Casual Review

Full Review

The fox cub Sprill is probably the least likely hero I’d expect for Alawar’s underwater-themed casual games, yet Sprill – The Mystery of The Bermuda Triangle is not his first appearance! Sprill first appeared in a very different kind of game, the marble shooter Sprill Aqua Adventures. This time around, there are no marbles to pop – instead, inquisitive aliens have enlisted him to find a magical pearl within the waters of the Bermuda Triangle, by finding hidden objects. Yeah, it’s going to be another one of those games, revolving around the old “shipwreck full of junk” theme.

Sprill’s latest adventure doesn’t deviate far from the typical hidden object game – there are many shipwrecks packed with junk both ordinary and esoteric, and you have to comb the screens for the right hidden objects from a list provided to you. The little animated Sprill will shake his head if you click on the wrong object, and nod enthusiastically as you collect the correct objects. Little fish also swim across the screen to mark your discoveries and little victories, although the game is otherwise somewhat lacking in special effects and flashy moments. Like other hidden object games with their mettle, this one has puzzle games between the different stages, where you have to play with Rube Goldberg contraptions, dropping balls down chutes, tilting levers and so on. These puzzles are fun, and not too hard either.

In fact, “fun and not too hard” describes this game pretty well. I rarely got stuck with any of the puzzles or hidden objects, although I admit I’m a pretty decent gamer. The hint system gives a limited amount of help, and you can earn more hints by finding question marks in some screens, but either there aren’t that many, or they’re really cunningly hidden, because I only found three in the first hour of the game. A little more help would have been nice for gamers who aren’t as sharp-eyed as I am.

The art is good, managing to not look exactly like a lot of the other hidden object games out there, and the sound is mostly ambient underwater noises, which works fine. There’s also a Replay button that allows you to go through a stage again with different objects to search for, and that certainly adds replay value to the game. In short, Sprill – The Mystery of The Bermuda Triangle may not push any game design boundaries, but it is an entertaining hidden object game that does a good job of providing great-looking tried-and-true gameplay.

Review by Poh Tun Kai