3D Checkers for iPhone Reminds Me of The Good Old Days
By: Hillel Fuld
I have to admit, I am not much of a gamer myself, and this is primarily for two reasons. The first reason is just my preference, I prefer a good social app or a time saving utility on my phone over a good game any day… The other reason is that they just don’t make games like they used to. Who doesn’t remember the simplicity and pure fun offered by the Atari games back in the 80s? The new games are just so sophisticated and feature packed that they are missing the easiness of just turning on your phone (game console back then), intuitively knowing what to do, and starting a game.
For this reason exactly, I really enjoyed 3D Checkers for the iPhone from the second I opened the app. It is nicely designed, easy to operate, and offers more than enough options for any Checkers lover, beginner or expert. I am not going to claim that this app blew my mind, because it didn’t, but then again, I am pretty sure that was not the intention of the developer. They wanted to design a game that will give you a real life Checkers experience on your iPhone, with the ability to play against the phone, another player on the same device, or an opponent on their phone using bluetooth technology, and they succeeded.
A little bit about the app… When first opening the game, it automatically turns to landscape mode and you are presented with a welcome screen that offers the ability to choose who you are playing against, as well as the level of the game. I tried the easy level against the device, and won, which should illustrate the fact that the Easy level is REALLY easy… You can also choose whether the game automatically jumps when a jump is possible, I am not really seeing the point of that, but maybe some people would like it.
At this point, you can begin playing by pressing the oversize Play button (I love oversize icons), or press More to report a problem, give feedback on iTunes, or view your game history including stats of your previous games. The game itself is very visually appealing with a real life 3D display of the board. You can always return to the initial screen by clicking a large Options button on the top right corner of the display or have the app display the last move made in the game, just in case you missed it.
The game is very responsive and picks up exactly what you want to do and how you want to move. I would have liked the actual pieces to be a little bit bigger so they are easier to move, but then again, I have fatter fingers than most. Like I said, the easy level is very easy, but enjoyable (who doesn’t like to win?), and the levels do increase significantly in difficulty, with the hardest level really giving you a run for your money.
The app has some nice noise effects as well, in addition to two different boards, one called Black Steel, and one called Classic, both very nice looking. All in all, a very fun and easy to use app, that I would recommend to any Checkers lover, and let’s be honest here, who doesn’t love a good game of Checkers?
Our Rating: 4/5
Developer: Koduco
