Giveaway of the Day - Hope Springs Eternal

I spent sometime looking for a suitable download, but the ones I found initially led to iWin games, which I wasn’t happy downloading because I’ve previously had a lot of problems with games downloaded from iWin. I almost did download from one site only to find the download link was redirected to iWin and immediately my Avira Antivirus Premium picked up a Add spy virus called ADSPY/IEHelp.P – confirming my reticence to download this file from such a source; so I decided to just put together a group of images (all borrowed) and links to a couple of decent reviews done by others; I did eventually find a download link to a safe demo; but, apart from the initial research I’d left the writing up to the last minute. It’s already well into Sunday morning and I should be in bed, so there isn’t a full review from me today (despite there looking like there is below, lol).

Thankfully the above isn’t true of today’s giveaway. Anton comment #29 pointed it out, so I though I’d quote his words:

This download has been supplied as a proper full release and isn’t “exe wrapped” with a iWin or BigFish type setup which is a credit to the developers. Many thanks!

(thanks for pointing that out Anton)

===========================================================================================

Hope Springs Eternal: A Carol Reed Mystery: (399Mb)

We got the fourth in the Carol Reed stories early last year – East Side Story, now we have the second. The first is called Remedy, the third Time Stands Still, and the latest The Colour of Murder. The download is a massive 399Mb (well not for the usual DVD based games that can be over 4Gb in size); so this will not be downloadable by those on dial up. If I have time I’ll post an alternative freeware game over in the forums for those on dial up later today. For those who aren’t sure about the game and especially those that may be on capped bandwidth limits you can download a 26Mb demo of the game from the developer’s site via the following link:

http://www.mdna-games.com/Hope/demo.htm

If you decide you like the game, then you can download the 399Mb full version.

Story:

This time around Carol finds herself in the midst of the Swedish Summer, without anything particular to do. However, this is about to change dramatically when she is called upon to investigate the sudden disappearance of a friend of a friend. The search sends Carol on a colourful adventure of love, lies and murder; and possible madness.

In her research, Carol is sent back hundreds of years into local history, but is also introduced to several odd characters of the present day. She also meets some old friends from her first adventure in Sweden.

Reference: http://www.mdna-games.com/Hope/story.htm accessed 15th January 2009

Game Information

Hope Springs Eternal: A Carol Reed Mystery follows the success of the first in the series called Remedy. It’s a first person point and click adventure game that has both dialogue and subtitles included. The game is made up of a series of gorgeous photographs, most of which have been made to look like paintings. You can see about 20 examples via the link I’ve provided to the images. The game is fully mouse controlled. To search a particular area of the map (indicated by a magnifying glass) you can click on it and a close up of the area will be shown. You’re aim is to find clues to help you solve the mystery. If you get stuck on any of the puzzles you can bypass the puzzle by clicking on a hidden icon, which will then take you to the next stage. (I’ve not mentioned where you can find it because some don’t like to know these facts) The mouse cursor will change depending upon what action is required; an open hand, for example, means that you can pick something up, or touch it, while a magnifying glass (as already mentioned) means that you can examine something more closely. A gearwheel icon means that you can use an inventory object on it. To look to the left or right you take your mouse to the edge of the image corresponding with which direction you wish to look to; the cursor will change to an arrow; click at this point to move to the view that you are wanting to look to. To actually move through the game you follow the forward pointing arrows that you’ll find when you can move forwards. To open the inventory, which stores items you may have picked up, you take your mouse pointer to the top of the screen where an inventory of your items will appear.

The author states that the game contains no violence or foul language. None of the puzzles are timed and it’s suitable for ages 11 and above. For more details of how the game works you can find a read me document in the games installed folder; it’s well worth reading before you start the game. There’s a troubleshooting section at the end of the read me that may be of use if you encounter any problems, such as hotspots being slightly out of place, or the game crashes repeatedly. You’ll be given an opportunity to read the document at the end of the installation process.

System Requirement:

• OS: Microsoft Windows 2000/XP/Vista
• CPU : Pentium 800 MHz or equivalent
• RAM : 256MB RAM
• Video card: 8MB

===========================================================================================

Reviews worth reading:

http://www.fourfatchicks.com/Reviews/Hope_Springs_Eternal/Hope.shtml

http://www.gamezebo.com/games/hope-springs-eternal/review

Images:

All on one page:

http://s109.photobucket.com/albums/n61/Whiterabbit_01/gaotd/Hope%20Springs%20Eternal/?albumview=grid

As a slideshow:

http://s109.photobucket.com/albums/n61/Whiterabbit_01/gaotd/Hope%20Springs%20Eternal/?albumview=slideshow

.

All the images were copied from the developer’s site. Reference: http://www.mdna-games.com/Hope/gallery.htm Accessed 17th Jan 09

===========================================================================================

Conclusion:

The following was the last paragraph from the four fat ladies review, (the first of the two review links I’ve posted above), and which seems to sum up the game from what I’ve seen of the images ‘and from playing the demo for a short fifteen minute spell about ten minutes before this was due to be posted’ so far and from my memory of East Side Story:

Bottom line: if you’re looking for a serene, tranquil visit to a quaint village, then definitely pick up Hope Springs Eternal; on the other hand, if you’re looking for a challenging adventure, you might want to try something else.

I managed to get up half an hour early so decided to check out the demo of the game I’d downloaded early this morning for a short period and was reasonably impressed with the overall feel of the game. Once you’ve got used to the various controls, which are quite intuitive, the game flows well and can be quite challenging if you’re not a point and click aficionado. From my limited knowledge of this game plus my thoughts on East Side Story, which is basically the same type of game, only a different story, I’d give this a tentative but good 7 out of 10. (Does that make sense, lol).

Thank you to the Game Giveaway team for bringing us a new game and thanks to the developer for allowing thousands of community members to download it for free.

===========================================================================================

Thanks for the info Diane comment #2; I’ve got four game credits left over at BFG; so may just get the latest one myself.

The size of this game is really going to put some strain on the giveaway servers. I’ve been downloading the full version for nearly 10 minutes already and that’s on a 10Mb broadband connection. When America wakes up in about 2 hours, it’s going to be even slower, so don’t despair if your download is taking longer than normal. With thousands of community members downloading these files there’s bound to be an impact on download speeds.

Still only 33% downloaded with 25 minutes to go… wow what a slow download (for me)