Quick Draw, by Swipe Interactive
$1.99, Three and a half stars
Pros:
Cons
Pictionary comes to the iPhone! With Quick Draw, you can play Pictionary on the iPhone. Against other people!
First off, let me just say the offline mode for playing is basically just for practicing. You are given a word, and you have 60 seconds to make a drawing. There is no one guessing, so it is really just to practive the tools and hone your drawing skills.
Once you have practiced enough, you can play online. I believe this requies data usage, as you log on to the server. There are no options to play via local wifi or bluetooth - hopefully these will be added. Once you log on to the server, you are presented with 8 "rooms" - each with a specific theme. You can see how many people are playing in each room to help you decide where you want to play.
First issue - there is no way to create a "private" game. If you log on and join a room, anyone else can join in an play. There is no way to customize a room (either in terms of a theme or difficulty), nor is there any way to limit who else can play. I tried playing a game with my wife, and we ended up with about 6 people playing.
When you enter a room, you immediately start to participate in a game, regardless if there is a game already in progress. If there is, you just jump right in.
Second issue - A game consists of ten "rounds", alternating who is drawing and everyone else trying to guess. They don't tell you how the score is kept - I think it is a combination of how quickly you guess correctly (when guessing) and how many people guess your drawing (when drawing). But the problem is if you join a game already in progress, the other people have a score but you don't! When one game ends, the next one immediately starts right away with round one.
So you join a game, guess when you can, draw when it is your turn. It is actually fun to participate like that. I believe the guesses have to be 100% accurate (no incorrectly spelled words or typos).
Third issue - people cheating. I was playing against people who were simply writing the word that they were supposed to draw. There is an option to report cheating (and offensive drawings) but I don't know what happens. I think people should get booted from the servers, but the cheaters continued to play - not even any point deduction!
When drawing, you can choose a pencil color to draw with. You also have an eraser option (and can shake to clear the screen, although a button would be nice). Drawing can take a little bit of getting used to, because there is a little lag on the iPhone screen, but I still found I was able to draw reasonably well.
I strongly, strongly applaud Swipe Interactive for including an online, multiplayer aspect to this game. This kind of service needs to be included in ALL the various party and TV Game show games - it makes it 500% better to play online against someone. I really wish they had just "cleaned up" the online aspects - allowing private rooms, customization of difficulty or topics, and some sort of real detriment against cheating. But I guess you can have everything.
All in all, this is a fun game to play with people. You can coordinate so you get in the same room and play a game of online pictionary. Offline play is really lacking, as you basically can just practice drawing - it would be nice to see some expansion of the offline game mode. But the drawing is fun, and if you can get past the people cheating, it is fun playing against other people. At $1.99 it isn't bad (there is a free version which I think is just the offline version) so give it a shot if you like pictionary. Three and a half out of five stars.
Rating scale:
* = No redeeming qualities or features, probably not worth it even if it is free
** = Few redeeming qualities, or is simply isn't worth the price
*** = Some good features but also some clear flaws.
**** = A solid app, worth the money if interested, a few flaws or problems or slightly overpriced
***** = Top of the line app, no problems or drawbacks.
Price is factored into the ratings. Ratings are lowered if I feel the price of the app outweighs the benefits/enjoyment/features it provides. Likewise, an app that is a good value for the money will have a higher rating.
$1.99, Three and a half stars
Pros:
- Pictionary comes to the iPhone
- Multiplayer support!
Cons
- Multiplayer is not well thought out
- Drawing tools need to be refined
Pictionary comes to the iPhone! With Quick Draw, you can play Pictionary on the iPhone. Against other people!
First off, let me just say the offline mode for playing is basically just for practicing. You are given a word, and you have 60 seconds to make a drawing. There is no one guessing, so it is really just to practive the tools and hone your drawing skills.
Once you have practiced enough, you can play online. I believe this requies data usage, as you log on to the server. There are no options to play via local wifi or bluetooth - hopefully these will be added. Once you log on to the server, you are presented with 8 "rooms" - each with a specific theme. You can see how many people are playing in each room to help you decide where you want to play.
First issue - there is no way to create a "private" game. If you log on and join a room, anyone else can join in an play. There is no way to customize a room (either in terms of a theme or difficulty), nor is there any way to limit who else can play. I tried playing a game with my wife, and we ended up with about 6 people playing.
When you enter a room, you immediately start to participate in a game, regardless if there is a game already in progress. If there is, you just jump right in.
Second issue - A game consists of ten "rounds", alternating who is drawing and everyone else trying to guess. They don't tell you how the score is kept - I think it is a combination of how quickly you guess correctly (when guessing) and how many people guess your drawing (when drawing). But the problem is if you join a game already in progress, the other people have a score but you don't! When one game ends, the next one immediately starts right away with round one.
So you join a game, guess when you can, draw when it is your turn. It is actually fun to participate like that. I believe the guesses have to be 100% accurate (no incorrectly spelled words or typos).
Third issue - people cheating. I was playing against people who were simply writing the word that they were supposed to draw. There is an option to report cheating (and offensive drawings) but I don't know what happens. I think people should get booted from the servers, but the cheaters continued to play - not even any point deduction!
When drawing, you can choose a pencil color to draw with. You also have an eraser option (and can shake to clear the screen, although a button would be nice). Drawing can take a little bit of getting used to, because there is a little lag on the iPhone screen, but I still found I was able to draw reasonably well.
I strongly, strongly applaud Swipe Interactive for including an online, multiplayer aspect to this game. This kind of service needs to be included in ALL the various party and TV Game show games - it makes it 500% better to play online against someone. I really wish they had just "cleaned up" the online aspects - allowing private rooms, customization of difficulty or topics, and some sort of real detriment against cheating. But I guess you can have everything.
All in all, this is a fun game to play with people. You can coordinate so you get in the same room and play a game of online pictionary. Offline play is really lacking, as you basically can just practice drawing - it would be nice to see some expansion of the offline game mode. But the drawing is fun, and if you can get past the people cheating, it is fun playing against other people. At $1.99 it isn't bad (there is a free version which I think is just the offline version) so give it a shot if you like pictionary. Three and a half out of five stars.
Rating scale:
* = No redeeming qualities or features, probably not worth it even if it is free
** = Few redeeming qualities, or is simply isn't worth the price
*** = Some good features but also some clear flaws.
**** = A solid app, worth the money if interested, a few flaws or problems or slightly overpriced
***** = Top of the line app, no problems or drawbacks.
Price is factored into the ratings. Ratings are lowered if I feel the price of the app outweighs the benefits/enjoyment/features it provides. Likewise, an app that is a good value for the money will have a higher rating.
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