Many casual games are leisurely pursuits that help you unwind after a stressful day at the office. Turbo Subs, however, isn't one of them. Although fun and well-produced, Turbo Subs has the same frenetic pacing that made its predecessor, Turbo Pizza, one of the most insanely challenging (and adrenaline-pumpingly energetic) time management games on the market.

The second chapter in the Turbo series begins when Rebecca and her partner Robert, the stars of the first game, arrive in New York for a much-needed vacation. Being true entrepreneurs, though, they just can't pass up a good business opportunity when they see one, which is how they end up turning an old subway car into a brand new subway sandwich shop.

Players who already got their fill of Turbo Pizza will experience a sense of deja vu within the first few levels of Turbo Subs. The restaurant layout of Turbo Subs is virtually identical to that of the first game, with the major different being, of course, that Robert is now making different kinds of sandwiches instead of pizzas. Even the theme music and introductory tutorials are very similar between the two games.

For those that are new to time management games where you need to perform a variety of tasks in a given allotted time, Turbo Subs could introduced you to a fascinating world of sim games where you enjoy a fast paced game with tons of action.

What I particularly like about Turbo Subs are the mini games of hidden object puzzles where I have the best of 2 game genres rolled into one.

Interactive adaptations of Agatha Christie's beloved murder-mysteries have ranged from good (And Then There Were None) to great (Death on the Nile). Well, fans of these casual games will be pleased to know the latest adventure - Agatha Christie: Peril at End House - is the best yet, providing many hours of seek-and-find fun on your PC.

Similar to the popular Death on the Nile hidden object game, Agatha Christie: Peril at End House takes a 75 year-old novel and challenges players to solve the whodunit by playing through dozens of fun puzzles. If the story is unfamiliar to you, Nick Buckley is the last in a long line of Buckleys living at End House, a huge but isolated estate overlooking the cliffs of St. Loo. After a handful of attempts on Nick's life, the famous Belgian detective Poirot steps in to find out who the killer is and unravel their motives before it's too late.

You can help Poirot with this task by searching for clues, meeting suspects and most of all, searching for items in more than two dozen locations (spread out between four main areas: End House, Majestic Hotel, Nursing Home and Town). Similar to other seek-and-find puzzles, players are presented with a scene, such as a room or an outdoor location, and must find all the listed items along the side of the screen, be it a golf club, cat, statue, chess piece or bicycle. Once you find the item on the screen you click it, which then crosses the item off the list; you must find all the items within a predetermined amount of time. If you get stuck you can access a few limited hints, which reveals where an item is in the scene. Click on the wrong item too many times and you'll be penalized with 30 seconds taken off the clock.

Seventy-five years after its initial publication, the Queen of Crime’s seventh novel featuring Belgian detective Hercule Poirot has made its debut in another medium: the casual game. Again under the direction of masterful writer and game designer Jane Jensen, Oberon Games has created an entirely unique casual mystery adventure. The product varies from its predecessor, Death on the Nile, but is nevertheless a solid and entertaining detective experience.

Playing as Poirot, you and your loyal compatriot, Captain Hastings, arrive on the Cornish coast for a week of rest and relaxation. Your vacation, however, is soon interrupted when a young woman is shot at. She later introduces herself as Magdala “Nick” Buckley, the owner of End House, and reveals that this latest incident is one of many “accidents” that have befallen her recently and threatened her life. Naturally, Poirot takes it upon himself to investigate the truth.

Your main task is to search each room of the house (and surrounding area) for clues. Each investigation consists of three to five locations to peruse, and there are ten items to search for in each room. Yes, this game is of the I Spy variety that seems to be sweeping the casual game world these days. However, there is more to it than that. Some of the objects you find are actually clues to the mystery, and they are stored in the Evidence Room after you uncover them so that you can refer back to them later when you are trying to solve the case. If you are having trouble, though, you get five hints per investigation -- so don’t get too frustrated, because if you start clicking randomly, the game will remove thirty seconds from your twenty-five minute time limit...

