Not quite perfect, this Broken Sword: Director’s Cut is still the best port of an adventure game on the DS to date.

My only real complaint with Fright of the Bumblebees is how slight it all feels. There’s maybe three hours of playtime here at best, and even for a single episode, it doesn’t feel like enough.

Despite a few awkward moments and the scarcity of thigh-slapping comedy, Ceville is nevertheless one of the better recent comic adventures, with excellent cartoony graphics and delightful music combining with the irreverent humor to add much to the whimsical nature of the game.

If ultra-challenging puzzles are your thing, you might be disappointed, but if you’re all about the story and characters, you should book a trip on the next available cyclone to beautiful (and dangerous) Emerald City.

For better and worse, Hunt for the Puppeteer is a simple adventure without any pretensions. It can be relaxing filler easily played with your brain off, but lacks both the quality and character to bother with otherwise.

Fans of the original will no doubt persevere and get to experience the worthwhile moments of the second half, but others may find its slow development too boring, its story a little too lost for its own good.

For everyone else, there’s some mild point-and-click fun to be had, but this is one adventure that’s simply too paper thin.

It’s still a little shallow in the gameplay department, but right down to the closing credits, it’s a lovingly thorough ode to retro games, and an amusing final adventure with some of the most colorful, acerbic, and silly characters you’ll ever virtually meet. If you can appreciate those things, then consider this game more than worthy of its pixels.

It’s still a little shallow in the gameplay department, but right down to the closing credits, it’s a lovingly thorough ode to retro games, and an amusing final adventure with some of the most colorful, acerbic, and silly characters you’ll ever virtually meet. If you can appreciate those things, then consider this game more than worthy of its pixels.

You may not want to live there, but the return trip to Ravenhearst offers a little something for casual gamers, puzzle lovers, and adventurers alike.

While this episode still hints at the underlying brilliance of the Chapman Brothers, it ultimately mucks about in too much pre-adolescent nonsense to carry much weight or ever feel very engaging.

While this episode still hints at the underlying brilliance of the Chapman Brothers, it ultimately mucks about in too much pre-adolescent nonsense to carry much weight or ever feel very engaging.

I should also point out that The Scorpio Ritual is a short game—six to eight hours of play spread across four main locations—and it culminates with an unusually abrupt ending.

So if you’re feeling nostalgic for the bygone days of Shadowgate, or simply like your content dark and deep and don’t mind slogging through a world of hurt to get to it, Theresia may just warrant a look.

The fact that this game excels at the end makes up for the slow beginning and mini-game robbery, but only to make it just as good as the last two episodes.

The fact that this game excels at the end makes up for the slow beginning and mini-game robbery, but only to make it just as good as the last two episodes.

While The Haunting of Castle Malloy poses a genuine challenge that will take even experienced gamers between 10-15 hours, the unbalanced difficulty of the puzzles and mini-games combined with an uninteresting bunch of characters and locations results in one of the lesser Nancy Drew games on the market.

All in all, Everlight is a generally pleasing experience, though it could have been much better with a bit more spit and polish.

There is much to be commended about this game for such a small first-time development team, but overall I couldn’t help but be disappointed with Rhiannon: Curse of the Four Branches.

Fans of CSI-type games may find it makes the grade, but for everyone else, there’s just not enough here to warrant much of a look.

There are clearly some areas that needed more polish in this first effort, but it’s a solid debut that the developers can surely build on.

Whatever the root cause, the story is solid on the whole, and these few foggy moments didn't detract from my overall enjoyment.

Regardless, the gorgeous look and feel of the game is poorly served by bad design decisions and ultimately fails as an enjoyable experience.

All told, the second episode of Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive People includes a little more talking and lot more collecting than Homestar Ruiner, with the same marginal amount of small-scale puzzling in between.

All in all, with such an intriguing premise and strong production values, the developers had the foundation to make a great game, but the corny plot, pretentious writing, uninteresting characters, and some questionable design issues prevent it from achieving its full potential.

As a game it’s not unpleasant but as an add-on it’s anything but essential.

Murder in the Abbey is ultimately one of those games that is fairly enjoyable to play through yet leaves you with the feeling that something is missing.

A solid diversion for mystery fans, though it’s got too many holes in it to stay afloat in your consciousness for long.