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good concept, poor programmatics

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 12 / 18
Date: December 14, 2004
Author: Amazon User

While the Lemony Snicket books are fantastic, this game's programming flaws make it only fair. The great concepts are still there--character perspective swaps, gadgets that Violet makes, etc--but the play requires a high level of manual control that's not supported by this game's sloppy programming. This makes play frustrating. Another oddity is the inability to save at will; users are forced to play to a certain point before saving. If this is a bug, the patch isn't out for it yet. Overall, this is a disappointment.

Stick with the Books

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: December 08, 2006
Author: Amazon User

There are many things that are best to be AVOIDED. Such include: deadly snakes, fatty burgers, villians named Sally and THIS GAME. The gameplay is rather DULL a word that here means repetitive and uneventful. The voice acting is ABYSMAL, a word that means so bad that I couldn't stand it anymore and turned off all sound. The graphics are okay at best. The only thing that is mildly intresting is that as you progress in the story mode (same version of the story that apeared in the equally bad movie) you can unlock Count Olaf's Theature Posters and words with Snicket's deffinitions. But even this isn't enough to truly motivate you. Please don't make the mistake of buying this game. Save your money.
With All Do Respect,
Discusted Snicket Fan

Fun, but awful graphics & glitches...

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 14 / 22
Date: January 02, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Please note that this review is for the PC version of this game. There's no doubt about it, the game is very cute and truly fun as it is based upon the exact premise and story of the movie. As I've found so very often these days, the creators of these games are in such a hurry to capitalize on a book or a movie's popularity that the game is thrown together in a very slipshod manner (see EA Games' Harry Potter & the Chamber of Secrets for PC..shame on them for releasing it the way they did...ugh). The programmers obviously took no pride in their workmanship here. The graphics are fair, at best, and there are times when you may target something and the program fails to respond right away, necessitating the repositioning of the cursor several times to get it to work. The scenes where you must jump from one platform/rock/box etc. to another is just downright annoying. The characters are difficult to position and the run-jump coordination of the program is all off. The poor graphics give the player little help in depth perception in these scenes. There are also areas in which the graphics are incredibly annoying to the eyes...when your character is moving about the scene, the scenery moves in a very stilted, stunted sort of flashy way (I'd say strobe-like, but it is a dark game, not a bright flashy one). This annoyed not only my 43-yr-old eyes, but also both of my childrens' eyes (8 & 11yrs). Overall, it was fun, but if you're keen on gaming, and glitches and poor graphics bother you...avoid this one. If you're looking for a cute adventure for the 7-11 year-old crowd...you'll probably like this one. Another game along these lines, but with better graphics and much more of a challenge, was the first Harry Potter game for PC- Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

Could Have Been Better

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 1 / 3
Date: January 15, 2006
Author: Amazon User

The game itself is fun, and it is great exploring the various rooms in the houses, caves, etc. It is nice that you can pretty much go where you want to, and turn 360 degrees to look at things, although the game does not let you advance to rooms you shouldn't be in if you haven't done the required tasks. That's ok, there are usually several rooms and areas to walk around in until you do.

One drawback is that there isn't much to hunt for in each, and you pretty much pickup the idea fast that everything is behind pictures, or you pull a lever to do something. I would have liked to have opened a few more drawers or moved some books, or found something under a couch, etc. Where you look is pretty simple, but then I'm an adult gamer. It's probably perfect for a 10-14 year old.

There is a big problem (the reason I only gave it 3 stars) and that is the REALLY ANNOYING JUMPS across bobbing crates in a lake, or moving platforms, or whatever. All the jumps are awkward to do because you are trying to hit arrow keys and the spacebar, and time it right. It is also annoying that you have to coordinate the keyboard functions and the mouse so much when you run. You definitely use both hands a lot (and at the same time) to keep moving in this game. All in all, I'd give the functions of running/jumping/targeting items/etc. only two stars. Whoever programmed this is nuts. There must be a better way. Or, maybe kids are better at all this coordination than grownups!

You do have to get rid of the villians, but you "shoot" them with bubble gum, onions, feathers, etc. I can see where they are relatively easy to get past if you have the timing skills on the keyboard. I didn't. It's awkward to change items (from bubblegum to onions, for instance) while you are fighting and while you are using both hands for other functions. I think the game would have been better if the villians didn't seem to pop up so often. It started to bug me that they were keeping me from moving on in the game.

Another drawback is that you can't save your game except at pre-set points. I really didn't like that!! Sometimes I was ready to quit for the night, but I had to play on to the pre-set save point so I wouldn't have to re-do what I'd done already.

However, all in all, the game is fun and the storyline is great. It makes you want to keep on going in the game. There are plenty of places to explore. Unlike a previous reviewer, I didn't zip through the game...probably because the jumps took me forever and the villians took time to get past. I thought there was plenty to do and I got my money's worth. I'd recommend it if you don't mind "shooting" villians and if you don't mind awkward jumping and keyboard controls.

Elegant fun

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 30 / 34
Date: December 17, 2004
Author: Amazon User

A sweet little game with a decidedly off-center sensibility, just like the bizarre books it's based on. If you're familiar with the books, you'll know what to expect; if you're not, perhaps you'd better read one or two first to get an idea of what's coming.

