You can download Moontrain here.



As always, please remember to come back and tell us what you think.

Happy gaming!

Thanks, Marian!

Thanks Marian!

Thanks Marian.

I'm digging this one, Marian! Contemplating getting it as soon as I'm done with Syberia.

I have heard good things about it, Drac.

Thanks for your gaming input Drac!

A friend recommended Moontrain to me, and I bought it. Started out not liking it, but it really grew on me. It's "different" in its style, and full of pure silliness. Frankly, I am open to some silliness right now. That's probably why I stuck with it and got to like it. However - - - their beta testers were somewhere between negligent and non-existent. There are some serious flaws in the programming that cause the game to freeze and not respond. Usually exiting and re-starting will work, but one instance (a piece of a broken mirror jigsaw puzzle vanished) was uncurable and I had to replay from the beginning. Since that one, I have had two more incidents where the game stopped responding, but restarting saved the day again.

By the way, it is not a hidden-object game, all storyline and inventory; and the way it handles inventory is what's 'different' - takes a teeny bit of getting used-to. It's chapter-driven. Once you finish a scenario, there's (usually) no going back. I like that style; because it gives me an excuse to exit and return at a later time (the next day, that is.) When I played the demo, it was the Collector's Edition. When I bought it, oddly it was the standard edition. I haven't seen any difference; but probably will miss out on a bonus game, or some other extras. That's okay. I will have had enough silliness by then. DragonsEye Studio is in Serbia, so they are not (yet) directly affected by the war. Let's hope that stays true. They are small; their entire operation could easily come to dinner at my house. Wish them well, support their game, and be patient with the few glitches. They will recruit more beta testers, I am sure.

Thank you for posting about the game Tally Ho! I don't have it yet but plan to buy it. I don't mind if I have to exit out and go back in a game here and there. I hope not to have to replay from the beginning though.

Thanks for all of that feedback about the game, Tally Ho. One of the sadder things about this game is that one of the main people in charge of game development died prior to the release of this game. I read of this on another forum.

This company had released a previous game on Big Fish that was a HOPA earlier this year entitled Tearstone: Thieves of the Heart, available both as a Collector's Edition and a standard version, which you can take a look at here. The person I referred to earlier who is no longer with us had a big part in the making of this game along with the rest of the development team. You might want to take a look at it as the game is somewhat different from the norm.

By the way, the Collector's Edition of Moontrain adds the following:

Hi, Tally Ho!

I''m currently playing the CE and enjoying it very much. I haven't run into any technical issues (apparently, the mirror jigsaw puzzle must be solved from the bottom up; otherwise, the pieces won't stick), but I did find an error in the Guide for the puzzle where you have to pull the 6 orange legs out from the center to form different lengths. I had trouble with "B" so consulted the Guide and it was exactly the same as "A". I ended up looking at a walkthru on YouTube.

I like the fact that it's different from the other HO games, and the storyline and characters are a lot of fun.

Susan

Well, now I am truly stuck. I have gotten to a place where there is no hotspot; have no inventory, no way back or forward, and no hint. The only thing that still works is to quit the game. It's the room where you have to block the wall with the creepy eyes blinking at you. That being done, I can find nothing else to do.

Sorry to hear that, Tally Ho. If no one here can help, I would watch a video YouTube walkthrough just to ascertain what is supposed to happen at this point. I would hate to think that the game is just dead in the water, even though it certainly sounds like it is.

The YouTube walkthrough I found is in 'sections' - and I can only find the first five sections. It doesn't go far enough. Maybe Susie07 can help, since she has the built-in guide. Susie; if you see this I can describe the place where I am stuck and you might have a suggestion. Here's hoping.

Edit: I did find a complete walkthrough, and yes, a fault in the programming means I am incurably stuck. Thankfully, it's very near the end, so I shall just walk away and say I enjoyed as much as I was able to. Thanks all.

Tally Ho, was it something that had to do with the order that you did something in as happens in some games? It is a shame to not be able to finish the game. Apparently a lot of people have been able to. I just bought the game with a 70% discount from the promotion BF has going today. I'm also waiting to hear more from Susan.

I don't think it was the order of things. This 'room' starts out with some creatures (annoying bugs that flit around) and you need to shoot them with a dart. No problem, right? So I shot them, and was able to access the puzzle on the right-hand wall, where you place blocks to close off the (monsters/blinking eyes) within.

There's where it simply ended for me.

Watching the walkthrough, closing the first wall should trigger a second bunch of annoying flying bugs which you shoot down; then do a similar puzzle on the other wall. Didn't happen; stuck there with no bugs and no hotspot to click. Only option is to quit and exit. Boo-Hoo.

If they used Beta-testers, the testers weren't very thorough. And I hope the Beta-testers were not in-house. If they were, the familiarity with the game would intefere with objective testing. I have done testing for several games; and it's a lot of work, it's boring, and it's important. It means re-playing a scenario several times, and trying every variable you can think of; looking for success/failure/whatever. For me to uncover several crash-points just casually playing through this game is a sign that it wasn't tested with much care. I sincerely hope the developers will tighten their standards. This game is creative; it's fun and funny; and I look forward to higher quality from the team.

______________

Back to oldbroad's theory - perhaps the order is an issue. Shooting the bugs in a different sequence maybe? Getting them faster? Not lying in wait for them as I did? Those are things I would Beta-test. Would take all day, no doubt. Patience, Grasshopper.

Hi, Tally Ho!

I don't think I'm as far as you but, if you can describe where you're stuck, I'll be happy to check the Guide and see if I can help you out.

I was really enjoying the game when I started, but the further into the game I get, the less I'm enjoying it because it's becoming more and more confusing.

Susan

Thanks for your response Tally Ho.

I'm sorry to hear that Susan. Will you continue to play it anyway?

Hi, oldbroad!

Oh, yes, I'll finish because I'm not one to give up, but I hope I don't run into any more glitches. The game is along the same lines as "A Tale For Anna" and another one I played several years ago whose name escapes me. When you click on certain locations, an inventory item box pops up with the number of those items you have to find to make it whole. Once you find all the parts of that item, you are able to use it. Some inventory items are laying around and can be picked up and used. I had to start the game over again when a key disappeared and I was unable to open a tool box. I have no idea what I did wrong because, the second time through, the key was still laying there when I needed it. Some scenes are also confusing because you have no idea what you should be doing.

It's really disappointing because it's different from the other HO games and I was enjoying the demo enough to buy it, but the quality control is sorely missing, both in the game and the Guide.

Susan

Thanks Susan, for the additional information. I hope you are able to get through the whole game!

Hi, oldbroad!

That makes 2 of us ! If you've already started the game, you've probably discovered that you can't skip the puzzles, which would have been a helpful feature.

Susan

I haven't started it yet but may play it soon so I can test my luck out .

Hi, oldbroad!

There are more positives than negatives, but some of the negatives are doozies ! Good luck!

Susan

Well, I think I hit my first game ending glitch. I'm trying to open the door between rail cars two and three with a sliding puzzle but the pieces do not slide to reveal switches (as shown in the guide). I've exited out of the game and gone back in but no luck.

Susie07, did you ever finish the game?

According to Steam, this issue was patched in early August. I'm playing the Big Fish game. Nobody else encountered this one?

Hopefully Susan will be along to give you some advice. The Big Fish version came out after the Steam version and supposedly had been fully patched at that point. Obviously there are still issues for some players.

I don't have anything to suggest apart from looking at 123Pazu's YouTube video walkthrough for the game at this point and seeing what happened for him.