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From Clutter to Antique
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Inviting you back to its Animalville gaming environment for the next episode of item finding and puzzle solving, Jet Dogs Studio has released its next Shopping Clutter offering. Now up to version 18 of this particular series, this offering is entitled Antique Store. It deals with the work being undertaken by Uncle Rat as he sets about opening Animalville's first antique store with the assistance of other members of the Walker family.
As usual with this series of Shopping Clutter titles, profiles can be created to allow different people to tackle the game and test their recognition skills. Adjustments can be made to the volume levels used for background music and sound effects plus opting for full screen viewing and the use of a custom cursor. There is also a choice of Easy or Difficult playing modes with the latter making use of a timer feature to add an additional complication.
Following the pattern established by earlier Shopping Clutter titles, Antique Store breaks its content searching into 20 chapters. Each chapter is made up of seven sections featuring Clutter action that need to be carried out within set rules. The chapter will also contain an 8th section that contains a mini game puzzle followed by a cut-scene covering the reward gained and its placement as an antique item.
The game's main Clutter action involves finding various types of items that conform to certain set rules. Included among the required types of items are headwear, musical instruments, inedible products, statues, animal figurines, food or items cut in half. The selected items might need to be matching pairs, be of the same or different sizes or colour, be movable and, in some cases, be available in groups of three.
The displayed Clutter might be arranged scattered around, arranged in such a way that they move around the screen following a set repeated pattern or are piled high in the centre of the screen displayed as just silhouettes. Mixed in with the general Clutter will be numerous stars which can be collected so as not to cause an obstruction and be used as a means to power a Hint feature to help identify difficult matchings. Points are awarded once the necessary target has been reached for each the current Clutter level.
As mentioned each chapter contains a mini game puzzle which will need to be tackled. The puzzle could involve a scene that is broken up into various segments which need to be arranged. The segments might need to be swapped around or slid into an empty space as they are moved around to the correct position. Another types of puzzle might involve matching pairs of face down cards. A completed puzzle is rewarded with an antique item. The puzzle, once completed, will be followed by a brief story-book like scene as the reward is positioned in an appropriate location by a member of the Walker family.
While this title offers plenty of Clutter clearance practice, I felt it needed greater variety in its mini game puzzle action. This is a game that is better suited to short playing sessions when you have a few spare moments. I downloaded my copy of the game from Gamehouse.com where it is priced at $9.99. You can also download the game from Big Fish Games where is it priced at £7.81. The game requires a 1.0 GHz processor with 512MB of RAM and 272MB of hard disk space running Windows 7 and later.
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