I like the game & because I'm not really into hidden object games, I like that there are many hints or else I'll just get bored & won't bother completing the game as I do with other hidden object ones. I like the mini games too. But I'm more into time management games. I'll give this a 7/10 as this is one of the few hidden object games I felt comfortable playing.


........................Moderator Comment..........................

:)

Not German. Kein Deutsch. Leider auch kein "Nachrüsten" möglich (Playtrix - Deutsche Installation - Deutschfiles verschieben)
Game is only funny with mothers tongue. many things are not known by foreign people. So it is not a candidate for lasting long on my harddisk.
Nachdem ich nichts gefunden hatte, um es einzudeutschen, werde ich es deinstallieren.

Have not been on this site for a while as have moved and husband now requiring care so thought I would start again with a Playrix game, one of my favourites, but after finishing the download I cannot get it open the readme and file options??? have tried reinstalling and reconnecting the internet, nothing works... what has happenned here?
I am running Windows 7 and using Getright which I have for years so am left with a mystery....

Absolutely the worst hidden object game I've ever played; absolutely the worst Playrix game I've ever played; I expect much better from Playrix.

The only positive I found in the game is what happens when you click to many times to fast; never saw that before.

I'm glad so many liked it, but I think it's awful; horrid even.

Downloaded fine to Win7. OK game, finished it very quickly. Thanks for the game.

I had downloaded this HOG when it was first offered here and tried it out for a good hour before I uninstalled it. It is fine if you are into the shopping and spending but, I happen to be a minimalist and really hate shopping.

I found the graphics OK, it downloaded OK and I wasn't into the smart one-upping attitude of the characters, it may be "cute" for the young set but not when you're in your 50's.

As regular readers will know, I'm a big fan of HOGs and just as those who don't enjoy HOGs are bemoaning that, remember we have had a lot of match-3 and TM games lately! As Stephen said above, these things come in waves: it just so happens that right now, we're getting more HOGs. Hooray! say I.

Which brings us to today's GGOTD, Annie'$ Million$ (sorry, couldn't resist it!). PoBros (the Portilla Brothers) are a new name to me, but their PAS (=PoBros Adventure Series) logo implies they have either done a lot of these games, or they plan to. It may not be obvious to some GGOTDers, but companies like Playrix don't develop all their own games: they license and sell games from smaller developers like PoBros.

So, Señors Portilla, what did I make of your game?

First, I agree with others that the characters' "look" tends to change from cut-scene to cut-scene, making it more difficult than it should be to work out who is who (Annie? Milly? ~shrug~).

Second, the storyline is truly toe-curling, and telegraphed right from the start; maybe not obvious if you're under 12, but otherwise, VERY heavy-handed and not really consistent. Sorry to mention Mystery of Mortlake Mansion again, but the reason MoMM is so good is that the storyline WORKS, and that is because someone has taken time over it, worked on it, developed it. Too many HOGs feel like the story is an afterthought, added more or less at the last minute to a set of new scenes on a theme (in this case, different types of shop interiors).

Third, because there are a large number of items to find in each scene, I found myself clicking around blindly on each new HOG scene without even looking at the list, often clearing half or more of the items without really knowing what they were; even frequently getting Hint Bonuses as a result (!). I know that too many "wrong" clicks in too short a time does "dizzy" the pointer (removing player control of it temporarily) and places it somewhere nearby before returning control, but this feature seems too lenient and should be harder on the player.

Fourth, the mini-games are frankly dreadful. Sorry, and with apologies to Swamp Thing above, they are much too easy, and much too repetitive. A better way would be to present a random mini-game after clicking the red button, selected from maybe a dozen mini-games ranging from the present ones (easy) to something a little more challenging, like the MoMM mini-games. At the moment, these mini-games are simply an annoyance, taking up my time to play in order to inevitably win a hint. If it's going to be that easy, why not just give the player unlimited hints?

Fifth, I totally agree with historymom's comments about the overall shallowness of this "GIRLS game!" which as she says seems endemic to the games industry. It all smacks of a somewhat patronising and occasionally sexist attitude to girls ("there there dear, go and play with your sewing and dolls and learn to cook"). Her design (!) notwithstanding, remember characters like Lara Croft, who were GIRLS but were still action heroines? Or other similarly inspiring GIRL characters? Why not a game where the female hero needs to find various items to help her be a firefighter; or a helicopter pilot; or start a business that is NOT one of: cake shop, hotel, cafe, garden centre, pet shop, fashion store. Fishdom had a pretty corny, cheesy storyline, but at least Jane gets to do Proper Science at the Big Aquarium … or something. Girls in science! Wowee! Seriously though, a better storyline would help, and allied to that: "key" items that have some relevance to the storyline help a lot as well.

