by JustTheFacts Tue Jan 28, 2014 1:24 am
Can You Spell Cookie Cutter?***
BASED ON FULL HOUR DEMO
ENOUGH!! TWO almost identical mahjong games by the same developer on the same day, where the most obvious change is the way they spell mah-jongg? I repeat ENOUGH ALREADY!!!!
Do I sound outraged? Good, because I am. In concept, presentation and game mechanics, this game is identical to Mahjong Gold, also released today. I have gotten used to 8 Floor churning out near identical mahjong games every month, but that doesn’t mean I like it. This is going too far. Let me illustrate, as best one can with only standard text. *means actual differences [ ] is what I changed from my other review, which I did yesterday, not knowing what today would bring
This *magic-show mystery* [pirate]-themed game has the standard features I would expect in any mahjong game. This includes:
• 20 different boards x 6 locales (from Trickster [Cabin Boy] to Master Illusionist [Admiral]) = 120 levels
• Objectives for earning stars (time, number of steps, points, number of gold tiles retrieved)
• Silver bonus tiles that automatically fill your multiplier meter
• Magic-show [Pirate]-themed board designs
• Shuffle bonus automatically applied
• 3 types of tiles – original, magic-show[pirate] and large print numbers (The magic [pirate] tiles are [absolutely beautiful] pretty)
• High scores and Achievements
• *Hand-painted style backgrounds & Comic story board*
• Pleasant [Exceptional pirate] music *No awards to the composer* this time [(give the composer a bonus for this one, it’s worth buying the game for that alone!)]
• *Wand bonus that shades blocked tiles*
To progress through the levels you must meet the goals set for each board. These are:
1. Remove a certain number of gold tiles (the more non-gold tiles left at end of play earns more points)
2. Receive so many points (points are awarded on time taken between moves and involve a multiplier)
3. Complete the board in a set number of moves
4. Time taken to clear the board
The board is finished once the number of gold tiles is complete. Points can be multiplied by increasing the speed of your play, the moves set are not necessarily the minimum possible (yet at least), but they are a challenge after the first few boards. If you do not reach all the goals in one try, say you didn’t have enough points but the other goals were reached, you can replay it focussing on the points and no need to repeat your performance on the other goals.
What I didn’t see was an indication of the number of matched pairs available. I really love this feature. *There is an attempt here at a story, which was badly started, because I have no idea what it meant.*
I liked that, though not a widescreen game, it catered to wide screens by having wallpaper on the sides. This could have been more magical [piratical] though.
And forget the other nice things I said about the pirate game. If you must get one of these, get Mahjong Gold, although this one is slightly more relaxing.
I don’t recommend this game!
And I wrote this BEFORE I found out about the Hoyle's Illusions IHOG! Now, gotta go back to bfg forums and sound off some more.
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