Category Archives: board game

Reiner Knizia’s Samurai Review

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Reiner Knizia’s Samurai Review is a post from: Best Iphone Apps Review Website


Reiner Knizia’s Samurai, another Dr. Knizia offering brought to the iDevice by Conlan Rios, is now available from the app store. As usual, the “everything in moderation” philosophy is in full force in this turn-based strategy game that’s both thought-provoking and enjoyable.

Reiner Knizia’s Samurai Pros:

Faithful adaptation of the board game
Online multiplayer
Simple touch controls
Highly strategic gameplay
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RISK Review

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RISK Review is a post from: Best Iphone Apps Review Website

Developer: EA Games
Price: $4.99
Version Reviewed: 1.4.88

Graphics / Sound Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Game Controls Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Gameplay Rating: 3.75 out of 5 stars
Re-use / Replay Value Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Overall Rating: 3.69 out of 5 stars

RISK is finally here! I have to admit that I’m a bit baffled as to why EA waited so long to release RISK on the App Store. Now RISK has to deal with “clone” competitors, too, many of which tout more features than this official version. Still, while this is a somewhat flawed and bare-bones release, it’s very approachable and is still a good strategy game overall.

For newcomers, RISK is a game of world domination. Three to six players compete on a single world map, vying for total control. Each turn consists of three phases: Draft, Attack, and Fortify. During Draft, you’re awarded troops based on how much territory you control, and you assign them to the territories you wish. Attack is straightforward: ordering troops to attack enemy territory, in which dice-rolling luck plays a large role. Finally, with Fortify, you can move troops from one territory to another, but only once.

Another feature: “risk cards” are earned for conquering territories. These can be traded in for extra troops at the start of your turn. Weirdly, the app doesn’t allow you to view which cards you have…only how many. Frustrating.

Also frustrating: while the game includes three AI difficulty levels, multiplayer is where the meat of any strategy game is. However, your only human-vs-human options are local WiFi / Bluetooth with up to four players, or Pass-n-Play with up to six. Really? Where’s the global internet competition? Add the lack of global multiplayer to a single available map, a relatively easy computer opponent, simple graphics, and no support for house rules, and it’s clear that this version of RISK is as bare-bones as they come.

RISK is still a solid, fun game; how could it not be? Strategy fans and RISK faithful in particular should enjoy it; the epic, sprawling games are highly engaging. Just be aware that there are many, many clones…some of which surely outshine this stripped-down port.

[ RISK Review is a post from 148Apps ]


Blokus HD for iPad Review

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Blokus HD for iPad Review is a post from: Best Iphone Apps Review Website

Developer: GAMELOFT
Price: $4.99
Version Reviewed: 1.0.1
Device Reviewed On: iPad

Graphics / Sound Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Game Controls Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars
Gameplay Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Replay Value Rating: 4.25 out of 5 stars
Overall Rating: 3.81 out of 5 stars

Don’t let the shapes fool you. This is not Tetris. In fact, it’s the latest iteration in the Blokus franchise of games, this one designed exclusively for the iPad. Well, actually, that’s a little misleading. Yes, this is a game designed only for the iPad, but with the exception of one feature it’s EXACTLY the same game as the iPhone version.

If you haven’t already, peruse over to our review of the original, iPhone version of Blokus. Everything from that article applies to Blokus HD, except that this newest version does include a pass and play variant of the game so that up to four players can gather around one iPad and play. I’m not sure why this feature wasn’t included in the iPhone version, but then again I really don’t understand why this isn’t a universal app. Asking customers to pay $4.99 twice for what is basically the same game just seems wrong.

There’s no doubt that Blokus and Blokus HD are a lot of fun to play. The local and online multiplayer functions work like a charm, and even the computer opponents provide a sizable challenge. However, the criticisms of the original Blokus still remain in this newer version. To say that the control are a little fidgety is a gross understatement. Picking up and manipulating a game piece should be the first and foremost attribute of a game like this. Instead, there’s a discernible delay when choosing a game piece, and the piece itself is almost always out of alignment with your finger. In addition, turning a piece uses a mechanic that is plain unwieldy. Half of the time when i would try to rotate a piece it would spin in an incorrect direction. This is merely annoying when playing a local game, but when playing online (where turns can be a little as 30 seconds each) this badly designed scheme can cost you the game.

