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Nightmares from the Deep 3: Davy Jones Collector's Edition HD
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Graphics & Sound:
Nightmares from the Deep 3: Davy Jones Collector's Edition HD is absolutely beautiful. There are delightful little details to be found all over Davy Jones' mysterious and dangerous island, from the small animals lurking about that you can interact with, to the silent Guardians waiting to be awakened. Davy's world is filled with beautifully imaginative and intricate puzzles, usually based on pirate and nautical themes, as well as interesting characters you'll meet, including the local witch, a beautiful and haunting specter, all the skeletal victims of Davy's insidious pacts, and the notorious Sea Devil, himself!
The music that plays in the background is also great and ranges from haunting and mysterious, to dark and threatening, to even lilting and sweet at times, depending on the situation. Likewise, the sound effects work well to push the story along, whether it is creaking sounds in dark nooks and crannies, or the animals on the island chiming in. Voiceovers are somewhat overdone, just like in the previous games of the series, but they actually work really well for the game. Sarah Black sounds like an appropriately desperate mother, determined to save her daughter, and Corey plays her part pretty well considering she is in the clutches of Davy Jones himself. I especially enjoyed speaking to the skeletal residents of the island, those who long ago signed away their lives to Jones, but live forever as skeletons. Some of them had some funny things to say and one must have been a relative of Indiana Jones, based on his name, apparel and comment. It was a nice touch.
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Gameplay:
I suppose when something is your passion and life's work, you keep at it, no matter what the cost. At least, that must be the case for Museum Curator Sarah Black, who relentlessly studies and speaks on Davy Jones, despite what has happened to her and her daughter, Corey, in the past games. Nightmares from the Deep 3: Davy Jones Collector's Edition HD finds Sarah giving a presentation on Davy Jones' mysterious past when he spirits she and her daughter away to his island prison and forces Corey to sign a pact to forever work as his maid, or he will kill Sarah. Now, Sarah must find a way to cancel the pacts to save Corey and get them both off the island, but in doing so, she will learn far more than she ever imagined about the man Davy Jones was before he became the infamous Sea Devil and why he became so evil and angry.
Your quest will take you all over Davy's island, from his prison, to his lawyer's office, to the mines where troublesome men were forced to work, to an alchemist's lab, and even into town where the local witch resides. You'll have to be on the lookout for helpful items laying around that can help you get past obstacles, as well as Hidden Object Scenes where you can find a needed object as well. Some have lists of items for you to locate, some which are highlighted in blue and require an additional step like putting two items together or opening a drawer. Others show highlighted outlines of objects you must find to put an item together, once you have found them all. If you get stumped or simply get tired of the Hidden Object Scene, you can opt to play a game of Mahjong instead by clicking on the Mahjong tile in the left corner. You'll then be presented with a Mahjong board filled with tiles with nautical and pirate themes. Once you clear the board, you clear the Hidden Object Scene.
Intricate puzzles await you, as do Davy's skeletal past victims who will give you advice, tasks and possibly challenges. I loved the clever puzzles used to house Davy's many secrets and felt like a lot of thought went into their creation. Sure, you had your typical slide puzzles and pipe puzzles, and you had puzzles where you had to swap around hats and such to match the bodies of the characters in a picture. But these puzzles were interactive, for instance, such that moving one hat onto the correct pirate would cause an action to occur, and setting all hats onto their correct heads would cause a scene to play out. This was a favorite puzzle of mine, but there were very few that I didn't find clever and fun. |
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Difficulty:
There are three difficulty levels in Nightmares from the Deep 3: Davy Jones Collector's Edition HD: Casual Mode, Advanced Mode and Expert Mode. In Casual Mode, both your Hint and Skip buttons will recharge quite quickly, and your Active Zones (scenes where there is something you can do) will glimmer frequently to signal you over. Hidden Object Scenes will be highlighted with sparkles and you'll receive no penalty for mistaps within these puzzles. Any location with an available action will also be highlighted on the map with an exclamation point. This is the mode to play if you want a pleasant time with just enough challenge to make it fun, but not at all frustrating.
In Advanced Mode, your Hint and Skip buttons will charge at a slower pace and any Active Zones won't glimmer. You'll receive a small penalty for mistaps within Hidden Object Scenes, but they will still be highlighted with sparkles. You will also still see an exclamation point in any location on the map where there is an available action. You'll have more challenge here because you can't simply use a Hint pretty much any time you want, but it's still doable, especially with the help of the highlighted map.
Expert Mode is only for the fearless Adventure/Hidden Object player as your Hint and Skip buttons will recharge very slowly. Neither your Active Zones nor Hidden Object Scenes will glimmer or sparkle, respectively, and you will receive a penalty for your mistaps within the Hidden Object Scenes. We aren't talking "Davy Jones lifetime pact" penalty, but still. Lastly, you'll have a map, but it will merely be a guideline as no actions will be highlighted. |
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Game Mechanics:
Nightmares from the Deep 3: Davy Jones Collector's Edition HD uses the basic tapping and swiping gestures for pretty much the entire game, but if it ain't broke, don't fix it. You'll be putting torn pictures back together, finding your way out of traps like dungeons and mines, and even clearing obstacles such as deadly plants. You'll even have to raise the dead, with a little help from a kind alchemist who is also trapped by one of Davy's pacts. Most importantly, you'll reveal Davy Jones' past before he became the monster he is through awakening stone Guardians spread across the island who have a story to tell. If you really set your mind to it, you can help Sarah free the countless souls trapped on the island by his cruel pacts and rescue her daughter as well. You might even be able to bring a little bit of humanity back to Davy Jones himself.
If you are able to complete the main game, you'll be treated to more of the story, as things take an unexpected twist and Sarah and Corey must once more fight for their escape. While the story could have ended with the main campaign, I enjoyed the additional side story, and while it wasn't really very long, it was definitely fun.
I love Artifex Mundi as a developer and I believe Nightmares from the Deep 3: Davy Jones Collector's Edition HD has become my favorite Hidden Object/Adventure game. It's got a great story to it and interesting and amusing puzzles. If you haven't played a game in this series yet, you might want to check out the previous titles, but it isn't necessary to enjoy Nightmares from the Deep 3: Davy Jones Collector's Edition HD. Just know in advance that Davy Jones is tired of Sarah Black and her meddling in his affairs, and that's pretty much what you'll need to know.
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-Psibabe, GameVortex Communications AKA Ashley Perkins |
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