Merry Christmas! I hope that you all are enjoying your holiday. If you happen to be bored or just want something Christmas-y to do, I have got some amazing PC video games to tell you about. Back in November, I started searching for a Christmas inspired game. I came across the gaming company Elephant Games and discovered that they have an ENTIRE Christmas series. I bought two and loved them so much that I decided to buy a third. I wish that I had time to buy and review all of their Christmas games but for this year, I’ll stick with three of them. The three I purchased are Christmas Stories: The Nutcracker, Christmas Stories: A Christmas Carol and Christmas Stories: Hans Christian Andersen’s Tin Soldier. All of these games can be purchased from the Elephant Games site or from the Big Fish Games site.
As always in my video game reviews, there will be a makeup look at the end inspired by the games so if you’re only interested in that, feel free to scroll down. I’m not very tech savvy so while I will mention the game system requirements, I probably won’t be able to answer any tech questions. This also isn’t a walk through, only a review. Let’s get all the technical details out of the way first!
Game System Requirements
Christmas Stories: The Nutcracker
- OS: Windows XP/Windows Vista/Windows 7/Windows 8
- CPU: 2.5 GHz
- RAM: 1024 MB
- DirectX: 9.0
- Hard Drive: 699 MB
Christmas Stories: A Christmas Carol
- OS: Windows XP/Windows Vista/Windows 7/Windows 8
- CPU: 2.5 GHz
- RAM: 1024 MB
- DirectX: 9.0
- Hard Drive: 1355 MB
Christmas Stories: Hans Christian Andersen’s Tin Soldier Collector’s Edition
- OS: Windows XP/Windows Vista/Windows 7/Windows 8
- CPU: 2.5 GHz
- RAM: 1024 MB
- DirectX: 9.0
- Hard Drive: 1515 MB
Game Synopsis
- Christmas Stories: The Nutcracker
A classic Christmas tale, with a whole new twist! Help the Nutcracker rescue the princess from the evil Rat King in this memorable hidden-object puzzle adventure game. You might be too late for the Christmas Ball, but you’re just in time for adventure! The Nutcracker needs your help, and there’s an army of rats running rampant through the kingdom. Luckily, a few cute little sidekicks have got your back. Uncover the Rat King’s evil plot – and find out what created the toothy little monster.
- Christmas Stories: A Christmas Carol
Your uncle might be a good-natured man with mustache or a bold funny guy… But it’s not the case with you. Your uncle is special. He is Ebenezer Scrooge. The Ebenezer Scrooge.
But don’t feel sad.
It’s Christmas Eve and we know that this is the time when miracles come to our life. This time it’s up to you to bring them to the door. Give your uncle a chance!
How do you change the life distorted with evil? That’s easy! Gain support of a little kind spirit, follow the directions of three Ghosts of Christmas – Past, Present and Yet to Come, and go off on a Christmas journey through time and space to help Scrooge, and fill his flawed and miserable lonely life with good deeds.
- Christmas Stories: Hans Christian Andersen’s Tin Soldier Collector’s Edition
When Nina’s wish comes true and her fiancé Charlie, though wounded, returns from the war, nothing seems to be able to spoil this Christmas. But the sweethearts don’t know about the evil plan of the Baron. Envious for their happiness, he uses magic to turn Nina into a toy ballet dancer, and Charlie – into a tin soldier. The girl’s brother Albert also gets turned into a toy – the Nutcracker (we all love and remember from the first installment of Christmas Stories!). He manages to escape the Baron’s minions and calls for help. And here you are!
My Thoughts
I feel the same way about each of these games. I honestly didn’t expect much from them. I assumed they would be very simplistic and possibly childish but they are SO good. All of them have absolutely gorgeous graphics and a Christmas music soundtrack that isn’t repetitive or annoying. They are the typical point and click games with hidden object scenes but there’s also different side quests. The game play mechanics are great with no glitches and there are very short loading times between the different areas.
The story lines are adaptations from different classical stories, such as: The Nutcracker and the Mouse King by E. T. A. Hoffman, A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens and “The Steadfast Tin Soldier” by Hans Christian Andersen. I purchased the Collector’s Edition of Christmas Stories: Hans Christian Andersen’s Tin Soldier and it includes a bonus game that is based off of “The Snow Queen”, also by Hans Christian Andersen. I thought that was a fun coincidence because I actually just reviewed “The Snow Queen” a few weeks ago; you can see that review here.
The story lines are very interesting and all of the games have little quirky twists. For example, in Christmas Stories: The Nutcracker, there is a hidden underground temple to some kind of cat god?? I won’t spoil all the weirdness but there are just strange little things like that throughout all three games and it made me love them even more.
All three of these games have two versions available for purchase, the original for $10.00 or the Collector’s Edition for $20.00. I purchased one Collector’s Edition and in my opinion, it wasn’t worth it. The bonus game that was included was fun but it was very short. I would probably just stick with the original versions. Now let’s get into the makeup look!
Makeup Look
Palettes & Singles Used:
- Colourpop It’s My Pleasure Palette– shades Kittenfish and Fan Fiction *Reviewed here
- Profusion Cosmetics Spectrum Palette– shades Reign and Nautical *Reviewed here
- Natasha Denona Tropic Palette– shade Laguna *Not Reviewed
- Looxi Beauty singles in Screwball & Cookie Dough *Not Reviewed & Discontinued
Primer:
The first step of any eyeshadow look I do is primer. I’ve been using the essence Colour Intensifying Eyeshadow Base for the past year. I do always set my primer with a cream or white shade of eyeshadow. Some people do not set their primer but it’s much easier to blend shadows on top of it if you set it.
All three of these games have very similar color palettes that are primarily made up of pink, purple, turquoise and blue. I wanted to recreate that on my eyes and I’m mostly happy with how it turned out. I always struggle with smudging bright colors further toward my under eye area but I’m wanting to practice this more. I won’t be linking to any of the products I used since they’re linked up above. I’ll go in the order of the swatches on my wrist, left to right.
- I blended a matte lavender (Colourpop It’s My Pleasure) above my natural crease. I applied it from near my innermost corner (closest to the bridge of my nose) to the center of my eye area, making a half arch.
- I then blended a matte pink (Colourpop It’s My Pleasure) into the lavender, completing the arch above my crease. I also blended this pink around the outer edge of the whole look.
- I blended a matte purple (Profusion Spectrum) into my crease.
- I deepened my crease with a matte blue (Profusion Spectrum).
- I applied a matte turquoise (Natasha Denona Tropic) all over my lid.
- I applied a blue/pink duochrome (Looxi Beauty Screwball) all over my lid, on top of the turquoise.
- I applied a white/blue duochrome (Looxi Beauty Cookie Dough) over the innermost part of my lid, in my inner corner and on my brow bone.
- I smudged together all of the matte shades, except the turquoise, on my lower lash line. I made sure to use the pink on the very bottom so that I could connect it with the top shades.
Brushes Used:
- Detail Crease Brush
- Tapered Blending Brush
- Flat Eyeshadow Brush
- Small Angled Brush
- Smudge Brush
- Eye Crease Brush
- Blending Brush, I used this brush to blend out the edges.
If you are curious about any of the other products on my face, you can find this look in my recent posts on Instagram.
Final Thoughts
I hope you all enjoyed my review for these three games and the makeup look that I created! These Christmas inspired games really add to the holidays and I know I’ll try the other ones in the future. Whatever all of you are doing today, I hope your Christmas is filled with love and happiness. Thank you for reading and have a Merry Christmas!
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