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

I'll be back to normal in a few weeks. I've got a lot of catching up to do at home, plus still one more funeral to attend. Lost two family members over the last 2 weeks. :( Than you to all who send their condolences, they are very much appreciated.

Mike posted the following yesterday evening. I thought it important enough to repost here today (Thanks for the info Mike, appreciated)

With apologies for this not being game-related, trying to help get the word out, & don't know how many will see my post in the forum. The F.B.I. is trying to get everyone to re-boot their home or small office routers ASAP. If you're not sure how to do that using software or logging into the router, generally just unplug from the wall outlet, wait a moment or two, then plug back in. There's much more info via the following two links HERE and HERE

Check out the last section of today's review for a link to Guns of Icarus: Alliance, which is temporarily free via Steam. Also this weekend there are other deals (and weekend free to play games); you can find links near the end of this review.

Criminal Minds

Introduction:

Rupert and Emma plunge into the land of ancient intrigue, Egypt. Seek out treasures and jewels, hidden within stunning gardens and relic-laden palaces. Swap jewels to turn tiles gold in classic Jewel Quest boards, and decipher puzzles of logic and wit. Experience Jewel Quest Mystery: Curse of the Emerald Tear, a Hidden Object game shrouded in the lore of Jewel Quest and the mystique of ancient Egypt!

Reference accessed HERE 26th May 2018

Installation:

Criminal minds downloads to a 227 MB zip file that unzips to three files, (a setup.gcd security wrapper, the set up file and a read me). Those with multiple hard drives are able to save games on any drive they wish. The newly installed game is MB in size. The game installs to the following path by default, but can be changed by the user if you prefer:

C:\Program Files (x86)\MyPlayCity.com\Criminal Minds

Four shortcuts are installed to the desktop. three of which can be safely deleted (Play Online Games, MyPlayCity Games and shortcuts to a free online game which vary each week). Also, if you don't like icons installed to the quick launch task bar, make sure you uncheck the box when the additional tasks window appears (after the Select Start Menu Folder window)

The Game:

Play as Hotch and the gang to profile UNSUBS in this smart but dated licensed game

Criminal Minds stays true to the television series’ narrative format and beloved characters, creating the rare casual game of investigative substance. But while it’s intriguing to profile the unknown subject (UNSUB) as an expert of the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU), if you’re not a huge fan of the show, it may be difficult to endure this licensed game’s low-budget aesthetics.

Like most episodes of a police procedural, each of the two cases opens with an omniscient glimpse of the murder that the agents must solve. Once you solve the first case in Austin, TX, the second case in Seattle, WA, is unlocked. Those who watch the show know that the team is headquartered in Quantico, VA, so the case picks up with a team debriefing on the company jet en route to the crime scene. The investigation begins on the ground and you play as each agent throughout the case, using his or her expertise to ferret out clues, interrogate suspects, run background checks, and more.

Unique to Criminal Minds, the show and the game, is how the agents come together to share knowledge and evidence to build a criminal profile for the UNSUB. Once they understand the criminal’s behavior, they can guess his next move and solve the case. The narrative here is a treat, as it’s succinct and smart. Legacy Games states on their website that they hired a Hollywood writer—a statement that often makes a gamer quail in fear of blocks of dialogue. Although the majority of the game’s story is revealed through dialogue, I found it entertaining and well-paced, just enough to give me a sense of character and a fresh lead!

The mechanics are dated but solid: hidden-object scenes, I-spy scenes, familiar puzzles, etc. The hidden-object scenes are borderline junk pile, but they are interactive, offering two levels of challenge. Some items are nested, so you’ll have to open drawers or search other objects in the scene, and some item names are scrambled. You must find the question marks in the scene to “decode” the object name. The question marks also function as a hint recharge, so one can employ them strategically.

