The Scruffs is in many ways a typical seek-and-find game with a few interesting twists. The most noticeable difference from the beginning is the humor that comes through in all aspects of the game, including the sound and the visuals. This game feels more like it was scripted for the A-list, even though the style of game is decidedly casual. How can a seek-and-find game have character development? How can it have a storyline and plot? Somehow it all comes together in The Scruffs. Each level is designed beautifully; you play a level twice and the list of objects you'll need to find changes. You wouldn't think it was possible to hide so many things in one picture...

There is some great voice acting throughout the game, including some scripted interludes that advance the story. Each challenge in The Scruffs includes a seek-and-find element, a puzzle-piece segment, and an interesting game where the player is challenged to identify new scribbles as they are added to a "family photo." The range of visuals, from realistic to cartoony, gives The Scruffs a unique feeling. The voice acting and music put icing on an already tasty cake.

It's hard not to give away the farm in terms of gameplay when describing the look-and-feel of a casual game. What you see is basically what you get, right? There are a few more things to get into with The Scruffs, which is a testament to the different approach it takes compared to others out there.

The story begins when The Scruffs find out that Dad has been fired, or in his words, "sacked." All seems lost until Grandpa remembers that in his youth he squirreled away numerous rare treasures gathered during adventures. The problem is that he's misplaced them around the house and he needs help from the entire family to uncover them. Before the game's over, you'll scour the house from top to bottom looking for a list of items that will lead you to clues. Each clue can then be pieced together in a jigsaw puzzle format to show what object you'll need to find. At this point, you go back to the rooms you searched originally and try to uncover the rare object. Selling these objects will hopefully help the family hang onto its house until Dad can find another job.

Your search for objects in each room is managed through a list on the right side of the screen. As you find each object, it is removed from the list. Each room contains a dog bone that you can toss to the family pooch in a moment of need. The dog will lead you toward an object by a hotter/colder process of barking and jumping as you get move your mouse around the screen. You don't get to choose which object the dog assists you with, so it's wise to save the hints for when you absolutely must have them.

You will definitely encounter a few moments of need in The Scruffs. It's not that objects are scaled in a weird way but they are often depicted in surprising ways. The prompt "king" will end up being a chess piece rather than the regal visage that you expect. Objects will often appear as very dated versions of what we're used to seeing, or appear with odd colors. The degree to which even common objects can be hidden in the background is pretty amazing, and The Scruffs works it hard at times. Time is the enemy, actually. The clock is ticking and keeps ticking throughout each stage. A stage includes finding all objects across a growing number of rooms, solving a jigsaw puzzle, and finding the rare object that Grandpa misplaced who-knows-when. It seems easy at first and then gets harder and harder, but the average casual gamer will find their way through to the final credits without too much heartache.

One of the best things about The Scruffs is how well it saves progress and allows for a pick-up/put-down playing style. In the midst of a room, you can decide to bail on that room and move to another location in the house. You can exit and save your progress, then come back later to restart in the exact location you left. You can pause the game anywhere to allow for food, bathroom, or phone-call breaks. The Scruffs includes everything but a "Crap, here comes the boss!" button, something I always love to see in a good casual game. C'mon, don't you know where most of us end up playing these things?! There are saved profiles that allow several people to play separately through the entire game, which is nice in a household where kiddies, moms & dads, and grandparents may all be playing.

The Scruffs is a great diversion as a casual game and one of the best approaches to the genre I've seen in a while. Treating a seek-and-find game like something big-budget and allowing a lot of humor to find its way into the game was smart, and injecting good story and good voice acting was even smarter. At the end of the day, The Scruffs is just a fun game that you enjoy coming back to with no strings attached. In this genre, that's as good as it gets.