When it first released two years ago, we lauded Ivanovich Games’ Time Geeks: Find All! as a refreshing digital take on the the Where’s Waldo formula. Colorful, packed with pop culture references, and filled with surprising variety, the game had us not only searching our screens, but searching for more like it. Two years later, Ivanovich has returned to pull us once more into the world of Time Geeks. This time, however, you’ll need to bring a friend!
When it first released two years ago, we lauded Ivanovich Games’ Time Geeks: Find All! as a refreshing digital take on the the Where’s Waldo formula. Colorful, packed with pop culture references, and filled with surprising variety, the game had us not only searching our screens, but searching for more like it. Two years later, Ivanovich has returned to pull us once more into the world of Time Geeks. This time, however, you’ll need to bring a friend!
Releasing August 30th, Time Geeks & Friendsis a revamped sequel to the original built around increasingly popular turn-based social gameplay. The plot – such as it is – remains the same: travel through the universe “putting right the wrongs caused by the evil Zoorg creatures” by finding people and items they’ve displaced. Herein lies the rub, however: it’s not just the Zoorgs you’re facing off against.
Where in the original title you were battling against the clock to find a slew of items, Time Geeks & Friends has you squaring off against real life opponents both random and hand selected from among your friends. Together, it’s both your jobs to restore order by finding a scene’s hidden objects fastest. I’ll remind you that I said “plot such as it is.” Details are scant on the exact mechanics, but it seems that you’ll both be sent to a specific map or scenario where you’ll take turns completing an offbeat hunt and find. Whoever’s time is the highest will be declared the victor, and their life will be spared by the bloodthirsty Zoorg. The unlucky loser, on the other hand? Okay, okay, there will probably be a point system involved, as Ivanovich promises a slew of power-ups and items to help mix things up and lend the upper hand.
While Find All! sported a colorful, somewhat pixelated style, Time Geeks & Friends has gone full-tilt retro, upping the ante on the game’s 8 and 16-bit homage. Caught somewhere between Kairosoft and pixel art poster work, the game promises over 300 locations loaded with creativity and – in many cases – nostalgic in-jokes. All of it will be on display in promised retina graphics for both the iPhone and the iPad.
As a hunt and find fanatic, and fan of the original game, I’m definitely optimistic for Ivanovich’s next outing. Certainly, the implied lack of single player in favor of a strictly “match-based” style of play has me a little confused, as much of the game’s original appeal lay in its commitment to the roots of hunt and find: a competition against the game. With that said, I admire Ivanovich for branching out, and will probably be singing a different tune after smoking a few random opponents in a particularly heated search.
If you, like me, are a geek, and a hunt and find geek at that, keep your eyes peeled to Gamezebo as August 30th approaches! We’ll have a full review of Time Geeks & Friends, as well as clarification on the game’s play style. Until then, better get out your Waldo books and practice.
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