I have to disagree with the premise of this review. Yes, this is another find the hidden object game, but IMO, it is actually much deeper and more fun to play than many other recent hidden objects game.

First, the art is beautiful.

Second, for each picture, both the find the hidden objects pictures and the find the differences pictures, there are a wide variety of items only some of which are used in each instance, so that on my fourth go round through some of the pictures, I was still seeing new objects for that picture. In addition, they’re not all the same — the deer may be a deer shadow in one picture, a deer head in another, and a small deer sculpture in a third, so merely knowing the name and having seen an object with that name before doesn’t mean you know what the object looks like.

Third, the need to find one of the 5 items listed as opposed to being given the entire list of 25 or 35 at once adds a nice bit of challenge to a genre that is getting easier and easier as the players get more experienced… even if I remember several items from previous experiences with that picture, I’ll likely click on them first, and eventually, because there are 25 to 35 items listed (out of many more potentially hidden) for each picture, I’ll be seeing a list of 5 items where I don’t know where any of them are.

Fourth, the items have a nice variety of hiding places. Some are right out in plain sight. Some are merged with the picture so they look like they almost are part of it. Some are outlines or made semi-transparent, so they’re harder to find.

Fifth, the fact that only the hidden items on the search list are in the picture means that when you play the game again, there will actually be different hidden items that you didn’t see on previous go rounds (as opposed to many games where, even if you didn’t have to click it on the last time through the picture, you still spotted it when looking for other items, making it easier to find the next time). In addition, it gives a sort of built in hint, where the items left as you get toward the end of the list are the ones that were harder to find, and now you can look for them with less clutter. Finally, it lets you appreciate the beautiful art at the end of each round, when it’s clear of interfering items. Did I mention the beautiful art?

Yes, the story is ‘eh, and there are occasional mistakes For example, both parrot and bird might be hidden in the same picture, so if bird comes up on the list first, you’ll likely click on the parrot before clicking on the correct ‘bird’, but these are fairly rare, and, IMO, are a reasonable price to pay for the wide variety of items.

I am a big fan of the hidden objects genre. I’d say this was more fun than the new Travelogue 360 Paris (where the unavoidable “highlight when the object is in the screen” combined with the zoom makes it way too easy), better than the Big City Adventure, San Francisco (more pictures, and much prettier), and almost as good as Hidden Expedition - Everest.

If you like hidden objects games, this one deserves a try, and likely a buy.