<\/p>\n

Turn the lights off, throw on a good pair of headphones, and strap in for some bone-chilling\u2026hidden object adventuring!? That\u2019s right, folks. Alawar Entertainment<\/a> brings the scares (sort of) with Twisted Lands: Shadow Town<\/em>, a hidden object horror adventure good for hours of casual spooky fun on your PC or Mac.<\/p>\n

Tailored for the mature casual gamer, Twisted Lands<\/em> is a first-person point-and-click adventure in the classical style of Myst<\/em>. You move along scene by scene guided by arrows that pop up at the edges of the screen, and within each scene are items you can collect and store in the inventory to use in the various puzzles you\u2019ll encounter on your adventure. Sometimes items must be collected in hidden object puzzles as well, so you\u2019ll enter a room with a list of objects which must be found in order to proceed. <\/p>\n

There aren\u2019t any major surprises to the gameplay, but the balance between traditional adventuring and hidden object hunting is very well executed, and overall the game packs a healthy challenge by casual game standards. The one drawback, though, is the frequent backtracking through the same environments and regularly having to go back to the same dozen or so hidden object scenes, only with a different list of objects to find each time. Fortunately, the scene transitions are instantaneous, so the tedium of backtracking is lessened quite a bit.<\/p>\n

The 2D backgrounds are also crisply detailed and atmospheric. Dense fog effects, subtle scene movements like floating leaves and flickering fires, and creepy sounds like creaks, groans and screams add tension and keep the scenery from becoming static and lifeless. Objects are also well defined within the environments and easy to identify once you pinpoint their location, and that is critical to the success of any hidden object game. I can’t tell you how many hidden object games I’ve played where certain items blend in to the point of being impossible to see…even when you are staring directly at them or use a cheat to have them highlighted!<\/p>\n

Surprisingly, Twisted Lands<\/em> also tells a compelling yarn full of mystery, suspense and supernatural forces, and it even closes with a twist ending that I honestly didn’t see coming. The story begins with a man and a wife out on the sea searching for shipwrecked treasure, when suddenly the man falls overboard and wakes up ashore a fog-covered island, wife nowhere in sight. As the man, you set out in search of his wife, and along the way you learn that the island has a mysterious past \u2013 and that it seems to be a magnet for shipwrecks!<\/p>\n

In typical horror game fashion, collected newspaper clippings and journals flesh out the back story of the island and its former inhabitants, and ghostly apparitions help clue you in on past events, which is another nice touch.<\/p>\n

Twisted Lands<\/em> won\u2019t scare you literally \u2013 and by literally I mean that it won\u2019t make you jump out of your seat or give you nightmares or anything like that. But it does have a tense atmosphere and a creepy story, and in the end it\u2019s nice to play a casual hidden object game skewed more toward the adult mind.<\/p>\n

In closing, I think it is important to note that there are two versions of the game to choose from. For the average user, Alawar offers a standard edition<\/a> for only $7, and for that price you get roughly three to four hours of gameplay. If you are more serious about your hidden object adventures, you can download the Collector\u2019s Edition<\/a> which, for $20 (or only $14 right now at Big Fish Games<\/a>), gives you an unlockable bonus chapter consisting of somewhere around 30-45 extra minutes of gameplay and a neat in-game guide complete with video walkthroughs showing how to complete every puzzle. Of course, if you are being extra cautious, you can always download the hour-long trial version for free at no risk.<\/p>\n

Whichever route you choose to go, Twisted Lands: Shadow Town<\/em> is definitely an adventure worth taking.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Pros:<\/strong>
\n+ Good balance of point-and-click adventuring and hidden object puzzles
\n+ Interesting storyline with a twist ending
\n+ Detailed backgrounds and tense atmosphere<\/p>\n

Cons:<\/strong>
\n– Too much backtracking<\/p>\n

Game Info:<\/strong>
\nPlatform: PC \/ Mac via digital download
\nPublisher: Alawar Entertainment
\nDeveloper: Alawar Stargaze
\nRelease Date: Collector’s Edition – 9\/23\/2010; Standard Edition – 10\/21\/2010
\nGenre: Point-and-Click Adventure \/ Hidden Object
\nESRB Rating: N\/A
\nPlayers: 1
\nSource: Review code provided by publisher<\/p>\n

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