Black Swan > iPad, iPhone, Android, Mac & PC Game

Overall rating

5 / 5

105 of 118 found this review helpful

REVIEW OF COMPLETED GAME

PostedMay 4, 2016

Sheerija

fromEdinburgh, Scotland

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This "Key Contributor" plays, rates, and reviews a lot of games. We think you'll trust their thoughts and opinions about games.
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Skill Level:Expert

Favorite Genre(s):Hidden Object, Time Management, Adventure, Strategy

Current Favorite:

Black Swan

(30)

Fun Factor

5 / 5

Visual/Sound Quality

5 / 5

Level of Challenge

5 / 5

Storyline

5 / 5

This is one of the best games I have played in a very long time and I wish to extend my admiration to the Devs for something out of the ordinary, that makes you think and take initiative and that is thoroughly engrossing. When it first started I thought it was pretty run-of-the-mill, but I quickly changed my mind a little way in. And, that was just the first half. When I got to the second half I ...Show more

This is one of the best games I have played in a very long time and I wish to extend my admiration to the Devs for something out of the ordinary, that makes you think and take initiative and that is thoroughly engrossing. When it first started I thought it was pretty run-of-the-mill, but I quickly changed my mind a little way in. And, that was just the first half. When I got to the second half I was delighted and enthralled by the imaginative and unique way this game is put together. The cut scenes are magical, with the beautifully designed silhouettes of the ballerina, who flowed faultlessly through her dance routines in such an elegant and captivating manner. The puzzles are mostly quite unique and, if one likes solving puzzles, extremely worthwhile doing. The HOS are interactive in a wholely different way than we are used to, and if at first they seemed puzzling, once I got the idea, they were great.

Of course, this game is not perfect. It threw small hissy fits 2, maybe 3 times and had to be re-entered, but that I have encountered all my gaming life and is no big deal. The story is fascinating, unfolding throughout the game in a way that made me eager to find out more. There was a moment of intense sadness, that actually brought a tear to my eye, moments of "wow, that was great" and moments of "Hey, that was really clever". The game is accompanied throughout by the piano music from Swan Lake and I never get tired of hearing that. Very well done, indeed. The jump map makes the game free of that horrible random wandering not knowing what to do, and the hint button always tells which direction to go, for those who do not like maps. On the odd occasion when neither map nor hint showed anything, it was only because I had something in my inventory that had to be completed first. So, there is no being stranded with nowhere to go. This game has been put together with all the thought , care and attention necessary and there are no loose ends. Beautifully done. There are no cutsie helpers. In fact nothing about this game is cutsie. It has an extremely dark side that strikes a small chord of disquiet at times. Definitely not for the little ones. I would not say "Adults Only", exactly, but try it yourselves first if you are going to let your offspring play. These are Devs with a knack for mixing all the genres to a really good degree, so that one is not overwhelmed by one element or another. In case it is not clear, I LOVED IT. I think people have been too quick to judge and have deprived themselves of something really special. I advise giving it a fair shake before giving up after only 10 minutes and then saying it is a dud. That is hardly fair to the Devs, who put so much into this and deserve much fairer than that.

Thanks guys. We do not hear from you very often, but when we do, you are well worth the wait. Make more, please! Show less

+92points

105of 118voted this as helpful.

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Overall rating

5 / 5

28 of 29 found this review helpful

Wow! It keeps you glued to your seat

PostedJune 12, 2016

AdrianaIP

fromState College, PA

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Fun Factor

5 / 5

Visual/Sound Quality

5 / 5

Level of Challenge

4 / 5

Storyline

5 / 5

The best games are the ones who work on their storytelling first, (hey, Dave Gilbert, you are tops....), and this is telling a story that unravels slowly, and from what I read, will not disappoint at the end.

Add to it, gorgeous visuals, and gorgeous music, good puzzles (though I could do without the "Simon says" ones), and inventive HOGs

This is a winner all around.

I recommend this game!

+27points

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Overall rating

5 / 5

38 of 46 found this review helpful

Dance with spirits to solve the mystery at the ballet academy!