But it's not all bad news by a long way. Install was clean and smooth on Win7 64bit and XPSP3. All game mechanics work cleanly and correctly, no problems at all; but it would have been nice to have a way to advance the cut-scenes to the next line of dialogue, maybe to pressing space or Enter or clicking? instead of having to SKIP the thing entirely. And I did like the graphics overall, even though the characters looked different in nearly every cut-scene (!). I especially liked the VERY sneaky hiding places in the food supermarket (I think it's level 18 or 19?) but I won't spoil that by saying where. You'll know when you play it. ;) Now, more genuinely new and creative ideas like THAT all the way through would easily have elevated this game beyond the level of just "average, it's OK I guess."

So, a nice effort overall; it took me only a couple of hours to finish, thanks to the "random clicks" and effectively unlimited hints (thanks to the way-too-simple mini-games). I would not have paid for this game if I'd had the chance to play it first. If I had paid for this game, I think I would have felt a little short-changed.

It will be good to see whether future PoBros HOGs can improve on this one.

#18: "I’ve got my computer connected to my tv. Up until recently, I’ve been able to run the full screen. In the last couple of months, I’ve had to run the window screen. The full screen won’t show on my tv. Any thoughts?

……………………Moderator comment……………….

Hi Ron, do you have just your TV or a monitor as well? I have both and have noticed that the TV doesn’t have as high a resolution even tohugh its a largewr screen. It is several years old compared to the monitor which is less than a year old. Check the screen resolution and see if it can be increased. "

Don't know that Ron will look here Sunday, or if it'll get posted, but maybe you'll see it WR, which is the point anyway...

Running a TV &/or HDTV off a PC can be a bit challenging, but ATI Cat. Cont. Cntr. has quite a few tweaks or adjustments towards that end - I assume Nvidia is similar, & has the same sort of thing. The highest rez for main stream PC monitors is 1020p [1980x1020] which matches HDTV max spec, so if/when both are 1020p capable, connected via DVI, & the resolution is set to 1020p for both displays in Windows, they should show the same, identical screen. If the HDTV is only capable of 720p, the screens should still look the same, but the HDTV will lack clarity & sharpness you see on the PC monitor. Connected over HDMI ideally you'd have the same results, but there are a lot of reports of graphics cards just not performing as they should over HDMI. If you've got a standard TV OTOH the display is entirely up to the graphics card or on-board chip. In that case the GPU tries to come close to the analog signal the TV expects, but some hardware is off by a mile -- again you should be able to compensate though with the graphics settings.

As far as actual screen size goes, it's technically irrelevant, at least to the PC. 720p is 720 p whether the screen's 7 inches like my tablet or it's a 50 inch HDTV. A pixel by definition is the smallest unit a display device displays -- it could be an inch across or a fraction of a mm. On a large screen TV it often looks better than that it should really because electronics in the TV can sort of blend or dither it a bit -- our old 32 inch std TV was capable of twice the std TV resolution for example, but because of it's internal electronics the picture looked better than the same signal on many 22-24 inch TVs, even though their pixels were much smaller or finer grained.

I downloaded and tried to play the game. It was unplayable because the graphics are to small to see the items and there is no way to up the graphics. It looks a lot like a similar game I have played before with the same difficulty.

I think I played the demo when it came out - a long time ago. Meh. Not worth the trouble.

The old HOGs that we get for free are pretty much yesterday's games. Most HOGs have become HOPAs - hidden object puzzle adventures with pretty equal parts of hidden objects, puzzle mini-games, and point-and-click adventure. Some are better than others. Of the Big Fish Games' MCF franchise, by far the best are Return to Ravenhearst, Dire Grove, Escape from Ravenhearst, and the latest one Shadow Lake. (Some raved about The 13th Skull, but I didn't like it.)

Some game makers are moving more to the puzzle/adventure side, with fewer HO scenes, which is wonderful for us adventure lovers. There's a new one out - forget the title - which supposedly has skip buttons for the HO scenes! (Something some of us have begged for forever. If you can skip puzzles, why not?) Ghostship's Nightmare Adventures franchise has no HOS - just puzzle adventures. You could say, adventure-lite and pretty much nail it. There will never be another Riven (best adventure ever!). but the genre is not yet dead. :o)

Hi Ron, do you have just your TV or a monitor as well? I have both and have noticed that the TV doesn’t have as high a resolution even tohugh its a largewr screen. It is several years old compared to the monitor which is less than a year old. Check the screen resolution and see if it can be increased.

I've got a big screen tv, and the resolution is 1280x720. Have never had any problem until the last couple of months. Could always have full screen, but now have to use the "window" screen.

...................Moderator comment.....................

I need to go to bed. I'll continue to moderate in the morning. (I'll try and get up at least 30 mins before the new giveaway.

Sweet little game - works fine on my Win7.

