Review: Wheel of Fortune Platinum for iOS
Wheel of Fortune has seen about 450,000 different iterations of at-home play. From the Nintendo Entertainment System to desktop models to the PS3 and your local casino, people love playing Hangman for money. The iOS version of America’s Game for the iPhone and iPod Touch was released not too long ago, and it is one the better iterations of a game show on the App Store, far surpassing the lazy hack job of the first Wheel of Fortune iPhone game.
GameLion has taken over the programming reigns from JavaGround, and the enhancements that WoF Platinum has over its not-so-shiny counterpart are welcomed with opened arms. The first thing to notice is the presence of actual music and sound effects (as opposed to poor MIDI recreations of music and sound effects that has plagued mobile versions of Wheel for years) in the game. Gameplay modes include a long-overdue multiplayer mode, which provides pass-and-play, network and local games for up to three players on three iPhones or iPod Touches. Pass-and-play works as expected, although unless you’re in close quarters with your fellow contestants, it’s hard to follow the game. I haven’t had the chance to test the local WiFi game, but I’m sure it works just fine. My attempt to play with someone random online proved fruitless, but after I post this article, I’ll have plenty of people to play with (my username is Pacdude. Plz to friend.) Single-player modes include regular TV show mode, a Toss-Up only mode, a Speed Up (Final Spin-style) round and two locked modes that will be unlocked in August. It’s a nice gimmick that will keep the game on my iPod Touch just to see what it is.
Customizing your character is also improved, although the default options have me looking like a raggedy-ass homeless dude. (Spare some change for a vowel?) In-app purchases can unlock more accoutrements for your WoF avatar, including ski goggles and 3D glasses, not to mention more styles of shirts and the like. For those who really want their avatar to look exactly like them in real life, then spending a couple bucks to get a pirate hat is, I’m sure, a welcome addition to the game. If you’re really looking to spend a few bucks to make this game better, spend your money on the ten different puzzle packs. At 99 cents a pop for 180 puzzles, it’s a good way to extend the life of the game without having to buy a whole new game.
The game, where it counts, is solid. The Wheel itself doesn’t look like a painful piece of crap anymore (someone figured out how to make JPGs!) and has all the decorations of the actual Wheel: LED Jackpot Wedge, Million Dollar Wedge, Wild Card, Free Play, and Mystery Things, none of which are sponsored by Eggland’s best, sadly. The arrangement of the rounds, however, is confusing to those who care about that kind of stuff: There are two toss-up puzzles, then the jackpot round, then a round with no gimmicks, then the Mystery Round. Edit: I’m the dumbass who hasn’t watched Wheel all season: commenter Kevin gave me the scoop and the arrangement of puzzles is correct. Odd, to say the least, but it’s not a dealbreaker. You still get plenty of spinning. And, if you don’t want to watch your CPU opponents (who border on absolutely merciless in the Hard difficulty) spin, buy or solve, there’s always a handy Skip button.
Overall, the game looks fantastic, and it plays equally so. The added features, including cool multi-player modes and online play, just add to the package. This is one of the best and most well-rounded game show games on the App Store, and it is well worth the $4.99.
Wheel of Fortune Platinum [via iTunes]
Looks very much like the WoF App for flip phones. It’s just much more fully featured. Plus, more puzzle packs are free for me. It’s also…like…6.99 or something on my end. It’s a well done game, though.
Well, Cory..the main reason for the odd arrangement of the rounds is because..the game is SUPER accurate! That is the arrangement on “Wheel of Fortune” now. The Jackpot Round is first, nothing on round two, mystery on round three. So that’s actually correct. lol.
Shows how much I fucking know. Thanks, Kevin! I’ll make that addendum to my review.
Cool! Yeah..it’s changed a bit since you were on the show. (Yes, I remember you being on!)
Stay classy.
Though, in your defense, Cory, that arrangement of rounds *is* pretty awkward.
In a sense, it can be, but it makes sense when watching the show in a way. I think, by putting nothing special in the 2nd round, they made their very effort in a long, long time to try to get the feel of old “Wheel” back….doing that by having anything special added to the wheel for the 2nd round and coming back with a cold open instead of Charlie speaking about a sponsor.
It could also be economic on the show. The first round, as it should, often gains less money than the other rounds. Therefore, moving the Jackpot Round to the 1st round, there may be less winning of the jackpots and, when wins take place, less money is given away.
I still think it’s awkward to have only one car on the stage and a prize (trip) described for round 1, before any actual action starts. Because of those, it can be deemed awkward. lol.
Bought the app in a flash. The same problem I had with the first iPhone game still remains in this one. I really wish that the game can filter out the short puzzles from the long ones. I seem to get really long puzzles for the toss-ups and really short ones for the regular rounds.
If I had any desire to buy an iPhone or iPod Touch, I’d buy this game faster than gamerrox did.
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