Sudoku Story Deluxe Reviews
0/5 rating based on 1 reviews. Read all reviews for Sudoku Story Deluxe for iPhone.
Sudoku Story Deluxe is paid iOS app published by Despicably Good LLC
Enjoyable, but under-polished and over-priced.
Baggins of 41
The concept of this game is great- take a Sudoku puzzle and add a battle system on top that makes solving the puzzle quickly a fun challenge rather than a simple matter of beating your best time. Unfortunately, the execution leaves a lot to be desired. From a technical perspective, this game is solid and well made. I haven't seen any evidence of bugs or poor coding. The problem is in the design. The game feels like a nineties-era shareware game updated with high-res art. The UI is functional, but not pretty. The help system is sparse, leaving many of the game's RPG mechanics up to the player to deduce through trial and error. The use of colored stat bars everywhere instead of actual numbers does not help in this regard. The "Story Mode" also feels tacked on. The story is told entirely through graphic novel pages unlocked as you complete puzzles. Essentially, for every two puzzles you complete, a new page is made available to be read at your leisure. What occurs in the story has little impact on the gameplay and your performance in the game has no impact on the story. I have not yet unlocked enough pages to judge whether the story itself is any good, but it is so disconnected from the game, I'm unlikely to care much either way. Finally, micro-transactions: I don't mind them generally and this certainly isn't the worst implementation I've seen, but it's a bit annoying for a game at the $3 price point to be prompting you at the beginning of *every* level to buy what are essentially cheats. "Power Ups" like "Invincible Audrey" that literally makes it impossible to lose? Seriously? At least there are no ads or prompts to purchase things during the actual gameplay, like some other less scrupulous games. The only way to get the (consumable) Power Ups is by spending actual money- you can't earn them in-game. Fortunately, it doesn't look like you actually need to use them to progress, though it's possible that may change at the higher difficulty levels of the end-game. Ultimately, this is a decent idea done, not poorly, but not overly well, either. If it comes down to a more reasonable .99 price point, or you really, really love Sudoku and want a bit more of a challenge, go ahead and pick it up. Otherwise, skip it.