What I really hate is all those games which are in full screen mode the same size as in windowed mode - an this one is very small to find the objects so I click through randomly and will find what I need...

I LOVE HOGs and played this one right through - didn't take long. It's a cute game but not very many levels and pretty basic. The hint collector was a neat idea, different than the regular hint style of having to wait for it to replenish. Having the extra mini game was a bonus, and the Price is Right format was fun.

I usually like Playrix games, but I think I'm going to delete this one, just a tad boring. Thanks anyway Playrix and GOTD. Keep those HOGs coming!



..........................Moderator comment..................

Aaarrrggg! Noooooooo! ;-)

Plus 1 to this prior comment (#7).

Graphics not up to current standard, objects either very easy to spot (distinctly drawn, I did not to use the list to find them), or blended so well in the background that nearly impossible to find.

Due to this you must use hints!

The objects we're supposed to search for are so stylized that finding them is often impossible. The "three wise monkeys" was a brown blur with eyes; many other items are equally poorly drawn.

The mini games were a cute idea and certainly not same-old, same-old. Unfortunately, I'm one of those women who appear to be rare, in that I hate shopping and buy everything possible online. So although I liked it that the mini games were different from the standard ones, I thought "how much does this cost" was a rather dull question.

I also found the premise of the game rather dull, but of course, it's not the game-maker's fault that I don't like shopping. Still, one would think that a person just given a million dollars to spend could do better than a plastic cup and a deck of cards. I mean, *I* could do better than that, and I HATE shopping.

I'm sure lots of people (those who do like shopping) would enjoy this game, if only the objects actually looked like what they were supposed to be.


........................Moderator Comment..................

Thank you for your feedback Corylea

p.s. My wife also hates shopping. We do almost all our shopping online now.

I've got my computer connected to my tv. Up until recently, I've been able to run the full screen. In the last couple of months, I've had to run the window screen. The full screen won't show on my tv. Any thoughts?

........................Moderator comment...................

Hi Ron, do you have just your TV or a monitor as well? I have both and have noticed that the TV doesn't have as high a resolution even tohugh its a largewr screen. It is several years old compared to the monitor which is less than a year old. Check the screen resolution and see if it can be increased.

Oh, dear. I kind of like HOGs, but this one absolutely reeks of this recurring, irritating problem: Some developer thinks, "Let's do one to appeal to those alien beings, GIRLS!" So, y'know, PINK! or HIGH SCHOOL DRAMA! or FASHION! or, as in this case, SHOPPING! It's so shallow, and since they can't even be bothered to make a good-quality game out of it, it's insulting. I expect better from Playrix. Everyone enjoys a well-done game like Fishdom, Seven Wonders, or Mortlake Mansion (allowing for genre preferences, of course).

This problem flourishes across all genres, and I am so freaking tired of it. Well, sorry for the rant. I'll poke around Annie's shopping problems a bit more, and if my rant is misplaced, I'll cheerfully repost to say so.


.........................Moderator comment.......................

Thank you for your feedback history mom

Playrix is in my opinion one of the best games producers, this game is no exception and I found great, but may I make a few suggestions:
The price is right section should be far less predictable as with a few trys you know the exact values and it beats the objective. I think there should be far more objects of which are randomly selected, but never repeated until somewhat into the game (if at all).

A million dollers is a lot BUT lets be realistic, if you had a million to spend quickly, then you would want to go to far more upmarket shops and not flea markets or bargain stores.
What about real estate ? Businesses ? Stocks and shares, Gambling NOW these could add to the fun, and add great interest, as games within games to add hints or in other ways.
What do you think Playrix ?
With a little change this could be the best hidden game ever !!!

.........................Moderator comment.......................

Thanks for the suggestions Mike. :)

Install and works fine on XP SP3. The storyline is indeed silly - if you spend the least money and don't even come close to the 1 mil, you win a contest that was about spending 1 million faster than the rest. Oh yeah. Apart from this it's a decent HOG and harder than most because the Hint button doesn't recharge automatically, you have to play those mini games to earn hints. Also, some objects are hidden in places where it is impossible in real world for them to be without falling. Some don't look realistically enough to notice them or are too simmilar to the background (e.g. a red helicopter on red background). One huge drawback is that too much precision is required to click on some objects. It's not enough to place the arrow on an object, the tip must be in some exact (and unknown to the player) position for it to work. Otherwise you're left thinking you're wrong and wasting a hint (and some time) to learn you guessed correctly. I don't regret downloading this game and spending about 2 hours to complete it.


.........................Moderator comment.....................

Thank you for your feedback Joe. :)

I miss time management freebies. Seems like a lot of hidden object games and matching games. :( That said, no matter what, thanks for all the work you do!

This game won't install on my computer. When I run setup, I'm given the error message, "Variant of Win32 InstallCore.BC" Anyone else run into this problem?

......................Moderator comment.................