If you really like playing Blokus and already own it on your iPhone, I see no reason to pay the additional $4.99 to migrate it to your iPad. If you’ve never played the game at all, try out the iPhone free lite version to see how you feel about the control mechanics. This is one game where it pays to play first.

[ Blokus HD for iPad Review is a post from 148Apps ]


Quoridor Requires Careful Concentration to Conquer

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Quoridor Requires Careful Concentration to Conquer is a post from: Best Iphone Apps Review Website


Quoridor Requires Careful Concentration to Conquer

Price: $3.99   Score: 8/10   By A. PapachristosQuoridor

Some games take no brainpower, providing an easy escape from reality, while others test your cognitive capabilities to the fullest extent.  And with Quoridor by Simiula, users best be in it to win it, for this game is certainly not for the lazy minded.

When playing Quoridor, the objective seems rather simple: move your pawn to other side of the board before the opponent reaches your starting side.  However, one needs to be able to think ahead and predict what moves your opponent might make in order to preempt their ploy to ruin your success.

Once you first enter Quoridor, you will be taken to a screen that allows you to either begin a game versus the computer or explore a tutorial on how to play the game.  On your first time out, the tutorial is a much-needed pit stop on the way to winning because it will give you a play-by-play of exactly what you must do during game play.  The first couple of pages of the 10-page tutorial are introductory information, including a list of awards the game has won in the past, such as Worldwide Board Game of the Year 1997-1998.

Then, as you proceed, you begin to learn the basics.  The Quoridor board consists of 81 squares, with each player getting 10 fences and two pawns apiece.  You will start with your fences lined up in their storage area and one pawn on the starting line.  Once you actually begin the game, you will need to choose your level of difficulty, ranging from one (easiest) to three (hardest).  There will also be a draw to see who goes first, you or the computer, and in my experience, the draw seemed to favor the exceptionally intelligent computer, giving it a bit of an upper hand.

During every one of their turns, players choose to either move his or her pawn in any available direction or put up one fence.  However, once the player has run out of fences, they must then, of course, move their pawn.  Pawns may only be moved one square and must navigate around the pre-existing fences, though users may jump over any pawn they come across, ultimately moving two spots that turn.  If you wish to immediately undo your move, simply shake your device.  The first to reach the opponent’s base line shall be named the winner.

When playing Quoridor, users will find many icons lining the left corner and bottom of the screen, each with a specific function to help with game play.  ‘Auto’ helps you control your view of the board.  While you are automatically set to view the board from one perspective, tapping ‘Auto’ allows you to access three different perspectives so you can better judge your placement.  The speaker icon turns the volume on or off.  In fact, users can listen to their iPod music as they play if they so desire.

The pawn icon lets you choose to move your pawn to any of the available nearby space.  If for some reason you cannot decide which move would be best, the ‘?’ will show you exactly where you can move and the quickest, most direct path to the other side of the board.

To place fences, use the icon marked by a wooden plank.  Once you choose to place a fence, you may alter its alignment by tapping the icon featuring a board with an arrow.  However, fences may only be placed between two sets of two squares and cannot be moved once they are placed.  To place one, simply use the hammer icon once you have the plank situated properly.  While you must obviously leave access to the end point, fences are made to both aid the player and impede the opponent’s progress.  If you have any further questions about how to play, the Quoridor website offers full access to the rulebook in 33 languages.

And, coming soon are updates that will allow: multiplayer usage on one device with swapping between two players; multiplayer iPad capabilities that appear similar to the real wood board game; improved fence placing; and the ability to pinch and zoom the screen to adjust your view on the iPhone or iPod Touch.

