Hasbro Family Game Night: Pictureka Review

By Ned Jordan

Pictureka is a downloadable edition to Hasbro Family Game Night on Xbox Live Arcade.  Purchase of Family Game not is not required to play Pictureka, though, downloading the demo of that game and then purchasing Pictureka will allow you to play that game, albeit none of the other Family Game Night games.  Not all board games do well as a video game, especially when you're taking about some of the old family classics, but Pictureka does quite well in digital form - although to be honest I never really heard of Pictureka as a kid, or before I played it on Family Game Night for that matter.  That does give me an advantage in that I don't have a lot (or any, really) of fond memories of the game and can take it at face value in this particular incarnation, although I will ask for forgiveness if this game has a devoted following that finds its digitization a sacrilege. 

Pictureka consists of several large cards completely covered in random assortments of cartoon pictures of people, animals, and objects. When it's your turn you're given a card instructing you to find things on the picture cards within a short time limit. You might have to find a specific picture, but more often it's something like find two people with beards or find three things you'd see in a bathroom. It's easy to flip through the cards and select pictures, and many of the pictures have been enhanced to make a funny noise when selected.  Let's see your board game do that! 

This game is actually quite fun and feels more like a real game and less like a videogame adaptation of a real game. The fun is further enhanced by a lot of whimsical and zany touches like the chicken that delivers your dice roll inside an egg or the penguin that settles disputes over whether or not a selected cartoon fits in the current category.  A "Remix" version of the original adds more challenge categories to the game that make things more challenging.  For example, you may have to find the picture that makes the given sound.  Lastly, Pictureka comes with its own set of Achievements for those of you obsessed with your Gamer Score.

Pictureka is no Halo-killer and it won't have Modern Warfare 2 collecting dust on shelves across the country.  Still, if you enjoy puzzle type games, especially of the hidden object variety, you'll have some fun with Pictureka.  And it's a great game to play with your kids that will exercise their brains a bit while playing.

Final Rating: 75%