4 Pics 1 Word and What's The Word started the ball rolling and then other developers created similar themed games like What's The Band, 4 Pics 1 Movie, What's The Song and more. Recently, I discovered an app, called What's Missing? When I'm looking at apps within a particular genre, I'm noticing that there are 2 types of games - copycat knockoffs and boundary pushers.
Copycat Knockoff apps will take the concept that was developed first by the originator and put out a handful of apps that are the exact same thing, but with different graphics. The objective of these clones is to ride the wave of popularity, created by the innovator and hope to get some cash flow from the google ads or in-app purchases. I'm not a fan of the knockoffs, but they do provide some sort of nutritional value because they will always have at least one or two things that are different from the original copy.
Boundary pushers take the original gaming concept, set out by the innovator and take it to new heights with a few modifications and twists. Whats Missing is in this category, as instead of following the current trend of presented 4 images for you to guess the secret word, they have 3 images and you have to guess the fourth image to complete the set.
One simple tweak is all it takes for Whats Missing to have buzz on its own that is completely different than a What's The Word or 4 Pics 1 Word. As is customary for these games, boosts are provided to give you an out if you happen to get stumped. I prefer to avoid the app stores altogether because time is a hot commodity in my world.
I'll spend anywhere from a day to a few weeks with an app before deleting and moving on to the next. If I really like the app, then I'll keep it on my smartphone. Since I avoid the virtual stores, altogether, for this game, I've visited Whats Missing Answers to get help, when I get stuck.
When playing games like Whats Missing, I find myself really enjoying the game, but am not very good at progressing through the levels. I stink at trivia apps, but thankfully, sites like Whats Missing Answers bail me out and keep my enjoyment level high for the game.