I remember this game so well and seeing it on sale today made me want to re-play it for old times sake. I recommend this game especially for HOG fans who want to move forward and play a more challenging interactive FROG. Although it is an old game it still offers you great play value and is the first installment of the series. Game mechanics involves standard FROG and items are fairly easy to locate, although there were a few tricky ones I remember. You solve puzzles and fun mini-games along the way. It is fairly long and there are lots to do in order to complete a chapter. ?tems are not all in one scene, and that really is where the fun begins. I think there is enough challenge to it to please everyone. Although the stoyline is basically saving your brother in a magical land, I absolutely loved it when I played it for the first time. This game hooked me onto more adventurous games and with it I graduated from your basic HOGs. Dont expect super graphics because it is dated however the colors are vibrant and colorful. Once again, ideal game for HOG lovers and beginners. For Hard-core player, I do believe you will be pleasantly surprised with this.

Warning! There is no skip button for the mini-games. Warning! There is no "walkthrough" via BigFish games. Warning! Hints are not plentiful but are available if you work for them. I thought of giving up at several points but, with help from other players, I was able to succeed with completing this game. It's a big feeling of satisfaction.

I had a bit of a problem at first with using the shapes for everything. But with time, I got better. I liked being able to play another type of game to get more hints - and toward the end I needed them! I loved the play and will play any other Magic Encyclopedia games for the one hour to determine if they are as much fun as this one was!

Not your normal HO game but fun to play. Keeps you moving to find items to keep going in the story. Some are hard to find but hint button works great.

Fun game and most puzzles easy. No skip button, so it is very easy to get stuck. Music is good, you find question marks to gain hints or play a "find the 10 question marks" game. Hint will not help on puzzles, which you have to play to find parts of objects. Yes this HO is a "find all the parts and then use" one. All in all a nice game, no brain strain.

Fun adventure for the family. Game is an interactive FRAG, but there are enough puzzles that you don?t get bored with looking for pieces of objects. You will also need your thinking cap nearby. You?re a first year magic student on the hunt for dragons threatening the world. Dialogue at the end is written but speeds by too fast to read all of it. Too bad. GAMEPLAY: 12 chapters follow this format: usually 2-3 locations per chapter. Search for fragments, crystals and question marks (which will give you additional hints). The number of crystals for each location is noted on an interactive map; you will need all the crystals to complete the game. Objects you assembled during the FRAG will be used in one of the two or three locations. A flag will appear on the map at each location in which all fragments have been assembled and used and all crystals found. There are a variety of puzzles, some of which are timed. If not solved within the generous time frame, you have to start the puzzle over. There is no skip button. [TIP so you don?t get frustrated using the wrong object when you?re sure it?s correct: When you get to the Indian Settlement, the object that looks like a drum is actually the ?top? that goes over the smoking pipe inside the tent. You will have a lid, but it?s not the one you need.] About 5-5 ? hours. 4 ? stars.

I had this game for a while when my 7 year old grandaughter discovered it on my computer. Together we finished it - took us a while - but very enjoyable. I since have purchased "Moonlight" and "Illusions" from BF - which are a little more difficult so we haven't finished those yet. I would recommend all three of these games. The nice thing is that if you are really stuck you can usually find some help in the forums. They are good to go back to when you get bored with other games but even more fun to work together with a friend or in my case - my grandaughter - her eyes are better than mine!!!

When I first started playing HOs, I soon tired of the straight HO games and wanted some a little more exciting. This is one of the first games I purchased. Although I have moved on to other games, this one is still fun as a simple filler game. The graphics are dated but still very nice and are bright compared with the current games. There are many puzzles which are timed, but are easily doable within the time frame. This is a FROG (fragmented objects) that have some challenges, but again easily doable. Each section is between one & four areas so there is no need for a map or notebook. The hints are created by finding "?" which are easy to spot. The storyline is simple, the music can be somewhat annoying but not bad. Overall this is a good game for a beginner who wants to move on from the straight HOG type game, but can be fun for those who want a simple, light game after playing a more intense one. I still play it on occasion and still enjoy it. This is also the 1st installment of series (currently at 3) which sort of ties the whole storyline together.

I love hidden object/adventure games, and I'm always looking for games that are bright and colorful with a low creep factor. I found this one on a daily deal, so I went ahead and bought it. This fits the bill, but I did have some issues that made me a bit unhappy. This is a fractured object game, and on each level you'll have a few scenes to find pieces of objects, and once those objects are completed you can use them somewhere in the level. I've played games exactly like this before- one of my favorites, Snark Busters comes to mind- but for some reason this game just didn't pull me in. I finished it, but I found the longer I played the more I wished it would just end. I think part of the reason for my dislike may be how easy the puzzles were and the fact that most of them repeated several times throughout the game. Most weren't even puzzles- they were things like memory games and matching objects to outlines. Very simple. Another thing I absolutely hated was that there was nothing to indicate when you had found all the objects you could in a scene. In each scene there are fractured objects laying in plain sight, but there are also several that are hidden behind or within other things and can't be found until you do something in another scene. Problem is, since I didn't know when I'd finished finding the objects out in the open, I just sat there and kept looking for object pieces that weren't even there. It wasn't until I used a hint that I found out there were no objects left to be found at that moment. I ended up wasting hints in every level just to make sure I wasn't looking for things in vain. The hint button, by the way, is not all that helpful. It will help you find objects that you may not be able to see, and it will tell you if you've found all the currently available objects in a scene- the thing I mainly used it for. It will not tell you how to use an object or what the next step is that you should take in the game. I think the game could be cute for beginners of this genr

Quite a nice game. You can tell it's quite old, but that doesn't make it bad. It's a FROG, but nicely done. You have to find parts of items you need to unlock something or solve a puzzle. Lots of magic involved, but nothing seriously occult. Visual and Sound quality are ok, considering the age and the artwork is very nice. One thing that got a bit on my nerves, was a door closing when a scene got loaded, which took a while, but that is to be expected with older games. Music is relaxing and not intrusive. An older hint system with hints not automatically recharging, but you can find question marks in each scene and if this still isn't enough and you're out of hints, then just click on hint and will take you to an area in which you have to find question marks and thus obtain a further two hints. The puzzles are pretty straight forward and not very difficult. I'd recommend this game to somebody who wants to spend some relaxing time or to somebody who wants to play a nice little adventure/FROG/puzzler with a younger child. For today's price I definitely recommend it.