It’s been a week since we became obsessed with small games that are published by GameHouse. Perhaps, this game is the last for now.
So what is Little Shop of Treasures 2? It’s a very simple game that anyone can play. The rules are very simple. All you have to do is find certain items in a shop full of things. If you find an item that a customer is looking for, then just click on it. And the request will be fulfilled. It’s that simple.
When you launch Little Shop of Treasures 2 for the first time, you need to set up an account. After a welcome screen (See Screenshot 01.) and a few more slides, you will find yourself inside a shop. (See Screenshot 02.) At the bottom of the screen, there are 5 kids placing a request. For example, a girl at the left end says “Arrowhead.” So you just need to locate it inside this shop. There are 5 kids, and you can serve any of them in any order. When one request is fulfilled, a new kid will appear. During one episode, you have to fulfill at least 10 requests. You will earn a bronze start for fulfilling 10 to 12 requests, a silver star for 13 to 14 requests and a gold star for 15 requests.
So what happens when you fail to serve 10 customers? If you fail to do so, then you just have to keep playing the same episode until you get a bronze star or better. If you start over, you won’t always have the same group of items.
Well, it doesn’t sound so difficult, does it? It really is difficult. First, you have only 5 minutes to serve as many as 15 customers. If somebody says “Arrowhead,” you don’t even know what it looks like. If you see Screenshot 03, one of the kids wants a scale. Well, the word “scale” has at least 2 different meanings. It could be a piece of skin from a fish. Or it could be a weight scale. This episode occurs in Beach Shop. So it’s hard to tell which meaning the girl at the left end is talking about. Furthermore, an item in question is not necessarily visible in a perfect condition. It’s usually the case that an item is partially visible. Or an item in question can be part of a big picture.
By the way, at the top of the screen, there is a clickable button labeled HINT. In Screenshot 04, the number next to this button is set to 3. If you have run out of ideas, then click on hint. Then the words will transform themselves into pictures. (See Screenshot 05.) There is another way of finding an item. For example, slightly up from the center of Screenshot 06, there is a red rectangular item. Occasionally, an item in question shins itself. So you need to keep watching the screen.
If you click on the menu button at the top left and then click on the Calendar button (See Screenshot 07.), you can see a weekly schedule. For example, for Week 1, you are supposed to attend Import Shop. (See Screenshot 08.) You are also supposed to work on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. You are off on Wednesday. Sometimes, instead of serving customers, you will get to design your own shop. After finishing it up, you are actually to open your own shop and serve customers.
Every week, you are scheduled to work 5 or 6 days. There are 11 weeks in total. And there are totally 60 episodes. When you finish all 60 episodes, you will see a congratulations screen. Little Shop of Treasures 2 comes with 12 different shops including Outdoor Market, Hardware Store, Pet Shop, Western Outfitters, Import Shop, Pawn Shop, Electronics Shop, Home Boutique, Beach Shop, Estate Sale, Craft Fair and Gas (My Shop).
For me, each episode is quite challenging. I always ended up looking up my English dictionary. In one episode, a kid said “Hookah.” Another one said “Loafer.” (See Screenshot 11.) Umm… I didn’t know what they are. In a different episode, a kid says “Sitar.” How about “Artichoke”? (See Screenshot 12.) Do you know what it is?
Little Shop of Treasures 2 can be a nice game for kids who want to prepare for SAT or perhaps even for GRE. I took GRE (Graduate Record Examinations) about 12 years ago. I think my total and combined (English + Math) scores are around 1,800 and 1250. Well, I never have and never had a lot of English vocabulary as English wasn’t my first language those days. Anyway, I always ran out of time in the English sections of GRE. And I suppose making a quick association of a word with a picture will be a good strategy in making good scores.
The downloadable version of Little Shop of Treasures 2 is $19.95. I don’t know if the price is right. Perhaps, many adults may not find this game very challenging. Every episode is very challenging at least for me, though. I sometimes played the same episode twice or three times to get a better star. I wanted to make Week 7 the perfect one with all gold stars. (See Screenshot 21.) In the end, it took me only about 8 hours to complete all 60 episodes. Perhaps, this game is intended for teenagers?
Finally, if you enjoy this game, perhaps, you may want to check out Interpol: The Trail of Dr. Chaos from Big Fish Games. I only played the demo version, but it seems that Interpol: The Trail of Dr. Chaos is a similar game to the extent that you need to locate items.
Developer: Unknown
Distributer/publisher: GameHouse, Inc.
Website: gamehouse.com
Genre: Quiz
Price: US$19.95
System requirements 1: PowerPC/Intel, Mac OS 10.2 or better
System requirements 2: 800 MHz with Windows XP (SP2), 128 MB RAM, Direct X 9.0 or higher
Multiplayer: Not available
Screenshot 01 |
Screenshot 02 |
Screenshot 03 |
Screenshot 04 |
Screenshot 05 |
Screenshot 06 |
Screenshot 07 |
Screenshot 08 |
Screenshot 09 |
Screenshot 10 |
Screenshot 11 |
Screenshot 12 |
Screenshot 13 |
Screenshot 14 |
Screenshot 15 |
Screenshot 16 |
Screenshot 17 |
Screenshot 18 |
Screenshot 19 |
Screenshot 20 |
Screenshot 21 |