I was quite enamored with the first Flood Light Games’ Agatha Christie game, Death on the Nile. To be frank, enamored wouldn’t be quite the word - I loved it. I’ve also played it too many times to be productive in my other endeavors. It was a seriously groundbreaking hidden object game. It had puzzles, it had adventure elements, it was detailed, well-drawn, and it was everything a hidden object game ought to be. I’ll also never forget that it came first.

Peril At End House is a bit of a mixed disappointment, in that regard. It does a lot of things right - 1024 x 768 resolution that runs smooth as silk, lovely classical style music in the background, unobtrusive sound effects, a puzzle in every room. However, it suffers from a lack of innovation. I guess the problem is mostly me (as will be for other gamers who has played the first game) and I’m expecting too much. Instead of getting something new, I’m getting more of the same. While this isn’t necessarily unwelcome, the time between the last game and this one led me to believe that there would be more.

The latest addition to the growing list of hidden object games is Agatha Christie Peril at End House. This game is based on the popular Agatha Christie novels and of course has that effervescent character, Hercule Poirot doing the detective work again.

With his trusty companion Hastings, you and Hercule need to unravel the mystery of who is trying to kill Nick Buckley...

The story of End house begins as Hercule Poirot meets a nice lady, Miss Nick Buckley. She turns out to be the owner of End House.

As you start the game itself and solve the hidden-object tasks you get more and more clues that make it clear that the lady is in danger of being killed. New clues give you more information about the suspects and the situation itself. Step by step you search through the whole house and other places that get you to solving the mystery.

The hidden object tasks are quite usual. You get the list of items to find on the screen. Before each screen you get a map of the place and are shown the places and the number of the items you are to find in each one of them.

In the late 19th century, a man the newspapers nicknamed Jack the Ripper committed a series of gruesome murders in London's East End. He was never caught, and the case remains unsolved to this day. In Mystery in London, the latest hidden object adventure from Big Fish Games, you'll attempt what countless sleuths and scholars - both amateur and professional - have tried and failed to do: discover the identity of Jack the Ripper.

Although its name is different, Mystery in London shares a lot in common with the Travelogue 360 games (Paris and Rome), and uses the same panoramic technology to immerse players in a scene by letting them look a full 360 degrees in any direction as well as up and down. The technology is cool, but definitely an acquired taste. The good news for people who prefer the more traditional approach is that you can turn off the panning in favour of a static view consisting of 16 individual photos pieced together.

The story goes that you're a collector of old books and curiosities who happens to be visiting London on vacation. During your stay, you pop into some shops to look for items to add to your collection, and come across a valuable copy of the novel Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde - along with a mysterious note signed by "JR."

Through some further investigating, you realize that the information you've been collecting has put you onto the trail of Jack the Ripper after all these years. You'll also discover that certain people don't want Jack's true identity to come out, and will stop at nothing to make sure he remains an unsolved mystery.

Oh, how I love a good mystery, and this game sure has one!!! I've played a lot of hidden object games, but Mystery In London really impressed me. This game is so popular, I just had to try it, and I'm so glad I did! Wow! If you like hidden object games, this is a game you will love. If you also love a good mystery, Mystery In London will be simply irresistible to you!

The game has a wonderfully mysterious-sounding soundtrack, great sound effects, and unbeatable graphics. The detail of the graphics and the life-like appearance was truly impressive. I felt like I was inside the scenes I played. Shown in the screenshot below are some of the options available to you, such as levels of sounds, etc. If you're playing for the first time, I recommend activating the "show tips" option - it gives great tutorial tips throughout the game.

When you first start a game, you can choose between "explorer mode" and "tourist mode." Choose tourist mode if you prefer to play leisurely without being timed against the clock. Explorer Mode is where you match your searching skills against a timer/clock during your whirlwind trip to London. Tourist Mode allows you to relax and enjoy a selection of locales with no time limit...

Vicki Nelson is an ex-cop turned private investigator whose eyesight is failing; Henry Fitzroy is a 450-year-old vampire and the illegitimate son of King Henry VIII. Together they're crime fighting's odd couple, investigating unique cases that involve zombies, ghosts and demons. You'll get to step into Vicki and Henry's shoes In Blood Ties, a hidden object game based on the Blood Ties TV show (which in turn is based on Tanya Huff's Blood Books).

