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The Great Unknown: Houdini's Castle Collector's Edition 
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$ 13.99 USD or 2 credits
Your honeymoon is cut short when your plane crashes on an uncharted island in The Great Unknown: Houdini's Castle. You awake to discover a madman has kidnapped your husband. To get him back, you'll have to use all your wits to pass his sinister tests and solve the mysteries of Houdini's castle. Along the way, you'll uncover Houdini's secret past and learn about the brilliant apprentice who changed his life. Can you expose Houdini's greatest trick to save your husband and escape the island? Take the challenge in this thrilling Hidden Object Puzzle Adventure game.
This is a special Collector's Edition release full of exclusive extras you won’t find in the standard version. As a bonus, Collector's Edition purchases count toward three stamps on your Monthly Game Club Punch Card!
The Collector’s Edition includes:
- Bonus gameplay
- Beautiful wallpapers
- Full soundtrack
- An integrated Strategy Guide
Click images to enlarge
Game System Requirements:
- OS: 10.8/10.7/10.6
- CPU: 1.6 GHz (INTEL ONLY)
- RAM: 1024 MB
- Hard Drive: 328 MB
Game Manager System Requirements:
- Browser: Safari 4.0 or later
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The Great Unknown: Houdini's Castle Collector's Edition
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Customer Reviews
The Great Unknown: Houdini's Castle Collector's Edition
45
45
REVIEW OF COMPLETED GAME
I think this is these devs first CE and they really did a good job with it. The graphics are very good and I loved the story. It's not how I remember it, but I think it rather comes from the author's imagination, though they did stick to the manner of Houdini's death, but it's certainly well thought out. They have the technicalities down pat, making it a real pleasure to play. The music is just fine and the puzzles are challenging but not frustrating. Some new ones I have not seen before. The BC was a follow-on from the main game and not just tacked on as I have seen more than enough times and hated it. It took me 45 mins.
I did enjoy it but with a few reservations. First, the HOS are rather too dark and they also gave me difficulty in that I had trouble matching the items up. I do not know if that was just me or if there is a certain lack of logic there.
Second, there was something I wanted to know before the end of the game, but it was not revealed.
Lastly, it came in at under 4.5 hours including the BC. I expect a CE to be longer than that, though I will not quibble too much on that score.
For a first attempt, if it is, they did a terrific job for the most part, much better than many I have played lately from more well established and popular devs.
An extremely good effort from these devs, who showed imagination and the ability to create a good cohesive game.
September 23, 2012
For Me, Not So Magical.....
Today your husband has been kidnapped during your honeymoon and youfind yourself playing cat and mouse with a Madman inside Houdini's Castle. He believe that you are the 'chosen one' to help bring back his missing apprentice. I own all the games that these developers have brought to us and I must say that their graphics have improved over the year. The artwork is stunning and the graphics are sharp and bright. The game features two game modes and you are equiped with one journal and an old Film Camera where you will be picking up old film reels that give you some interesting tidbits on the life of Houdini and the mystery involved. There are voice-overs and good sound effects. There is no map so alot of backtracking is involved. Houdini's Castle is your basic HOPA, heavy on adventure with crowded HO scenes that are slightly interactive. There are two types of HO scenes; one where you find objects and the other is where you place objects that associate with others. There is alot of picking up inventory items which you use on your way. The hint system does refill slowly and you have blackbar hints that tell you what you need. Minigames are easy; during the trial mode, I found them to be too easy. After having played the demo, I asked my self: Where is the magic and what was the hype all about? The storyline is old, the game mechanics are routine and there are no extras involved like morphing objects, collectables or intricate puzzles. After a while I found the gameplay a bit automatic and a bit tedious. The only eyepopper in this game were the graphics. Is this enough to spend CE price? In my opinion, No, it is not. Perhaps I am spoiled but I really do expect much more from a Collector's Edition Game. I found this to be less magical than expected which really begs the question, do I recommend this game as is? I am tempted to say that I do not recommend this game however as it does have merits regarding visuals and gameplay that I am sure many will enjoy, I will recommend this game to beginners. However if you are looking for something challenging and different and a bit more fun to play, then you, like myself, will probably opt to wait for the SE edition.
September 23, 2012
Completed Game Review
As someone else said, I think this is the first game we've seen from this developer, and they did a good job with it. The graphics, music, and technical parts of the game play are all very well done. Its adventure lite, mixed with some hidden object and association scenes, and these I thought were fairly clear, although I had some issues with the association scenes.
The storyline is a bit weak, not as enthralling as I would have preferred, and leaves questions unanswered. I think it may be the weakest part of the game. There also is no map.
The game is fairly short, under 4 hrs for me, which is too short for a CE in my opinion.
All in all, its a very good first outing for this developer, though I would recommend waiting for the SE unless you are really into the bonus content, wallpapers, etc.
