REVIEW – Splat the Difference (3DS)

I remember when cell phone games first started to become a thing, and with them came my confusion about why one would even want to play games on a phone. This was before smart phones were a thing, though, so of course, I never fathomed that games programmed specifically for cell phones would be ported to consoles. This first became a somewhat common occurrence with the Nintendo DSi, and it has continued with several eshop titles on the 3DS, including Splat the Difference.

If you have ever come across a spot-the-difference image while scrolling through your Facebook feed, or done such a puzzle in a book, newspaper, or your kindergarten class, you know what you’re getting into here. You are shown two similar images. You must then spot the differences by splatting them with paint. There is also a multiplayer mode allowing you to play with up to four players using only one copy of the game via download play. Each player will be assigned a different paint color, and the object is to spot differences faster than your opponent(s).

Readers should know me by now. I like to pick out intricacies, and make a few jabs at a game’s developers, but then ultimately praise what they did well, and unfortunately there’s just not any room for me to do that with this game. I didn’t find Splat the Difference to be particularly engaging, interesting, or even enjoyable. On that same token, I don’t actually have anything negative to say aside from the fact that I’d rather listen to my four-year-old cousin play “Let It Go” on a plastic recorder than hear the background music in this game ever again. Splat the Difference accomplishes what it is trying to do, so if you like these sorts of puzzles, you’ll probably like this game as well.

You still want me to be snarky, don’t you? Ok, fine. Splat the Difference is like Splatoon minus everything that makes Splatoon cool.