PlayFirst has announced the release of Love & Death: Bitten, a vampire adventure game. The game is a tale about a human that falls in love with a Vampire. The game is part of the Curl Up with A Good Game collection and takes players through a story through interactive game play. Just another way to unwind at the end of the day.

Love & Death: Bitten sounds like a unique game, but it has familiar game properties. Players will be searching for hidden objects and then using those objects to solve puzzles. Players will play Victoria, the human, by day and Damon, the vampire by night. Victoria falls for Damon’s charm and Damon is intrigued by Victoria and all is going well until the Vampire queen shows up. The vampire queen enslaved Damon and is not happy with him. Victoria and Damon quickly figure out that they need to work together to get out of their current situation.

“Our customers love the story worlds and characters that come to life within our games.  Players get as immersed within the game stories as they do in a favorite novel. The games we bring together within the Curl Up with a Good Game collection all bring these unique, immersive stories to our players,” said Fran Dillard, vice president of marketing for PlayFirst.

If your looking for a great casual game with a great story worked in, check out Love & Death: Bitten.

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G5 Entertainment announced the release of Paranormal Agency for the iPhone/iPod Touch. Paranormal Agency is a hidden object game where players take on the role of a psychic detective by the name of Heather Mills.

Heather has been tasked with tracking down the person behind the mysterious paranormal attacks that have been happening throughout the city. Heather was given the ability to see ghosts and other paranormal beings. The ghost have been showing up in people’s houses all over the city and Heather has to try and figure out what the ghosts want and why they are there. Players try to solve the mystery by finding hidden objects in different parts of the city. Players will be challenged by more than 50 levels and 5 different types of hidden object challenges.

If you are looking for a hidden object game to keep you occupied while on the go, check out Paranormal Agency in the Apple App Store.

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Mystery of the Crystal Portal HD is a hidden object game for the iPad. The game has stunning graphics and is a bit different than other hidden object games. Players are searching for hidden objects, but instead of having a list of objects to search for, the objects players are searching for are found in other objects. Certain objects open up to reveal other objects that need to be found.

The objects that open up to reveal more objects are called key objects. The key objects are hidden objects themselves. The player has to search for these objects in the scene. If the player can’t find the key object, it will get highlighted in green, eventually. The key objects can be difficult to find since there is no clue on what may be a key object. Once the key objects are found, the objects inside of them are revealed. The player has to find the objects to complete the key object. There are multiple key objects on a level. All key objects must be completed before the level is finished.

Some levels can not be finished until an object is found on a different level. Some times players will have to find ladders or other items in a different level to reach an object in the current level. The player is told about objects that they need from other levels. Each level is a location and if they can’t reach something they will be told that they need to find a ladder or another item in the another area.

There is a puzzle element to the game as well. As the player is searching for the hidden items in that level, there are other items that need to be found. The items are hidden among all the different levels and they all need to be found. The items are then used in a secret level once all of the hidden object levels are complete. The secret levels are all puzzle based and involve the objects that were found in the levels. One puzzle was a weight based puzzle and both sides of the scale had to be equal and another puzzle was putting together a puzzle.

The graphics in the game are truly amazing. They look awesome. The graphics are made for the iPad screen and are clear and in high definition. The touch mechanics worked well, but there were times when a touch was not recognized. The not recognized touches didn’t happen too often, but they did happen.

Over all, Mystery of the Crystal Portal HD is a fun and addicting game. Each level has a good amount of objects to look for and the objects can be tough to find. There is a hint button that can be used if the player can’t find the object and is frustrated and doesn’t want to look any more. If you like hidden object games, you should definitely check out Mystery of the Crystal Portal HD for the iPad.

Orba XL is a relaxing match three game for the newly released iPad. The goal of the game is to match three or more of the same marble and have them disappear. The marbles are not replaced with other marbles, but instead fall down and could complete other matches. The game play continues this way until all matches on the board of been cleared. Once there are no more matches left, more marbles drop from the top of the board and the game continues.

Each time a new set of marbles drop from the top of the screen the level increases. As the levels increase, the matches become harder and harder to make. Players need to plan out the moves they are going to make in the higher levels or they may find themselves ending the game sooner rather than later.

The marbles that are matched disappear and cause any marbles on top of them to fall down. The marbles that fall can be used to match to other marbles. The goal is to try and clear the marbles as low as possible so when the new marbles drop down there is plenty of room. The game ends when there are no more matches left to be made and the marbles are at the top of the screen.

The graphics in the game are really nice and clear and the game board is big since it is the size of the iPad screen. The touch mechanics work great and the matches were always cleared when touched.

Over all, Orba XL is a fun, entertaining and relaxing match three game. Players have to plan their moves ahead of time so there is a puzzle element and there is no rush to make matches. In other words there is no clock to try and beat. If you own an iPad and are looking for a great match three puzzle game, check out Orba XL. On a side note, there is a version of the game, Orba, for the iPhone/iPod touch as well.

Bejeweled Blitz first made an appearance on the social network Facebook and challenged players to accumulate as many points as possible in only a minutes time. Players could see how well their friends did and attempt to beat their friend’s scores. Fans of Bejeweled Blitz can now play the game on their PC when they are not connected to Facebook. PopCap Games announced the release of Bejeweled Blitz for the PC.

I think most people know how Bejeweled is played, but in case you don’t, Bejeweled challenges players to match three or more of the same gem to clear it off the board. Players repeat this process until the game ends. Bejeweled Blitz for the PC offers more features than the free version for Facebook. Players have the option to play in full screen mode and the graphics and sounds have been enhanced for the PC. More achievements have been added to the game as well as the chance to earn 1 million coins to exchange for power ups.

“Bejeweled Blitz is 10 years of the most popular puzzle game of the century packed into a minute-long experience,” said Jason Kapalka, co-founder and chief creative officer at PopCap Games. “It’s the purest form of Bejeweled that we’ve ever concocted, factoring in everything PopCap has learned from a decade of development and feedback from millions of fans. By adding social and competitive elements and a time limit, we’ve distilled Bejeweled down to its essence with Bejeweled Blitz, and the new PC downloadable version makes the game available in the largest, most vibrant form factor yet by far. For some players this could be the version that takes their Bejeweled Blitz game to new heights.”

If you love Bejeweled Blitz for Facebook, check out the one for the PC.

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