PostedMay 7, 2016

smilingsun72

fromUSA

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Skill Level:Intermediate

Favorite Genre(s):Puzzle, Hidden Object, Adventure, Family

Fun Factor

5 / 5

Visual/Sound Quality

5 / 5

Level of Challenge

5 / 5

Storyline

5 / 5

I found this tucked in the "games you'll love" and it was on sale so I thought I'd buy it. I am glad I did. Though I've only played a short time, I stopped to comment on this game, I found I love this game. The story is very interesting. The graphics are beautiful. And the music perfect for the theme of the game. The puzzles are not that easy, even on the easy mode. The HOs items are easy to ...Show more

I found this tucked in the "games you'll love" and it was on sale so I thought I'd buy it. I am glad I did. Though I've only played a short time, I stopped to comment on this game, I found I love this game. The story is very interesting. The graphics are beautiful. And the music perfect for the theme of the game. The puzzles are not that easy, even on the easy mode. The HOs items are easy to challenging to find, which is great. This is like when HO games first came out. You have to look for things and figure out stuff. I can say I have found myself flustered sometimes. But if I step away a bit and come back I usually figure out what to do. The hint may need to be used when you find you've exhausted everything, and it doesn't recharge as quickly as other games. There is not a map so you have to remember where you saw things that later you'll come back to. If you are looking for something different and very challenging this is it. And you can always try the demo first! Show less

I recommend this game!

+30points

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Overall rating

5 / 5

37 of 59 found this review helpful

FAScinating!!!!!

PostedMay 3, 2016

Idiot_Savant

fromSlug Gulch Road, Sierra foothills

Skill Level:Expert

Favorite Genre(s):Puzzle, Adventure

Current Favorite:

Cadenza: Havana Nights

(24)

Fun Factor

5 / 5

Visual/Sound Quality

5 / 5

Level of Challenge

5 / 5

Storyline

5 / 5

Barely begun but forced to pause- so unique! Long lived eyes troubled by the hogs, long lived brain troubled by the alternative game, but am so utterly enthralled couldn't give a rat's derriere... despise negative reviews based on bare attempts but here I am making a positive review based on the same thing! But you know what? I have full confidence I shan't be disappointed, dare ya to join me- now ...Show more

Barely begun but forced to pause- so unique! Long lived eyes troubled by the hogs, long lived brain troubled by the alternative game, but am so utterly enthralled couldn't give a rat's derriere... despise negative reviews based on bare attempts but here I am making a positive review based on the same thing! But you know what? I have full confidence I shan't be disappointed, dare ya to join me- now back to this totally out of the box adventure! Show less

I recommend this game!

+15points

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Overall rating

5 / 5

19 of 33 found this review helpful

Black Swan

PostedMay 4, 2016

andrewhow53

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Fun Factor

5 / 5

Visual/Sound Quality

5 / 5

Level of Challenge

5 / 5

Storyline

5 / 5

Another great game to play and one that is full of mystery my kind of thing but complicated in places with morphing objects

I recommend this game!

+5points

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Overall rating

4 / 5

84 of 95 found this review helpful

INVESTIGATE THE DARK ENERGY AND SET ANGELINA FREE

PostedMay 3, 2016

biscuitsmama

fromFollowing the memories and clues to find out what has happened at the prestigious ballet school

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Skill Level:Expert

Fun Factor

5 / 5

Visual/Sound Quality

3 / 5

Level of Challenge

4 / 5

Storyline

4 / 5

You play the game as a famed spiritualist and psychic who is directed to investigate the supernatural events at a nearby estate that houses The LeForge School of Ballet, one of the most prestigious to be found. However when you arrive at the school you must confront several areas of dark energy that hamper your progress. Soon you encounter the ghost of Angelina who begs you to help free her and ...Show more

You play the game as a famed spiritualist and psychic who is directed to investigate the supernatural events at a nearby estate that houses The LeForge School of Ballet, one of the most prestigious to be found. However when you arrive at the school you must confront several areas of dark energy that hamper your progress. Soon you encounter the ghost of Angelina who begs you to help free her and others from the dark energy that has overrun the school and imprisoned its residents.

The graphics are good but not excellent because of the mistiness that was used to create the scenes. I think this is done intentionally as it does give the game an “old school” look and feel. The game only offers three basic modes of gameplay without the custom mode being included. From some of the other items that appear to be available in the game it is possible that the game was intended to be a CE release but somehow didn’t make the grade. At least on my Windows 7 system, the game did stretch to fit my wide screen monitor but I had to click the widescreen button in the options menu since the game wasn’t programmed to automatically fill the screen. The voiceovers are exceptionally good as is the entire sound package including the ambient effects and particularly the music that is based on some familiar classical ballet themes.

