While it's easy to dismiss a game like QuickSpot as simple minded nonsense, to do so would be to miss the wide appeal of this game. In our house the game has been used by everyone in the household - from our six year old to my wife - and that's probably the biggest value of this seemingly simple matching game. This simple concept where you circle the "difference" between two seemingly similar pictures is a big hit with everyone in my house - my wife and my sister are now thinking about the Nintendo DS in a different way.
For hardcore gamers like myself QuickSpot lacks long lasting appeal, but for newbies looking for something to play that don't know a DS from a Game Boy Advance, QuickSpot gives them a fairly calm and challenging first gaming experience. Some could argue that other games already on the market do a better job of this, but for me the proof is in the pudding as I try to reclaim my DS from all the non-gamers around me.
One of the biggest complaints I have about the game is that there's just not enough gameplay – 50+ pictures that you can play through Focus mode (play without a time limit) and Rapid Play (a more fast past rapid plat mode with a time limit). Once you've mastered these modes you can try your hand at multiplayer mode against up to 8 players.
Rapid Play is the main mode, and it's slightly different from the calm pace gameplay of Focus Play. In Rapid Play you go through a series of pictures trying to find all the differences before your time runs. You'll have to find 10 differences between the original picture on the top display and the touch-screen below. You highlight these differences by circling the object. As you progress through these time limited challenges you'll occasionally hit a snag in a boss battle where the gameplay you've gotten accustomed to is thrown out the window and you use the microphone and the microphone to blow debris off your picture or to use the stylus to clean up your picture to finish the challenge within the time limit. The boss battles break the gameplay flow up a bit and give gamers a challenge, but more seasoned gamers will likely have an easy time of it once they've gotten used how these occasional events work
Focus Mode is a more simplistic for of play where You'll have to find 10 differences between the original picture on the top display and the touch-screen below - but without the time limit. This mode is a good starting point for non-gamers to jump into the game, but it doesn't necessarily prepare them for the frenetic pace of Rapid Play. There's also a novelty fortune mode that gives you some odd advice on money, health, romance and work, based on the choices you make in pictures it offers up. These fortunes are pretty nonsensical and don't do much more than give you a quick chuckle.
Finally there's multiplayer play which consists of a variety of game modes that include Time Bomb and Scramble. Time Bomb is a single DS play game where up to eight players (a minimum of two players can play) pass the DS around ala Hot Potato, trying to avoid being the last one holding the system when the bomb explodes. You do this by spotting a single difference in the pictures and passing it on to the next person. As each person passes the system around the bomb goes around the screen and slowly turns red. The last poor sucker to have it in their hand loses. The only drawback to this mode is that it doesn't offer an elimination game mode where you have a clear winner - rather the guy with the bomb is the biggest loser.. Nonetheless Time Bomb is a great game that you can play with friends, family, whoever can grasp the simple concept..
The other multiplayer mode is Scramble, a multi DS mode that lets up to four players compete at solving the same puzzles - the player with that figures it out first is the winner. The twist is with those that are losing because they get a special meter that allows them a level of sabotage as they obscure their opponents’ view or turn their picture into a negative image. Scramble is an interesting mode that is fun for awhile, but not quite as exciting as Time Bomb, which doesn't require more than one DS system to play.
At the end of the day QuickSpot does deserve a bit of credit for appealing to all kinds of players - old, young, middle-aged, teens, etc. While the majority of a novice player’s game time will be spent in Focus or Time Bomb play, QuickSpot does provide a some good play for hardcore gamers as well. The biggest problem with the game is that there just isn't enough in either the single or multiplayer arena for hardcore puzzle players. The other thing that doesn't help QuickSpot is its self distinction as a brain game and the way it judges your performance based on a couple of categories - concentration and judgment. The problem is you never really know what you are being judged on and how to improve your score.
That aside, QuickSpot is a decent game for novice gamers that are looking for something to introduce them to the wonderful world of hand-held gaming. The game's Time Bomb mode and Rapid Play is very appealing as well, though more seasoned puzzle fans will blow through these modes very quickly. If you're looking for something for your kids, wife or mom to play, QuickSpot is a good starting point.