Jack, I think this may be related to the security file setup.gcd. You may need to disable your security temporarily to install the game. If you're not happy doing that, then try the version available from MyPlayCity. Please remember that the giveaway team do test all games for malware, and have never given away a game or application since the project started back in Oct 2006, That's over 3000 games and applications. :)

Usually I really like Playrix games. I love HOG games as well. But this time, although the graphics are good, the story line is ridiculous. I don't know of anyone that is as silly as this Annie. She sure doesn't appreciate the million dollars. I am disappointed in Playrix.
But thank you for the freegame. It does give me a few laughs.

.....................Moderator comment...................

Thank you for your feedback Sheltiemom. The developer is actually ProBoss not Playrix; Playrix is just the distributor. :)

I HATE hidden object games! It hurts my poor lil eyes to stare at my computer screen so hard! Talk about EYE STRAIN! But I LOVE the PRICE IS RIGHT! Bob Barker was a hunky hunk and he likes the lil animals! Drew Carey is a dork though. Oh, the CONUNDRUM!

So, can you play the really awesome PRICE IS RIGHT mini games without having to play the really NASTY hidden object games?

How about just a PRICE IS RIGHT game? That would be TRULY AMAZING and would compete with FISHDOM as the BEST GAME EVER MADE SINCE THINGS WERE FIRST MADE IN THE TIME WHEN ALL THINGS WERE BRAND NEW!


....................Moderator Comment...................

:)

The Hidden Object Game genre seems to be the main one that companies offer here. While I appreciate their participation very much, and Playrix is a company that tends to turn out very imaginative and visually appealing games, I tend to simply endure the occasional HOG part of match-3 games or others and don't ever download the HOG-only style games.

While I don't think my interests are any more important than those in the community that like this kind of game, I'm really hoping we'll move past the HOG popularity soon. We haven't seen a good Breakout/Arkanoid style game in a good while, and Egyptoid was especially creative. :)


.......................Moderator Comment...................

When HOG's were at their height a couple of years ago, we rarely, if ever got any HOG's; the same goes for when Time Management games were popular three or four years ago. Now the market is so saturated with HOG's (seems like they are quite simple to throw together - all you need is a pretty image, a collision mesh and cut out objects placed on the mesh, so that when your mouse pointer touches them they disappear. Of course its not as simple as that, but I can see why so many are being made so quickly).

Big fish were putting up a new HOG on their site every day a couple of years ago and are still releasing four or five a week now. There's still a massive market for them so I can't see the trend slowing in the near future. I'm hoping the breakout trend will reappear soon. I was really missing Shmups and other space oriented games, but over the last 18 months there seems to have been a resurgence in developers making them, and now I'm finding one looks much like another. I think it goes for all genres. Much like fashions that come around after a long absence. I'm sure we will see other games here. The indie market is burgeoning at the moment, with literally hundreds being made every year and increasing in numbers. Check out Desura for some very innovative indie games. You'll find at least 120+ free games, many of which are very good available via Desura.

Playrix is my favorite casual game publisher but I haven't heard of this until today so I gave it a shot. I assume it's one of their older titles because it didn't get along too well with my AMD card and drivers. If I moved the cursor around, horizontal lines would run through the picture where the cursor was. The game would work in windowed mode but an 800x600 hidden object game window doesn't work very well in a 1920x1080 screen.

This may also explain the problems Win8 users are having. I'm guessing this game was before the days of Win7 as well as Win8.

I also found it a little unnerving that my firewall kept telling me the game was trying to access the Internet when I ran it. I know Playrix is a legit publisher and it was accessing Verisign, a legit sign. Perhaps it's a counter of sorts but it makes me a little paranoid. (Getting your identity stolen will do that to you.)

Anyways, thanks but no thanks. This will probably be best for older computers running older OS's. Maybe nVidia or integrated graphics users will have better luck.


.......................Moderator comment....................

Thank you for your comment Derek. :) I've already deleted the game, very unlikely I'll ever play it.

Agree with Stephen that it's a simple HOG and the graphics and play are simple. The one game that got me hooked on HOG type games is Mystery Case Files: Dire Grove with it's interaction with real people in the videos from BFG. Judging this game alongside that one would give this game a 2.


.........................Moderator comment......................

Thank you for your feedback Danrshaw, totally agree re the comparison with Mystery Case files. Steam has five of the franchise, but not Dire Grove, I've only got Huntsville, Ravenhearst, Madame Fate and Prime Suspect via the now defunct Reflexive games. Not played Dire Grove.

