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Universal Hints System
Reviewed by: Angie Kibiloski

There is a Web site that is an absolute must-visit, if you are into playing games. The Universal Hints System, located at www.uhs-hints.com, is the key to finishing hundreds of games, and getting past frustrating obstacles along the way. Along with hundreds of games in their directory, that are being updated all the time, the site also contains articles about gaming news and reviews of new games. All of this is contributed to by a number of expert gamers, who are both knowledgeable and thorough.

This hints contained on this site are different from other hint pages or traditional gaming walkthroughs. The UHS allows you to find as much or as little help as you desire. Which means, you can read a very vague hint about a puzzle within a game, giving you just enough of a clue to point you in the right direction, or you can go through a list of progressively more detailed hints, finally winding up with a specific, step-by-step solution to the problem. By using this method, you won't need to feel guilty about getting hints, when you can determine just how much you want to find out.

Each game, listed alphabetically for easy searching, is subdivided into the various portions of the game. For instance, if you are playing a game like Myst, or Syberia, each of the locations that you visit during game play is given a link on the page. Under each link are specific questions that you can click on, so you only see hints about that particular question. For instance, "How do I unlock the safe in the basement?" or "Why can't I open the door in the kitchen?" Once you follow these links, you see the first hint to the puzzle, and can click through the progressive hints, as mentioned above. You can navigate these hints from the Web site, or you can download a UHS Reader, and download the hints for each game you want to learn about.

I enjoy reading the hints on the UHS, sometimes even for puzzles I have already solved. The gamers that write these hints can often be humorous, making witty little comments about game play that would, of course, only be funny if you had just spent an hour trying to get past the referenced problem. Of course, maybe that is it, they are funny because I am a big dork and have spent as many hours as they have playing the game. For some reason, after hours of being in the world of Aura: Fate of the Ages, the wording of the link question, "Help! I keep getting killed by two Amazon Women!" is the funniest thing in the world to me. J They keep it light, and never make you feel like an idiot for not being able to figure things out on your own. Universal Hints System, www.uhs-hints.com, is the place to be for gaming help. Check it out.

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