THE SMURFS HIDE AND SEEK WITH BRAINY
by Cooper McHatton
Playing The Smurfs: Hide and Seek with Brainy is a lot like working in a hidden object book. For an app in 2012, there’s a surprising lack of special animations (or any visual effects at all for that matter) here. They are not missed. Instead of being dazzled, you focus on specific portions of a number of large Smurf pictures to find characters and various objects hidden within. Me and my little sister (7) play the app together and like it. Even though it’s a challenging hidden object app, it’s relaxing and enjoyable. Every screen in the game opens with a narrator reading what is going on in the picture and that little touch sets the mood perfectly.
What you should know going into The Smurfs: Hide and Seek with Brainy is that it is difficult. No kidding. Some of the objects and characters are very, very hard to find. Of course, the challenge affords you more impressive celebrations when you do find what you are looking for; dancing, cheering, or high-fives are definitely in order!
For example [SPOILER ALERT!], the game asks you to find Brainy Smurf, and it shows you a picture of him (for those who don’t know him, he is the glasses-wearing Smurf). The Brainy in the picture though will be really tiny and is polishing his glasses, so it doesn’t look like he has them at all, just a cloth in his hands. Another example of this kind of clever deception is Hefty Smurf (the Smurf with the heart on his arm), who we found — by randomly tapping all the Smurfs on the screen — dressed as Farmer Smurf at a costume party!
Thank goodness for the available hints! My sister and I frequently had to use them (you have three hints per screen which show you exactly where the object or character is) in order to find them. I personally don’t think the difficulty is a drawback of the game, but it should be noted that this app takes some patience. Jeff’s antsy youngest daughter (the Mouse), for example, would likely NOT enjoy this one! 🙂
While there aren’t many levels in total, they do take some time to work through so don’t expect to breeze through The Smurfs Hide And Seek With Brainy. This game seems to be made with the 6-9 year old app gamer in mind. For any fan of the Smurfs or those who wish to be challenged by a hidden object game, this is a must get app and is worth its $2.99 price tag.
*OWTK received a promo code to test out this app. The opinions above are honest and unbiased, as always.
