Mark & Mandi's Love Story
Platform: Download (Windows)
Want something charming that you'll play with a wry grin on your face? Mark & Mandi's Love Story is exactly that, packaging spot the difference puzzles, memory matching, jigsaw-style challenges and more with a great hand drawn art style that reminds me of Ice Cream Dee Lites. You play the role of Cupid's helper who is on a quest to sculpt Mark and Mandi's relationship to perfection. The story follows the young couple from the awkward dating stage to marriage and beyond, keeping a great sense of humor and light-hearted fun the whole way.
The game is divided into stages that chronicle major periods of Mark and Mandi's relationship. You begin with "Getting to Know You" where the young couple go on walks in the park, have picnics together, and learn the basics of each other's personality. You get to know them as well, and both are slightly... quirky. In a funny way, of course.
Spin the wheel to launch a random scene and the game begins. Each scene unfolds with a brief conversation between Mark and Mandi, then you'll start the spot the difference round. The faster and more accurate you find the differences, the more wish points you'll be rewarded. Wish points can be used to purchase additional items that will be hidden in each stage (such as a bird or a butterfly) for bonus points, or you can save up and unlock milestones that will eventually complete the stage.
After spot the difference ends you'll play another mini-game that could be matching pairs of cards or placing pieces of an image where it needs to go. Also, if the wheel lands on a red title you'll get double the wish points and can play my favorite mini-game where you find what's the same between two different pictures. That a way to shake things up a bit!
Analysis: Mark & Mandi's Love Story isn't one of those games that floors you from the get-go. Instead, and quite appropriately, you have to fall in love with it, spending well over an hour spotting differences and matching pieces of scenery before you're overtaken by its charm. The progression is slow, and new challenges as well as tougher stages aren't unlocked until you've worked your way through a good chunk of the game.
The difficulty of this casual game has been toned down considerably — it's aimed squarely at entertaining, not perplexing. The spot the difference puzzles are pretty straightforward, and you won't have to count tree limbs or measure the curve of a bush to complete puzzles. A special "hard" mode is available for some extra challenge, but even then you don't need to be an expert to make it through the game. It gets tougher after an hour or two of play, which, unfortunately, you won't experience during the demo.
The simplicity of Mark & Mandi's Love Story is charming, but a slight increase in the type of games would be of great benefit. Even just one addition would work wonders. The goal isn't to be a mini-game collection, of course, just kill any monotony before it rears its ugly head.
Built for charm and fun rather than challenge, Mark & Mandi's Love Story is a quirky puzzle game that accomplishes exactly what it sets out to do!
Windows:
Download the demo
Order the full version
Mac OS X:
Not available.
Try Boot Camp or Parallels or CrossOver Games.
It did not mention that I have to download the Iwin games manager to play the game I do not like Iwin. they also fish for info and spam you like crazy. if someone can tell me otherwise let me know. Thanks.
Yes, sorry, it's iwin.
We're not big fans of the site either, but for now the game is not yet widely available. Hopefully we'll be able to feature different links to the game very soon.
In the meantime, I've added a link to the Flash demo to all of the images, and one at the bottom of the review.
My other question is how do I get my task bar back now that Iwin has removed it from my desktop. It completely changed all of the settings for my desktop. I am uninstalling Iwin now.
Sorry. ;_;
Please contact iwin customer support and complain about it. That's the only way they will know they are losing customers.
These are examples why noone likes Iwin.
how far are you supposed to be able to go on the demo? As soon as I get to
the Crisis
it says that it's loading but won't take me to the next level.
I found the web version on its developer's website. And it worked. :-)
According to its site, it was on Pogo first.
[Edit: I already posted about the Flash version in the comment above. Just click any of the images, or the "Play the Flash demo" link at the bottom of the review. -Jay]
I agree, I refuse to go to Iwin anymore. I'll just have to wait until someone else has it.
Thanks I will go to Iwin to write them a letter. I did get my task bar back. Though it took me some figuring until I realized all I have to do is restart my computer. Though I should not have to do this. IT worked this time. Shows how much I know about computers lol.
I have not gone to Iwin in over 2 years. I do not like them. I will not go back except to let them know they messed up with me permanently.
Thanks for your time.
This game has great potential. However, I am not downloading it. When I play it on line it gets stuck after a few levels.
I like it but will not rate it at this time. Maybe when they can get it on better servers, and away from iwin.
Update