Installed easily on Win 7. No problems with starting, either. Nice plot, sweet characters and happy end - this part I enjoyed.
Graphics not up to current standart, objects either very easy to spot (distinctly drawn, I did not to use the list to find them), or blended so well in the background that nearly impossible to find. My personal problem as not native English speaking person are the names of objects, some did not even ring a bell. Pretty much irritating.
Hints easy to win, the mini games dull and repetitive. I don´t quite know who should enjoy this sort of game? For kids it is in part too difficult as some objects are so hidden one can hardly spot them even with a hint. For a grown up too easy and not catching enough.
All in all I would score it at around 5 points, so no thumbs up or down. Average, I would not play it again.
Barbara




.........................Moderator comment.....................

Thank you for your feedback Barbara, much appreciated. Sorry for the dealy in moderating; fell asleep after feeding the guinea pig.

Although I don't play a lot of hog I gave this one a try but what I found I was doing when playing the game was using the hints up so I could play the mini games which I enjoyed. The story line was ok but the actual hidden object part of the game didn't really get my interest at all.

Very boring indeed.

Downloaded the game, did not even install, only extracted to where ever it extracted and activated. I wasted data and time downloading this because did a search on my rig and could not find it. Any helpfull hints to where it might have extracted too.


.........................Moderator comment.....................

The zip file is called PlayrixAnniesMillions.zip. Yu could try searching for it. Usually mine install to the download folder which can be found in Win 7 by clicking on your account name via the start menu. If it's not in the download folder Isuggest you start a new download just to see where it downloads to, then stop the download. I presume you are on a capped broadband from your comment about wasting data and time.

The install path for the game (once you've found and unzipped the downloaded file) I've posted in my review at comment number 1 in the installation section.

I hope this helps. ;-)

Thanks for the game.
It works fine on my Vista laptop, only the windowed mode is not so good in Vista, the bottom line of the game disappears.

Normally I agree about a lot of things with White Rabbit, but not this time ;)

The story line for me is very silly and totally against what people in general would do with a million to spend.
The minigames to gain hints is something I like, although they get easy. It's a difference to just getting the hints.
So far I played about 6 shops and in every shop I could just 'find' the majority hidden objects because they stood out in comparison to the rest of the drawings. The colours of the hidden items are just that bit brighter or different. Only for the last few (like that umbrella) I had to look at the list of items to find.

I like the look of the game with the waterpaint colours, it is also nice that the game is not timed; for me a lot better with HOG games, it gives you the time to really look for that last item in stead of using the hints all the time.

A nice game to download.


It's a nice game to play once, but


.........................Moderator comment.......................

Thank you for your feedback Irene. awww!

It installed fine on my Win 8 laptop. I have played the game a little bit and find it a dull HOG. Finding out the next bit of story is the only interesting part.

The install did give me a desktop icon but nothing on the Win 8 start page.


.............................Moderator comment...........................

Thank you for your feedback Gina, much appreciated. :)

Annies Millions:




In Brief/Opinion:

A straighforward, no frills Hidden Object Game {HOG}. I've scored the game a very average 6.2. I may be a little biased because I've become really jaded with HOG's over the last few years; I even cancelled my subscription to Big fish Games because of the number of HOG releases (which number approx 1400 at my last count over a year ago). I used to enjoy a good HOG before countless developers jumped on the band wagon (much like they are doing with Minecraft now). I remember purchasing my first HOG on disc around 15 years ago. It was one of the 'I Spy' series. The quality was much better back then (IMO), though I must admit, some of the more recent HOG's do have gorgeous graphics and great story lines, but there are many more mediocre ones that dilute the genre significantly.

Due to pet care commitments i.e. I've had to care for a very ill guinea pig on my own over the last week because my family are skiing in Andorra, (hand feeding every hour {2 hours overnight}, giving pain killers, gut motility drugs, eye drops and antibiotics as well as cleaning the poor thing regularily etc), consequently I'm 'really' exhausted at the moment, moreso than usual, so have used Gamezebo's review with additional images and video copied from the net, plus the usual 'games on sale' round up instead of writing my own review. I've only played the game for several minutes and found it uninspiring and a little too easy due to the unlimited hints you have access to. Don't get me wrong, it's servicable; just not one I'd play much.

Installation:


The game downloads to a 89.4 MB zip file that unpacks to a read me and a wrapped setup activation file (the orange colored file with the key symbol), plus another setup file with security (setup.gcd) that's protected from being hacked. This file may case some security software to alert the user to a possible malware attack, but it 'will' be a false positive.

The game giveaway team check ALL game giveaways for malware using several well known anti -malware suites. There has never been a game giveaway infected with malware since the project started back in Dec 2006 so please, before you report a virus or other malware, be absolutely sure it's not a false positive; also quote the security software you've used and the web sites you've researched to check the validity of your statement/results.

There have been many reports of malware on perfectly safe games since the project started, all of which have been proven to be false positives. When these false positives have been posted here, the number of downloads has dropped significantly thus depriving many community members of a game that had no malware, but because they have been 'rightly' cautious they have missed out on a decent and clean game due to the poorly researched and thoughtless posting of a false positive).

