Do you remember those books at the doctor’s office called “Highlights” where you have to find hidden items in the pictures? Well, that’s basically what Itemania is, except the books were probably more fun than this game.

There are only nine levels in the game, but each level does get harder and you can play levels more than once with a randomized item list each time. So, the picture will stay the same, but the required items to find will be different. The more levels you get through, the harder it becomes to actually see the items. For each level, you are timed to see how fast you can find all the items listed on the bottom of the screen. You can double tap or pinch to zoom to find items easier. Zooming in definitely helps you out for hard to find objects. However, the pictures will get a bit grainy while zoomed in all the way. One nice feature of the app is that it will auto-save your progress so you can continue exactly where you left off.

One of the more unique aspects of Itemania is that some levels have a 3D interface. For example, in an early level, you are presented with a tree that you must rotate left, right, up and down to find your items. This is actually quite fun and adds a surprising challenge to the gameplay.

Even though the artwork looks very cartoonish, the hand drawn pictures are well done, bright, colorful and pleasing to look at. However, when you actually zoom in to find items, the images become blurry and grainy. After playing for a little while, don’t be surprised if your eyes hurt or you develop a headache.

The mechanics behind actually finding items are what really make this game unpleasant to play. When you tap on objects you find, many times, you won’t touch the correct spot on the picture. Accuracy is very poor and every time you tap on the screen without hitting the object precisely, you’ll receive a time penalty. Also, the list of items at the bottom of the screen is too small and very difficult to scroll through. Many times, I either couldn’t scroll, or accidentally touched the screen, adding another time penalty. The main menu, restart and pause buttons in the lower left corner are also too small and hard to tap on.

Probably the worst aspect of this game is the music. Each level has its own music to listen to while you search for items. However, the audio files are very MIDI sounding and are only short twenty-second clips that loop. Unfortunately the loop isn’t smooth and connected, but rather disjointed. So, you clearly hear the end of the clip and a brief moment of silence before it repeats again. The music is extremely annoying and there is no way to turn it off.

As an adult, you will most likely find this game boring after the first half hour of play. Children will probably love it, as the pictures have a very cartoonish feel to them. The game is definitely geared toward a younger audience. However, even children will have a hard time accurately touching objects and scrolling through the item list. I simply cannot recommend this game.