The story is cliché, the acting is wooden, and some of the replaced games went from challenging, creative and fast-paced to slow, awkward, and glorified-multiple-choice. The Sapphire Mines edition is much, much easier, but I find it bland and boring. (If there was one reason this game was retired early, it probably was because players thought this version of the game was too hard. These games are not easily brute-forced and usually penalize guessing, but the only penalty for failing a challenge is having to start over, and you can do that as many times as you need to. If you really want to win this game, you're going to really have to prove that you know your stuff. It all depends on how much you enjoy a challenge, and if you have some really good strategies for out-maneuvering monsters and planting mutant plants. It's hard enough trying to solve problems while knowing you have to move quickly within a time limit or avoid monsters chasing you. I'm going to readily admit that Grunkel's games are tough, and the reason why I have no trouble beating the game is because I've had twenty-five years of practice getting really good at it memorizing the layout of the island, learning all the answers and becoming a mental-math master. For me, when the game stalls, it usually comes back if I just wait patiently for it. Of course, sometimes hovering my cursor over the Witch's Hat causes the aforementioned 'stalling' issue. (Jumpstart 3rd Grade's system was a little better, giving you all the level options at once). The Witch's Hat icon, as I mentioned earlier, can change levels, but you have to go all the way to Level 5 before cycling back to Level 1.

The game usually increases the level of a challenge following the successful completion at an earlier level, from Level 1 to Level 5 on most games. I will admit that the game does 'freeze up' in the same places you mentioned, but for me it usually clears up and resumes to normal if I just let it sit for a minute while it tries to load instead of frantically trying to get it to respond. I am playing the game on my Windows 7 computer.

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