Oh, No! I've Become a Gamer!

I don't know why, exactly, but in the past couple of days I've gotten really into HOGs (Hidden Objects Games). I found a neat little blog, Novitacu Games, that posts links to free, full-play, no-ads downloads, and I'm going through the list in search of the perfect game of this genre. And believe me when I tell you there are some real dogs out there. So far, the one I've enjoyed the most is Enlightenus...

The graphics are stunning (and even comical in some scenes—the cow getting abducted by a UFO, for example), and the story is pretty good. The best part is the musical score—it transformed me into the game's world immediately. The puzzles and mystery-solving kept me interested right up to the end, and I have to confess that, upon completion, I immediately started a new game because I just wasn't ready to leave that world. I love solving mysteries and puzzles, and this game has it all. My only beef is that it just wasn't long enough. I hope they make a follow-up game.

I'm currently playing The Magician's Handbook II - Blacklore and, although the game is too heavy with hidden object retrieval puzzles for my liking, those are really hard, which keep me coming back to the game. The music? Meh. It's going to be hard to top the score of Enlightenus.