4 in a Row
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| 4 in a Row (mobile)

I've always regarded Connect 4 as the grown up's version of noughts and crosses. With noughts and crosses, once you'd reached maturity (i.e., old enough to dress yourself and brush your teeth without assistance) it became very hard to lose. Almost every match would end in stalemate.

Connect 4, on the other hand, represents a tougher challenge, with pieces having to be stacked on top of each other and the grid being far expanded beyond a simple 3x3 base.

There can't be many people out there who haven't had a go at Connect 4 or one of its clones over the years, and Hands-On's 4 in a Row doesn't attempt to upset the apple cart by altering the formula behind its success - although, speaking of apples, it does bring a slightly fruity feel to proceedings. In fact, if someone were to write 4 in a Row's epitaph, it would read, quite simply, “Connect 4. But with fruit.”

That's pretty much all there is to it. Besides the kinds of options every game offers (such as switching the game's music on or off or perusing the names of the development team,) the only choices available to anyone playing are whether they want to go first or second and the level of difficulty they'd like to assign to their competitor.

This isn't a clone that attempts to expand upon the original, or even add a few nobs and bobs onto the formula to try and extend gameplay. But is staying faithful to a game we all know and love so wrong?

Using lemons and strawberries, 4 in a Row plays exactly how you would expect - the '4' and '6' keys moving your fruit left and right along the grid before the '5' key drops it in place.

The skill and awareness of your opponent is directly tied to the difficulty level you choose before you enter into a contest, of course, with the game's lowest setting offering up little competition once you find your rhythm.

Usually it can be overcome simply by placing your first three pieces in a line in the centre of the grid, leaving your rival nowhere to go to halt your progress.

Things don't get much more difficult until you ramp up the level of your opponent to the top setting, although even then, you'd be hard pushed to notice any significant difference.

It's all down to luck: some games you can make exactly the same moves only to be foiled immediately, whereas in others your opponent will walk right into your trap, whatever the difficulty.

In that way, 4 in a Row perfectly illustrates the tussle that exists in your average Connect 4 battle: a fight between trying to set up your opponent and staving off the attacks they make against you.

If that's all you want from a Connect 4 clone, then you need not go any further than 4 in a Row. But, rather than simply recreating what is a very simple game on your mobile, some semblance of a career mode or even a twist on standard play might well have been welcome.

A timer? A third player? Some kind of score system? Any of the above might have transformed functional into fun.

As it is, this is as Ronseal as your average mobile game gets. It's a remake of a long-standing game that comes with no added bells and whistles, but one that does the game it clones a service simply by translating its gameplay perfectly. Just don't expect any surprises.

4 in a Row

In truth, 4 in a Row is little more than a Connect 4 clone, with added fruit. It's nothing special in that regard, but anyone looking for a quick and simply way of replicating the game on their phone need look no further; this is Connect 4 in everything but name
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Keith Andrew
Keith Andrew
With a fine eye for detail, Keith Andrew is fuelled by strong coffee, Kylie Minogue and the shapely curve of a san serif font. He's also Pocket Gamer's resident football gaming expert and, thanks to his work on PG.biz, monitors the market share of all mobile OSes on a daily basis.