The case you'll be investigating involves the disappearance of all 14 members of a secret society called the Hellfire Club. But this is no simple case of mass kidnapping: each member of the club also carries an important fragment of a magical tablet that helps to keep a demon named Astaroth banished. If the tablet pieces aren't reunited once a year the demon could break free, which makes it doubly important to track down the whereabouts of the members.

Got all that? Even though its plot is a bit murky, Blood Ties' gameplay is straightforward as far as hidden object games go. For people unfamiliar with how these types of games work, you're given a scene cluttered with different objects and must look through them carefully and use your mouse to click on certain special objects that appear on a list - such as a ball, fish, hot dog, vase or candle. At the beginning of each level you receive a case file on the missing person giving you their photograph and a little bit of personal information. Typically you'll visit between two and six different locations per level, looking for between 30 to 90 items.

Blood Ties is the latest hidden object game which is based on a television series. You need to help a private detective uncover clues as to solve mysterious missing persons cases.

You have a couple of unlikely helpers in your assistant, Coreen and your friend Henry, who is unbelievably a 450 year old vampire. Now he should be able to sniff out the blood trail.

Blood Ties Game act according to the TanyaHuff of the same name best-selling blood suck ghost novel, and the film and television work reorganization becomes a section mystical line of sight style Xie Mi plays. Helps heroine Vicki the Nelson spying to solve a series of reasons unclear to be missing the personnel case. In the entire city, excavates the hundreds of goods, behind the discovery dark secret mystical plot.

The Blood Ties Game picture has used the exquisite 2D image as before, continued mystically regarded the wire gauge game to enrich but the full picture characteristic. From the city corner to each place, the overall tone design is extremely cloudy, complements one another with the game unreal story subject.

This does the music link still has a higher standard, demonstrates the rich enrichment the music effect. The game background music by mystical hangs for the person doubts the feeling, but the affable melody as well as the multiple lifelike sound effect, build the game terror subject arrives very much.

Meet the cast of the game - Vicki Nelson and Henry Fitzroy. In case you have no idea who they are, I'll make it clear for you.

Vicky used to work in police but now she is a private investigator, and Henry Fitzroy is a 450-year-old vampire, the illegitimate son of King Henry VIII, who is her co-worker in saving the world from ghosts, demons, zombies etc.

In this game, the case they are solving deals with the disappearance of several people. All the people belong to a secret society and each one of them has a fragment of a tablet that keeps a demon named Astaroth locked. All the pieces are to be put together once a year for the tablet to keep doing its job. So this fact makes it important to find all the kidnapped ones.

After spending Mystery Case Files: Ravenhearst holed up in a mansion, it's nice to be back investigating suspects in Mystery Case Files: Madame Fate, the fourth game in the series. Madame Fate, the fortune teller at the local carnival, is convinced that she'll die at the stroke of midnight, and it's up to you to find her would-be killer before it's too late.

Each of the 15 carnival employees has a motive for wanting Madame Fate dead: Lucy, the bearded lady, is jealous of her success, Larry the magician is afraid she'll cost him his job, and the Mermaid is afraid Madame Fate will tell her husband about the affair she's having with the Strong Man. The fact that the crime you're investigating hasn't actually happened yet puts a quirky twist on the detective work, but the gameplay itself is similar to past Mystery Case Files games.

You'll investigate each person by searching the carnival grounds for clues. Like a typical hidden object game, each location is littered with a strange collection of objects, and you have to search through the clutter to find a specific list of items before time runs out. Once you've found all the clues, you'll bring them back to Madame Fate so that she can use her crystal ball to reveal what the person's fate will be when midnight rolls around - thus eliminating them from the list of suspects. Before the crystal ball reveals what it knows, however, you'll have to solve a fiendish puzzle similar to the locked door puzzles in Ravenhearst.

