Checkers free

 We've seen that Android games can clone better known games from video game history such as Bust-a-Move incredibly well. We've also seen that they can replicate things from the classroom such as Tic-Tac-Toe and now we'll have a look at the Android version of a board game classic. We'll start our look at board games by starting with Checkers Free from Optime Software (the same developers that made Tic-Tac-Toe).

Checkers, for those who don't know, is an old game also referred to as "draughts" and is similar, in some ways to Chess. Both start with the same number of piece at opposite sides of a board and need to try and take all of the opponents pieces off to win. Although the game is more complex than I'm making it sound it's simple enough to pick up and play and is a game that most people will have played at least once in their life.

As we can see from the title screen on the right the graphics are pretty basic but effective. The in game screens shots keep a similar sort of look
with a traditional feel of wood which looks authentic but doesn't blow you away. Though of course with a game like Checkers you're not going to be blown away with the way it looks. You could be playing with a 3-D board on a background of explosions and it'd still be the same game with the same basic "coloured piece on a board" look to it.

So lets get off looking at the game and lets get onto playing it. As is almost par for the course with this sort of thing you control the pieces by simply touching them with your finger. A simple control method for a well established game and one that works, oddly this is actually almost like the real thing and works well.

The return of Buttface!

Unlike the Tic-Tac-Toe game (which offered sound but never managed to deliver any) Checkers does manage to deliver some simple sounds. Most obvious is the sliding sound of moving the pieces around though if you beat the computer the is a congratulatory sounds whilst a loss is met with a loud "awww". Yes it seems a pointless addition but it's a nice addition.

Whilst the game and gameplay is something that works well we are just playing an electronic version of a a classic board game. Whilst it is nice and can be played with either 1 player (against the AI) or two players (sharing the same phone) you kind wish they'd of managed to get an on-line version and back ground music (not just the occasional sound) just to complete it.

Whilst the game isn't anything special it's obvious that Optime were limited to making it a Checkers game and Checkers having it's traditional rules will have stopped the developers from playing about too much. It does it's job and allows you to play checkers but it won't amaze you and unless your a big fan it won't have you hooked.

Addictiveness-6/10. It's checkers, you might love it, you might hate it but it's not hugely addictive.
Controls-9/10. They do exactly what you would expect of them.
Graphics-7/10 Authentic but nothing amazing, of course the limitations of it being "checkers" is a bit limiter.
Sounds-3/10 Just very basic “movement” sounds, and "ending" sounds, nothing amazing but something.
Originality-0/10 It's checkers. Not original in the slightest.

Total score
25/50

Overall it's an authentic checkers experience, it plays smoothly it looks alright and due to the number of difficulty settings you will find a challenge with it. Though then you realise it is checkers, it's not amazing and it lacks an online functions. Yeah it does what it does pretty well, the sound could be improved but it's solid through and through.

Game mark B-