Luckily, Quoridor is optimized so as to not drain your battery, because each game takes an average of 10-20 minutes for completion.  And, once you begin a game, you must be prepared to continue until its end, for there is no pause button and, if you quit the application, your place will not be saved.  Quitting will simply negate all your progress, taking you right back to the beginning the next time you start up.  And, with such close concentration and thought required, the idea of losing one’s progress in the game becomes Quoridor’s most notable flaw, because even the playing of a physical board game can be paused if desired.

Quoridor

Quoridor requires iPhone OS 3.0 or later and is compatible with iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. A small expedite fee was paid by the developer to speed up the publication of this review.

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Review: Carcassonne

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Review: Carcassonne is a post from: Best Iphone Apps Review Website

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Famed for its huge city walls, the medieval town of Carcassonne in southern France was identified as a strategic placement, perfect for defending from enemy attack and in just the right spot for merchants to travel through and sell their wares.

The Carcassonne board game was designed by Klaus-Jürgen Wrede and aimed to recreate the battling over the area that went on. It’s extremely good fun, and fortunately the iPhone edition is a fantastic conversion, taking nothing away from its tabletop brother in arms.

In Carcassonne, players take turns to place randomly chosen pieces, consisting of city, road, farm and cloister sections. Pieces can only be placed adjacent to others already on the board, and all edges must match up. For example, if there is a road protruding from the piece on the left, your current piece must also contain a road and must be placed so that the two paths connect.

Once a piece has been placed, the player can then choose to occupy a space on the piece with one of his or her soldiers — this is the method for scoring points. The position in which the man is placed determines what kind of unit it becomes.

Your men can be planted on towns, farms, roads and cloisters. Points are scored when towns and roads are completed, and when cloisters are surrounded by eight tiles. Farms are cashed in at the end of the game, with points awarded for every completed town bordering on your farmland.

Men cannot, however, be placed on a town, road or farm which is already occupied, and each player is limited to just seven soldiers. The game ends when every piece has been placed down.

This is a fairly simple explanation of how Carcassonne works, but there is a lot more to it in terms of tactics and piece placement. Areas can be potentially stolen from other players with clever piece layout and overpowering. For example, if a completed city houses two of the green team’s men and only one of the red team’s, green will take all of the points. The same tactics can be applied to roads and farms.


The game itself is great multiplayer fun, with the final result of a huge city built between the players proving rather satisfying. As for this iPhone version, the translation from board to touch screen borders on perfection. Controls are simple and intuitive, while the interface is smart and easy to understand. A short tutorial is provided for first-time players, although the finer points and tricks have to be learned with play.

A number of game modes are on offer, including a single-player quickplay and both local and Wi-Fi multiplayer. The Wi-Fi multiplayer in particular is fantastic, allowing players to quit during a game, rejoin later on, and carry on from where they left off. Text chat is also available so that players can compliment/jeer each other throughout.

There’s also an interesting single-player Solitaire mode, which gives you pieces in a set order and asks for roads and cities of increasing size to be constructed. It’s a great twist on the game that I had not encountered before.

While all of these modes are plenty, it would have been nice to have a fun Campaign mode with a story, but this is a minor gripe. Carcassonne is really quite wonderful, and deserves a place on every gamer’s iPod Touch, iPhone or iPad. You’re guaranteed to have a blast with it, and you may just find yourself completely hooked.


Carcassonne Review

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Carcassonne Review is a post from: Best Iphone Apps Review Website

Developer: THE CODING MONKEYS
Price: $4.99
Version Reviewed: 1.0
Device Reviewed On: iPhone 3G

Graphics / Sound Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Game Controls Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Gameplay Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Replay Value Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Overall Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

While German boardgames (AKA designer games) have established a slight foothold in the United States via speciality shops and online retailers, most Americans are still blissfully unaware of the vastly superior games that are available in Europe. Hopefully, now that some of those games are making the transition to the iPhone platform, more Americans will be exposed to the strategically complex and thematically intriguing games they never knew existed.

