Secret of the Pendulum Reviews

-Short Review- + Pros: *Good art style - Cons: *Glitched / poorly orchestrated puzzles *Repetitive back-tracking *More HOG scenes than puzzles *Slow hint/skip system *Short gameplay **Overall: Don't buy this game unless it's on sale and you're really curious to try it. But, you're better off trying some other HOG games. + . + . + . + . I was one of the folks who supported this game on Greenlight, and I was really rooting for it - but it turned out to be an almost complete disaster. I do like the art style and the concept of two sisters traveling in time (in short bursts, mind you), and the pendant that provides time-traveling powers is a cool gimmick. But that's a drop in the bucket, I'm sad to say... A number of the puzzles are broken, and at times I either had to wait until the 'skip' bar filled up (took about two minutes) or reboot the game if the puzzle becomes unresponsive. [spoiler]There was a puzzle in the subway where I had to line up the circuit lines in the power core and it just disappeared altogether. Secondly, I was trying to organize a set of colored USB sticks to get a security passcode - saved my game and exited for a break, and came back to see that the puzzle not only restarted but it was also stuck in the intro phase of the puzzle and I couldn't even get the sticks to light up and get the code - I had to reboot again to get past it. Also, the fuse puzzle on the safe was frustrating because I had to use a combination of four symbols without them touching - in the same columns or diagonally - and it's near impossible to solve. It's incredibly frustrating to experience.[/spoiler] The puzzles and HOG scenes are the meat of the game, and since they're pretty much broken the game is rendered pointless and frustrating - you'd really have to go out of your way to get it working. Also, the story itself is another issue I have. It's rushed, and there was a lot of potential to have it go in another direction but I guess the devs were strapped. And there were some interesting additional characters (like a sooth-saying homeless man and a detective with a mysterious past); they only appear once in the story and it's such a waste to cast their roles aside. [spoiler]The homeless man acted like he knew about the secrets of the pendulum Lily and Madison had, and it seemed as if he could've been part of a secret society, but he's never seen again after that initial meeting. Also, the detective would've added some more depth - and length - to the story, but again, he was dropped after the first encounter. There just wasn't, ironically, enough time to flesh them out in the game.[/spoiler] The story was short, choppy, and the ending - while ending on a happy note - it's unsatifying... I had really hoped that this would be an enjoyable experience, but I just wasted $8 and five hours of my time trying to get past tiresome glitches. There's no excuse for such a poor performance.