Filed under: iPhone, App Store, iPod touch, App Review
A really bad approach to Reversi on the iPhone
Reversi, sometimes known under the trade name Othello is a really terrific board game. The game goes back to at least 1888, and is said with some truth that it takes a few minutes to learn but a lifetime to master. Reversi has been very popular as a computer game for many years. In most versions you can play another human, or play against the computer. It seems popular among Mac enthusiasts, and Ted Landau, who created and oversees the venerable MacFixit web site is a one time National Champion of the game, and came in 3rd in the World Championships in 1984. Go Ted!
The iPhone/ iPod touch has had many Othello/Reversi games available. Some play OK, some do fairly well, but doing quality artificial intelligence on a phone is no small challenge.
That brings me to the app at hand, called ReversiSister [no App Store link yet], from Japanese game authors DigiDock. To call it a new approach to the game would be an understatement. As you play, music blares in the background, while an animated cheerleader shouts at you. As Reversi is a game that takes concentration, I can't imagine why on earth someone would think this is a smart approach to game design. On top of that, the game does not play very well, and in my first game the app crashed near the end so I don't know who won, but I was ahead when the game went south.
You can turn down the sound and the irritating cheerleader, but that really doesn't improve the game play, and even if the cheerleader is turned off you can still see her waving her arms around.
There are some pretty fair Reversi games at the app store, including Morocco, Reversi and Black and White, but Ted Landau, who plays far better than I has looked at most of them and thinks they are all pretty poor.
Well, good or bad there is nothing worse than ReversiSister. It's loud, irritating, plays badly and crashes every so often. I'd give you the link to the game, but it's not yet listed in the US App Store. That's probably a good thing, but watch for it if you are a masochist. Here's a link to a YouTube video of the game play. Consider yourself warned. The game is going to sell for $0.99US.
Here's a collection of screen grabs:
Gallery: ReversiSister for iPhone
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
justflybob said 8:21PM on 4-16-2009
It's just a cultural thing. Like Pachinko parlors, some Japanese gaming logic makes little or no sense to westerners.
That doesn't excuse shoddy programming implementation, however.
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Ryan Trevisol said 9:32PM on 4-16-2009
Yes, like the Baseball superstars game, I got the lite version of that, and wanted to like it. It was graphically nice, well executed, but the gameplay and logic were just impenetrable for me.
Morocco ftw!
franktinsley said 10:25PM on 4-16-2009
What? No review of Reversi and Sexy Girl? http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=301398757&mt=8
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Seph2409 said 5:51AM on 4-17-2009
Aren't you supposed to tell us about good software? It isn't exactly difficult to find bad stuff on the app store.
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prettyfly said 7:15AM on 4-17-2009
Mel, a small correction. Yes, Ted Landau did complain about the quality of the AI on the reversi apps on the app store, but did point out that one of them (Reversi by Kiss the Machine) was fairly decent. I quote, from his comment below the article:
"However, the game was still good enough to defeat me if I wasn’t careful. It would certainly be a tough opponent for most people who buy the game."
And I concur.
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gavinovz said 11:30AM on 4-17-2009
That's almost funny.
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Mark Miller said 1:44AM on 4-18-2009
I agree. This ReversiSister app looks rather unattractive, at least to me, especially with its colors in the screen shot, although perhaps you can change the colors.
There is one terrific Reversi game in the App store and it's called Reversi Online Tournament (I think I paid $1.99 for it a month or so ago but they're advertising today that the app is FREE just for today).
What I like about Reversi Online Tournament is that you can play other people from around the world online, or if you want you can also play against the computer AI.
I've only played it once so far (I have too many other games that distract me, especially my favorite, Bejeweled 2), but it was a rather nice experience, and that experience was playing online against someone else.
I myself had been waiting for a long time for a good Reversi app to show up in the App store, as the ones I've seen up until this one came out didn't really tempt me. So you may want to give this one a shot, especially TODAY, since you can download it for FREE.
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Rick Cas said 4:37AM on 4-18-2009
This is the funniest post I've ever read on TUAW. More bad apps please!
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iDarbert said 7:14AM on 4-18-2009
Meh, I suck at Reversi no matter how much I concentrate so I might as well play with the distractions.
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nanfeiyan said 3:19AM on 7-14-2009
Try Smart Reversi at:http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=319892777&mt=8
It's good.
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