Profiling the UNSUB and interrogating suspects was handled deftly and through gameplay. Rather than forcing the player to click through expository dialogue, the information was revealed through mini-games, which I quite enjoyed. When profiling, the BAU would come together and offer conclusions as the player swapped tiles to create a path from the UNSUB’s case file to his behavior profile. And when interrogating a suspect, answers are extracted by matching green tiles in a game of Mahjong. My only complaint was that I wanted to make some deductions on my own—then again, I probably would’ve profiled the UNSUB as I’m not a behavior analyst.

However compelling the narrative and characters are, the game couldn’t escape the usual licensing woes. Criminal Minds has few bells and whistles and doesn’t even pretend to advance the genre on the mechanics front. A very similar gaming experience could have been had three to four years ago. One must surmise that the game’s cutscene, animation, and art budgets were eaten up in licensing fees. I was disappointed in the static, grainy scenes; cardboard-cutout character art; and lack of voice over. Even if they couldn’t afford the original actors, I would’ve happily settled for talent whose voices were remotely in the same register. Moreover, I was hoping the Expert difficulty mode (there are two modes: Casual and Expert) would offer a more cerebral challenge, such as more control in the interrogation or profiling, rather than the surface distinctions of Hint and Skip button recharge time and highlighting active areas.

All in all, Criminal Minds is a smart game that stays true to the series but is behind the times with its classic hidden-object gameplay. If you don’t mind engaging with an unsexy or baseline model in terms of animations and extras, then challenge your mind and learn how to analyze criminal behavior.

Edited accessed HERE. 25th May 2018

Useful Information not related to today's game giveaway:

I've updated the games section that used to be posted with the current review. The thread is now called 'Weekly round up of game deals'. You can find the new thread in the game discussion forums HERE.

The rest of the information that used to be posted here can be found in the forums HERE. Also, check out Delenns thread over in the game discussion forums for details of other free games and offers HERE. Presently you can get Guns of Icarus: Alliance for free via Steam HERE. Also, there are some excellent deals over on Steam, plus some other games that are free to play this weekend only.

There's up to 66% off the Assassins Creed Franchise HERE and 50% off Black Desert Online HERE. There's also a Spring cleaning event HERE with the opportunity to play several great games for free ALL WEEKEND i.e. Dead by Daylight (co-op zombie survival game), Cities: Skyline (city building strategy game), Don't Starve Together: A New Reign (an atmospheric rogue- like open world sandbox horror survival game), Dirt 4 (fantastic rally racing with gorgeous scenery), Left 4 Dead 2 (co-op - FPS - zombies), Tyranny (story rich atmospheric isometric cRPG), Borderlands 2 (FPS action RPG), Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor (atmospheric open world fantasy RPG - based on Lord of the Rings), Castle Crashers (co-op hack & slash fantasy RPG).

Having problems installing today's game?

If you have a problem installing or activating or getting Criminal minds to work please visit the problems section, which which you can find in the FAQ's thread HERE. Also read through the communities comments because sometimes fixes have already been posted. The main issue we have is with the giveaway wrapper, which uses a Themida based code to protect the games executable. Unfortunately Themida is also used to hide malware; so, as a precaution, some security software may block the installation and sometimes even delete the executable file. Blocking or deletion is usually determined partly by the way your computer is set up. Usually you'll get a message saying ''the file is corrupted'', but in reality the files are okay. There are a couple of things you can do to overcome this issue. The first is to reboot in safe mode with networking, install the game then reboot, or secondly you can (at your own risk) temporarily turn off your security, install the game, then turn your security back on. A note of reassurance to those that choose the latter and quicker method. The game giveaway team have been giving away games for over a decade (Dec 2006 & prior to that, via the main site 2 or 3 times weekly from Oct 2006 to Dec 2006) and have 'NEVER' given away a game infected with malware; they always test every giveaway with several of the top anti-malware suites to ensure all games are free from malware.

If for any reason you want to contact the giveaway team, for example, if you have a problem getting the latest game or other issues that the FAQ's thread or these comments don't cover or solve or if you have a game to offer the community you can do so HERE