Pandora's Box (Jewel Case) review:
5 stars (Excellent Game) - The puzzles in this game are wonderful and stimulating - not to mention beautiful. I have played this game several time already and never tire of reworking the puzzles.
I highly recommend this game if you are in to puzzle games. There is a small story line of a sort,or should I say several stories, but it adds wonderfully to the fun of the game.
1 stars (Must have the CD in the drive) - I detest games like this that require I mount the CD in the drive. Especially when those games are published by companies with big agendas for laptops and other small devices that DON'T HAVE CD DRIVES! And even if I did have a drive, why should I have to go fetch the CD when I want to play the game? HELLO? I might be on the road? Why did I purchase that 60 GB Hard Drive? So that I would keep my stuff in a bunch of CDs? HELLO ??? Or, maybe this game is so overwhelmingly important that I should dedicate my CD drive to it. HELLO?
Annoyware? Infuriateware? How about boycottware? The only way to teach companies to stop this infantile attempt at antipiracy is to Not Buy Games That Require the CD in the Drive.
Don't buy it unless you want to shuffle CDs every time you want to play it. Don't buy it if your laptop doesn't have a CD drive.
I'm not even going to address the quality of the game.
5 stars (More than puzzles...) - There are enough different kinds of visual puzzles in this game to provide something for every puzzler. But it's more than that... there is a story! It isn't the kind of game that calls itself an adventure game but then sends you into a frustrating series of sliders and mazes... it makes no bones about its nature.
But it does have a premise: You, the player, are searching for a group of mischievous characters to return them to Pandora's Box. They have scattered to the four winds and can be found hiding in the mythology of a variety of cultures. Only through searching through famous artifacts, landmarks, and works of art from these cultures can you find characters like Anansi, Puck, Eris, and others, and return them to the box. With each one you are told the legend behind the character and hear pleasant, culturally appropriate music as you work the puzzle. It's not the kind of music that repeats a small, unnatural chunk of tune that drives you crazy, like some games do. You might be humming it later but you don't mind.
I never thought a puzzle game could be so immersive. There's also a lot to be learned in it about world cultures and art. A pleasant education, mind you. |
