This is a pretty good and complex game and I am enjoying it. Easily as good or better than the preceding chapters in this series. Excellent graphics, nice lighting effects, decent voice acting. There are some pretty creative twists. But I have to say that it has its odd moments of incomprehension. You are left to figure out the point of most of the mini-games and this is not simple (Even though there is an "Info" button, the info itself is sketchy). With a few of them, it took some time just to figure out the intent of the puzzle, as well as what parts were active and what was eye candy.

In the HOG scenes, what you see is not always what you get; you have to bend the normal rules. Example: You are asked to find all the "Clubs" (as in cards), but there aren't enough. After searching for a long time, I finally clicked on a "Spade," and lo and behold, that worked! Again, a bark of laughter. In other ones, the HOG search is governed by outline images, and the outline is so vague that you have no idea what it represents. More giggles, as you just click here and there at objects that look similar until you learn that the blob was a radio. Other times, you have to take the intent of the puzzles purely literally, no interpretation. Like I said, quirky. It is as though different teams programmed different parts of the game. It is entertaining.

However, now I am stuck. I'm pretty far along, trying to rescue a fellow trapped in a freezing room. I have one of those "Pieces of Pipe" puzzles, that was easy enough to solve, and then, according to the "Info," I am supposed to adjust the pressure in each segment of pipe. Unfortunately, I have not seen any sign of pressure knobs, even after solving the pipe layout. (I know I have set the pipes correctly, because I just looked up a WT. Mine are configured just as in the WT.)

I suppose I could go out and change my Difficulty Setting and then just SKIP this puzzle, but I'd prefer to solve it. So, can anyone help?

Hi Reenie, try checking out this thread from Big Fish.

Thanks, Marian! That never occurred to me, but I remember that there are a couple of pipe pieces that are the same. I will try swapping them when I get back to playing it today.

And so, there is yet another quirky aspect to this game! ha ha ha

Thanks for letting us know about the game - now I'm interested in it too. Like I needed another game to catch my interest.

Hi, Reenie!

How did I miss this game because I think I bought all of the others in the series? I'm downloading the demo right now because I have a coupon that will expire in a couple of days, and I'm looking for a SE to use it on.

Susan

It is pretty good. Very quirky. Use of some inventory items requires head-scratching.

I've played 4 x Final Cut games but haven't heard of this one before !!

Me, too. And now I can't remember how I heard about it, to go looking for it. LOL Just finished it last night. I did not buy a CE, so maybe there isn't one. Don't know that, either. Anyway, it means I can't comment on a Bonus Game.

My mini-review: Superb graphics, wide choice of playing difficulties (that you can alter mid-game if you need to make it easier), excellent character voices but not much connection between a speaker and voice (no lip-synch). Innovative variety of HOG scenes; few are simple Find-and-Click. Some are outline (silhouette), some require you to locate and select two pieces that are abstractly related to create the necessary object. Often, the sought object is partially hidden, making it more of a challenge.

As with most games these days, there is a good map, and you can transport from distant scenes to others. Depending on your settings, the game will tell you where the next action is located. Being as it is not a CE game, there are no pop-ups in the usual sense and no Bonus Items to find.

Most of the mini-games are too easy to be challenging, and a couple are so abstruse that even the bit of "Information" about what is required is not enough to determine the goal. At first, I found this annoying, but once I took it as part of the challenge, I liked it. A few puzzles don't work all that well, meaning, you are supposed to drag the mouse, but the object fails to stay "attached," etc. This made one puzzle so difficult that I actually went back to the Menu and rest my difficulty so that I could skip it, the went back and reset my difficulty to Hurt Me again. But that was not because it was a hard puzzle; just poorly engineered.

There is one Pipe Puzzle where you can arrive at the correct assembly and it still won't Finish because there are two sets of identical pipe segments and you have to have each in its correct place. Of course, YOU don't know this. (You might be left thinking you have the wrong answer, and start tweaking it again.) If this happens, try switching the pairs of identical pipes with their matching pieces, and then the puzzle will complete. I find this kind of sloppy programming inexcusable, but as long as you know about it, it is no big deal to defeat.

There are a couple of "shooter" type mini-games but they are VERY tolerant of your aim. There is one "driving" puzzle that is arcade-like (which I hate), but again, it was laughably tolerant and really not a puzzle at all. I don't see how anyone could lose at either of them. And at the end, when you are being shot at and have to dodge around the rooftop, you are in absolutely no danger of actually dying. Trust me on this.

You can find Final Cut: The True Escapade Collector's Edition here.

Thanks, Marion. As I said, I played the standard version and still found the game long and engaging. I loved it. (Can't imagine what the Bonus Game would involve, since the plot was resolved completely at the end, but that is neither here nor there.) I think one of the reasons I enjoyed the game was the absence of things popping up in my face, breaking The Fourth Wall and interrupting the sense of inhabiting that world. Of course, I also enjoyed the fact that I got the game at a Sale, which meant I only paid $3.99 for an entire day's worth of very engaging fun.

Wonderful. I will definitely check out the game at some point.