Gamertell

It’s been sort of a slow week in the casual game world. There’ve been a few releases, but nothing highly anticipated or extraordinary. Fans of classic adventure games who love to point and click their way through unusual stories or cases will be pleased as there are two promising titles released this week. Plus, the first entry in the Orbs of Magic RPG, Aveyond: Lord of Twilight debuts today on Big Fish Games and PlayFirst.

There’s also a promising Mac casual game this week, Winemaker Extraordinaire. Gamertell was fortunate enough to be able to review the PC version of the game and was quite pleased with it, so it’s wonderful to see a Mac version.

Jenni thinks this week’s best bets are: Winemaker Extraordinaire for Mac and Aveyond: Lord of Twilight for PC.

Sherlock Holmes - The Secret of the Silver Earring
Genre: Adventure
Availability: Big Fish Games
Retail Price: $6.99
Platform: Windows XP and Vista
Premise: Players step into the shoes of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson to solve murders.
Demo Available: Yes

Hidden Island
Genre: Puzzle / Match 3
Availability: Big Fish Games
Retail Price: $6.99
Platform: Windows XP and Vista
Premise: You assist a man who’s accidentally discovered a cursed island that doesn’t appear on any maps. You have to solve puzzles by matching three tiles in the Magic Disk and playing assorted mini-games. If you succeed, the island will be released from the spell.
Demo Available: Yes

Lost Secrets: Caribbean Explorer Secrets of the Sea
Genre: Hidden Object
Availability: Big Fish Games
Retail Price: $6.99
Platform: Windows XP and Vista
Premise: In order to save your father and your family’s fortune, you must travel through exotic Caribbean locations, checking areas for clues, avoiding pirates and playing mini=game.
Demo Available: Yes

Faerie Solitaire
Genre: Puzzle (Solitaire)
Availability: Big Fish Games, Supsoap
Retail Price: $19.95
Platform: Windows XP and Vista
Premise: By playing solitaire, you can raise a faerie pet and save the other faeries. There are 400 hands and 40 levels to play through.
Demo Available: Yes

AGON - The London Scene
Genre: Adventure
Availability: Big Fish Games, Harmonic Flow
Retail Price: $6.99
Platform: Windows XP and Vista
Premise: The British Museum’s Professor Samuel Hunt has been given the opportunity to discover the truth behind historical items after receiving a message and manuscript from an unknown source. Players help him find out more about the mysterious items and manuscript as Hunt travels around the world.
Demo Available: Yes

Winemaker Extraordinaire
Genre: Time Management
Availability: Big Fish Games
Retail Price: $6.99
Platform: Mac 10.4 or 10.5
Premise: Make wines throughout the world as Maria Bellaventura. If you’re successful, you may reunite the World Guild of Extraordinary Winemakers and earn the recipe for the Vino Ultimae wine.
Demo Available: Yes

Aveyond: Lord of Twilight
Genre: RPG
Availability: Big Fish Games, Playfirst
Retail Price: $19.95
Platform: Windows XP and Vista
Premise: A vampire is going to take over the world, and a thief named Mel is the only person with the ability to stop him. She’ll have to travel the world, earn allies, raise pets, battle the vampire’s minions, journey through dungeons and solve challenges to save the day.
Demo Available: Yes

Editor’s Note: Due to so many casual games sites offering game plans or preferred member prices, which can cause a game to have multiple price-points, the games’ average retail prices is mentioned in Casual Friday.

Site [Big Fish Games] Site [PlayFirst] Site [GameHouse] Site [eGames] Site [Alawar Games] Site [Amazon] Site [Reflexive Arcade]