Mystery Case Files: Ravenhearst has the distinction of the first hidden object game I’ve ever reviewed. I had no basis for comparison, so little did I know I reviewed one of the best games of its genre. Since then, I’ve also checked out Mystery Case Files: Madame Fate surpasses its four predecessors and the Mystery Case Files (MCF) series continues to push the genre to new levels.

In this one, Madame Fate, the fortune teller, believes someone is going to kill her at midnight and she asks for your help. It’s not that her fortune telling abilities don’t work, but rather she needs you to find hidden items or clues from the 15 carnival employees. These items help Madame Fate use her crystal ball to see each person’s fate at midnight.

As she reveals the fate of each carnival worker, it also helps remove that person as a suspect in her possible death. But before she can do that, you go to work in solving a “crystal ball puzzle” with no direction or clues. I adore these puzzles, which resemble the locked door puzzles in Ravenhearst. They’re the best part of the game. They even attract my eight-year-old son’s attention as he joins me in solving them.

Another neat twist is that every location doesn’t mean you’ll go a-hunting for 10 or so hidden objects. Some scenes have a mini-game that usually has something to do with words. It could be rearranging jumbled letters to create two words that are opposites, creating 10 four-lettered words from the given letters, or playing a hangman-style game to find three words describing the carnival worker plus a couple of others.

If you’re already familiar with the Mystery Case Files games (but pointing more towards Ravenhearst) then you already know what to expect.

Let’s enumerate, shall we?

1. Picturesque, imaginative, and very very messy surroundings where you will have to find various items given on your list.

2. Challenging mini games that may even tempt you to buy the Mystery Case Files: Madame Fate Strategy Guide.

3. And new to this installment are the scene-within-a-scene stages (you’ll know what I mean) where you are pitted with more puzzles, a “weirdo stage” (I made that up) featuring a game weirdo, and locked stages where you’ll have to find “unlisted and randomly changing” objects that can give you a certain stage’s key for further exploration.

To help you on your mission though, a time bonus effect is given to you whenever you find 3 clues fast enough. Now, time bonuses are delicious, so you just have to plan your next 3 clicks before you actually press the mouse for you to get them every time.

Mystery Case Files: Madame Fate is a brand new hidden object game just released in the Mystery Case Files series. This installment drops you in a carnival where the fortune teller Madame Fate has seen something troubling in her crystal ball. At the stroke of midnight she will be killed, but which carnival character will commit the act? Maybe it's the bearded lady? Or is it the strong man? The sword swallower? Gather clues about the carnies by finding hidden items and solving puzzles throughout the dark and mysterious circus.

The item hunting genre should be familiar to most casual gamers by now, and Mystery Case Files is one of the most widely-recognized names out there. You are presented with a number of different scenes, each with dozens of objects cleverly hidden amongst the clutter. A list sits at the right showing what items you need to find. All you need to do is check the list, hunt for the item, and click when you find it. You have a generous time limit that gets depleted if you click too fast, so keep your cool and use your limited hints wisely.

Latest addition to the Mystery Case Files series, Madame Fate has you helping a Fortune Teller who has foreseen her own death. You need to uncover who is out to kill her before her prediction comes true.

If you enjoyed other games in the series such as Ravenhearst Manor, Mystery Case Files Madame Fate is sure to please those hidden object aficionados among us. There are more hidden objects than ever and provides a good brain teaser to boot.

Overview: Mystery Case Files: Madame Fate combines hidden object gameplay with word games and numerous mind-benders sort of what we were playing at puzzle rooms of Mystery Case Files: Ravenhearst . MCF: Madame Fate can be played in time-limited mode and the mode that features extended time.

Game story: Madame Fate, the owner of carnival and a fortunetelling pro, has foreseen her coming demise. In her crystal ball, she saw herself killed by someone of her employees. So, you are to carefully sleuth the whereabouts of each of circus employees to trace the murderer and stop him/her.

Game characters: Madame Fate is not a very nice person. Just a traditional moody fortune-teller. But her employees represent the most notorious carnival types you could ever see in real life: an unfortunate magician, an ambitious bearded beauty, a sulky carny, and a fishy mermaid etc. Altogether there are 15 of them, and each has their own motives to get rid of Madame Fate.