Secret Passages: Hidden Objects

I've played this game for about a year now, and have enjoyed it up until now. The developers clearly decided it was too easy to play this game without making in-app purchases so they made some changes. To me, the biggest one is they got rid of the new one-day only daily quest that refreshed every day. Completing the daily quest allowed you to earn an otherwise very rare item that (to build an anvil) that otherwise you can't really earn in sufficient quantity without buying as an in-app purchase. Now you can only earn the item once a month without an in-app purchase. Since you need 200 of them to make the anvil, this is incredibly lame and an obvious change to make you spend more money. Also, since the new daily quest went away I see much less point in checking in to the game each day and play it less. Finally, the new changes have also resulting in a very very long wait every time I load the game. I have a newer phone and up to date iOS, but have to wait so long to load this game that my phone frequently goes to sleep while trying to open the game. A previously fun game the greedy developers decided to make a lot less fun to increase their bottom line.

I really want to like this game, and for the most part, I do. The things I like about it is the way the game flows to different parts of the room with items you have to find. It's really smooth, and it gives the game a different feel than other hidden object games. There is also a decent story behind all of it; not just random hidden objects scattered everywhere. You have goals that coincide with the story. There are a lot of different locations and many different objects to find. What I don't like about the game is the energy system. If I can only play for ten minutes at a time, what's the point? I could spend an hour or more sometimes playing this game, but the energy makes that impossible. I know it's the way it is to make me pay to get more energy, but in reality, it's just frustrating and it makes me not even want to open to app just for a few rooms of hidden objects. Sadly, I'm deleting this game because of this one flaw. Other than that, and I feel this game has a lot of potential. I think 3 out of 5 stars is fair.

When I first started this game, I enjoyed it very much. Now a week or so into it, I am almost ready to delete the app. There are way too many things to do at once! It would be nice to be able to finish one challenge/mission/project at a time! Instead I am all over the place trying to complete many different events. Then there are the glitches that are driving me nuts. Not getting the reward for completing a mission sometimes is one. Another is that when digging I am continually finding items that I already have enough of and too few of the items I actually need! Then there is the fact that you earn one energy every minute til you reach 100. Then you can only do 4 searches. Takes a long time to accomplish anything that way, unless you come back and play every hour and a half! I work for a living and can't sit down and play a game 18 times a day! It would be nice to be able to spend 30 minutes once or twice a day instead of 5-10 minutes 18 times a day!