Carcassonne is an award-winning board game from designer Klaus-Jurgen Wrede that has withstood multiple expansions, adaptations and re-imaginings since its initial release in 2000. Now it has made the leap to the iPhone, and the results are extremely pleasing. Carcassone is a tile-laying, city building game for two-five where each player uses tiles to complete construction of castles, roads, farms and monasteries in hopes of outscoring his/her opponent. As is the case with many German games, the theme and the basic mechanics are easy to grapple with, but finding a consistent path to victory is pleasantly confounding.

Fortunately, the game’s developer has included a useful and brief tutorial that covers all of the basics of gameplay with a good amount of humor and professional voice work. Completing the tutorial won’t make your wins any easier, but it will at least help you know what your next best move should be.

A player can choose to play against up to four local (you will have to pass one iPhone around to each player) or computer controlled opponents in the “normal” mode, or you can take your strategic battle online against a random opponent in real time or challenge one of the friends in your contact list. I was surprised at the snappiness of the game’s response during online play, though since the game is played in real time you really need to make sure you have enough time to devote to a full game before challenging another player.

An additional solitaire mode is also included with Carcassonne for the iPhone, and this brings an entirely different style of play to the game. Players attempt to build their cities as usual, but each tile placement costs some of the 1,000 points they are allotted up front. The goal is to use all of the tiles while spending the fewest amount of points. It’s an interesting puzzle variant of Carcassonne and a fun game in its own right. Add to this the fact that the developers issue updates with new solitaire challenges and this mode stands on its own quite well.

It’s a real pleasure to see an iPhone game that is well-crafted, that uses music and sound to create a distinct atmosphere and that plays as well offline as it does online. If Carcassonne is your first foray into Euro-gaming, you’re sure to want more. Let’s hope more developers follow the very high standards set here.

[ Carcassonne Review is a post from 148Apps ]


iGoMoku HD Pro Review

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iGoMoku HD Pro Review is a post from: Best Iphone Apps Review Website

Developer: TDC LLC
Price: $2.99
Version Reviewed: 1.8
Device Reviewed On: iPad

Graphics / Sound Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Game Controls Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Gameplay Rating: 4.25 out of 5 stars
Replay Value Rating: 4.25 out of 5 stars

Overall Rating: 3.88 out of 5 stars

Have you ever tried to play Go? Once upon a time I decided I was going to undertake learning the national board game of Japan, so I bought a Go board and attempted to read the instructions. Then, I put the board, pieces and instructions back in the box, placed the box on a shelf and never dared make the attempt again.

I’m still looking for an app that effectively teaches Go to a complete novice like myself (suggestions welcome if you know of a good one), but until then I’m satisfied to play the infinitely less complex variant of Go known as Go Moku. The object of Go Moku is much simpler than traditional Go. You have to get five of your stones in a row, horizontally, diagonally or vertically while simultaneously stymying your opponent’s attempts to do the same. If you’ve played the westernized version of Go Moku, Pente, you should be familiar with this mechanic (although Go Moku lacks Pente’s rules for capturing an opponent’s pieces). iGoMoku HD Pro (whew! Pretty long title) provides an effective, challenging version of this game with a wide variety of AI opponents.

Don’t expect to be overwhelmed by the game’s graphics or sounds. Both are adequate to the task, but utilitarian in nature. The graphics are straightforward – a simple gridded wooden board and black or white stones. You can vary this somewhat with three other visual themes (including ti-tac-toe, soccer/basketball and water drops) but I prefer to stick with tradition. Sounds are likewise spartan. There is no music, nor the ability to play music from your iTunes library during gameplay. Sound effects are limited to the sound of placing your stones on the board and either a boo or cheer when you lose or win, respectively.

The real beauty of iGoMoku HD Pro lies in its simplicity and its very skilled AI. You can certainly play against a human opponent, but the AI has proven to be quite challenging thus far. There are five levels of AI opponents, ranging from Rookie to Grand Master, so even if you can’t get another person to play against you, you should have no trouble at all finding a suitable challenge.

