12.8 hours played
Written 4 years ago
Entertaining HOPA game in the secret society / exploration genre. The art is pretty and the HO scenes are interesting. The story is no more linear than most such games, although the characters are rather forgettable.
Pros:
- nice visuals, reasonably good voice acting
- setting is varied and interesting
- puzzles are somewhat varied and have a few challenges
- plenty of HO scenes with different styles (word list, shape, etc.)
- customizable difficulty setting and fully interactive map
- collectibles are interesting to find without being frustrating
Note: Watch out for the morphing objects *within* HO scenes (wish I'd known)
Cons:
- story is on the weak side; Eipix has done better
- the hint button is right beside the map, and the map button is small
- no Steam achievements (although the in-game achievements are fun to try for anyway)
- the bonus chapter was nicely drawn and provided more to do, but was only "okay"
[b]Overall:[/b] This is the first game of the series that is a HOPA; the earlier games appear to be older-style HO games. The Crown of Solomon was fun to play, and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys the HOPA genre, especially if you like the "protagonist in secret society" setting. The visuals were very nice, and the Extras menu lets you go back to find or do things you've missed. Get it on sale, but only get the bundle if you don't mind the three "old school" HO games.