3D Othello Deluxe

An important part of any game is the ability to learn from one's mistakes. Othello, both in its classic boardgame form and here on the humble mobile, provides that opportunity, giving you a first-hand view of exactly the kind of moves your opponent makes on the way to achieving victory.

Every defeat makes the next one less likely, giving you clues for how to shore up your defence in future tussles.

Of course, when I say that this mobile take on Othello offers the same learning experience, that's only when you play another human, passing the phone between you.

Playing one of the game's three AI settings changes things entirely, with your opponent's moves taken with such speed that it's often impossible to fathom just what move they've made, how they made it, and whether you walked into one of their traps or not.

As a wise man once said - me - you can't move forward if you can't see where you've come from.

Othello is the kind of game where improvement is key. For anyone who hasn't been forced into playing it with her Grandma during the festive season, Othello is a black and white stones based game where the goal is to flip your opponent's stones over to your colour.

Played on an 8x8 grid, it involves each player taking it in turns to place one stone at a time, the idea being to flank your opponent's pieces with your own, thus turning the whole line to your colour.

Planning ahead so you don't get caught out while also trying to flip as many of your opponent's stones as you can is the aim of the game.

If there's no place you can go, then your move is skipped and your rival gets to take advantage. If neither player can go, or when the board is filled, the game comes to an end and the number of each colour stone is counted to determine the winner.

But while the rules are fairly transparent, this is definitely not a game for amateurs.

This is the kind of pastime people spend years mastering and, at least in that respect, 3D Othello Deluxe (named as such because of the game's 3D, swinging camera) does it justice.

Even on its easiest setting, trying to outwit the game's AI is pretty testing. You can literally go tens of games before overcoming your rival, with every move you make being undone just seconds later to much frustration.

And it's that exceedindly short gap between your move and your opponent's that is the game's slight weakness. No one likes waiting around for a rival player to make his move, but 3D Othello Deluxe's are over in seconds.

Stones are placed and turned in such quick time that it's often impossible to see what move has just been made and what the end result was.

That might sound slightly trivial when written in black and white, but part of a successful Othello player's repartee is the ability to spot parts of the board where they might come unstuck so they can take steps to cover themselves.

If you can't see how you've been picked off, then you've no way of altering your style, and any chance of progression goes out of the window.

There's also a question of whether the game should offer more. Whether you win or lose, the end of the game is followed by a return trip to the menu screen, with 3D Othello Deluxe only keeping check of general statistics such as winning runs, total records and so on.

For a game that claims to be the 'deluxe' package, serving up the bare essentials and nothing more seems a little cheeky.

All in all, this makes rating 3D Othello Deluxe a question of what you want and expect from your average Othello title.

If you're a bit of an Othello whizz and want nothing more than to test your wits at an accelerated rate, then this should be your first and last appointment.

The rest of us, however, might be left feeling a little useless after our twentieth defeat in a row.