Wow, I wasn't expecting this kind of beauty in display and quality in gameplay when I got Nearwood - a FROG, or fragmented object game - in a bundle some time ago. I was bored and looking for a "snack" game, which I'd be able to play with minimum mental capacity. Aside the story being purely lame and the ending being anticlimactic, Nearwood's been a feast within its genre.

The curtain opens up for us to meet Jane Lockwood, the only daughter of Nathan and Elizabeth Lockwood. Apparently, Jane's mother died out of a sickness and her father disappeared mysteriously just after, leaving Jane to be raised by her aunt. Growing up with many strange dreams of a magical realm, Jane finally decides to go back to the house that she lived with her parents when she was little, to learn more about her past.

There, a strange little man - either a gnome or a goblin - named Fey welcomes her back and invites her to the mysterious realm of Nearwood: a fairy realm that apparently little Jane and her parents lived in when she was younger. As a quite expected outcome, Jane seems to be the hero that Nearwood's been waiting for. Only she will be able to reveal the mystery of her past and mend the damage done to the realm!

Okay, after swimming in the sea of clichés that stands as a storyline, we should talk about the display: OMG, visuals are plain marvelous in this game!!! Beautiful effects, gorgeous backgrounds in vibrant colors and lovely character designs as if it's all just out of a fairytale book. Environment design being always unique and imaginative, Nearwood manages to set a light and magical tone for you to experience. Added with quite elaborate character designs and good voice acting, this silly magical realm is worthy for you to experience even for the sake of art only.

Nothing stands out much for the gameplay though, but we wouldn't expect anything imaginative from a HOG/FROG at this point. We know what we are getting ourselves into when we are buying a HOG: we run around in a predetermined area, collect items, solve some puzzles and call it a day by completing a cheesy story. Oh, wait: puzzles ARE imaginative and interesting, most of them being quite challenging! If you'd refuse skipping puzzles and complete the brief bonus chapter, Nearwood offers you a 4-5 hour gameplay which is quite fair.

This is a lovely game for you to kill a couple of hours, admire some lovely scenery and call it a day. Hey, if you have kids, I'd vouch for the game being kid friendly too. After your second hour and 40th snoopsee - a fluffy and mischievous creature that infests all Nearwood - you'd feel that you are 8 years old again.

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This game is a series of puzzles ranging from simple to MENSA level mind breakingly challenging. With such excellent visuals no puzzle gaming fan should be dissuaded by this. There is a guide to help if you get stuck, or just skip the puzzle. The only puzzle that seemed to be guesswork was the seasons puzzle shown in the screenshot, there is a shoe, and an umbrella, I guess those are only needed during certain seasons?
(For summer, the shoe coulda been a flip-flop. While for Fall, the umbrella coulda been anything like a pile of leaves. What is that umbrella even for in the fall?)

While solving puzzles be on the look out for little creatures that tell their own bonus story in the snoopedia of the hard life of living in a fantasy paradise. We need more games on this level of awesome, to appeal to the masses those puzzles need to be toned down to more human levels outside the realm of needing to be an Einstein. Noone wants to bring shame and dishonor upon their family by resorting to the use of the *gulp* skip button on a clever puzzle.

Loses one point because you cant replay the game with the same profile, you have to delete your profile or create a new one to play it again losing your snoopedia progress. Don't know what a snoopedia is? Then you havent even lived!

Rating: 9/10 Value: $9.99

Now before I begin this, I want you to know that I've played around 20 hidden object games in the last couple months so I am well versed in this genre.

Nearwood blew me away. It is one of the most visually stunning hidden object games out there. I was excited everytime I accessed a new area - every scene is beautiful. The characters and creatures look great. Some of the animals are the cutest I've seen. Voice acting is better than average for this genre. The music is lovely AND you have access to all the songs since this is the collector's edition. The puzzles range from very easy to "ack, this is hurting my brain" but you can skip any of them, if you so desire. The length of Nearwood, especially with the bonus game, is longer than most hidden object games. And there is a very cool "boss battle" that most puzzle games lack. I do have to warn you, the hidden object aspect of the game is limited and when you hit them, you're only searching for specific item parts. However, the game is SO good that the lack of "normal" hidden object areas didn't bother me in the least. I really could go on and on about how much I enjoyed playing this. I'll just finish with - I highly recommend it. :)

I must admit, this is my first Hidden Object / Adventure Game I've ever played, so I really have nothing to compare my experience with it. However, reviews should never be in comparison to other Games, but purely on the enjoyment that one recieves from playing it.

The Voice Acting was well done, the Art Style and Music is just beautiful, and the Story was interesting enough to keep me intrigued. The puzzles and Hidden Objects I found were basic enough to not get stuck on, although I did have to search up the Constellation Puzzle.

My only problem I found, was I got lost a lot going from Screen to Screen. After an hour I just used the Hint Button to help me Navigate back to Area's of Interest, which eliminated my frustration of wandering around endlessly.