If you're an inexperienced user, please do post your concerns, and I will research the problem myself, consequently if your post doesn't show up via moderation, or the mention of malware has been deleted, it will mean your suspected malware was a false positive. The reason for doing it like this is because any mention of a game being infected with malware (as already mentioned above)in this comments section 'always' reduces downloads significantly (by over 50%). That said, if you are a confident user, and think any gamegiveaway is infected with malware, PLEASE do research the problem yourself first before posting any warnings. I spend an inordinate amount of my free time moderating this site so helping in this way will be very much appreciated and enable me to answer more users queries, thank you.

The installed game is 84.7 MB in size and installs to the following path by default:



C:\Program Files (x86)\Playrix Entertainment\Annies Millions


You can change the path via the installation wizard if you wish to install to another hard drive or a different folder on your main drive (C: drive); for example, I install all of my games {apart from my Steam games which go to a dedicated spanned 4TB drive} to a separate drive in a folder labelled Games) ;-)

During installation two shortcuts are placed on the desktop, (a shortcut to the games executable and a shortcut to Playrix's web site), plus three shortcuts in a folder found in the Start menu programs list. (a shortcut to the game, one to Playrix's web site plus an uninstaller shortcut).

If you decide later that you want to move the game to another folder or hard drive, you can do this and the game will still be registered, but you will need to create new shortcuts or right click on the games shortcuts and select the shortcut tab. Find the field labelled 'target' and type in the new path.











No desktop shortcut or start menu/programs shortcut are installed, so make sure you make a note of where the game is being installed to so that you can create one for yourself. Once installed you can delete the giveaway setup files.



I've only tested the game on Win 7, Anyone running Win 8, Vista or XP, please confirm whether this game works Thanks.

Introduction:

How well do you think you could spend one million dollars? Go on a million dollar spending spree and find out in Annie's Million's, an engaging hidden object challenge! Join Annie as she tries to spend one million dollars faster and more wisely than her cousins in a week-long challenge presented by her Uncle. If she wins, she'll inherit her Uncle's entire fortune! If she loses . . . well, shopping with a million dollars is still fun! Help Annie find the items on her shopping list in a huge variety of shops around town, play original mini-games to earn helpful hints, and prove she deserves her Uncle's wealth. A wonderful adventure that's full of shopping fun, try Annie's Millions today!

Reference accessed HERE 2013

The Game:

Why wait until you're dead before your will is read? It's more fun to see your heirs sweat it out and battle over your money. At least that's the idea behind Annie's Millions, a quirky hidden object game that has you shopping like mad to win Uncle Dave's millions.

The story is the most interesting part of the game. Uncle Dave D'Nero decides he'd rather pass his riches while he's still alive. The trouble is, he's not sure who to give it to. As his niece, Annie is surprised to find herself involved in a rather funny competition. In order to win Uncle Dave's money, she must spend 1 million dollars quicker and more efficiently than her cousins, posh and fancy Milly, and sports-obsessed Carl.

The trouble is, Annie Bright is....not so bright. She's got a thing for estate sales and bargain shopping, and so spending the 1 million dollars isn't very easy. I don't know – if I had a million dollars to spend, I'd probably buy something better than crayons, lollipops, plastic cups, and a bobble head. Her eccentric shopping choices are part of the humorous story, which takes her to a bunch of oddball shops and flea markets across town.

To play, you need to find all of the hidden objects on the list. There's no penalty for incorrect clicks, though if you make too many, your mouse spins around on the screen. There's also no timer, but you are told how long it took you to beat a board at the end of each round.

If you get stuck (which you most certainly will), you can always earn extra hints. You can earn a hint bonus by finding items quickly. Earn three hint bonuses, and you get a free hint. Even easier, you can play one of four mini-games to earn a full hint each time.

In the “Price Guess” mini-game, you are shown a random item, and must guess at the price. You get four tries. When you make an incorrect guess, you are told to bid higher or lower. The cash works in intervals of 5, so this isn't too tough to beat. In the “Price Match” game, you're shown 3 objects, and must match them to the correct price tags. Does a ferret really cost $80?

In the “Sort items” game, you are shown 4 items, and must put them in order from cheapest to most expensive. You get three guesses. It can be kind of easy. For example, it's obvious that a wallet costs less than a chair, or a radio costs more than a rake. Some items are more challenging though.

For the “Price Builder” game, you are shown an item, and three numbers. You must select which numbers (and in which order) make up the price of the item shown. This is extremely easy, since items are always rounded by 5. You can guess that the last digit will almost always be a 0 or 5.

