Man, I'm just a sucker for these types of games. This is one that I never actually finished as a kid, so some of this is new to me!
Just generally, this game is great at its purpose. The environments look great, and the objects are cleverly hidden. I've noticed this time around that the I SPY riddles get slightly more difficult as you progress through the game, expecting more comprehension out of the (intended child) player. For example, the game will go from telling you to find a duck, to asking you to find four birds, of which a duck would be one. This helps to solidify some of those good ol' critical thinking skills that children's games are trying to build, and it takes a good amount of thought and cleverness from the author of the riddle to embed that, so hats off to them.
Compared to I SPY: Spooky Mansion, I don't think this one's quite on that same level of design. To be fair, the theme just isn't as interesting, and they don't have as much room to stretch it, given they 'subdivide' the game into three sections. None of the themes get quite as developed as Spooky Mansion's due to the split. The sections do have their own UI design, sound design, and narratives, which is a really nice touch. It very much leans into that 'I'm a child playing with toys in my bedroom' theme that they're going for.
Each of the three themes (underwater, castle, outerspace) have a few different sets of puzzles in the same area to spread out playtime, which is a great feature for a game designed for very young kids... who don't generally get to buy many video games. The ending changes with each time the area is played as well, just a neat touch.
I will say that for me there's a little too much waiting, as in just waiting for the hidden object to do its little animation to play before I can click another one. Not a big deal by any means, and this way kids know what part of the object they clicked on was correct, and also potentially convey some information about how this potentially unknown object works (like a yo-yo, do kids still use those?).
I find it a shame these games don't really get made anymore. They were a staple of my childhood and I spent genuine hours replaying them as a kid. They are full of passion and creativity and effort, but in that weird CD-ROM game kind of way that you only truly understand if you've played one before.
If you're looking at playing one of these games, please do, as I genuinely find them a lot of fun, although I'd recommend I SPY: Spooky Mansion Deluxe as the best starting point.
Just generally, this game is great at its purpose. The environments look great, and the objects are cleverly hidden. I've noticed this time around that the I SPY riddles get slightly more difficult as you progress through the game, expecting more comprehension out of the (intended child) player. For example, the game will go from telling you to find a duck, to asking you to find four birds, of which a duck would be one. This helps to solidify some of those good ol' critical thinking skills that children's games are trying to build, and it takes a good amount of thought and cleverness from the author of the riddle to embed that, so hats off to them.
Compared to I SPY: Spooky Mansion, I don't think this one's quite on that same level of design. To be fair, the theme just isn't as interesting, and they don't have as much room to stretch it, given they 'subdivide' the game into three sections. None of the themes get quite as developed as Spooky Mansion's due to the split. The sections do have their own UI design, sound design, and narratives, which is a really nice touch. It very much leans into that 'I'm a child playing with toys in my bedroom' theme that they're going for.
Each of the three themes (underwater, castle, outerspace) have a few different sets of puzzles in the same area to spread out playtime, which is a great feature for a game designed for very young kids... who don't generally get to buy many video games. The ending changes with each time the area is played as well, just a neat touch.
I will say that for me there's a little too much waiting, as in just waiting for the hidden object to do its little animation to play before I can click another one. Not a big deal by any means, and this way kids know what part of the object they clicked on was correct, and also potentially convey some information about how this potentially unknown object works (like a yo-yo, do kids still use those?).
I find it a shame these games don't really get made anymore. They were a staple of my childhood and I spent genuine hours replaying them as a kid. They are full of passion and creativity and effort, but in that weird CD-ROM game kind of way that you only truly understand if you've played one before.
If you're looking at playing one of these games, please do, as I genuinely find them a lot of fun, although I'd recommend I SPY: Spooky Mansion Deluxe as the best starting point.