Cake Mania 3

Given that Cake Mania 2 was a good, but not stellar, follow-up to the original Cake Mania, Sandlot Games had something to prove with Cake Mania 3. The result, happily, is a sequel that has enough new features to justify a purchase even for fans that have already played through the first two.

The story picks up as Jill is about to embark on the next exciting phase of her life: marriage. As she's coping with last-minute wedding preparations, however, disaster strikes. The Time Bender artifact, which Jill received at the end of Cake Mania 2, accidentally shatters into several pieces, and when her family and friends each grab a piece to try to put it back together they're each transported back in time to a different period of history. Taking the final Time Bender fragment, Jill must travel to each time period to find her loved ones and bring them back -- by baking cakes.

Players can select which time period to visit in any order, but once the selection has been made they're committed to playing through all levels in that location. As you visit ancient China, Olde England, revolutionary France, ancient Egypt and the Stone Age (plus a secret sixth location), you'll meet a different set of customers for each location, including the Hunchback of Notre Dame and the Emperor Napoleon in France, wizards and witches in Olde England, and dinosaurs and cave men in the Stone Age.

As in Cake Mania 2, customers will occasionally appear in locations where they don't belong, but this is at least explained by the fact that the Time Bender is malfunctioning.

Gameplay is still fundamentally the same. The goal is to build the cakes that customers request, which involves baking the basic cake shape in the oven, adding icing and perhaps a cake-topper, delivering it the finished cake to the customer before they get impatient, then collecting the money they leave behind. Customers will eventually order double-decker and even triple-decker cakes, and coffee.

Chaining commands together doesn't earn you any bonus cash, but it will eventually activate a Sugar Rush mode that causes machines to spit out cakes with no delay. There are also power-ups unique to each time period, such as Ra's Gift, which lets you keep the bakery open a little longer and a Club that lets you bash customers on the head to persuade them to accept any cake.

Money earned can be used to purchase a wide variety upgrades for the shop, such as faster icing stations and ovens, better shoes to make Jill move more quickly, and different cake-toppers to rack in bigger tips. Thankfully, you get to keep all of your shop upgrades when you move on instead of starting again from scratch each location, and what's more, you can also rearrange the layout of the kitchen by dragging machines to where you want them.

Despite numerous similarities, Cake Mania 3 is clearly more of a departure from Cake Mania 2 than Cake Mania 2 was to the original Cake Mania. There are several unique customer types that behave differently and actually force you to alter your strategy when they're around. For example, Robin Hood steals money off the counter, dragons will order more than one cake, witches will turn other customers into monkeys (which changes the type of cake they want), and if the French emperor shows up you aren't allowed to serve anyone else until his needs are met.

These new customers go a long way towards spicing up the gameplay, which admittedly starts slowly until you've earned enough to purchase a few of the upgrades like the ones that make Jill walk faster.

Cake Mania 3 also offers three new mini-games. Two involve assembling cakes from pieces on a conveyor belt (which is ho-hum at best), but the third, where you must recreate a wedding cake from a photograph by selecting the correct icing and decorations, is quite entertaining.

Other extra goodies include a wardrobe where you can swap Jill's outfit, a trophy room, the ability to download additional locations through Sandlot Connect, and a wedding cake creator where you can create a cake from scratch (even using the trophies you've earned as cake-toppers), then email a e-card with a picture of your cake on it to friends. This is a neat idea for birthdays and other special occasions, but for whatever reason the service wasn't working for me when I tried to send a card.

It's obvious that Sandlot Games learned a few lessons from Cake Mania 2 and has made a concerted effort to make Cake Mania 3 a more evolved experience with several tweaks and additions.

In some ways I wish they had gone even further. There is some overlap among customers – the Chinese and French emperors both exhibit the same behaviour, for example. The story, while it does give the gameplay context, still feels a bit tacked on despite the welcome addition of voice-overs and animation. The conveyor belt mini-games weren't particularly captivating, and you'll still find yourself accidentally placing one cake on top of another or having to awkwardly juggle cake pieces because of the inability to swap cakes with both hands.

In the end Cake Mania 3 doesn't reinvent the wheel after all, but it does pack in a significant enough number of new features to make it a decent follow-up to the mega-popular original.

Review by Erin Bell

Adventures of Robinson Crusoe

A hidden object game inspired by Daniel Defoe's classic 18th century, Adventures of Robinson Crusoe traces the remarkable story of the title character after he's shipwrecked en route to Africa and must fend for himself on a tropical island, gathering resources to stay alive while trying to find a way home.

The gameplay of Adventures of Robinson Crusoe is a typical blend of hidden object challenges, mini-games, and inventory puzzles where you must pick up an item then use it somewhere else in the scene to reveal the final items on your list. Sometimes the list of items to find are random, and other times the list is themed: for example, you might be asked to find “all the hand-held weapons.”