The story is probably the best part of the game. It's amusing and silly and fun. You'll see the end coming a mile away, but that doesn't take away from the game. The music and sound effects are good, fitting with each scene and background. There's also voice acting, which is very well done. You never repeat a single room, so each level is unique. Once you've beaten the game, you can replay any level you like, so the replay value is alright. The hand painted art is original, with it's own personality.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of quirks that weaken the game. For one thing, it's very short, taking just a bit over 2 hours to complete. For another, the generous use of hints makes it very easy to beat. It seems like there are only a dozen or so items to price in the mini-games, and so it very quickly becomes repetitive and easy. Furthermore the mini-games are overly predictable, following the same patterns over and over again.

The hidden objects themselves are often ridiculously hard to spot, forcing the user to rely excessively on the hints and mini-games, which can get boring. Many items are too obscure. For example, when you're asked to find an umbrella, it might be folded up so tightly that it looks like a pole. Or, a begonia plant might look like some pink dots on a black canvas. A 3D viewer is blended to match the wood table it's on, making it look like a handle. Items are blended in, but sometimes too well. A few items were so dark I barely saw them in the shadows, even with a hint.

The character art is nice, but the main character doesn't look consistent. Sometimes she's blonde, other times she more brunette, and sometimes her hair is reddish. Sometimes her nose is large, and sometimes it's small. This is a bit confusing. Some of the side characters have the same problem. Sometimes Carl is overweight and young, and other times he's older and trimmer. Milly can be a red head, or a severe looking brunette.

Reference accessed HERE Jan 5th 2013



Check out user reviews HERE

Features:


• Search for Hidden Objects on a Shopping Spree

• Explore a Wide Range of Shops and Boutiques

• Play Original Mini-Games for Extra Hints

• Engaging Storyline Featuring Annie and her Cousins

• Nearly Endless Hidden Object Fun







System Requirements:


• OS: Windows XP/Vista/7/8

• CPU: 800 Mhz

• RAM: 256 MB

• DirectX: 7.0

• Hard Drive: 90 MB



Video:

You’ll find videos of game play HERE, HERE & HERE. (basically all showing the same things)




Music:

There's no easy way of changing the music for this game because the music has been coded directly into the games executable. If you are a confident and experienced coder (GMMan?) you'll probably be able to edit the exe file and add different music probably in the .ogg format, using a suitable hex editor, otherwise the alternatives are to turn the music off via the options menu, or via the volume mixer which is accesible from the speaker icon next to the clock. To access the mixer right click on the speaker icon; then, from the drop down menu click on 'open mixer volume' from there you can turn off individual programs/games music/audio via the sliders or the mute toggle (each program has one) without affecting the volume of your media player; then you can choose whatever music you have in your music folder. ;-)

Conclusion:


Annie's Millions is cute and easy to play, but it's strengths don't quite balance out it's flaws. If you like game shows like The Price is Right, and don't mind repetition, you might enjoy this hidden object game. If, however, you want clear objects and don't like to use too many hints, it will probably not have much appeal. Overall its an average HOG, nothing really stands out hence the average score of 6.2




Scoring

Gameplay – 7
Graphics – 6
Audio – 6
Re-playability – 6
Originality – 6

Total = 6.2

Problems:


If you have any problems installing or getting today's game to work please go HERE for help, there's a list of FAQ's with answers.



If you are posting late in the day I would also suggest posting in the main giveaway forums in the game discussion section. If you’ve installed the game but it won’t work for some reason, it should still be registered, so someone may be able to help at another time.

Unfortunately if your problem is actually installing it then once the giveaway period is over there’s nothing that can be done until the game is given away again (though that isn’t guaranteed). Though, so long as you have the download, sometimes its still possible to activate an hour or so later.

If you do miss the giveaway, or find it won't work, it’s always worth checking out the free games sites as sometimes the games we get here are also available for free from them. MyPlayCity has the most with over 600 games to choose from. Today's game IS available from MyPlayCity HERE. lease do remember that MPC has the potential to install toolbars and change your provider. also they are quite aggresive at the moment. Every time you start a game up, you will need to uncheck the checkboxes.

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Games, Games, and yet more Games:




If you're looking for something other than today's game check the Didimatic site via THIS link for some brilliant deals. Also, Kotaku post the best deals from all of the major distributors HERE

e.g. Steam, Origin, Green Man Gaming, Gamersgate, GameFly, and NewEgg with console games included on Amazon, Best Buy, Groupon and Rakuten

Steam games on sale this weekend include free play for Gratuitous Space Battles (with 75% off if you decide to purchase) and free weekend play for the latest Call of Duty game Black Ops II, with 33% off if you purchase, plus other games that you can see if you click on the specials tab.

E.A. Games have a reasonable sale on with 50% off Battlefield 3 and other titles. Gamesgate also has a EA games special on this weekend. There are at least three or four Indie bundles live at the moment, all of which (IMO) are well worth purchasing (GameStar 3 bundle, Indie Royale, Indie Gala and Humble bundle deals) The Humble bundle deal is a three day Mojam, today is the last day, so check it out quick. I think there's also a groupees bundle live.

