From Cleverside Games, makers of other cute little time killers such as Hidmont and Find the Difference, comes Bright Object: Hidden Object. This is another entry into the simple puzzle game genre and a worthy one at that. Games like these are meant to do two things while you play them: keep you so engrossed that you lose track of time, and help keep your mind sharply running. The game accomplishes both of these goals nicely. There are enough features to keep you busy and entertained for hours, and the drawbacks are not severe enough to keep you from uninstalling.
If you’re new to the visual puzzle genre, the premise is simple; you are given an image from which to pick out multiple hidden objects. Cleverside specializes in these sorts of games, and Bright Object is an excellent entry into their library. The images are crisp, clean, and easy to read. They’ve added a pinch-and-zoom option that can make all the difference in the world. Other games do not offer this simple feature, which is why Bright Objects stands up. Those with the slightest visual impairments can use pinch-and-zoom to close in on any part of the image, find the object, and return to the original orientation.
Another standout of Bright Objects is how the hidden objects are a challenge while being well-placed and contrasting against the main image. Another flaw you find in games like this is that the things you’re supposed to locate often blend so much into the background that they become almost impossible to find. Bright Objects avoids this by making the hidden items sometimes clash against the background. They can be easy to spot even without pinching and zooming. This is the sort of thing that makes the title both fun and a standout.
Bright Objects is a freemium title, meaning that you can enjoy a great deal of content without paying for upgrades. This is another aspect that Bright Objects gets exceptionally right. There is one of the few timekiller games out there that offers a plethora of free content while not overwhelming you with ads. Ads also do not appear frequently and most of them can be skipped, allowing you to stay in the game. The title is also designed to get you going quickly. After the initial install, it features one of the quickest load times I’ve ever seen.
The game’s biggest downside is its hefty price tag for additional features. Bright Objects is fun and deep, but I honestly can’t recommend paying ten dollars to upgrade. Doing so will remove most ads, but not all of them. In an age where the average price tag for a game like this is anywhere from one to five American dollars, asking ten dollars and not removing one hundred percent of mandatory ads is a lot.
Overall, Bright Objects: Hidden Objects is an excellent addition to Cleverside’s visual puzzle library. Offering a ton of free content while not making you sit through a ton of ads, this is your new Saturday afternoon retreat.