EA Hasbro has released screenshots of Monopoly, Battleship, and Connect 4, another volley of board game apps soon to be launched into the App Store. EA has taken these big name boardgames and turned them into visually pleasing video games for your Apple handheld but there have been a few complaints about the current EA Hasbro games so you may want to look before you leap into these purchases.
App Store reviews suggest WiFi functionality seems to be either left out or working poorly for most of the current EA Hasbro releases. This leaves the user to either “pass-and-play” (do you really want to pass hand your $300+ iPhone around in a circle? “Oops, I cracked your screen.”) or play against computer-AI players.
Anything in the App Store faces intense competition and of course there are substitutes in the market of classic board games. It’s not the hardest thing in the world to steal Battleship’s or Connect4’s basic rules and make a game. Some of the alternatives that have popped up in the App Store include iSinkU and Link4.
Most of the knockoffs have low quality graphics and cant match up to EA’s 3D animated missile firing gunships and exploding red and black circles but iSinkU offers some decent 3D graphics that could survive a blind seabattle against EA’s Battleship.
Link4 on the other hand doesn’t out do the big name game with fancy graphics (high-res red and black circles anyone?) but it has online mulitplayer and the app is free, supported by advertisements. Link4 allows you to connect to a game server and play a random opponent and even allows you to trash talk… sorta. The instant chat in Link4 is very censored to protect our virgin ears… eyes… whatever. If Connect 4 doesn’t offer online play, it just won’t compete.
I still think EA Hasbro has the right idea. Brand names with eye catching graphics will get people buying but since they’re not first in the market, they better make sure they’re bringing a better quality product to the table or informed consumers won’t toss them the $1.99-$2.99 they’re charging. Keep an eye out for EA Hasbro’s upcoming releases on the App store but shop around first. There’s nothing wrong about going indie if it’s cheaper or free.
Release dates haven’t yet been announced. All games mentioned are/will be available in the Apple App Store.
Are you an iPhone app shopper and are these games that catch your attention?
Sources: AppAdvice, Joystiq, AppStoreHQ
