Update Ten: 17 June 2017

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

Before I get into this review I want to thank BLAEO user ninglor03 for getting me this hidden object game for my birthday! I’ve really appreciated her enthusiasm in the group, and how warmly the gift made me feel. Thank you, ninglor, for the present and the monthly theme!

This game certainly let itself go full on goof - to its benefit. There’s not a lot that distinguishes it from other hidden object games of its genre other than its wackiness - one downside of playing a ton of hidden object games nearly back-to-back is that you really get a sense of how much they repeat themselves. There’s only so much to do within the genre. While there has been a lot of evolution in the genre, it’s been on a longer timeline that’s really only started to bear fruit recently. Demon Hunter 2 was left in the past.

I liked the discrete areas - the game is split into essentially four different areas (plus one prologue-type area before your helicopter gets bazooka’d out of the sky) that you finish up completely and move on. I liked that finality, and working in about six or seven screens at a time, in a more roped off way than in other games. The visual quality took a step back - the painted portraits are replaced quite terrifyingly by manipulated photos or near-photos, hitting the uncanny valley pretty hard. There were a few unique hidden object puzzles - two where you replace objects in a rube golberg type machine, and one where you have to uncover keys to unlock a box that has the last items. Beyond that, though, there’s not a lot of innovation.

Still - another fun afternoon, another cleared game, another backlog assassination.

Next up: Exploring a drowned land.

See you soon!