Earlier in FunBunGames' alternative reality-bending music box series, a young girl realizes that small, heartless actions can lead to large, heart-breaking reactions. Now continuing its milieu of pictorial parables within remarkably detailed spot-the-difference games, Music Box of Life 4 juxtaposes ambition of fame against the meaning of love.
Each level has two nearly identical scenes side-by-side: your job is to study both, looking for the subtle differences—such as a person's stance, a ruffle on a dress or the shape of a cloud—and clicking on them. Like many sequels, this fourth installment doesn't feel as fresh or sparkly and it never truly answers the question of why one dream can't be had along with the other, seeming rather trite in the telling to boot. Yet, outside of comparisons, Music Box of Life 4 still stands out in its class of difference spotting games with a high replay value, quality graphics, interesting scenes and how amazingly well it communicates a story with pictures alone. Entertaining and thoroughly imaginative, Music Box of Life 4 is bound to please on many levels.
That is... one rather crazy time-warping music box she has there. I am a little curious/lost what/who gave the box back to the girl with the message "use if you are sad" - is it the bully? Why would she give away a time-travelling music box if she knew that it was a time-travelling music box to begin with? Too many questions, too many untied answers, and probably another confusing game to even create more questions. Fun Fun.
I appreciated the generous hint system, because sometimes I found the "hit boxes" for the differences to be either too small or just off.
My real problem with this game is:
The ending!
Gladys: Franklin, don't leave me! I will travel back in time that I may abandon my dream of ballet forever, thus proving my love for you. Only your happiness matters to me, my dearest, not-particularly-handsome, Franklin!
Blech.
@DTripVT Yeah, absolutely.
And the craziest part is that Franklin doesn't seem to have any objection to her becoming a ballerina; his problem is that she appears to be in a relationship with her ballet instructor. Can't she take the classes and skip that bit?
@Daibhid C totally!
Update