While it may not be the most prestigious job in the world, a tabloid photographer sure can make a lot of money by snapping photos of celebrities.
Um, how much is a photo of Tom and Katie’s baby going for again?
You will soon be able to get a taste of this exciting life in Paparazzi, a downloadable Windows and Mac game that lets you travel the country to uncover juicy stories and sell them to tabloid newspapers for big bucks.
While it may not be the most prestigious job in the world, a tabloid photographer sure can make a lot of money by snapping photos of celebrities.
Um, how much is a photo of Tom and Katie’s baby going for again?
You will soon be able to get a taste of this exciting life in Paparazzi, a downloadable Windows and Mac game that lets you travel the country to uncover juicy stories and sell them to tabloid newspapers for big bucks.
And if you thought photographing ditzy Hollywood divas was tough, wait ’til you try to gather evidence of Bigfoot, aliens and Elvis!
Though you don’t have to know anything about the games that likely inspired Paparazzi, this puzzler can best be described as a cross between the Mystery Case Files games, where you must scour an area for well-hidden items, and Mirror Magic, which challenges you to find the differences between two similar images.
In Paparazzi, you follow the tip-offs provided by your wacky but resourceful informants, such as the bespectacled Lulu, who sends you to a few of the 15 unique locations, each packed with delicious photo ops.
The first part of each assignment is to take photos of clues provided by your informant. For example, your first mission is find evidence of a secret celebrity marriage. While outside of the alleged bride’s mansion, you must use the mouse to snap photos of a wedding cake, gifts, bride and groom cake ornament, bow tie, and so on – all before your deadline runs out. After the photo is taken, players are treated to a Polaroid-like close-up image of the item and its description. Given how cluttered the area is because of the dozens of items littered about, finding these items may prove quite difficult. If you take a photo of something not on the list, the Polaroid is blurry and the caption reads: “Oops! Missed.”
After most or all of the listed items are found, you graduate to the second part of the game, which is comparing two similar photos from the environment. Here, you must click on any differences between the two, which will include items that may differ in color, shape or size. Or perhaps they’ve moved elsewhere or erased from the scene altogether. Tying into the story, your informant explains the celebrity found you out and so she returned to the area to cover her tracks and throw you off!
The third component to Paparazzi is a kind of bonus mini-game that involves quick reflexes instead of a keen eye: you find out you can pocket more cash by taking photos of the celeb while shopping at the mall. She makes brief appearances in the scene and pops back out again, so you must take her photo as many times as you can before she disappears for good. Get at least one good photo of her in action and it’s payday.
As you tackle more (and stranger) assignments spread across many indoor and outdoor locations, you work your way up in the biz to become an ace photographer.
Given our celebrity-obsessed culture, Paparazzi is sure to be a success with all kinds of players. Plus, the game cleverly folds in proven game formulas into this paparazzi premise — and the combination works.
Go on, live the shady but gratifying life of a tabloid photographer in this soon-to-be released game from Gogii Games. If you think you got what it takes, of course.
