Aahh! Spot the Difference (DSi)
In my continuing quest to see how much I like spot the difference games, I moved onto something far less notable than Namco’s QuickSpot. QuickSpot was a cartridge release released by a well-respected video game publisher, but Aahh! Spot the Difference is a two dollar DsiWare game with an unexciting name that is clearly trying to gain easy attention by appearing near the top of alphabetical game lists. A game like this should, conceivably, go for the basics with its approach to its subject matter, but despite touting its spot the difference gameplay, it doesn’t just settle for two static images that you need to compare.
In Aahh! Spot the Difference’s main Classic mode, the goal of each level is to at least spot a set amount of differences between the DS’s top and bottom screens, the player tapping any object that doesn’t look the same on the touch screen. However, rather than having each level provide a unique picture, the game sorts its stages into four worlds. Outer space, underwater, sewers, and an ancient temple all play host to your spot the difference challenges, but the backdrops will be the same in every level of that world. Rather than needing to worry about the backgrounds though, the idea of Aahh! Spot the Difference is the game will place static objects in these environments, the screen scrolling to the right and the player needing to identify the changed objects and tap them before they go off screen so you can hit the required amount to continue on to the next level.
The screen scrolling is actually a surprisingly effective means of adding a decent amount of pressure to the affair, the player definitely needing a keen eye to keep up in the game’s later levels where the screens are crowded with objects that move by quickly. Very few objects are technically moving though, but some like a bird flying through the air or a sewer gator swimming by do speed by more quickly than the mostly static objects. Levels are all very short though, so while that does mean you have to be quick to spot the right items you need to click on, it means they’re easy to replay so a loss never bothers you too much. This is actually a fairly nice touch considering the target audience, objects like a goofy dog in space, the colorful images, and the cartoonish, almost circus-like music all clearly aiming to appeal to young kids.
Sadly, there are some elements that work against Aahh! Spot the Difference being a cheap pick-up for your child. The first comes in the gradual realization that every item that can have a difference will only have one or two possible differences. What this basically means is that if you see a fish on one screen, you will quickly become aware that its only possible alteration is something like swapping its stripes or colors. In fact, the game is definitely not friendly to color-blind players because so many of its items will just be a basic color swap. The sewer level can at least be a little devious with the posters, trash, and barrels in the background sometimes having differences that aren’t as easy to spot as things like giving a shark an eye patch on one screen. Regardless, once you know what the alternate versions of a world’s item set are, you can even safely bet that if you’re seeing something on the bottom screen that is the altered version of a familiar object, you can tap it without checking the top to see if it is even different.
Things don’t really get better from here either. The temple level that serves as the hardest part of a still easy game starts to experience visual glitches where certain objects will shift into random jumbles of other item parts, which in a spot the difference game can make you uncertain whether that item really is different or just bugging out. You are only given so many errors you can make per stage before you have to retry it to prevent random tapping, but these reduce in number in the later levels so sometimes you might have to bet on a glitchy image only to be forced to retry the level through no fault of your own. Even when programming problems aren’t involved though, tapping an object has its own issues. Objects have very clearly defined regions you’re meant to tap, so when something like the thin straw moves through the sewer water at speed, tapping even a little next to it will count against you. The screen’s constant drift to the right means you need to make sure you’re tapping the center of an object, but even that can have an issue. As mentioned before, most items have a default state and then one or two altered versions. For some items, this can be increasing or decreasing the number of clustered objects like a firefly swarm or it can involve completely changing or inverting the shape like an anchor with only one prong being reflected on the other screen. Regardless of which version is on the bottom screen for these objects, the region you are meant to tap is always equal to the base design’s shape, meaning if that default version doesn’t have extra bugs or an extra part, tapping what is clearly a difference will be counted as an error since you were meant to, paradoxically, click the part that is the same for it to register.
