by Elizabeth Picard

Created on: July 30, 2008   Last Updated: August 09, 2008

"Forgotten Riddles" by Blue Tea Games was a delightful surprise filled with a variety of puzzle solving games.

From a parent's standpoint, this game, unlike others of its kind actually gives you interesting historical based tidbits as you begin each new level. Any game that has an educational value is an admirable trait for PC gaming producers. If kids are going to play games, which they do, then let them learn something while they play.

The music was a perfect selection which fit with both the same style of problem solving and with the timeline of the game.

As you begin the game, each level requires you solve so many clues. Each room will offer a different puzzle and sometimes the same room once completed will be used for a completely different puzzle to be completed. The major puzzle that you'll be trying to solve is where you're given up to 9 clues which will be a riddle. Solve the riddle and then look for the object in the image that is the answer to the riddle. Another puzzle will give you objects to place within the image. This is a bit harder as sometimes the certain objects must be placed before others parts of the picture are revealed allowing you to place additional objects. Also there are bonus puzzle games which you are not required to complete to advance but are fun to try. The one I did was more like putting a jigsaw puzzle together.

Each level you are also given a number of hints, so if once you've solved as many clues as you can without help you are still able to try and complete the level with your hints, provided you have enough hints available to use.

The creators of this game clearly spent a lot of time on creativity and innovation of making this game type more interesting to play as well as educational. During the demo version I played as an apprentice. It was not quite as easy as I thought it would be at first as I have played many variations of this game type before. But the level of difficulty was not so high that with a little perseverance you cannot continue to progress through the game.

I would definitely recommend this game to parents of children who are of reading level. It offers a great deal of enjoyment while also offering educational benefits at the same time. It definitely encourages problem solving techniques to be developed as well as reading comprehension and inspiring imagination. While you're at it why not sit down and play the game together. I'm sure you'll both find something enjoyable about the game. Overall, I give this game a 5/5 rating. In its field it is certainly the most advanced well packaged game that I've seen on the market thus far and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys puzzles.

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