Mahjong Gold

Mahjong Gold
by 8Floor Games - November, 2013

Available at:
Big Fish
GameHouse
iWin



All hands on deck! Join in the search for Long John Silver's buried treasure in this Mahjong pirate adventure! Uncover the secrets of the legendary pirate as you travel around the world to distant lands, uncovering gold tokens along the way. Each level has been painstakingly balanced with special tokens and extraordinary missions that offer a whole new perspective on a classic game!

• 120 unique levels
  
• More than six hours of game-play
  
• Beat the game with new rules
  
• The pirate's treasure awaits you
  

Click images to enlarge
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Pirates Ahoy! ****

BASED ON FULL HOUR DEMO

This pirate-themed game has the standard features I would expect in any mahjong game. This includes:

• 20 different boards x 6 locales (from Cabin Boy to 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
• Pirate-themed board designs
• Shuffle option
• 3 types of tiles – original, pirate and large print numbers (The pirate tiles are absolutely beautiful)
• High scores and Achievements
• Comic style backgrounds
• Exceptional pirate music (give the composer a bonus for this one, it’s worth buying the game for that alone!)

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. Also absent were options for showing the clear tiles. It also doesn’t attempt a story, other than the naming of the various locations. Which is good or bad news depending on your preferences.

I liked that, though not a widescreen game, it catered to wide screens by having wallpaper on the sides. This could have been more piratical though.

For me, the big difference between this and other mahjong games was the total disregard for the notion that it is traditionally seen as a game of relaxation. The pirate music is swash-buckling fun and probably deserved to be in a game involving the sinking of ships, but it certainly isn’t going to ease you into a restful sleep.

For all that, I love this game’s atmosphere. It makes for a lively and pleasant change.

I recommend this game!