The tight requirements for where to tap an item do a lot to weaken an already mediocre experience, but even after you quickly clear the Classic mode’s levels, the remaining modes don’t do much to add to Aahh! Spot the Difference. Starting with the worst alternate mode, Speed Attack actually removes the scrolling screen and instead quickly flashes up a set of objects on both screens, the player needing to identify a steadily climbing amount as they complete round after round. However, the round timers are surprisingly tight, and it’s fairly easy to lose early since the game doesn’t hold back on how quickly those stages end. The round timer is too quick to really give you time to think about the differences, the player likely having to fall back on their knowledge of which objects are usually swap ins rather than truly spotting the difference. Time Attack takes the static screen concept and instead has its rounds all timed under a constantly ticking timer of 120 seconds, so while the break between rounds can sometimes be a little annoying in its length, making progress is a more reasonable affair in this calmer mode.
Survival is a step up from those two modes, although while Speed Attack’s start is far too rough, Survival is far too lenient. In Survival mode, the screen will scroll infinitely to the right until you mess up too many times to keep going, but every ten correct items tapped will allow you to make another mistake without ending the game. Survival’s start is very slow as the game seems to almost forget it’s meant to be making its items look different, but eventually it begins to pick up and soon, Aahh! Spot the Difference is throwing tons of objects at you at once and it is appropriately challenging to try and sift through them all to tap the changed ones. Here, any changed items that move off screen actually count as a penalty against you too, so you can’t just let them slip by unidentified if you want to keep Survival mode going. Sadly, it carries over all the issues we’ve seen in tapping objects in Classic mode though, so even when its simple and potentially a decent challenge, you’ll rub up against the same annoyances that undermine the spot the difference play.
THE VERDICT: All Aahh! Spot the Difference had to do to be a decent budget game was fill itself with straightforward spot the difference puzzles, but it seems the developers weren’t willing to put in that amount of effort. Instead, the same four backgrounds play host to a screen scrolling to the right and revealing an immediately familiar batch of items that can only be altered in ways that quickly become predictable. However, while the movement of the screen can make identifying these in time actually a little challenging, that challenge is hurt by problems with graphical bugs and the way the game determines whether or not you actually tapped a changed object. Throw in some underwhelming and flawed side modes save the mostly decent Survival mode and Aahh! Spot the Difference ends up not providing the basics of its niche style of play while also failing to add some twist that could distract from its lazy design.
And so, I give Aahh! Spot the Difference for Nintendo DSi…
A BAD rating. While tidying up the regions you’re meant to tap to identify a difference and clearing up the graphical bugs would help Aahh! Spot the Difference better pass for something generic but alright at what it does, the biggest issue with the game design really isn’t the programming quirks or flawed side modes. Since every item is plopped on screen from a small pool of objects that can only be altered in a few prescribed ways, Aahh! Spot the Difference commits what feels like a sin within its genre: it feels samey. Each new world has its own batch of items, sure, but you’ll be seeing the same few not only in the ten levels it has in Classic mode, but in their themed versions of the other modes, and while changing the color of a seahorse or star isn’t a bad difference in concept, that being the only possible difference between it and the item’s counterpart on the other screen just makes spotting the difference less thrilling. You not only always have a good idea what you’re looking for, but you know the exact regions of the screen to be looking as it scrolls by since those are the only things that can be altered. The sewer level having what seem like background items get involved is a step in the right direction, but even then you learn that the posters on the wall should always be looked at, and you soon know what it will look like when even that item has been swapped out for its different version.
Rather than being a generic middle ground, Aahh! Spot the Difference ends up messing up the seemingly easy idea of being a cheap spot the difference title. The scrolling screen is a good way to add a little pressure and energy to the activity and leads to its few moments of interesting and legitimate challenge, but its clear the game was not made with much care since it features outright glitches and obvious oversights like where you need to tap to identify items. My search for a simple spot the difference game to test my enjoyment of the genre will continue thanks to this game somehow dropping a ball that seemed like it would be very easy to hang onto if even a bit more attention was put into holding this rather basic experience together properly.