You’ll start by investigating the wrecked ship for provisions, and when Robinson stumbles onto the ship’s blueprints he hatches an ambitious plan to reconstruct the ship and sail home. As you complete each of the game’s six chapters you’ll get to return to the shipyard and see the ship’s progress based on the materials you’ve collected.

To find building materials for the ship (not to mention food and other essentials for Robinson), you’ll explore different scenes all over the island, including the beach, a lost temple, a forest, and a swamp. Eventually Robinson will even discover that he’s not alone on the island after all.

The game can be played in either Survivor or Relaxed mode. Relaxed offers no countdown timer, and more hints (10) per chapter.

The story is interesting enough whether you’ve read the novel or not, but the scenarios are occasionally a bit silly. For example, in one of Robinson’s narratives he says: “My village is located on this beautiful hillside… but before I can go there, I need to find 15 mushrooms!” which doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.

The puzzles themselves were fun, and I appreciated unique touches like having to move an object out of the way with the mouse in order to reveal something hidden underneath. The very first puzzle is an example of the ingenuity you’ll encounter: in order to find the “black seagull” on my list, I had to pick up a “clean stick,” rub the stick inside a cannon to get it covered in coal dust, then rub the “dirty stick” onto the seagull to turn it black.

The mini-games are enjoyable as well. I especially liked the sound-based mini-game that involved matching two birds based on the different tweets they made (for hard of hearing gamers, there’s also an accompanying visual cue so you won’t get stuck). That said, another of the sound-based puzzles later on that involved playing back a melody on a flute went a little over the top in the difficulty department. The game, however, does allow you to skip mini-games occasionally if you don’t feel like doing a particular one.

The game’s classical soundtrack works well within the setting and theme.

I only wish that Adventures of Robinson Crusoe was a little longer, since it clocked in at around 3 hours for me. Overall, though, it’s a decent hidden object game with some clever and thoughtful twists.

Review by Erin Bell

Diaper Dash

Diaper changes, feedings, crying babies... does it ever end? Not if you're playing Diaper Dash. The newest time management game from PlayFirst and developer Zemnott will charm with all the baby and toddler-filled cuteness you could ever imagine, while coming up a bit light in the challenge department.

In Diaper Dash you'll meet Wilson, a tender-hearted scientist and inventor who works for Rubber Ducky, Inc., a subsidiary of BigCorp., which is owned by the rotten Mr. Big. Wilson breaks the rules by picking up a crying test subject and is immediately fired. Unemployed and depressed, Wilson visits Flo, the popular waitress of Dinertown who always has great advice.

With Flo's help, Wilson realizes that the inventions he was forced to work on might not have been such great ideas after all, and he decides to invent machines to make child care safe and fun. So, in the basement of his sister's house, Wilson's Daycare is officially open for business. The residents of Dinertown are thrilled to have such a compassionate professional to watch their children... (Well, most of them anyway.)

Diaper Dash offers two modes of gameplay. Career takes you through 50 levels from basement to mansion, with each level requiring a specific amount of money earned to progress or master. Endless Day is played in easy, medium or hard modes allowing you to play non-stop until five babies have left unhappy. In Career Mode, there are more than 20 upgrades available for strategic purchases such as Stain free carpet or the Auto rocking sleeper.

Each building represents ten levels of game play and will have certain elements in common such as the playpen waiting area, high chairs, cribs, changing station and play areas. There are over ten different babies for you to take care of each having different temperaments and needs, such as the "Hungry Man's Baby," William, who has an appetite like his father, and Rita who needs frequent diaper changes. It is your job to move each baby from station to station meeting their needs so they are happy when the parents arrive to pick them up.

Above each child's head is a pink or blue bubble indicating the gender and immediate need. At the day's start, the child will either need a diaper change, nap, bottle, or playtime and will have several different needs before the day is finished. As soon as one need is met, another one immediately appears in the thought bubble. Each station becomes color coded based on the gender of the child allowing you to obtain extra points with the Gender bonus. If two babies of the same gender swap positions, you will earn a Swap bonus, and if you meet the needs quickly, you will earn a speed bonus.

As you progress, Wilson completes five inventions, consisting of the Cleanatron, (to help with all the baby mess) Toy dispenser, (Dispenses a teddy bear to an unhappy child) Distraction phone, (Summon a juggling clown or ballerina to make everyone happy) Storybook reader, (Reads stories to babies in the waiting area) and Lightning sneakers. (Gives Wilson super speed).

Once all the babies are taken care of and you have earned the minimum money required, the level is complete. If you fail to meet the financial requirements, the level can be replayed.

I have high expectations of PlayFirst's Dash series, and while I loved the game overall and found it to be clever, fun and full of charm, it did disappoint in terms of challenge. After having completed nearly all of the games in the series, this was the first time that I was able to earn all expert scores easily in less than 12 hours.

Luckily, the game offers an Endless Day mode, which gives it the re-playability needed to make this game worth the price. As well, the characters are delightful and fans of earlier Dash games will love seeing the children of their favorite Dinertown residents.

Review by Kellie Cardwell-Winters

Dream Chronicles: The Chosen Child

Unlock the secrets of the mysterious fairy realm in the third installment of the award-winning Dream Chronicles series, Dream Chronicles: The Chosen Child. Discover hidden clues and challenging puzzles as you join Faye on her quest to save her daughter from the clutches of Lilith and reveal the secret prophecy of The Chosen Child in this all-new hidden object adventure with unexpected twists. The game features:

• Enchanting Art-Nouveau style backgrounds in higher resolution with 60% more detail
• New multi-scene puzzles that will have you searching throughout the Dream Realm via the Nexus
• Spectacular new dream jewels to create, collect and use
• Earn online medals and compete for high scores

Wandering Willows

Wandering Willows, the newest release from PlayFirst, is a delightful and unique adventure that sends you on a journey to whimsical lands of magical creatures and zany new friends. You and your trusty new pet will do everything from digging holes to dealing with Alien aircraft while charming your way into the hearts of everyone finally finding your way home.

Wandering Willows is a simulation-style game (think the MySims series) that focuses on friendship and doing things for others while helping yourself. After a bird tears a hole in your hot air balloon you find yourself stranded on a beautiful island inhabited by people who are so happy there they never want to leave. You do want to go home, though, and to do so you are going to need help and good friends to get you there.

An adorable pet adopts you and never leaves your side, becoming instrumental in your completion of the game. Everyone wants to barter with you, so you set off to explore the island and complete 162 quests, from finding items to making complex gadgets to repair your balloon.

You'll begin by customizing your avatar, where you can customize everything from gender to skin tone. You find yourself in "Grassland town" where you meet ten of the island's hilarious inhabitants, each of whom has unique personalities, likes and dislikes. For example, there's Art Gunderson, the elderly farmer that loves raisins and wearing ball gowns; and Debbie Katz, prim and proper librarian type that adores flowers and trendy clothing and several others.

You will have conversations throughout the game to find out what people need, and can click to read the dialogue and refer to the top of the screen for the "to do" list to keep track of your quests. Once you learn your quest, (which can consist of things such as making food, clothing, flower arrangement or gadgets) you and your pet will travel on foot looking for items and bring them back once found. You may need to find patterns to make someone a costume, or you may have to bake someone's favorite bread.

Each time you satisfy someone you become more popular with that person. You start out as an "acquaintance" and work your way up to "Best Friend." While searching for items you will dig up things such as onions and oil, climb trees for fruits and nuts, and charm other animals for items ranging from wool to diamonds. You will also have to grow some items in the garden and purchase others from the store.

The town's currency is known as "Willobees" and can be earned by selling items at one of three stores: the Sewing store, Flower store and Cooking store. These items can be picked up by you, but must be obtained for you by your pet by either digging, climbing, or charming another animal into giving it up.

You have an inventory list and a notebook that keeps track of all recipes, patterns and floral arrangements. There are more than 40 animals and each has different strengths and weaknesses you can use to your advantage, such as the "Torzil," a strong climber and weak charmer, or the "Gruffie" a strong charmer and weak digger.

Animals can be charmed into giving up eggs which can be placed to incubate and if needed, you can trade your pet to meet your goals faster. Collars can be made to increase each pet's abilities.

Once you have completed the majority of quests in "Grassland town" you will be introduced to "Tropics Town" where you will meet six more adorable characters and continue to search for recipes, patterns and other items.

To win the game you must complete 162 quests, including the nine necessary tasks to fix the balloon and return home (such as patch basket hole, reattach balloon, acquire CB radio). After the game has ended, a screen appears giving you the option to quit or to continue playing in order to earn the twelve available medals in the games trophy area. A few of the medals consist of meeting goals outside of patching the balloon such as earning 100,000 "Willobees" will win you the "Entrepreneur" award and obtaining "Best friend" status with every island resident will win you the "Social Butterfly" medal. Once completed, these medals can be submitted to Playfirst.com along with your high score.

Some people may find all the repetitive clicking and long term searching frustrating, but ultimately that is what makes the game challenging and rewarding by finding all of the well-hidden objects. One of the most challenging aspects of the game is collecting all of the pet eggs, which must be charmed from other animals. It can take over ten tries before an animal will give an egg.

Unique game play, beautiful artwork, and a funny storyline with colorful characters will prove Wandering Willows a winner among adventure and sim game fans young and old. This game offers a challenge without the pressure of time constraints, and since it will likely take you at least 20 hours to complete all the quests, it's a great value for the price.

Review by Gamezebo