September 24, 2012
Adventure mixed with HOS
Game starts with funeral for a friend, jumps 50 years, a strange weapon aimed at the sky, a plane out of control, and you wake up at Harry Houdini's house. Basis for story is that person who kidnapped you is testing you to see if you are that "special person". Nuff said!
Game options allow you to adjust the music, voices and sound, and there are full screen, wide screen and custom cursor options as well. No options on sparkles.
Sporadic hidden object scenes are a combination of regular HOS and an association game such as carrot goes with rabbit. Some can be quite tricky. Large crisp objects, and no click penalty.
Mini-games are typical with a skip available after a short time.
Soothing appropriate music, strategy guide has 9 chapter plus a bonus, but game moves fairly quickly. No map, no diary, no morphing objects, but you do collect film reels for the backstory and there is lots of walking around.
Not my all time favorite, but a good effort.
September 23, 2012
Magician, plane crash, creepy house !!!
Played 25 minutes, casual
- 2 modes, casual and expert
- Integrated SG, stays on the page you leave, you can check it all during the demo
- 9 chapters plus bonus play
- Voice overs
- Music a bit loud
- Note book
- No map
- H0. you interact, some objects are really difficult to spot
- In other "H0" you have to put objects back that fit with others
- Hint button, takes a while to refill, only tells you there's nothing to do outside H0
- Skip button, quite long to fill, casual
- Mini games not over difficult
- Beautiful graphics
A plane crash !! Changes us from car crash...Magician, creepy house, good ingredients to make a good story and game. A buy for me.
September 23, 2012
Magician's Assistant Needed!
Although the story begins with the missing boyfriend, the plot surrounds the girlfriend. She awakens from the plane crash in a creepy bedroom and subsequently discovers that she is actually auditioning for the position of assistant to Harry Houdini's adopted son. What comes afterward is magic! How can she free herself and her boyfriend, if he is still alive, and complete all the tasks ahead of her? That will be revealed as the game progresses.
This is an engaging and entertaining game. HOGs were well defined and some of the reverse ones required a bit of thought. I couldn't say what the sound is like because I played without it. The graphics are good but not stunning. Gameplay is good but I didn't find it particularly challenging. The objective of completing a task is understood but accomplishing it may require a bit of sleuthing back and forth.
This is a game worth purchasing. It makes you want to know what comes next!
September 23, 2012
NOT WORTH THE MONEY - WAIT FOR RELEASE OF THE SE!!
I seldom buy a CE game because the added extras usually aren't worth the extra cost. But the storyline was so intriguing that I purchased this one after the sixty minute trial period was over. What a mistake! Please don't waste your money on this Collector's Edition -- wait for the Standard Edition to come out. All you get with the CE is a VERY short Bonus Chapter, goofy wallpaper and 20 small photos of poorly drawn concept art.
THE UPSIDE:
* Fairly decent graphics overall
* Great voiceovers
* Didn't time the game, but didn't feel cheated due to it being too short.
* Hint & Skip bars filled quickly
* A nice mix of puzzles and HO scenes. Half of the HO scenes were matching pairs of items
* Built-in Strategy Guide
* If you liked the music, you could go into the Extras and re-play the soundtrack
THE DOWNSIDE:
* Most of the HO scenes were dark & it was difficult to find what you needed. Some objects weren't drawn very well either.
* There was no map so you will have to do quite a bit of backtracking
* While the Hint flask refilled quickly, it didn't help you by suggesting where to go next. It would just say "Nothing more to do at this location right now"
* Many areas still sparkled even after you had completed them and there was nothing left to be done
* The beginning of the story wasn't put together well.
* The ending was weak and rather disappointing
* The Bonus Chapter was very short
I can't recommend paying $13.99 for this one. Wait for the release of the Standard Edition.
September 26, 2012
AVERAGE BUT PLEASANT GAME
This is a nice average game. You have many things to do at one time and carry inventory not yet usable. The contrast between found and unfound objects in the HOS could have been sharper. The images in the HOS were frequently indistinct (and not always because they were in shadow). There are ?association? mini-games, which make use of a previously seen HOS, in which you match objects to an associated object such as matching a banana with a monkey. Although there was a lot of detail in the environments, they were a little crowded. Pleasant game, but nothing exciting.
September 23, 2012
SHORT STORY: The Great Unknown Houdini's Castle
I was really looking forward to playing this game. But the length was way too short. Guessing it took me less than an hour and a half to play the first part (didn't time it). Very, very disappointed with the length. I have not played the bonus chapter yet as I am guessing it will be even shorter!!.........For a CE it was not worth the money due to the length. Should have cut the bonus chapter and combined it with the first part. Feel like I was taken advantage of BF.
A map would have been nice, that is the only thing I would have liked to have had at times.
Definitely not worth the CE price.
September 24, 2012
Fun Hidden Object Game
I have bought many games of this kind and found this one to be truly fine. Fantastic graphics and great story line. Excellent audio and artwork. Would recommend.
September 23, 2012
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