Author
Josh Cox
Price: $4.99
Publisher: G5 Entertainment
To my surprise, I’ve found that quite a few people have never heard of the game, mahjongg. If you are one of those unfortunate people, please allow me to enlighten you. The basic concept of mahjongg is a simple matching game. The game is played with around 144 colorful tiles that each has a matching partner. The tiles are stack and laid out in different formation and you, as the player, must match all of the tiles. If you are a mahjongg professional, please don’t call me out for not explaining all of the rules. There are many that are confusing and hard to explain without playing. For all of you mahjongg newbie’s that are researching this game just remember the basic rule of matching the like tiles.
Mahjongg Artifacts HD is one of those puzzle games that incorporates a back-story. The story, or Quest mode, focuses on you being an archeologist that travels around the world finding lost artifacts. You will find these artifacts once you have completed the mahjongg puzzle for a specific location. The Quest mode has 25 locations each with a different background, tile layout, and difficulty.
There are 5 tile sets and 100 layouts in Classic mode which allows you to choose the background, tile set, and layout. There is also an Endless mode where you can literally play forever because the tiles are stacked into a tower formation with more and more tiles being added to the bottom.
The graphics of Mahjongg Artifacts HD are great. The High-Def really shows through on the iPad screen. The tile sets are detailed and the 27 different backgrounds really give you an idea where you are on your journey through the Quest mode. In addition to having a background that represents the location you’re supposed to be; the music is inspired by those locations as well. Overall, the games aesthetics match each other very well.
The game’s controls are very basic and easy to use. All you will need to do is tap a tile and then tap the other tile that matches. There is also an auto-zoom feature that zooms in automatically as the puzzle gets smaller ensuring you continuously have a good view of the game board.
If you are a mahjongg fan and are looking for an iPad game that can satisfy you’re gaming needs, look no further. Mahjongg Artifacts HD is one of the best mahjongg games I’ve ever played. It looks great, sounds great, and is easy to control. At $4.99, it is in the middle of the road as far as price but this game literally has an endless amount of gameplay. The unlimited gameplay makes the price a little easier to swallow since as long as you have an iPad you will always have a unique mahjongg puzzle waiting for you.
Overall Value for it’s $4.99 price point
Overall: 4.5 out of 5.0 stars Graphics: 5.0 out of 5.0 stars Sound: 4.0 out of 5.0 stars Controls: 4.0 out of 5.0 stars