A smartphone, a set of keys, and a wallet. What do all these things have in common? They are all the things I take with me when I leave the house. If you could figure that out then Stereotypo, a picture/word puzzle game from imbaLab, would be right up your alley. In the sea of puzzle games that are available on the mobile marketplace, what really makes this one stand out?
Pictures, associations, coins, and cats.
Check. Let’s take a look.
Developer: imbaLab
Price: Free/IAP
Download: Google Play/iOS
Graphics & Sounds
The entire game is beautifully illustrated. There are hundreds and hundreds of illustrations all throughout the game that all have a similar, minimalist design. There hasn’t been a time when I was looking at the board of pictures and was left wondering what something was. The whole game has a crisp and clean look to it.
The music throughout the game is fun and groovy. Yes, groovy. The bass line is steady and with each different page you go to, different instruments and sounds are added. There are great sound effects that pop-up every once in a while, from crowds cheering when you solve a puzzle, to the little cats that pop-up when you need a hint. Everything sounds clear and isn’t over-the-top.
Gameplay
The game is broken up into broad categories and in each category are around 20 puzzles to solve. The puzzles start off easy, with only 3 or 4 pictures to choose from. All you need to do is tap the pictures to highlight them. Once everything is highlighted that fits the category, tap the button at the bottom to check your work. If everything is good, you get rewarded with a cool picture based on the puzzle and move on to the next puzzle. The puzzles get harder quick, having well over 20 pictures to choose from for just one puzzle.
If you get stuck there are a bunch of different hints to choose from, such as removing a wrong picture, showing a right picture, or additional text clues. You have to buy these with the coins that you earn from solving puzzles or watching ads. You also have the typical system of buying coins using real money.
Longevity
At the time of this writing, there are 10 categories available, each with at least 20 puzzles to solve. You can blow through the first category pretty quick, but the ones after that will leave you scratching your head, analyzing and overanalyzing every picture, and asking your friends what you could possibly be missing. When you finally figure out that one puzzle that’s been holding you back, it’s a very satisfying feeling. When you do get stuck, you have a great number of hint options to get you through. You don’t earn coins all that fast, however, so if you really get stuck and aren’t able to figure out a puzzle or two, you might find yourself stuck coinless and looking to in-app purchases to solve your problems.
Conclusion
Stereotypo is a really fun game loaded with great graphics, easy gameplay, and lots of challenging puzzles. If you are good at figuring out what images all fall under certain categories, then you’ll be great at this game. The only downside is how slowly you earn coins and how pricey the hints are if you do get stuck, but apart from that, this game will keep you playing for a long, long time.