Fifi and the Flowertots: Fifi’s Garden Party for the DS, is published by Avanquest Software. Avanquest are popular for publishing mystery games like Mystery Stories – Curse of the Ancient Spirits or Jewel quest. Fifi and the Flowertots is a completely different game when compared to the more popular games developed by Avanquest. Fifi is a story mode based game filled with 15 mini games; you are required to complete each mini game in order to progress through the story.
The story of Fifi and the Flowertots is a garden party which Fifi has forgotten about organising. She gains the help of a friend called bumble and together they help their other friends with tasks in order to gain rewards. These rewards are items that are needed to throw the garden party. The rewards range from a picnic basket to a scooter for your flowertot friends to play on.
The 15 mini games are each different, they range from drawing different shapes to completing maths calculations.
Drawing Shapes
During the drawing shapes mini game you are helping Violet. Violet is drawing a painting and she asks if you could help her to finish it. In order to help Violet there are shapes on the top screen of your DS, you have to copy these shapes perfectly using the spotted grid on the bottom screen. This mini game is easy enough to understand and complete. This is a timed game and the more shapes you can draw within the time limit the more chance you have of unlocking a reward.
- Lost Signs
During the Lost Shapes mini game you are helping Flutterby. Flutterby is doing some calculations which required placing the missing signs into the calculations correctly. The calculations will appear on the top screen and then there will be four signs on the bottom screen to choose from, these signs are as follows: plus, minus, divide or multiply. You are required to work out which is the missing sign by carefully assessing the calculation and working them out in your head. This is timed and the more you get right then the better the chance of you gaining a reward.
- True or False
During the True or False mini game you are helping out Stingo. Although at first you may think that this character will not be fully trustworthy, due to the impressive story line behind the television series where Stingo always seems to be interfering with the flowertot plans and trying to ruin them. You will be surprised to know that Stingo is actually a worthy ally. During this game there will be yet more calculations on the top screen but playing this one you will be required to decide whether the calculation are true or false. On the bottom screen there will be two symbol for you to select from one will be a green button with a tick on and this you select when the calculation is correct, the other is a red button with a cross in it and this is for the use of if the calculation turns out to be false. Again this is a timed game and the more you can get correct the better your chances of getting a reward will be.
- Abacus
During this mini game you are helping out Little Pip. Little Pip is trying to use an Abacus to match the red beads to the number given. The number required will appear on the top screen, you then have to use the abacus beads to make the number on the bottom screen. The abacus beads are displayed in units of 1000,s, 100’s, 10’s and 1’s. So for example if you are given the number 6456, you have to have 6 beads in one column then 4 beads in the next column and so on. This is timed and the more you get correct the better the reward you earn.
- Calculations
During this mini game you will be helping Poppy. Poppy is struggling with some maths calculations as there seems to be part of the calculation missing, you must look at the equation and work out which symbol is missing. The symbols are: add, minus, divide and multiply. Depending on which difficulty level you choose, this mini game may be found easy enough. I choose to play the hard difficulty level and found that I myself at the age of 22 struggled on times due to there being a time limit; I actually found that I could not quite work out the correct answer in enough time. It is hard to believe the complexity of the sums when you think that the game is aimed at children from the age of 3+, there are not many children who would be able to work out 54 minus 36 equals 18 especially when the minus sign is missing.
- Music
In this mini game you will be helping Hornetto. Hornetto is practicing playing his guitar but requires some help picking up a few notes. You help by touching the scrolling musical notes as they cross the blue line. But pay attention to the bar on the top screen this keeps you informed if the rhythm is correctly in tune. This was one of the easiest games so far to play.
- Dominoes
In this mini game you will be helping Slugsy. Slugsy has been trying to play dominoes but seems to be struggling. You volunteer to help him out to gain a reward for the party. You are required to complete the domino chain that appears on the top screen, you must use all the dominoes on the bottom screen to complete the chain. This game can be fairly easy if you know how to play dominoes yourself, but for children they will require help from someone who knows.
- Count the Stock
In this game you will be helping Bumble yet again. Yet again bumble is having trouble with one of his activities. This time though it is slightly different to the last game you helped him with, in this one you need to count the honey pots that appear on the bottom screen and then when they disappear, you will have to select the correct number.
- Hammer
During this game you will be helping out Aunt Tulip. Aunt Tulip seems to of misplaced Grubby, although grubby does like to play hide and seek so he could just be hiding among her flower pots. Can you help find him by touching his head every time it pops out of a pot? For those of you who remember playing Whack – a – Mole in the arcades when you were growing up, if you loved that then you will love playing this mini game. Again this has to be one of the easiest mini games throughout the game.
- Memory
In this game you will be helping Buttercup. Buttercup is struggling to play a game of memory, otherwise known as pairs. Again this is a time limited game where you need to find as many matching pairs as possible in the time frame given.
- Remember
In this game you will be helping Daisy. When playing this you are needed to memorise the objects that appear on the top screen before they disappear. Once they have disappeared you then need to use your memory to select the correct items on the bottom screen, the more you can remember the better score you will gain and also the better the chance you will have of earning a reward.
- Sort the Objects
During this game you will be helping Mo. Mo is struggling to sort out objects just by matching their shadows to the correct objects. You volunteer to help and in return Mo says that he has something he can reward you with. You are working in a timed game here and need to match up as many shadows as you can to the correct object on the bottom screen before your time limit runs out. Again like all the other mini games the more you get correct to more points you earn and the better chance you have of unlocking a reward.
- Hide and seek
In this game you will be helping Diggly. As you know from one of the previous mini games Diggly loves to play hide and seek. The difference in this one to the previous one is that he is not using plant pots this time but actually hiding in different scenes, study the scenes closely and as soon as you spot him tap on him with your stylus, again this is timed and the more scenes you can work through in this time limit the better your overall score.
- Jigsaw
Whilst playing this game you will be helping Webby. Webby seems in a bit of a muddle with these jigsaws, they are all jumbled up and she can’t quite put them in their correct place. The picture you need to make appears on the top screen and all the pieces are on the bottom screen. You simply need to click and slide each piece into the correct section of the jigsaw, this is timed but there is only one jigsaw to work through, so it will become pretty easy once you have placed the first piece where it belongs.
- Sliding Tiles
This mini game allows you to help out your friend Primrose. You may all remember when you were younger and attended birthday parties and received a sliding puzzle in your party bag, well this is exactly like that. There will be an image on the top screen and on the bottom there will be a selection of tiles, depending on the level of difficulty you selected the amount of tiles will be different. I selected to play hard so I had a total of 15 tiles, the whole picture consists of 16 tiles but of course there is one missing to allow you space to move the other tiles around. I found this game to be pretty easy, but for someone who has never had the experience of playing this before they may require some assistance.
The graphics of the game are unbelievably realistic. At first sight I thought I was actually watching an episode with my daughter. The characters are so much alike. The graphics are done to perfection when you think of what the aimed audience consists of. The sounds of this game are just as perfect, they sound exactly like they do on the television programme. The background music is very child friendly and also quite relaxing at times.
Overall I found this game to be highly entertaining. Even at my age I loved playing this game as it reminded me so much of little games I used to love taking part in when I was growing up. I found myself laughing at myself for enjoying a children’s game so much but then I thought, it’s not the actual game I’m enjoying but rather the idea of being able to play some of my favourite childhood games with my own children.
Disclaimer:All scores given within our reviews are based on the artist’s personal opinion; this should in no way impede your decision to purchase the game.
