MineSweeper

For killing time, there is probably no better game than the classic desktop fun of MineSweeper which has been brought to your mobile.

Well alright, this isn’t the first incarnation of this classic game but it is pretty darn good! From the start you can either set it to give you the full blown animation version or the classic display which we’re all familiar with.

For this game you may as well go for the animated version to add a little fun to your gaming experience. You get to pick from the career mode, free play mode, multiplayer mode or tutorial. After selecting your character and difficulty setting, you get the option to purchase some special abilities. In my opinion, it’s a little pointless as you can only purchase the least useful of the four available at this beginning stage, however, its nice to be given the choice.

In any of the above games you start with a grid (as per usual) and highlight the one you desire stamping on to locate the mines location. If you’re lucky your character will survive the test and reveal where mines are in adjacent squares, and indeed in what quantity (this is done via a large digit detailing how many mines that square is touching). Alternatively should you stamp on a mine, your character in animated style will be engulfed in a rather large ball of fire and be left smoking – and yes, that’ll be the end of your game.

For every level you successfully clear in career mode, you will be rewarded with money which you can use to buy the special items to help you clear the following level(s). These items are ‘Free Mine’ (which reveals one mine at random), ‘Body Armour’ (which prevents losing the game when you tread on a mine), ‘Power Detector’ (which highlights and flags mines automatically) and ‘Field Scanner’ (where all mines are revealed for several seconds).

For me, these additions are quite fun and add a new level of playability which are devoid in other versions of the game. Some may prefer the game in its original form, but you all will be challenged and given lots of fun by playing this game and can take advantage or ignore these bonus items if you may prefer to play in the purist style.

Overall, this is a brilliant pocket game and excuse to slink away for five minutes whenever you want to escape the day-to-day grind. In total, this is a very addictive game and offers a few nice surprises and good playability.

Rating 89%

Positives

Addictive

Good twist on a classic game

Both classic and animated versions available to play

Negatives

The animations don’t really add a great deal to the overall game-play

Not enough really added make this game truly ‘brilliant’