The 24hr deal is presently Toy Soldiers an excellent 3D tower defence game. This will especially appeal to those of you who used to buy those plastic soldiers, either HO scale or the sliughtly larger ones. In this game they are animated. It's only £1.69 (66% off). The game changes at 6pm GMT Sunday. You can check the Dollar and Euro prices via the link to Didimatic above, or for a rough estimate for the dollar price just divide the UK price by 2 then multiply by 3 to get a rough estimate, though often the US price is cheaper than the UK price. .


There's also loads of deals from Gamersgate, Gamestop, Greenman Gaming and GOG; all of which you can find via the Didimatic site, which I've linked to above (apart from GreenMan Gaming (GMG), which you'll find via the Kotaku link). Do check out GMG because they have some excellent deals; for example, you can get 20% off any digital download. At the moment if you pre-order Bioshock Infinite you get two free games one of which is the original Bioshock, plus you can choose one other game from Spec Ops The Line (an excellent 3rd person shooter), Civilization V (though I don't think it includes all of the dlc, which amounts to a sizeable sum), Bioshock 2, Mafia II or The Darkness II all of which are excellent games and worth up to £50, plus I think you may be able to use the 20% off coupon as well. Thankfully, if you've already pre-purchased the game from them, you will still get the free games (phew, I pre-ordered it some weeks ago, pity that I already all of the games already. If they are Steamwork games I'll be able to give them away). :) Also you can get the complete Painkiller pack for 66% off (plus possibly being able to use the 20% off coupon on GMG's front page) that includes the following steamwork games. Painkiller: Black Edition, Painkiller: Hell & Damnation, Painkiller: Overdose, Painkiller: Recurring Evil, Painkiller: Redemption, Painkiller: Resurrection, all for only £13.59. The last three titles were created by some of the original development team working with a group of modders.
Just click on the hot deals for more brilliant deals. not all games are Steamworks.


A couple of weeks ago I managed to get the yet unreleased Ghost Sniper 2 (Steamworks version) for over 66% off from GMG because they had a 25% off token plus I'd got a £10 token for pre-ordering the latest Tomb Raider game. I used that towards the soon to be released sequel and only had to pay just over £8. Every pre-order has a decent deal on it compared to if you purchased directly from Steam or Origin. You'll find the weekend deals HERE.

The usual monthly free game from Alawar's game box is still Sprill. You may need to reinstall game box if its still showing the previous game. It's supposed to change every month, but some community members are seeing the same game for months on end. Dido suggested that you reinstall game box to fix the problem. Reinstalling game box shouldn't affect any previous freebies. :). (You need to install the free Gamebox from Alawar to access the free games, which for newcomers change approximately every month). If that's not enough, check out the Game discussion forums HERE for details of any Indie Game Bundles that are still live.

I've posted images and video of game play for some of these bundles over in the forums. Click on the Game discussion forums to find all of the active bundles easily.

These bundles give you the opportunity to get a lot of great games for almost nothing (the price of a cappuccino at your local coffee shop)

The latest Indie GameStand offering is 'Adventure Apes and the Mayan Mystery' a retro-inspired metroidvania with an emphasis on exploration. Over 100 rooms, 6 weapons, 5 bosses and hordes of enemies throughout, this game. You can get the game for less than $1 or if you pay the average price (which stood at $1.24 the last time I looked you can get the extras that include music, wallpapers and an instruction booklet.

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A Request for help:

Developers rely on good feedback to improve their games. If you download this game please take some time once you’ve played it a while to leave some constructive feedback either positive or negative. The more constructive feedback we get, the more likely developers are going to give more games away. The giveaway site already has a very good standing with the search engines. Developers want their products out there on the WWW, this site has the potential to do that. The game giveaway project gives away on average between 9 to 17 thousand downloads for each game depending upon what genre and how obscure the game is. That’s a lot of homes these games are being downloaded into and a lot of 'potential' cash that’s being lost by the developers. If we get better games because of better feedback, the community are likely to continue to benefit from the generosity of the developers. Satisfied community members are then more likely to visit the home sites of those developers and purchase games that they may not have bothered with before they discovered the developer via the game giveaway site, thus giving the developers more incentives to give away even more decent games.

Please leave some feedback once you’ve checked the game out. It can be positive or negative, but please explain what your reasons were for the feedback you post. You could also leave suggestions for improving the game, for example, this game could do with more block types for the levels editor, add more power-ups, describing the ones you think would be suitable, add some mini games (which seem all the rage in some arcade games now) or enable the user to be able to change the in game music easily.

Thank you in advance to all those who take the time to post a constructive comment.

Regards

Whiterabbit aka Stephen

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