head and the headless skeleton in the basement.

Very easy puzzles, not much challenge, kiddy action with horror-movie head.

Not a buy for me.

Well I bought sight unseen & it wasn't the game I thought. I have had enough of the supernatural stuff. The CE you had on Sunday was great. I will not recommend this one to anyone + it's on 1 1/2 stars at best. Hope Sunday's is better.

I played half an hour and bought it, I liked the amount of puzzles. Now my wife is playing it and as we get further into it it has just become boring. Need an object, find it next to you, time and time again. It's like following a recipe, you can't go wrong and have no need for thinking.
Wish I hadn't bothered.

Somewhat surprisingly I actually quite enjoyed the demo of this game. I say surprisingly since the graphics were a bit washed out, the puzzles were mostly pretty easy, the inventory items were used almost immediately and the story was verging on the ludicrous.

A list of reasons for not wanting to buy it; but there is something about this game that I like and I can't really say what that 'something' is! Perhaps it's the lack of HOS that don't interrupt the game every few minutes that makes me want to hit the 'buy' button. Maybe the sale price. Honestly I have no idea what ERS have done this time to deserve my money but they are going to get it! Perhaps I just want an easy game to play for once?

For me this is miles better than the lacklustre Shadow Wolf game. And in answer to Cherbs ETA2, I use a desktop as well and no ERS game ever fills my w/s monitor. Anyway, I'm off to buy this...must be feeling generous to ERS today