The Collector's Edition comes with the Soundtrack which you can Download to your PC through the Game [not sure if this was only accessible after completion], A Bonus Level to add onto the Gameplay, an extra activity through the Game to collect critters which unlock Pages in the Snoopedia, and also Desktop Wallpapers, which on my 1920x1080 Resolution weren't all that crisp.

Genre
- Hidden Object / Adventure

Game Elements
- Hidden Object
- Puzzle

Average Playthrough
- 4 Hours

Liked
- Interesting Story
- Simple Puzzles
- Bright and Colourful Art
- Beautifully composed Music

Disliked
- My lack of ability to Navigate =]

This one was fun!

As far as hidden object games go this one was quite a pleasure to play. Recently i haven't really been feeling the long and time consuming games, yet this one is somewhere around the middle. It wasn't too long and it wasn't too short. I managed to get around 4 and a half hours of play time out of it. Including the bonus chapter at the end.

The story is decent, i particularly like the fantasy type world you stumble into. It's nothing too enthralling but it's definitely a decent play and helps it stand out slightly from all the other HOGs.
I've been playing quite a few recently and this is one of the better ones i think.

The item finding itself is a little odd in this one. It's not the usual 'list' kind of thing. It was more so shorter item-finding scenes where you are looking for ten or so outlined shapes rather then a long list of named objects. It's something a little different I guess but i found it quite odd.
It also doesn't feel like there is actually many item-finding scenes in this game. In ways i liked it, they focused a tad more on the story and i guess it's always good that the game isn't entirely dependent on that factor of the game. But i personally would have enjoyed it a little more if they were a little more frequent. As i quite like the item-finding side to HOGs.

The voicing acting, art and puzzles are all pretty standard as far as HOGs go really. As in, the voice acting is always that tad bit cheesy, the art is always quite nice and the puzzles are always fairly similar.
None the less, i enjoyed it. As these kind of games are great for few hour time killers.

When it comes to this genre of game, i think all positive reviews tend to be very similar. It's just usually the bad ones that differentiate and usually for good reason.
For a HOG to be bad they must be really bad.
*Cough* Amazing Adventures Around The World *Cough*
Excuse me.

All in all, this is another decent hidden object game for the collection, i'd definitely recommend this one.


TL;DR : Another decent HOG, pretty standard but stands out a little from the rest with it's fantasy setting.

i really enjoyed this game. it is a favoriite in my household. we enjoy it a lot.
i'd give it a 8/10 (if they fix the glitches maybe a 10/10)

Pros:
it has many other games/puzzles in it besides the story's "hidden object" challanges, beauiful music (includes OST for download), wallpapers, concept art, and the graphics are divine (very bright and festive).

Cons:
voice acting...is...over the top sometimes. some of the puzzles make 0 sense and glitch often on certain ones (thank God for the SKIP option played on casual mode). there is a major LAG towards the end of the Bonus Game (which is a SHORT sequal btw)...that is a bit of a let down too.
the story is lacking in some departments but this is not an epic hardcore rpg either. this is a casual point and click hidden object game. (with prettier graphics and fantastic soundtrack.)

if you're into this type of game then by all means buy it :D but if you're looking for something in higher standards i'd say still give it a go but wait for it to go on sale.

i'm glad i bought this game. ive beaten it twice already. it never gets old. takes about 3hrs to beat (depending on your personal play speed).

It's a beautiful game, and worth the price for that alone. Great point and click game (very few hidden object scenes, despite what the tags say) when you want to just relax and enjoy the art.

There isn't much can be said about the game's visuals asides from that they're amazingly well done. Pretty much the same thing can be said about the game's audio. The visual and audio can be adjusted in the game's option menu.


There are three different game difficulty modes to choose from: Casual, Normal and Expert.

There are interactive items in the game, they're marked with a symbol, but sometimes these interactive items do require extra items before they can be interact with.

The interactive map allows the player to fast travel between each location quickly. It also indicates something of interest can be done at certain location. Please note that the map isn't given immediately when the game started. Also, the teleportation amulet automatically recharges itself after being used.

Most of the hidden object scenes consists of fragment items, placing items back. Some of them do require little or no interaction.

Most of the game's puzzles are rather easy to solve without much difficulty. For most of these puzzles there's a reset button. However, there's definitely a skip button, for all of the puzzles. These two features are only present in "Casual" game difficulty mode.

There are small creatures collectibles in the game called Snoop-Sees. They're scattered throughout the game.

Since this is a collector's edition game, there's a bonus chapter, but it can be unlocked only after the main story of the game's completed. The bonus chapter is the sequel to the main story.

There's a built-in strategy guide for the game. It can be access anytime during gameplay.


In the extra content section: Soundtracks, Concept Art, Wallpapers and Snoopedia.

[Please note that Snoopedia can't be accessed until some of its' collectibles are found.]

Final thoughts, I definitely enjoying playing this game all the way through to the end. As for the replay value I would say it's low. I would recommend this game but not at the full price.

One of the better Hidden Object games. Lots of content, some good puzzles, and an immersive fantasy atmosphere, which is important to get you invested.
Definitely recommended.

The gameplay is pretty, and the story is very interesting. The ending is a bit abrupt though.