My latest foray into the casual gaming sphere lead me to a little gem from OUAT called Pure Hidden or as the website says, "ph - For those in the know."
I was attracted to the game because if it's intriguing premise and trippy artwork. You are given a puzzle plant that blooms little cosmetic boxes. Only they don't hold cosmetics, they hold puzzles. I decided to give it a try both for this unique take on the genre and also because I just enjoy hidden object games. Maybe I'm subconsciously trying to keep my old brain in check by training it with these games, who knows.
I downloaded the trial, as I always do and decided I would half play it as I watched the season premiere of Dexter. That wasn't the best idea. Each demands your full, undivided attention. Hidden spoon here, dead body there - you know how it is - miss a second and you're completely lost.
There are two modes of gameplay - score and zen. With the score mode, you find items as quickly as possible to build up multipliers and lose points for wrong clicks and hints. Zen allows you to go at your own pace. There is no high score looming over your head.
The great thing about Pure Hidden is that it's not just a hidden object game. Between the rounds of finding forks, stars and other listed items; you are given other tasks. It could be to find 28 fish in an underwater scene or to get a ball from the center of a maze to an exit by rotating the maze. Each one has its quirks and some are extremely clever. The three dimensional puzzles that I came across were pretty spectacular. In fact, the entire game was amazing considering its $6.99 (I have a subscription to Gamehouse.com) price tag.
There are some slightly weirder parts of the game where you can do things like select items for your bathroom. I was forced to put wind chimes in mine. It was a little weird. I suppose it's to rest your brain after the stress of looking for things so intensely? Who knows...
Unlike many hidden object games that rely on cluttered rooms to get you to look harder, the scenes are more artistic. They rely heavily on the objects actually making up parts of the objects in the scene rather than just being hidden in corners or clouds - although, there is a cloud level.
There are 66 boxes to unlock, over 1000 hidden objects to find, 12 logic puzzles and 24 "surprises" or weird things that make you go hmmmm.
Definitely give this one a try with the demo. It's available on PC and Mac and normally costs $19.95.
