A Hidden Object Pizza that’s Bursting with Toppings, but not Fully Cooked
‘First-world Problems Collector’s Edition’ would probably have been the more appropriate title. Kate Robinson and her daughter Nicole are in Rome to work with a local tourist agency. They’re test-driving a new itinerary that takes in all of Rome’s tourist spots and best restaurants. But the itinerary pushes them too hard: they can’t be expected to fit in all of the stops in the timeframe that the agency has planned. So they mutiny, proposing a new timetable that doesn’t push their feet and digestive tracts as much as the old one.
It’s a plot that Sex and the City would have been proud of. Because Kate and Nicole don’t seem to be overworked. They’re fitting in a romance with a local, a business venture with an ice cream salesman, and other diversions. I spent most of my time in First Time in Rome Collector’s Edition arguing against Kate and Nicole. After all, the local agency is paying them for all the pizza they’re eating. Eat, Pray, Love should have a little ‘work’ in there.
We’d be Happy to Test-Drive Rome if you Won’t, Kate
If you can stomach the very privileged storytelling, there’s a reasonably accomplished hidden object game behind it. First Time in Rome Collector’s Edition is 14 chapters, plus another 4 bonus chapters, of hidden object scenes, minigames and narrative contorni. It’s a lot of puzzling for a reasonable £5.29.
The hidden object scenes come in a myriad of flavours. There are the ones you might expect, with words listed across the bottom and their visual counterparts appearing in the scene above. But it doesn’t stop there. Sometimes the words have their vowels removed, or the words are jumbled into anagrams. Sometimes the words are pictures, or the silhouettes of pictures. First Time in Rome Collector’s Edition barely sits still, changing the rules when you’re not looking.
As with most of Ocean Media’s hidden object games, there are also glittering spots in the scene where you can zoom in, Blade Runner-style. Here, you might find the stuff that you couldn’t find in the larger scene – ah, that’s where the easel was! – before returning to the larger panorama. There are even question marks to find that expand into ‘Fun Facts’. Spoiler alert: they’re not all that fun.
How Would Madam Like her Hidden Objects?
The breadth of hidden objecting is rather admirable. I don’t think I’ve come across a hidden object game that breaks the rules of the genre as much as First Time in Rome Collector’s Edition. It’s determined to alleviate the monotony.
When something takes as many risks as First Time in Rome Collector’s Edition, there are bound to be some misses among the hits. I deeply dislike one type of hidden object scene where you need to find pairs. A picture of an apple in a poster can be paired with an apple in a fruit bowl, making them both disappear. The problem is the sheer number of items in a scene. They are so busy with stuff that we counted up to a hundred items in one. That’s too many to mentally log and go “wait, I think there were two hats”. The coziness of hidden item spotting is replaced with a huge memory game.
Undermining efforts is a lack of clarity and precision. As we’ve mentioned, there are a bonkers number of items in each scene, more than the average hidden object game. Many are cunningly placed – a comb pretends to be a drain, perhaps – while others are straight-up invisible. We’ve used the Hint and often stared blankly at where the twinkling star has taken us. Are you sure there is a golf club there?
It’s not just the pictures that had us confused. First Time in Rome Collector’s Edition likes to use riddles as clues, offering hints like “produces heat and light”. You would think that there would be a single, obvious answer. But no: there is a Sun, a Candle and a Lamp in the scene. Which is correct? None of them: it was a fire, painted on a pillar. These inelegances happen fairly frequently, with some typos in the items, some bemusing items, and riddles that can be taken a multitude of ways.
Diversions Among the Detritus
Still, I quite enjoyed the hidden objecting, and it forms a very welcome two-thirds proportion of First Time in Rome Collector’s Edition. The other third is puzzles and minigames. You might take a break from the item-perusing to do a Spot-the-Difference, complete a jigsaw puzzle or move some disks about a board. It’s all very simple, eminently skippable, and not all that difficult. It’s entirely possible to ignore them completely and stick to the objects, should you choose.
There’s a serious wealth of content in First Time in Rome Collector’s Edition. We’ve mentioned the story and its bonus episodes, which will keep you playing for a healthy ten hours. But there’s also an Unlimited Mode, where you can return to old scenes and choose the way you play. Hate the ‘Pairs’ version of each level? Good for you: now you can play the riddle, vowel-removal, anagram and other hidden object variants. On the way, you can snag the last remaining question-marks, too.
So, where does First Time in Rome Collector’s Edition sit in the great canon of hidden object games? It’s certainly cheaper, bigger and more varied than most. Per £ spent, I don’t think you could find an example that is more generous.
Promising, but Faulty
The counterpoints are that it’s unfriendly and cringe-inducing. There are more items than there need to be, and the clues are a little off. We never felt like we were in safe hands with the prompts across the bottom of the screen. The story made us wince at the whinging main characters on more than once occasion, too.
First Time in Rome Collector’s Edition averages out as promising but faulty. It’s got too many rough edges to recommend to newbies, but there’s plenty to satisfy a fan of the genre. Treat it as ‘Further Reading’, rather than an essential to pack for holiday.
Important Links
Buy from the Xbox Store – https://www.xbox.com/en-GB/games/store/first-time-in-rome-collectors-edition/9P40FHN8WZ37/0010
