PixlBit

When looking at Storm City Entertainment's recent catalog of DS titles, it’s apparent that they are primarily puzzle titles. Foto Frenzy is their latest entry into this genre and similar to their previous efforts such as Hands On! Tangrams and Jewel Master Egypt, Foto Frenzy is based on a somewhat traditional puzzle. Unfortunately, Foto Frenzy isn't a very good game, nor is it very fun.

Foto Frenzy is a game where players must compare two pictures in order to locate the differences between them. The original picture is presented on the top screen, and the altered picture is shown on the touch screen. Essentially, players simply tap on the particular section of the picture that contains the difference, of which there are five in each photo, in order to highlight it These differences can either be very subtle and hard to find, or quite obvious.

For each puzzle, players are given a small number of hints. I found the hint system to be horrible, since it simply gives you one correct answer instead of pointing you in the general direction of the next difference.

Finding the difference between each image contains a time limit, and if players make a mistake, they will lose time from their remaining limit. If they wind up running out of time, the player will be ejected to the main menu, where they can then select a game mode.

While the game contains a decent number of images, players will inevitable encounter a previously played picture. Since the differences are pre-built into the pictures, each reiteration of the image will be identical. Thus, as long as a player has a good memory, they will easily be able to find the five differences in each picture whenever they re-appear.

Foto Frenzy also contains another type of challenge in the form of a slider puzzle, where the picture is divided into many tiles and players have to slide them in order to match a picture on the top screen. Similar to the matching puzzles, players are given a decent time limit to complete these puzzles.

Within both modes, as players complete each puzzle, they will unlock them for the custom game mode. In this mode, players can select what type of puzzle they want to play, and in some cases they can also chose a specific theme of pictures.

Photo Frenzy also contains a multiplayer mode, which only requires one DS cartridge. You can look for differences between pictures co-operative or competitively. All the multiplayer modes are as dull as the main single player mode.

My biggest issue with the game is the quality of the pictures. Given the resolution of the DS screens, and the heavily compressed image, all of the included pictures don’t look very good. You would think that if the primary focus of the game is to compare the differences between pictures, the developers would ensure that the pictures and presentation were of the highest quality.

While playing the game, I remembered the times in grade school when a substitute teacher would give out puzzles to do as busy work; this game is the equivalent of busy work. As you might imagine, I never found myself enjoying the game in any of the modes, it always felt like a chore. Unless you really enjoy finding the differences between two low resolution pictures or solving slider puzzles, don't buy this game.