Game play consists of directing the Beaudelaire children around various locations trying to survive their greedy "uncle." The game is divided into problem-solving sections and fighting sections; the former is mostly brain work, though there's some rather annoying jumping in places, and the fighting is mostly hand-eye coordination, though a little strategy is required to survive. (Fighting in this case means squirting mosquitoes with eau de cologne and throwing bags of horseradish at evildoers. There's no blood involved.) All the voices are done by the actors from the movie, most notably Tim Curry and Jim Carrey, what a team-up! Graphics are good enough. I had no difficulty loading or running the game on my 3-year-old machine with Windows ME.

The game as a whole is a lovely fun quirky thing; it might be a bit too complicated for kids under about 10, and it might be a bit bland for kids over about 16. Oh, and it includes a free child's admission to the movie, good till the end of the year (2004). Lovely!

Very enjoyable!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 16 / 19
Date: December 22, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Considering what a disappointment I found a movie to be, the fun of this game makes up for it.
In A Series of Unfortunate Events, you play as the three Baudelaire orphans. You must jump, attack, and discover your way through the 'Lemony Snicket world', avoiding the horrible Count Olaf.
The neat thing about this game was that how you got through the game didn't rely on how quick your fingers hit the keys, but how quick you can discover the little things that depend on weather you advance in the game or not. It got annoying at times, but I managed to work through it. The downside of the game is that 80% of the time you're looking for invention particles--nothing much else.
Overall, this is a very good game, but you'll enjoy it more if you've read and enjoyed the books.

the movie is better.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 7
Date: July 31, 2005
Author: Amazon User

i love lemony snicket books and the movie was the best. but im not shure about the game. i played the demo on nick.com it wasnt fun but i bought the game because i thought id be better it was fun but its kinda boring and easy. the graphics are great though!

Lemony Snicket: A Series of Fortunate Family Game Events

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 3
Date: February 14, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Lemony the game is not for hardcore gamers. It doesn't aspire to be. It shouldn't be compared to Warcraft or Resident Evil 4.

The game was developed by AMAZE for Activision. Any one familiar with the first three Harry Potter Movie co-ordinated games (through Electronic Arts EA Games) is familiar with Amaze.

The first three Potter games were fun and a bit of challenge for children and for those adults who were new to PC gaming. The player wandered around the magical world of Hogwarts, collecting jelly beans and wizard cards. What was fun was not completeing the tasks or learning new magic, what was fun was the freedom to discover new areas and find secret places.

Fans of the Potter games will recognize the same mechanics of gameplay outfitted in a new location, jelly beans are replaced with golden eyes, golden hearts refuel stamina instead of chocolate frogs, playbills and letters are granted instead of wizard cards. Players will also recognize the flavor of wonderful score the game is set to, enjoyable, appropiate, but not overbearing with some familiar notes.

Lemony isn't quite as good as the aforementioned Potter games. The reason being Lemony is not a fun story. While ficticious, Lemony is a story of the relentless abuse of three very droll and very wealthy orphans. Its much more fun to play as a boy, who has left his abusive Aunt and Uncle behind, entering a magical world to be educated at Hogwarts. I rather enjoyed learning to how to fly Buckbeak in Prizoner of Azkaban. In Lemony, I'm rather relieved I solved the train signal puzzle, the thought of having children run over and over and over by a train until I did, was depressing me.

Yet, Lemony will provide some consolation to those who have been disappointed by EA's latest Potter offering, The Goblet of Fire. While there is an adjustment to the droll circumstances, the task of discovering your world will take over and the game will eventually command your attention.

While Lemony isn't bad, it isn't that good, either. They renderings of the children are not the most flattering they could be, and the villians are boorishly ugly.

The gameplay controls aren't half as good as the Potter games, and they weren't the greatest. There's a match game puzzle in a cellar, that only shows up per every install, instead of every game. I did complete it and nothing happened on my game, which maybe the reason the puzzle won't show up in the rest of the games in a particular installation. It has done this twice on me, and I'm not going to uninstall and install a third time to see if it happens again. It had no effect on my score or letter or eye collecting. The camera angles aren't well mapped for shooting. I was supposed to shoot a rat, but the camera got behind a ceiling lamp, and while the rat was biting me, all I could see was the inside of a lamp shade. Suff like that.

Still its better than most children's games out there, and it plays! As you may have guessed, there is violence. When I shoot a rat in Lemony, it is shot with a rotten egg lobber. Rotten eggs are your bullets, and the player stuns the enemies, instead of killing them. About time.

I've played Lemony three times, the third time it was going through the motions. Once the few skills of jumping, aiming the egg lobber, and the boot puncher had been mastered, there wasn't any interest left. But for the time I did play, I did enjoy it.

The games by AMAZE are a category unto themselves. They are not action games based on a trigger finger, nor are they the point click boring adventure games beset with brain teaser puzzles in a futuristic world. They are a relaxing time where you don't have to test your brain, just delight it.

If you have never played the Potter games and are new to PC gaming I recommend Lemony, it is a good place to start. If you are a fellow Potterhead and felt betrayed buy Goblet of Fire, Lemony will sustain you.

Fun but short

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: January 09, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This was an enjoyable adaptation game. It is great for a 9 or 10 year old. The challenges are not that difficult - or frustrating - for the target audience. The dialog is typically Snicket. The maps are interesting and game moves at a steady pace. The only fault is the brevity. Game time from start to end was maybe 20 hours. Still, the kids seemed to like it.

great

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: May 09, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I bought this for my husband and he loved it.it gave him hours and hours of fun

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