March 9, 2008

Sprill - Mystery of the Bermuda Triangle, new hidden object game

I love/hate it when a whole swarm of hidden object games are released at the same time. I am supposed to have a life away from my computer, but new games must be played and must be reviewed. I took a brief decompression break after reviewing a game for you earlier today, then jumped right into Sprill - Mystery of the Bermuda Triangle, which I downloaded for a free demo hour from SpinTop Games. My back and shoulders ache and I’ve still got one more new game to play and review after I finish this post. I might have to wait until tomorrow morning to do that one.

Sprill is a fox club who is sucked down to the bottom of the ocean by aliens. If he will find hidden objects for them they’ll let him go. Of course he agrees!

I had problems with this game from the get-go. The artwork is bright, colorful and sharp. The hidden object you’ll need to find appear, at first, to be clearly defined. The first time I needed to use a hint to help me find something, I still couldn’t see it when it was highlightd by a sparkling circle. This wasn’t a fluke and recurred several times throughout my hour of play. There are also hidden objects which appear on screens containing other (unsought) items that fit the same description. “Tennis shoe” appears on the list of items to search for in the above screen shot. See the shoe on the lower bunk, right beside the ladder? That’s not it. The one they want is behind a spiderweb in the upper corner of the room (where the ceiling and two walls meet.) Neither is of the design that is usually worn when playing tennis. They’re either both “tennis shoes” (generic for any sports shoe,) or neither is, as one is a running shoe design and the other is a high-top or basketball design. Either way, it doesn’t work to have both in the scene with only one “tennis shoe” on the list. This same brand of confusion appears on other screens as well.

In this scene “notebook” appears on the list of items to find. The item you will need to click on to remove “notebook” from your list is near the center of the picture, just below the watermelon. It is clearly a clipboard, not a notebook. Bah! This type of mistake is also repeated throughout the game, not a one-time oversight. The game does not honor the spirit of fair play because you cannot win it using common sense and a keen eye.

I was very favorably impressed by the one minigame I got to complete. The player must manipulate the two balls through the two peg-studded boards to the lever and use magnet on the swing-arm to grab a ball and release it over the center U-shaped tube to dislodge the seashell in the bottom of the U. Shades of Rube Goldgerg! I like it! I had just started a second, similar minigame when my hour ran out. Sad to say, the minigames appear to be the only fair challenge in this hidden object game.

I’m giving Sprill - Mystery of the Bermuda Triangle a thumbs down and won’t be buying the full version. It’s $19.99 from SpinTop Games. I’d consider spending some money for a full version collection of the minigames, but even those aren’t worth wading through a hidden object game that is poorly designed and full of errors.

You can see all of my hidden object game reviews in the games category for skeet’s stuff. I still have one more new game to review this weekend, so stay close!

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