Game Review: Wally & Friends (Mobile – Free to Play)

Wally & Friends is a free to play game that has no right existing…man, I get tired of saying that.

Most people know who Wally (or Waldo) is…way before he came in game form Wally would delight children & adults around the world by hiding within deeply detailed picture books. He was popular enough to spawn a brief cartoon series as well.

Wally is a part of a lot of people’s childhood & this game exploits that.

I have to mention the first major issue here & that is the amount of times the game crashes. It happens way too much & should your internet connection be a little sketchy you will be unable to play it without regular crashes.

The basic idea is that you chose a level & find set things within a small section of memorable Wally pictures. Complete each picture quickly to keep your multiplier high. Fully completing a puzzle quickly adds to your overall score which increases the star rating (which unlocks tradable items which are then exchanged for in-game coins).

You can replay a level (and the same set of things to find) for as long as you have energy negating any puzzle elements quickly. You see it is very easy to memorize where things are as the variation in each picture is very limited.

Later levels are unlocked by either finding trinkets in treasure chests or by spending in-game coins. Coins are earned by trades…find trade items by completing levels over & over & over again then trade them for the coin amounts. This is already set & on a timer so to put you under pressure.

The coin rewards are very small & it will take quite some time to build up enough coins to purchase a new level unless you spend real money. Levels can be unlocked instantly for the premium currency…gems.

You should know what to expect here…100 gems cost 79p while 10000 costs £39.99. To unlock the latest level available for me I would need to spend either 500 in-game coins or instant buy for 1081 gems. The nearest amount is 1300 gems for £7.99…yep, 8 quid to unlock one level…and people wonder why these companies are accused of greed.

Gems can also be spent on keys that open treasure chests which gift random amounts of coins, gems & trinkets. You can earn free keys but the prizes seem tailored to that…

If you’re having trouble finding a specific thing in a level you can use a hint bone (a certain amount free) to show you where it is located…1 bone for 1 hint though & the system is tricky. You see should you run out of bones mid-level the option to buy another appears for the cost of 30 gems. 1 bone…30 gems. However, in the menu 5 bones cost 80 gems. So should you make the mistake of buying 5 bones within a level, 1 after the other you will end up spending 150 gems instead! What the hell is that!?

Of course you can earn free gems by watching videos but they will cause the game to crash more often then not.

Each puzzle attempt costs energy of which you 100 of. The random amount of 24 will be deducted each time you attempt a puzzle & is replenished over time or you can buy more for gems…of course.

It’s hard to get really annoyed by this practice anymore but it is disappointing to see a Wally game get this rip-off treatment.

Missions add some more play-ability to the overall game even if they are as un-inspired as ‘watch a video from the store’. There are no hours of fun here…it will be come apparent quickly just how limited the game is & it will leave a bad taste.

The game does look very nice though & famous Wally pictures have been recreated well. However they missed a real opportunity to add some new vibrancy to some classics & it would have been nice to have seen some fresh pictures.

..but I guess that would have meant making effort.

The crashes alone make this a chore but there really isn’t much of a game here at all. Wally (or Waldo) deserves better treatment then this.