Reviewed: April 4, 2007
Reviewed by: Mark Smith
Publisher
Namco Bandai
Developer
Namco Bandai
Released: March 13, 2007
Genre: Puzzle
Players: 1-4
ESRB: Everyone
8
8
8
7
7.8
Supported Features
I’ll keep this review as short and sweet as possible. What else would you expect with a game titled QuickSpot, especially when the game is entirely visual and nearly impossible to put into words. Feel free to skip to the screenshots at the end of this review where you can actually “play” (to a limited extent) a few levels from the game after you finish reading the overview.
QuickSpot is very much like those puzzles you can find in newspapers; puzzle books, or Happy Meal containers. The basic premise is that you are given two “nearly” identical pictures and you must find and circle any and all differences between the two. Obviously, the dual screens, touch screen input, and stylus make this a perfect fit for the NDS, and when you can cash in on the massive legacy of Namco titles and characters for source artwork, the possibilities are as fun as they are endless.
QuickSpot offers numerous and creative game modes as well as clever gameplay nuances only possible with the NDS. For instance, you might suddenly find the bottom screen totally obscured with some random texture that you will need to rub off (literally) with your finger, or perhaps you’ll need to take a deep breath and blow the virtual dust off the lower screen before you can even start to solve the puzzle.
In Rapid Play you have 10 seconds to find all the variances in two pictures before you can advance to the next. Focus Play allows you all the time you need to find multiple differences in a picture while Brain Activity tests your intuition, concentration, recognition, and other mind-teasing (and testing) skills, with the ultimate goal – to increase your brain power.
The puzzles range from incredibly obvious to extremely devious (as the screens below will show) and the game never tells you what you missed, so you really can’t learn through failure, only repeated attempts and close study of each puzzle screen. Sometimes you can circle the screen in desperation and you might get lucky, but often you’ll be warned to “circle a smaller area”.
There are a surprising number of puzzle screens (more than 100), many using source art from the Namco universe. It might be some time before you see a picture repeat, and even when it does there are usually several variations of that same picture. After several successive puzzles you’ll be presented with a “boss fight”, which is basically a strict timed level that requires some additional input like rubbing the bottom screen clear, or perhaps blowing away a surface texture.
Beyond the standard concept of circling differences, QuickSpot goes even further by having some pictures moving, or scrambled, or they might disassemble an object (like the robot below) and have you circle the piece that doesn’t go into the final design. Namco did a fantastic job of taking a simple concept and turning it into a fun and challenging game.
Behind the scenes, QuickSpot is doing some fairly complex calculations that go well beyond your ability to find and circle variances between two pictures. Not only does the game determine how fast you draw a circle, but also the quality of your loop – does it match the shape of the object, do the ends of the loop meet? All of these factors are then presented in a results grid that shows how your mind has been hopefully improved.
QuickSpot offers several multiplayer modes for single and multi-card wireless gameplay. Time Bomb is one of the most fun and only requires a single DS. Circle the difference then quickly pass the DS to the next player until the timer expires and the bomb explodes. Scramble is a single-card mode that has you racing to solve puzzles with other players, but you have the ability to disrupt the other player’s screen in numerous and creative ways.
For the superstitious gamer, there is a Fortune mode that has you circle the various differences in the given picture and you’ll be told what your Health, Money, and Romance options are for the future.
For a game that is entirely based on visuals, this portion of the review might be just as important as gameplay. Thankfully, Namco has done a great job with the graphics, and while they aren’t shattering the technical boundaries of the NDS, they are extremely artist, fun, and even a bit clever, especially for those fluent in the Namco universe.
You’ll see characters and even entire screenshots lifted from other Namco titles ranging from coin-op games to more recent DS titles like Pac-Pix and Mr. Driller to console games like Taiko Drum Master and Ridge Racer. These are guaranteed to put a smile on your face, even when your brow furrows in careful study of these colorful images.
The music for QuickSpot is light and cheerful, a refreshing change from the typical puzzle game soundtracks. You’re even likely to recognize a few tunes, or at least a few riffs, from some classic Namco titles as well as some remixes of public domain classical themes. Yes, you’ll hear the music repeat a bit too soon and too often, but thankfully it never become annoying. Plus, sound isn’t really key to playing the game so feel free to turn down the sound and pop in those MP3 earbuds.
Younger gamers will spend 8-10 hours with this game while teens and adults will circle their way to completion in 3-5. The additional modes and the inclusion of multiplayer for both single and multi-card situations is a nice treat and will certainly encourage you to keep this game handy, even after you have finished it.
QuickSpot was a fantastic surprise. I hadn’t even heard of the game until the day it showed up for review, and it only took me ten minutes before I was hopelessly hooked. As a big Namco fan, I was delighted with the artwork and “inside” references for those like myself, and the gameplay was as challenging as it was fun.
You probably won’t develop your brain as much with this game as you would with the Brain Age franchise, but then again, you won’t have half the fun as you will with QuickSpot, a great game for young and old alike, whether you are looking to sharpen your visual recognition skills, or just pass the time.