Your tools include a mirror that is given to you by Angelina to help you find her memories that will lead you through your investigation. The mirror will be used to dispel the dark energy fields that are found in almost every area of the game. As with other gimmicky tools in a game, we must play a matching puzzle to dispel the fields. I found it very hard to determine what symbols needed to be matched since they are hiding within those dark, smoky energy fields. My favorite tool is the journal that tells the complete story as you move through the game. I hated it when devs stopped using the journal and made all of the notes connected to video replay that I think is nothing more than a method they use as a shortcut. I am one who enjoys reading the dialog and often checking back in the journal to find helpful information. The other tool is an integrated, transporter type map.

Most of the HOS are the traditional list type but the devs used a very tiny white font which makes it very hard to read. Coupled with a list that is hard to read, the items to find are very difficult to spot with some of them being so tiny that they are often unrecognizable. There is a little trick to the HOP scenes and before I actually realized what was happening I was rather annoyed by all the dark energy sparkles that were flitting around but once I figured it out they didn’t bother me as much. You will visit each HOS more than once (I know some gamers do not like that) but the next time the scenes contain silhouettes, which in this case makes the items easier to find than reading them from the list. The silhouette scenes are the progressive interactive type where you will use one item to find another. In the interactive HOS there is a skip option when you don’t want to complete the scene. In the list type HOS you can play a match 3 type game rather than search for items and that might be easier for many who have difficulty with the list. The game has far more HOS than mini-games and then the minis seem easy. Since there is not an apparent mini-game help button, if you don’t know what to do just press the swan hint button and then the mini-game instructions will pop up for you.

Although the game is very HOS heavy it is perfect for me since I enjoy the genre and think that this is far better than some other than the major CE releases. Since I seem to accumulate so many PCCs it is terrific to find a good HOPA game so I can use them I like the fact that the game seems old school and doesn’t have a lot of hand-holding. Yes the storyline has been over-used but I like the way it is presented in Black Swan. I am a huge fan of the ballet so that gives me another reason to enjoy this game. I realize that this is not a game everyone will love and enjoy as much as I do so please try the demo to see if Black Swan is a game you will enjoy. Show less

I recommend this game!

+73points

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Overall rating

4 / 5

31 of 34 found this review helpful

It;s a really good game. Some of the technical aspects make it very frustrating to get through

PostedMay 3, 2016

LogieBaby

fromWhere is my magnifying glass???

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Skill Level:Expert

Favorite Genre(s):Hidden Object, Word, Card & Board, Brain Teaser

Current Favorite:

Dark Romance: Kingdom of Death Collector's Edition

(24)

Fun Factor

4 / 5

Visual/Sound Quality

4 / 5

Level of Challenge

5 / 5

Storyline

4 / 5

In seeing the title Black Swan for the first time, I wondered if it had anything to do with the movie of the same title that came out a few years ago. Be assured this has absolutely nothing to do with the film.
The story has an investigator at the Madame Leforge School of Ballet. Strange things are occurring. We encounter a ghostly student who explains how the instructor has been overcome by ...Show more

In seeing the title Black Swan for the first time, I wondered if it had anything to do with the movie of the same title that came out a few years ago. Be assured this has absolutely nothing to do with the film.
The story has an investigator at the Madame Leforge School of Ballet. Strange things are occurring. We encounter a ghostly student who explains how the instructor has been overcome by some malevolent entity. We learn some of the girls have been killed while others are still alive but trapped
in the academy gone berserk. OK, we've seen this same tale before yet I was intrigued enough to continue.
As it soon is obvious, Black Swan is an extremely macabre takeoff of Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake.
On the plus side, the background music is part of the original score of the ballet. The scenery in and around the school is very well crafted. As to game play itself, this is not a venture for beginners, something I personally admire.
The hidden object segments are some of the toughest seen in quite some time. Lots of items are hard to find although it has nothing to do with their being too obscure or too small.
They are well placed, "hidden in plain sight" as I generally refer to such items. There is some interactivity.
As to puzzles, the best also have some hidden object aspect to them. One of the weird occurrences in HO scenes are things that morph, yet they have nothing to do with gameplay. I found no collectibles during the trial.
Here is what prevents me from making this a 5 star effort. When an area need to be investigated, the cursor turns into opera glasses and they are very small. I have good eyesight and found the change to be often hard to discern. I imagine players with some sight difficulties might discover this is problematic. There are black clouds to dissolve by matching a rune displayed within the cloud. Again the rune that needs matching is very much obscured by the cloud. I found the cursor to be a tad clunky, particularly when using a hint.

