Tiny Lands 2 Review

Tiny Lands 2 is a “find the differences” game that at its core is not much different from the puzzles that have been appearing in print for decades. The primary difference is that rather than spotting the differences between a pair of two-dimensional flat pictures, you’re looking at 3D environments side-by-side. You have the typical camera controls that you do in any 3D game, and can rotate, tilt, and zoom the camera around the scene as the view in each window changes in tandem.

When you think that you have spotted a difference between the two, you select the item with a pointer in either window. If you’re correct, the item will turn to gold in each window. If you’re wrong, then there’s no penalty and you continue the search. There’s no limit to the number of guesses you can make, and no penalty for being wrong. The levels are large enough that randomly selecting objects across the scene is not an efficient way to cheat your way through the level, though. And if you’re trying to do that, why play the game in the first place?

Some differences are relatively easy to spot, but some of them can be rather subtle and take a little time and careful scrutiny to find. The game gives you unlimited hints, although you’ll have to wait for the hint timer to recharge before you can use a hint again. The hints are rather broad, briefly highlighting the general zone in which the next difference can be found without pointing it out explicitly. Even with a hint pointing you to the right area, it can still take a little hunting to track the difference down.

The game’s levels are quite creative; each one looks like a themed diorama in two scales. Real-world objects are surround by a miniature scene related to those objects. A toy robot model kit and the glues and paints required to complete it are turned into a giant robot factory run by tiny scientists and engineers. A cuckoo clock becomes a farmhouse surrounded by tiny pigs, sheep, and farmers. Part of the fun of the game is seeing which scene is next and simply having a look around at the clever uses of everyday objects before you even think of beginning to look for differences.

Even though the gameplay concept is pretty basic, the challenge is not. If you’re expecting something akin to those simple mobile games featured in the ads that you see while playing other mobile games, you may find it frustrating that you can’t breeze your way through this game. If you like a little challenge, though, you’ll appreciate that there is actually a spot the differences game that will actually test your powers of observation a bit.