While there are no flourishes to really make the game stand out in a crowd, iGoMoku HD Pro is highly recommended if you enjoy strategy board games. Add to that the fact that the game is $2.99 and universal for both iPad and iPhone, and it’s clear it’s a go-to (pun, unfortunately, intended) app.

[ iGoMoku HD Pro Review is a post from 148Apps ]


Maxi Dice for iPad Review

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Maxi Dice for iPad Review is a post from: Best Iphone Apps Review Website

Developer: KRISTANIX STUDIOS
Price: $4.99
Version Reviewed: 1.02
Device Reviewed On: iPad

Graphics / Sound Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Game Controls Rating: 3.25 out of 5 stars
Gameplay Rating: 3.25 out of 5 stars
Replay Value Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Overall Rating: 3.38 out of 5 stars

Can we designate a new sub-genre of iPad apps as stopgaps or placeholders? You know the kind of app I mean. It serves a purpose, is workmanlike in its execution, and will be utterly forgotten once a larger company releases its “take” on the app. Maxi Dice is one such app.

Maxi Dice is currently one of a handful of Yahtzee clones on the iPad app store (they call the game “Yatzy”, just in case you’re not sure what kind of game you are playing). No, there’s no official Hasbro Yahtzee release at this point, though with their iPhone Yahtzee Adventures app already out, it’s a fair bet that it’s only a matter of time. Until then, though, if you are just jonesing for a game of Yahtzee, either solitaire or against a human or AI opponent, Maxi Dice is one of the few options available.

To call Maxi Dice workmanlike is probably doing the app an injustice. For a small-scale app from an equally small developer, the game does show some potential and some polish. The interface is clean and simple and it’s easy to jump right into the game, even if, like me, it has been years and years since you last played a game of Yahtzee. The background images used during the game are pleasant and peaceful, and the music is relatively innocuous (it does get old and repetitive so be advised that you probably will turn it off soon after playing a game or two). It would be nice to be able to customize the look and feel of the game with backgrounds taken from your photos or music pulled from your iTunes library, but there’s no facility to do that yet. Perhaps in a future iteration of the game?

Gameplay is…well, it’s Yahtzee, plain and simple. In the basic game, you roll five dice and try to maximize your points using semi-poker lingo like full house or four of a kind. Maxi Dice includes another version of the game called – you guessed it – Maxi Yatzy, where you have six dice and a few more dice rolls each turn. You can play against up to three human opponents using the same iPad (no online multiplayer available) or against up to three computer-controlled opponents. The AI isn’t stellar, but it is serviceable. There’s also a solitaire version of the game included, if you are so inclined.

Is Maxi Dice a great game? No. Does it play a decent, easy to control game of Yahtzee? Yes. The real issue then is the price of this app. $4.99 is simply too much to pay for a simple app like this, and one that will soon be replaced by a vastly superior version from a major company. Were this a $0.99 app (or $1.99 universal app), I’d recommend it without pause. But $4.99 seems like an attempt to cash in before Hasbro gets their game out. If you just HAVE to play Yahtzee on your iPad right now, then I guess you could do worse than Maxi Dice, but, really, is there anyone who is that obsessed with Yahtzee?

[ Maxi Dice for iPad Review is a post from 148Apps ]


Award-Winning Board Game Carcassonne Arrives in App Store

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Award-Winning Board Game Carcassonne Arrives in App Store is a post from: Best Iphone Apps Review Website

App Store developer TheCodingMonkeys brings the Spiel des Jahres award-winning board game Carcassonne ($4.99) to the iPhone and iPod Touch, with a native iPad version currently in development.

In Carcassonne, players construct a playfield by strategically piecing together environment tiles. Players compete to gather followers, capture landmarks, and score points.

Carcassonne includes a single-player mode with 8 different AI characters, along with a unique Solitaire mode. Carcassonne also features local multiplayer support over a Wi-Fi or Bluetooth connection and Internet multiplayer with push notifications.

Carcassonne’s creators note that iPad support will arrive in a free future update, after which the app will increase in price to $9.99. A narrated introduction video is below.