Happily Ever after, developed by Honeyslug (BAFTA award winning company), lets you play the part of an online blogger who becomes trapped in Unbelievaville, a magical kingdom with many familiar looking faces. Solving puzzles and helping those in need throughout the kingdom, the aim is to work yourself up through to the “Know Talent” contest where you will either manage to find your way home or have to come to terms with the Evil queens hex.
With over 100 different puzzles to be completed throughout the game, it is great for those of all ages. Some of the puzzles include such things as; spot the difference, mazes, riddles, hidden objects and many more. Using your PDA to find those in need of help, you will be asked to complete a selection of tasks in order to make them happy again; some of the inhabitants will require you to do a lot more than others.
Along the way the queen asks for you to gather ingredients for a potion (Banishing spell) which need to be found before the “Know Talent” contest starts, you will find said items throughout your travels and by speaking to the residents. Although a simple point and click game, each of the puzzles require you to think about what needs to be done, some needing a bit more concentration than others.
As well as the main story there are three mini games that can be played from the main screen; Zit splat, Veg bed and Sugar rush.
• In Zit splat you need to pop as many spots as you can in the space of a minute.
• In Veg bed, you match the correct vegetables to the silhouettes on the screen, with each match you get your time is increased. The aim is to get as high a score possible before you run out of time.
• In Sugar rush you run as fast as you can to try and catch the gingerbread man
Graphics
I loved the graphics for this game; they are quirky, enticing, bright and colourful for anyone to look at. It took me back to those days of listening to magical stories as a young child.
Music
The music in the game for me personally was good, but sometimes I felt that it was a bit too distracting when trying to complete a puzzle. However, good music tends to be able to distract me and I did not find this to be a flaw. Each character had their own music fitting their personalities, for example; the evil queen’ was a bit dark compared to say that of the ginger bread man who had more of the rock variety.
Gameplay
The variety of puzzles to complete ensures the game does not become repetitive, in fact this allows you to continue playing the game for a long period of time without feeling the need to stop.
Closing comments
I really enjoyed the game as a whole, it was thoroughly enjoyable to work my way through. It is very much a game that I could play over again, with the different possible endings, making it different to other puzzle games on the market.
Disclaimer:All scores given within our reviews are based on the artist’s personal opinion; this should in no way impede your decision to purchase the game.
