It is 1606 England and the mighty, powerful Virginia Company of London is sending Captains Smith and Newport to the New World in Pocahontas: Princess of Powhatan Mac game. In this hidden object/I spy game history is re-enacted in artwork representing all the cast and characters of this enchanting and sometimes romanticized time. Before any voyage can be undertaken supplies must be bought from the market place and loaded on the majestic English ships of yore.

The first hidden object scene is of the market place where you will need to search for many items in the picture. However, after the ship voyage, the remainder of the scenes is in the New World along the James River where the Powhatans lived and towards present day Richmond, Virginia. On route to the New World and on board the ship Captain Smith is accused of mutiny and imprisoned until they got to their destination. It’s not clear what exactly happened, but once arriving in the New World, Smith is allowed to head the colony at Jamestown, named after King James. The story is moved along in between the hidden object and mini puzzle plays with characters speaking back and forth with you clicking to see the bubble with their conversations. This part is stiff and the dialogue not too interesting, but it conveys the message efficiently.

Once you get to the New World the scenes are located along the James River, but you keep returning to the same sites over again to look for more hidden objects. This may have been because it is a demo version and the other locations are locked. The scenes are interesting, especially the ones with the different species of birds represented accurately. They have red-bellied woodpeckers with colorful canaries, a white goose, a couple of raptors and 2 male Hairy woodpeckers. The noise and the movements from flying birds are a little distracting, but manageable. You will find many scenes with waving lanterns with flickering flames and flapping flags to divert your attention from your search, but that’s part of the fun of hidden object plays.

The mini puzzles I came across are the maze game where you must get Pocahontas out of a winding maze of hedges. It is a little clunky and not very challenging. I think it would have been better to show the entire maze, make it complicated and easier to manipulate her out of the puzzle. Another puzzle is to move the tiles to make the picture of an eagle. The third one is to move disks with pictures around to find the listed items. These puzzles help break up the hidden object play, but they are not very difficult. They may get more complex in higher levels.

Overall I found both the artwork and dialogue part of the story rather flat even though the tale of Pocahontas is a fascinating one. The short, simple
conversation may be good for kids to learn the history of this area and time. I found that Nancy Reagan is a distant relative of Pocahontas. I don't think this is in the game, but it's a curious side item. Despite some of the shortcomings of this game, I like the hidden object/I spy plays with its interesting and colorful scenes.

Features of Pocahontas: Princess of Powhatan
-Explore the New World
-Hidden Object Plays
-Mini Games
-Story of Pocahontas

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars