Secret of the Pendulum > iPad, iPhone, Android, Mac & PC Game

Overall rating

4 / 5

129 of 152 found this review helpful

At First I Hated This Game.....

PostedDecember 15, 2015

pennmom36

fromCompare apples to apples, this isn't a CE and won't hold a candle to a CE

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Skill Level:Expert

Favorite Genre(s):Puzzle, Hidden Object, Time Management, Adventure, Match 3

Current Favorite:

Phantasmat Collector's Edition

(100)

Fun Factor

4 / 5

Visual/Sound Quality

3 / 5

Level of Challenge

5 / 5

Storyline

4 / 5

When I began playing this retro Click and Drag game, I thought to myself, "self, this is another horrible HdO game with poor graphics" But that quickly changed once I discovered how challenging the game actually was. You play the part of Madison, the sister of the Natural History museum's curator, Dr. Lily Avery who was murdered after discovering a pendant that allows you to travel back in time. ...Show more

When I began playing this retro Click and Drag game, I thought to myself, "self, this is another horrible HdO game with poor graphics" But that quickly changed once I discovered how challenging the game actually was. You play the part of Madison, the sister of the Natural History museum's curator, Dr. Lily Avery who was murdered after discovering a pendant that allows you to travel back in time. You must switch back and forth in time as you are tasked with finding items that will allow you to reach your sister Lily to warn her of the upcoming danger she faces.

Yes, the graphics aren't very good, the Hidden Object scenes are very simple, and the mini games are easy too, but I found myself challenged with what to do next or where to find items I needed, and I really liked the challenge. All of the scenes can be zoomed into, as well as drug around so that you can find arrows leading to a different scene. You will be given blueprints of the items to find in order to progress, and then you need to figure out where to use the items.

I know most gamers will hate this old style game, but you might change your mind if you ignore the simplistic graphics and get into the storyline and the challenge it presents, enjoy! Show less

I recommend this game!

+106points

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Overall rating

4 / 5

12 of 16 found this review helpful

An Enjoyable Enough Game ...

PostedDecember 23, 2015

OzGuy

fromAustralia

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Skill Level:Expert

Favorite Genre(s):Hidden Object, Adventure, Large File

Fun Factor

4 / 5

Visual/Sound Quality

4 / 5

Level of Challenge

3 / 5

Storyline

3 / 5

Graphics, Sound & Story OK ...

Not A Bad Game, With Some Nice Ideas & Concepts ...

Worth A Voucher ...

I recommend this game!

+8points

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Overall rating

4 / 5

5 of 5 found this review helpful

Not so bad old school HOS game

PostedJanuary 7, 2017

ninja226

fromwichita, KS

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Skill Level:Intermediate

Favorite Genre(s):Hidden Object

Fun Factor

4 / 5

Visual/Sound Quality

4 / 5

Level of Challenge

4 / 5

Storyline

4 / 5

The negative reviews for this game are not deserved.

True, it is an old school game. There are huge arrows telling you to drag left, right, down, or up.

Sparkles pop up when there is a junk pile HOS, which is needed, as there is no BF walkthrough.

A jigsaw puzzle icon pops up when you hover over a mini puzzle game, which are mostly easy to solve.

There are voiceovers along with ...Show more

The negative reviews for this game are not deserved.

True, it is an old school game. There are huge arrows telling you to drag left, right, down, or up.

Sparkles pop up when there is a junk pile HOS, which is needed, as there is no BF walkthrough.

A jigsaw puzzle icon pops up when you hover over a mini puzzle game, which are mostly easy to solve.

There are voiceovers along with subtitles.

Not much movie motion animation, and the characters look like comic book characters, but the visuals are crisp, contemporary, and well done.

The storyline involves a pendulum (lower right corner, below Hint button) which you occasionally use to travel through time (night vs day) and space.

There is no Map button to transport to various scenes, but Hint button suffices (and your trusty memory).

All in all, a decent, straightforward HOS mystery game with a happy ending.

Give it a try, you might be surprised and find you like it. Show less

I recommend this game!

+5points

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Overall rating

4 / 5

4 of 4 found this review helpful

Best for classic adventure game fans.

