Lost Lands 2: The Four Horsemen (IHOG)
There's a lot of info to go over, so for those who don't like to read, just skip to the last paragraph. ;)
Options include Custom Cursor, separate sliders for Music, Ambients and SFX, and - if you're using Steam - Cloud Syncs.
There are three difficulty level pre-sets, but it is fully-customizable. I started on Hard with the Hints and Skips disabled, but changed it about a third of the way in so that I could see where the collectibles are on the interactive map.
Collectibles - Find a "Beyond" (morphing) Object and a piece of the Magic Machine at each of the 35 locations. There are NO collectibles in the zoom-in scenes or HOS - they're all found at map locations.
Lost Lands: The Four Horsemen is VERY heavy on the adventure gameplay - something which I enjoyed very much. The Hidden Object Scenes are HIGHLY-interactive. I'd hesitate to even call them HOS. There are items to find by silhouette, but you will use every one of them to find other items on your "list". There are quite a few zoom-ins during these scenes, AND they include some mini-games, so you'll really have to work at if if you're planning on using no hints!
There are a ton of Puzzles, and most of them I was able to complete without touching the built-in Strategy Guide. This is not to say that they are easy - they're refreshingly-different than we usually see in HO games - but they are do-able!
Fair warning for those who hate doing potions - there are more than a couple that you'll have to complete during the course of the game, but they had very clear instructions.
CE Bonus Content:
Built-in Strategy Guide
Bonus Chapter
20 Achievements - Like the first game, some of these are VERY hard to obtain!
70 Collectibles (see above)
32 Concept Art (can be saved to computer)
8 Wallpapers
18 Cutscenes
8 Music tracks (can be saved to computer)
21 Mini-games
3 Puzzles (#2 has be be unlocked by getting ALL of the achievements!)
20 Bonus Games (Pipe Puzzles, which have to be unlocked by finding all of the machine parts!)
Bonus Chapter:
I have mixed feelings about the Bonus Chapter. On one hand I'm happy to see that we had a real ending of the main game, and the bonus is something we don't HAVE to see for a complete story, but on the other hand, there is some inappropriate content in there if you're playing with your kids.
Spoiler:
There are 15 locations in the bonus, many of them new.
The gameplay was just as good as in the main game, but I found the story to be kind of meh comparatively.
FAIR WARNING: I recommend reading the spoiler above if you're easily-offended. There is nothing like this in the main game, so no worries there! This bonus chapter can be skipped without losing much if you so choose.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
This is an adventure-heavy HOG with difficult achievements and a lot of content. Although the main character is the same as in the first game, you don't have to play Dark Overlord first to understand this installment. So far the series has been of the highest quality, and I highly recommend both of them. I enjoyed this one even more than Dark Overlord, although that could be because I "let go" of having to have all of the achievements early on.
Fantastic game with gorgeous artwork, great SFX and Music, a really good story and better-than-average (for a HOG) voice-acting. Highly recommended!