The absolutely best this game offers is its challenge. Having some things really hard to see knocks Black Swan down a peg. For me, it's a game I'd acquire with a free game code. Show less

I recommend this game!

+28points

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Overall rating

4 / 5

14 of 14 found this review helpful

Unique, interesting, needs an update.

PostedJune 1, 2016

culliesue

Skill Level:Intermediate

Favorite Genre(s):Hidden Object

Fun Factor

5 / 5

Visual/Sound Quality

4 / 5

Level of Challenge

5 / 5

I enjoyed it, very quirky though. I found several of the HOP's wanted say a butterfly but turned out to be a starfish, therefore several hints having to be used. This happened about 3 times in the game and many misspellings, as well as several other little kinks along the way. I think they should go through the game and find all the items that need work on and do an update for further buyers.

I recommend this game!

+14points

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Overall rating

4 / 5

13 of 14 found this review helpful

A Little Gem

PostedMay 7, 2016

SkyeGray

fromThree Oaks, MI

Fun Factor

4 / 5

Visual/Sound Quality

5 / 5

Level of Challenge

5 / 5

Storyline

3 / 5

Ordinary save-the-ghosts storyline, but accompanied by Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Mendelssohn and really pretty, imaginative graphics. Some of the hidden object scenes have multiple morphing items - some of them you have to catch when they change. I didn't look too hard, but there seemed to be no directions for some of the minigames - however even I was able to figure them out. Hints charge quickly, ...Show more

Ordinary save-the-ghosts storyline, but accompanied by Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Mendelssohn and really pretty, imaginative graphics. Some of the hidden object scenes have multiple morphing items - some of them you have to catch when they change. I didn't look too hard, but there seemed to be no directions for some of the minigames - however even I was able to figure them out. Hints charge quickly, skips not so much. Maps move you here to there - all of the necessities for smooth gameplay. It's funny - sometimes little games like these are quirkier and more rewarding than the big budgets. Show less

I recommend this game!

+12points

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Overall rating

4 / 5

22 of 31 found this review helpful

THE SOUND OF ONE HAND CLAPPING

PostedMay 10, 2016

kandinsky

fromNew York. Hudson Valley.

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This "Key Contributor" plays, rates, and reviews a lot of games. We think you'll trust their thoughts and opinions about games.
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Skill Level:Expert

Favorite Genre(s):Puzzle, Adventure, Match 3

Current Favorite:

Cadenza: Music, Betrayal and Death Collector's Edition

(237)

Fun Factor

3 / 5

Visual/Sound Quality

4 / 5

Level of Challenge

4 / 5

Storyline

3 / 5

There is one main thing I liked about this game and I am going to weight it so heavily as to give it high marks but with an awareness of the strange situation reviewers face with games one wants to encourage and yet which aren't very good in many ways.
the bad first as it seemed to me:
terribly repetitive HO games relatively easy but too many by far and puzzles which did not interest me or ...Show more

There is one main thing I liked about this game and I am going to weight it so heavily as to give it high marks but with an awareness of the strange situation reviewers face with games one wants to encourage and yet which aren't very good in many ways.
the bad first as it seemed to me:
terribly repetitive HO games relatively easy but too many by far and puzzles which did not interest me or perhaps which I did not understand or could not do or feel like doing and skip time too long.
English uncorrected.
Plot it seemed to me not well resolved or consistent in detail.
Plot for that matter that I ,likely you too, have played any number of times one way or another.
These things would seem to add up to a game too hastily put together to get it out there and without care or time for detailing.

good things:
Swan Lake music is good of course but I turned sound off much of the time.
it is sufficiently long.

and one thing that seemed to me GREAT

and this may just be to my sense but somehow the art used to create the dark world entered through the house of this dimension and towards the end of the story is wonderful. It has, or maybe just from my feeling of this time I played , a sense of strangeness and Other World quality more than any I have felt in all the games with visits to other dimensions.
Is this just based on feeling and impression of the moment?
or anyway it must relate to my own sense of things etc
But if it is a real achievement it is something worth celebrating considering the number of games that attempt it.

Is that enough for you to want to play the game? Your call.
my recommend is on the basis of the above notes and your having empty time to fill. Show less

I recommend this game!

+13points

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	, share your thoughts about this game! Black Swan Explore the haunted history of a ballet school Heres what your review will look like once it’s posted. Click Submit if you’re happy. Your review should appear soon. To make changes, use the Edit or Cancel buttons. Thanks for sharing your thoughts about this game! You’ve already shared your thoughts about this game. Thanks for submitting the review below.