PostedDecember 29, 2016

Heather_G

fromIndiana

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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):Adventure, Hidden Object, Marble Popper, Match 3

Fun Factor

4 / 5

Visual/Sound Quality

3 / 5

Level of Challenge

4 / 5

Storyline

5 / 5

Yes, it feels a little dated and is probably worth only three stars, but I felt it needed a tiny ratings boost. This plays like an adventure game with a few hidden object scenes thrown in. Not a lot of hand-holding here, which is fine by me.

Pros:
The story was pretty good and kept my interest.
The voice-overs were excellent.
Background sounds fit each scene which added realism.
I liked ...Show more

Yes, it feels a little dated and is probably worth only three stars, but I felt it needed a tiny ratings boost. This plays like an adventure game with a few hidden object scenes thrown in. Not a lot of hand-holding here, which is fine by me.

Pros:
The story was pretty good and kept my interest.
The voice-overs were excellent.
Background sounds fit each scene which added realism.
I liked the sliding scenes.
Fairly long game.
It had some interesting puzzles with a nice degree of challenge (not impossible, but not a cakewalk).

Cons:
I often had to click an arrow twice before it registered.
I had one puzzle vanish so there was no way to finish it without skipping.
There was one thread left unraveled in the story (a character that was never explained).
The hidden object scenes were ordinary and some items were very hard to pick out.

Overall, I think this is a perfectly good game for those who enjoy old-school adventure type games.

I think the poor reviews are largely by fans of the more modern hidden object games that make up the largest share of games here at Big Fish.

If you want to try something a little different, or miss the older adventures, do give this one at least a demo. Show less

I recommend this game!

+4points

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Overall rating

4 / 5

17 of 45 found this review helpful

It's Alright.!!!

PostedDecember 15, 2015

grapeleaves

fromMorristown Tn.

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Skill Level:Expert

Favorite Genre(s):Hidden Object

Fun Factor

3 / 5

Visual/Sound Quality

3 / 5

Level of Challenge

3 / 5

Storyline

3 / 5

No one makes really good SE. My free games just sit around for months. My 6.99 membership sits around for a long time It was nice for todays SE. It could be better and longer I will use my free game and buy. Don't you to members why they don't take the time for making really good SE for us. Let all give feedback to Big Fish if you agree,

I recommend this game!

-11points

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Overall rating

3 / 5

5 of 12 found this review helpful

NOT THAT GOOD

PostedDecember 15, 2015

janmo8225

fromModesto, CA

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Skill Level:Intermediate

Favorite Genre(s):Hidden Object, Adventure

Fun Factor

2 / 5

Visual/Sound Quality

3 / 5

Level of Challenge

2 / 5

Storyline

3 / 5

It was to confusing. Hints tell you what to do but not where to get item all the time.

I don't recommend this game.

-2points

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Overall rating

2 / 5

18 of 21 found this review helpful

Eye strain...

PostedDecember 15, 2015

dancemom1

fromYakima, WA

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Skill Level:Expert

Favorite Genre(s):Puzzle, Hidden Object, Adventure, Strategy, Word, Card & Board, Family

Fun Factor

2 / 5

Visual/Sound Quality

3 / 5

Level of Challenge

2 / 5

Storyline

3 / 5

Hi all! Well, I gave this one a shot, even though there were those who said it was a "bad" game. Again, I review on the game play and not the story line, as others do a much better job of that than I can. I found this game to be very old school in graphics, which are somewhat blurry, making it difficult to distinguish certain items, and animation, which is quite stiff when you do see it. You even ...Show more

Hi all! Well, I gave this one a shot, even though there were those who said it was a "bad" game. Again, I review on the game play and not the story line, as others do a much better job of that than I can. I found this game to be very old school in graphics, which are somewhat blurry, making it difficult to distinguish certain items, and animation, which is quite stiff when you do see it. You even have a click penalty that kicks in quite quickly. Game play wasn't bad. Voice overs were pretty good, but our main character does talk to herself a lot. That's okay, I do that sometimes too. Music does get quite annoying very quickly, so I turn it down to very light background noise. There are some sound FX, but not many. The most annoying sound is the one you year when you find something. You cannot lock the inventory bar in place either, and have to manually click on it to raise it up. You do have to click, hold and drag items from the inventory in order to use them. As I said, an old school game.

