Embrace of Ocean: Story of Hope Reviews

Preaty average game made worst by spelling mistakes.

Not your ordinary HOG, but I liked it. Artistic scenes, nice music and a variety of puzzles. A few quirks, but I'd buy it again (was on sale for three dollars). Spaceebo.

This casual point-and-click adventure is barely playable and most gamers should avoid it. Firstly, the English translation is a total disaster. The grammar is almost always wrong, words are mistranslated, and even the English voice actors seem barely literate (one of them cannot pronounce the word "mineral" correctly, what?). The translation is sometimes comically bad, but the comedy quickly wears off. Secondly, the game engine is a clunky and buggy mess. It's very hard to get things done in the game, and sometimes this even gets in the way of completing objectives. That said, there is a hidden gem underneath. Despite being a fairly short game, its world is beautifully realized and there is a deep background story, which is worthy of a much grander game. But let's not get too excited even about that one bright point! The potential is squandered by bad storytelling. For example: an entire sequence involves you trying to make your uncle a cup of coffee just the way he likes it. This "quest" has nothing to do with the adventure, the story, or anything else, and is a good example of how this story is narrated.

The graphics in this game are great and the story is interesting. A few spelling mistakes in the dialog but nothing to worry about there. Sometimes it was a little hard to figure out exactly what to do, but I guess that's the point of a hidden object game. However, a chest of drawers that tells me its empty every time I click on it, and then suddenly has a piece of paper in a drawer later on in the story did leave me somewhat confused. Great game though, despite a couple of very minor flaws. The one achievement in the game is a bit weird - you get it right at the beginning of the game...would make more sense to gain it as a reward for completion??