AWAKENING THE SUNHOOK SPIRE Collectors Edition Hidden Object PC game DVD-ROM + Bonus!

Awakening: The Sunhook Spire is the fifth installment in the Awakening series by Boomzap who also created the Dana Knightstone series and the Otherworld series. There are seven games in the Awakening series. I listed those games in the following chronological order:#1: Awakening: The Dreamless Castle#2: Awakening: Moonfell Wood  Awakening 1 & 2 (The Hidden Mystery Collectives) #3: Awakening: The Goblin Kingdom#4: Awakening: The Skyward Castle  Awakening 3: The Goblin King and Awakening 4: The Skyward Castle, 2 Pack - PC #5: Awakening: The Sunhook Spire#6: Awakening: The Redleaf Forest#7: Awakening: The Golden Age  AWAKENING The Red Leaf Forest + The Golden Age Hidden Object PC Game DVD-ROM Boomzap also released a game called Awakening Kingdoms between Awakening: The Redleaf Forest and Awakening: The Golden Age. It is a F2P game that is not sold in cd-rom form. It is Free To Play for a couple levels; then you pay to go on. I have not played Awakening Kingdoms.Awakening: The Sunhook Spire can be played by itself without having played the four previous games. However, I greatly enjoyed playing all seven of the games in sequence to follow Queen Sophia’s adventurous storyline from the beginning.Awakening: The Sunhook Spire’s hidden object scenes have clear, easy to see graphics and the puzzles are simple (as are the puzzles in all the games in this series); a ten year old could quickly solve them. I enjoy relaxing with these games, but if you are looking for a challenge, this is not the game for you. The game is beautifully drawn; it’s like stepping into an ethereal world filled with mermaids, fairies, goblins, and, of course, your trusty sidekicks, the pocket dragon and Ran the Owl with his cute British accent (the voiceovers are excellent). There are so many charming details; for example, the fire pocket dragon turns into a wind pocket dragon and then into an ice pocket dragon depending on the power that you need at the time.I love having the choice of three modes of play so I can turn off the helpful sparkles that give too much away. There are morphing objects to collect in every scene with a journal that keeps track of found morphing objects and the number of morphing objects that are still hidden in each chapter.---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Spirits of Mystery- Amber Maiden is the first installment in the Spirits of Mystery series by ERS Game Studios who also created the PuppetShow, Dark Tales: Edgar Allan Poe, Redemption Cemetery and Haunted Legends series. There are seven games so far in the Spirit of Mystery series. I have only played the first three Spirits of Mystery games. All the games are listed in the following chronological order:#1: Spirits of Mystery- Amber Maiden#2: Spirits of Mystery- Song of the Phoenix#3: Spirits of Mystery- The Dark Minotaur  SPIRITS OF MYSTERY Hidden Object 2 GAME PACK: Song of the Phoenix + The Dark Minotaur #4: Spirits of Mystery- The Silver Arrow#5: Spirits of Mystery- Chains of Promise#6: Spirits of Mystery- Family Lies#7: Spirits of Mystery: The Fifth Kingdom (made by Amax Interactive)The story is about a princess from a cursed kingdom trapped in amber by an evil Dark Queen. You are saved as an infant by your nanny and learn of your royal lineage as an adult. You travel through a portal to save your royal parents and stop the evil witch while lifting curses upon the inhabitants of the kingdom. There is a castle to explore and magical potions to mix.Spirits of Mystery- Amber Maiden’s hidden object scenes have clear, easy to see graphics (not junk pile-y or too cluttered) and some of the objects are interactive. The hidden objects printed in yellow require an action to change them. The puzzles are simple (as are the puzzles in all the games in this series); a ten year old could quickly solve them. I enjoy relaxing with these games, but if you are looking for a challenge, this is not the game for you. The game is beautifully drawn (who knew a pantry could be that gorgeous?).There is a choice of two modes of play (casual and expert) but the helpful sparkles that give too much away cannot be turned off. Still, I greatly enjoyed the whimsical feel of this game. This cd-rom installed and ran flawlessly on my Windows 10.

another great offering in the AWAKENING series. Keep them coming, please. Beautiful graphics; mix of games; fun story.

"Long ago, a kingdom was cast into darkness. Its king and queen were put into a deep sleep. Their daughter, Princess Sophia, ascended the throne and brought hope to the kingdom. In her quest to awaken her parents from their slumber, Sophia Sophia learned of a powerful Enchantress who could undo the spell.Alas! On her way to the Enchantress' lair at Sunhook Spire, she was beset by treacherous mercenaries and captured by Captain Ironhoof. Can the young Queen escape the mercenaries and get to Sunhook Spire safely?"And so your game begins. You play as Princess Sophia. Before you start, you choose from 3 play levels, Relaxed, Normal or Dreadmyre. The last is the name of the evil sorcerer you have to best. At this third level, hints recharge slowly and you cannot skip puzzles. However, hints still work on puzzles, and if you get really stuck, you can hint your way out of any puzzle. Unlike some games, you cannot change your difficulty level once you've started.This is a combination game, with hidden object (HO) scenes, pure puzzles, and inventory actions. The main game has 18 HO scenes, enlivened with some quirks, such as finding the reverses of objects, which is interesting as it requires you to see patterns. There are 43 puzzles, which is a LOT of puzzles and non-stop puzzle action. Puzzle difficulty ranges from very easy to medium and they are varied in style.After you finish the main game, you unlock a Bonus Chapter. This has 4 more HO scenes, 11 more puzzles, and lots of inventory actions. I got a kick out of one magical artifact Sophia encounters: "Edacious Chest of Foresight. It whispers, 'Feed me, and I shall grant you the future.' "The graphics of the game are average. The plot is pure fantasy and average. The Collector's Edition has a built-in Strategy Guide in case you get stuck.I rated the original game + bonus game 3.3 stars rounded down to 3. But you get a second game with the disc that raises my star rating to 3.8 stars, rounded up to 4.The 2nd full game is titled "Spirits of Mystery: Amber Maiden". It raises the star level because it adds 29 HO scenes, 14 puzzles and many inventory actions. In addition, the story-line is a little better and the graphics, especially on the HO scenes, are better than in the original game. The two games are installed separately. so if you have space problems on your computer, you can delete one game and still play the other.I played on a Win 7 with no problem. According to the game case, it works on Windows XP, Vista, 7 and 8. No entry code is needed to play. Once the game is loaded, you do not need the disc to play. Progress is automatically saved when you exit.Overall, I enjoyed "Awakening Sunhook Spire CE". It is an average game but you do get lots of gameplay.3.3 stars rounded down to 3.Happy Reader

i ordered a new copy and received a used one. also stopped after chapter 4 and could not finish the game. relatively easy up to that point

Works great.