Game Reviews

1000: Find 'Em All!

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1000: Find 'Em All!

Just as 300 steadfast warriors of Sparta stood against the might of the Persian army, so does a ragtag band of missing socks, misplaced pens, lost pets and other hidden items stand between you and success in 1000: Find 'Em All!

Glu's latest GPS gaming experiment is far from the violence of the ancient world, but the battle between limited numbers and time is gruelling all the same.

It's inevitable that you'll uncover every last one of the game's 1000 objects, yet the main hurdle isn't locating every last trinket. Sticking with the game as it turns from quirky treasure hunt to item collection grind is the real challenge.

Age of exploration

Your sole objective is to track down each of the game's 1000 items using a combination of three methods: exploration, location-based gifters, and GPS navigation.

Exploring the 2D world of 1000 - akin to the colourful Hyrule of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past - is the simplest way of procuring items.

Drained of life at the start, the landscape fills with colour as you trek across it. Jabbing sparkling objects such as trees, doors, mailboxes, and more prompts your little guy to search for an item. Whether an item materialises is entirely random.

Still, exploration is the most enjoyable method for collecting items. It's only exciting for so long, however, as the limited size of the map and lack of variety in terrain make return visits less and less invigorating.

On location

That means resorting to location-based gifters and GPS treasure hunting. Tap the magnifying lens icon in the lower-right and the game searches for nearby landmarks. These are transmuted into characters within the game world. All you have to do is chat them up to receive an item.

Since gifters are generated based on your location, accumulating a bunch of items from gifters requires moving to another spot in the real world. That's the only way in which the game has access to new landmarks from which to conjure gifters.

GPS item-hunting works on a similar principle, though it takes you out of the game world entirely to track down treasure via Google Maps. Only available on iPhone handsets, GPS switches to Google Maps, where item icons are superimposed. Physically walking to these spots in the real world nets you the item.

Calling all achievement whores

In spite of its cleverness, collecting items via GPS requires far too much movement in the real world to be a consistently viable option.

Items are generously situated on the map so as to be separated by no more than a dozen or so meters, though you can just as easily pick up five items exploring or using gifters in the same time it takes to walk around in GPS mode to nab two. It's just not efficient or compelling.

Gifters, which use location services in a different way, are much more accessible. For example, you could call forth gifters at home, then hop in a bus downtown and summon another set of gifters there.

That requires less tangential movement than GPS mode, which affixes gifts to specific places versus gifters, which are generated from locations.

1000 is a game fuelled entirely by self-motivation, which shouldn't be a problem for those who lust after achievements. An enormous list of accomplishments entices replay, but without being connected to a social network like OpenFeint or Plus+, their value is relative.

As such, 1000 is an inventive game that has enormous replay value, but relies too much on self-motivated play to hold the attention of anyone who doesn't identify themselves as a completionist.

1000: Find 'Em All!

1000: Find 'Em All! speaks to the completionist with long term treasure hunting, though has trouble pairing its inventive features with lasting intrigue
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Tracy Erickson
Tracy Erickson
Manning our editorial outpost in America, Tracy comes with years of expertise at mashing a keyboard. When he's not out painting the town red, he jets across the home of the brave, covering press events under the Pocket Gamer banner.