HOPs are straight forward lists with no interaction at all. The scenes are pretty clear and clean, but some items are extremely small, e.g. hummingbird. Wow, almost needed a magnifying glass to see that one. Puzzles were painfully simple and take no brain power at all. Hint system is helpful, but takes quite some time to fill and there is no custom mode in this one either.

This was not a "bad" game, if you like simple, no brainer games, which I sometimes do. The story was a little different and you did have time travel. The only thing I really didn't care for was the constant time travel for one item. I stopped counting after 6 jumps in the alley. If you jump to complete a task, okay, but not back and forth for one item, back to use it, back again to get something else, etc. You get the picture. This game may appeal to a beginner, or someone who just wants to rest their brain a bit. I will recommend it for them, but not for me. No buy today.

As always, try it for yourself and see what you think. We all have different tastes in games and you may find this one to be exactly what you are looking for today. Thanks for the reviews. Show less

I recommend this game!

+15points

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Overall rating

2 / 5

17 of 20 found this review helpful

Just NOT My Cup of Tea.

PostedDecember 15, 2015

mrm2006

fromHelping the Elves at the North Pole!!!

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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:Intermediate

Favorite Genre(s):Hidden Object, Match 3, Large File, Mahjong, Card & Board

Current Favorite:

Bluebeard's Castle

(295)

Fun Factor

2 / 5

Visual/Sound Quality

3 / 5

Level of Challenge

3 / 5

Storyline

2 / 5

No beginning cut scene to get a bearing on what the game is about, who your character is, etc.

Graphics are ok. I turned off the music and 'sounds' but couldn't turn off the voiceovers. Your character is in a constant state of "OMG!!!"

Absolutely NO different modes of difficulty.

No diary/journal. No map (transportable or otherwise). The hint button takes f-o-r-e-v-e-r and a d-a-y to recharge. ...Show more

No beginning cut scene to get a bearing on what the game is about, who your character is, etc.

Graphics are ok. I turned off the music and 'sounds' but couldn't turn off the voiceovers. Your character is in a constant state of "OMG!!!"

Absolutely NO different modes of difficulty.

No diary/journal. No map (transportable or otherwise). The hint button takes f-o-r-e-v-e-r and a d-a-y to recharge. At one point, it is noted during the tutorial (you can't turn off) to try the hint button and it would be a 'free hint'. Hmmmmm. The 'hint' button DOES NOT transport you either.

The Inventory button does NOT stay locked into position. So, you're constantly clicking on it to see what's what. There are pictures of what you have to find in the inventory which drove me a bit nuts to begin with ..... if it's in my Inventory it's something I found/earned/whatever and not a picture of something.

Because of all these things, and many more, this will NOT be a purchase for me. I really can't even find anything at all that I enjoyed about it but that's me. Show less

I don't recommend this game.

+14points

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Overall rating

2 / 5

11 of 16 found this review helpful

This should have remained a secret

PostedDecember 15, 2015

Novella2

Key Contributor
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Skill Level:Expert

Favorite Genre(s):Hidden Object, Adventure, Large File, Word

Fun Factor

2 / 5

Visual/Sound Quality

3 / 5

Level of Challenge

2 / 5

Storyline

3 / 5

Only one method of game play. Lots of dialog, though you can skip through it. You can't skip the tutorial (don't even get that option). Lots of HOS; straight, no interaction and a too fast click penalty.

This game appears to have been made a long time ago. Do have a question: has anyone noticed all the games about Greece lately? Anyway, this is a "no" for me.

I don't recommend this game.

+6points

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Overall rating

2 / 5

8 of 11 found this review helpful

Tedious & Exhausting

PostedDecember 16, 2015

jmidge0217

fromMedford, OR

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Skill Level:Intermediate

Favorite Genre(s):Hidden Object, Adventure, Strategy, Arcade & Action, Card & Board

Current Favorite:

Final Cut: Fade to Black Collector's Edition

(30)

Fun Factor

1 / 5

Visual/Sound Quality

2 / 5

Level of Challenge

2 / 5

Storyline

3 / 5

Old school worst possible sense.
I found the navigation so tedious and exhausting that I gave up in frustration after about 15 minutes of the demo.
Unfortunate as I found the storyline had possibilities.

I don't recommend this game.

+5points

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