Game Reviews

Big Bang Board Games

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Big Bang Board Games

New technology always provides an opportunity for older games to experience a rebirth. Whether it's a retro remake or a revitalisation of a past favourite, iPhone has already served as a starting point for so many of these games. Big Bang Board Games aspires to that very purpose, but rather than bursting into something fresh it explodes into a royal mess.

Seven boardgames make up the mix: checkers, Reversi, mancala, backgammon, 4-in-a-row, Tic-tac-toe, and chess. Each game follows a traditional rule set, so you won't find any wild variations – just good, solid boardgames. You need to know how to play each before jumping right in since Big Bang Board Games doesn't include any instructions. Tic-tac-toe and Reversi are easy enough to figure out, but more intricate or less immediate games like chess and mancala will require you to look up rules on the web.

Including more than half a dozen games gives Big Bang Board Games great value. Most also offer a dip-in, dip-out mechanic which suits portable gaming perfectly. Spark it all with pretty visuals and it's easy to be drawn in. The foundation for a dynamite mobile experience is there, yet any chance of delivering great gameplay is blown by technical issues and lacking features.

Dealing with a host of severe bugs requires having as much patience as sitting through a lecture on astrophysics. Big Bang Board Games fails with frequent crashes that either freeze the device or drop you back to the home screen. Checkers proved the worst offender, crashing the game in this manner at least 90 per cent the time. Which is unacceptable.

If you decide to brave Big Bang Board Games despite our warning, you'll also find a surprising lack of features. As previously mentioned, instructions for each game aren't included. More egregious is the lack of hot swap multiplayer, which would be a natural fit since each boardgame is inherently designed for head-to-head play. Not supporting wi-fi or network play is one thing, but omitting two-player competition on the same device has us saying "check mate" to this hampered collection.

The game does look great, although it's really pointless when you consider flashy graphics don't mean a thing when playing a game of checkers that ultimately crashes to your home screen. Instead of focusing on graphics, it would have been better to incorporate attractive features such as achievements, bonus board artwork or pieces, and perhaps even an extra game.

Of course, the biggest omission is multiplayer. Without features to encourage solo play, head-to-head competition would have filled the gap. Unfortunately that, combined with the enumerated technical flaws, ensure Big Bang Board Games is more of a disorienting flash bang than truly explosive entertainment.

Big Bang Board Games

Technical issues and a surprising lack of features leave Big Bang Board Games in pieces
Score
Tracy Erickson
Tracy Erickson
Manning our editorial outpost in America, Tracy comes with years of expertise at mashing a keyboard. When he's not out painting the town red, he jets across the home of the brave, covering press events under the Pocket Gamer banner.