Enlightenus 2: The Timeless Tower marks the second outing in the hit Enlightenus hidden object adventure game series. You play the part of a journalist in search of the story of a lifetime. In pursuing that story, you've agreed to help an old clockmaker complete his last project. Visit scenes from the past as you help the clockmaker fix the Ageless Clock and prevent his past from being completely re-written!
The story in Enlightenus 2: The Timeless Tower begins when you receive a call from an old clockmaker who promises you the biggest story of your career if you help him complete the construction of his latest clock. Unfortunately, he is getting on in age and is unable to leave the nursing home to finish the project himself. Motivated by the chance of covering a great story, you set out for the clockmaker's home - the Timeless Tower - in what will become the greatest adventure of your life.
Once you enter the Timeless Tower, you find out that the clockmaker might have gotten himself into more trouble than he could handle. It turns out that he was working on the Ageless Clock, a clock that is able to control time. Unfortunately, something went wrong and the various parts of the Clock became scattered throughout the tower. More worrying is the fact that the unstable Clock seems to have started unraveling time itself, starting with the clockmaker's own past! It is now up to you to reassemble the Ageless Clock and repair the fabric of time.
As you progress up the tower, you'll find that each clock piece seems to have changed a part of the clockmaker's history. For example, one clock piece has caused the clockmaker to not find a toy horse when he was ten years old, resulting in him not falling in love with a toy store that would lead him to the magic of clocks. You need to recover these pieces from locked devices, and can do so by solving a series of puzzles and minigames in a scene-by-scene adventure game style.
As you move between scenes in the Timeless Tower, you will encounter objects that seem like they will unlock or reveal something if you manage to use another object on them, be it a key or some other item. You will then have to find the related item later in your travels and bring it back. Doing so may open up more areas of the tower to explore, or it may reveal a clock face. These clock faces act as windows into the past, allowing you to catch a glimpse of things that have transpired in Earth's history.
These scenes of the past are not typical hidden object scenes. In fact, they are the complete opposite. Instead of having to find objects that are cleverly hidden in the scene, you are given a list of items that need to be placed in their correct location in the scene. For example, a sword would fit perfectly on a knight who is walking into battle empty-handed. This type of puzzle is reasonably difficult, as you need to figure out how an item can interact with the various elements in the picture. In addition, some of these items have to be placed in the correct order. If you have an axe and a match, you might need to place the axe on a pile of wood in order to chop them up into firewood. Only then can you place the match on the firewood to get it to burn.
There are also plenty of mini-puzzles in the game, as would be expected in most hidden object games. However, the developers have managed to inject creativity and uniqueness into these puzzles. Most of the puzzles are great combinations of various puzzle types and are interesting and difficult enough to keep you glued to the screen. There is also a new type of puzzle that is basically a combination-lock style puzzle, but also includes fun animation as well. For example, you may get a picture of a guy standing out in the open. There will be 4 buttons, each with the ability to add a tree, lightning, clouds and rain into the picture respectively. You will then need to figure out in which order you should press the 4 buttons in order to complete the picture without getting the poor guy electrocuted by the lightning.
The gameplay in Enlightenus 2: The Timeless Tower is quite innovative and different from your typical hidden object game, and is a great sequel in an awesome game series. Fortunately, it also comes with great artwork and graphics that are both beautiful and endearing. It also doesn't hurt that the music and voice-acting are above average and complement the game very well.
This is definitely a game you should try, especially if you liked the original Enlightenus game. The basic version of the game is not yet available, but you can get the Collector's Edition which includes exclusive extras such as a bonus gameplay quest, achievements, a strategy guide, and even a free full version of the Forgotten Riddles: Mayan Princess game!
Rating: 4.0/5.0
You can read more about Enlightenus 2: The Timeless Tower at
http://www.hidden-puzzles.com/enlightenus-2-timeless-tower.html