Hidden Wonders of the Depths HD is a hodgepodge assortment of mini-games often found either in standalone releases or as part of a larger HOA game. This medley consists of Match Three (with a few twists), underwater item searches, shape matching, jigsaw puzzles, Mahjong and more. You’re bouncing around so many various puzzles that you don’t even realize (or care once you do) that there isn’t even a story to drive you forward. This is just good old-fashioned puzzle-solving for the sake of solving puzzles.
My only issue is the hefty $7 unlock fee; a bit steep by premium game standards and Hidden Wonders of the Depths HD if far from a premium title. You don’t really win the game but rather complete it as you really can’t lose…just run out of time on a few puzzles and then you merely start again and try to do better. None of the puzzles were particularly challenging other than a few of the Match Three where you had to break some tiles out of their chains before they could be removed, and some of the more complicated puzzles tested the limits of the clock.
Mostly, Hidden Wonders of the Depths HD is just a nice way to casually pass the time, and it does that job with ease thanks to great graphics, fun sounds and music, and a great variety of gameplay, but again, nothing worth 7, so I would hold out for a half-price sale unless you are really starving for a collection of mini-games you probably already have buried away in other larger apps.
