Witches' Legacy: The Charleston Curse Collector's Edition

Yes, this is an older game. No morphing objects, no collectibles, no fast track map (no map at all actually). That said, if you like HOGs you'll like this one! The scenes (art) are wonderfully drawn and the music is suitably creepy as you progress through the even creepier story. The HO scenes--there's a lot--are very well hidden and take careful observation. You will have to do a lot of backtracking as you earn items used to to unlock things in various rooms, but that's part of the charm imo (You can use the hint button to quickly go from room to room to where your next task is, which is very helpful). I have always appreciated these older games and this one is up near the top!. EDIT: I am playing the next game in the series (Witches Legacy, Lair of the Witch Queen) and I can tell you it's been updated with morphing objects, puzzle pieces, a fast track map and even an imp who helps with tasks. The story continues--not nearly as creepy--following basically the same format. There are a lot more games to play in this series and I see no reason not to continue--they are entertaining at the least!

If you like older HOPAs that were less forgiving with less hints, fast travel maps, and a heavy focus on HO scenes without fancy gimmicks, then I don't think you can go wrong with this game. It uses live action film added over to the game in some scenes, but not the bonus game for some reason. I really liked it, I enjoy a good old school HOPA once in a while, but beware this is heavy on HO, and if prefer puzzles, this may not be the right game for you. Puzzles are easy to mid, with a few hard ones here and there. But most are pretty tame. Story is pretty good and the art has aged really well and I love the gothic feel of the game. So, overall a great game if you prefer your HOPAs old schoo, yo!

Variety

Another 4:3 stretched to 16:9 with dismal results. It feels like the game file is inflated to over 1 Gb to appear the size of a more modern game. It sure doesn't appear in the graphics quality. And it uses a live action character amid all the animation. it always looks so tacky. The interface has about 20% of the functionality of a modern game. Don't bother even on sale.

The other games in this series are amazing, but this one sucks and isn't that great. The hidden objects blend together and overall the game lacks the fun that exist in the other ones.

5 stars