A Trip Down Memory Lane

Little Shop: Memories takes us on a lovely trip down memory lane. They aren't our memories, of course, but it's an excellent setup for a story nonetheless.

This latest entry in the fabulous hidden objects series has a pretty interesting premise and one that I haven't seen done before. While cleaning out your dusty attic, you come across several keepsakes from your past. Each one tells a story and takes you back to a certain time in your life - which acts as each stage.

For example, when you stumble across one of your old report cards, it takes you back to your cluttered high school locker, where you're given a list of objects to find. It's a neat way to cover several different locations.

So Many Objects!

Aside from the mandatory items to find, there are several other goodies tucked away in each and every level. Finding the hidden question marks will give you extra hints to use. Finding a thermometer will definitely help - it gets warmer the closer you are to an item!

The most helpful item that you can find is a camera - of which there are two in each level. Clicking on one will make the screen flash and all of the items that you're currently looking for will show up momentarily. You better be quick with your eyes if you're going to catch everything!

Aside from all the helpful stuff, you can also find instant photos and prank cans - the kind that shoot snakes out - to unlock special trophies.

Earning Stars

Out of all the hidden objects games that I've played - and believe me, that's more than I could count - the Little Shop series are by far the most satisfying and rewarding. There are all of the special items to collect and trophies to unlock, but you also earn stars. For the first nine items you find, you just get plain green stars. Then you start earning bronze stars, then silver, and if you find that final 15th item, you get a gold star. It's pretty fun watching them all pile up at the top of the screen. In fact, you're only required to find ten items in each round, but it's fun to find them all and collect all the stars.

Blitz Mode

Blitz mode is, in my opinion, the best thing to ever happen to hidden objects games. Earning stars in the normal game mode will unlock scenes for Blitz mode. In this mode, you need to find every object hidden in the scene - and I do mean every object - in the shortest time possible, then you can upload your score to the online leaderboards to see how you compare with other players all over the world.

It's just pure, non-stop hidden objects fun as you frantically search for dozens of objects. All of the hints are there, so they'll definitely help you along the way. I had tons of fun playing this and I can't imagine anyone not getting a kick out of it.

The Real Deal

Little Shop: Memories definitely makes my list of the best hidden object games out there and I'm confident that you'll love it, too.