Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Draw Something Review

If you have an iPhone... and maybe even if you don't, you've probably heard about the latest craze since Words with Friends: Draw Something. (I never played Words with Friends. But I understand it's something like Scrabble + Facebook.) Draw Something takes the same concept, and blatantly rips off Pictionary instead of Scrabble. It's super simple: you get three choices of words (that are supposedly easy, medium, or hard), you pick one, and draw it. The person with whom you are playing can watch you draw it and guesses what it is. There is a pool of letters to choose from to make it a little easier. Then they draw something for you.

I was curious, so I gave it a try.

I will admit, it's very addicting at first, but the novelty wears off pretty quickly. I had about 10 games going the first few days, but after a week or so I really only have a few friends that take their turn on a daily basis. I personally decided I would only check it once or maybe twice in the evening - I don't get wi-fi on my iPod touch at work anyway, so that wasn't a very hard choice. It's fun, but there's not a lot of depth to it.

Still, there's a free version (with ads) and we got the paid version for $1 on sale. I think we got a dollar's worth of entertainment out of it. And some of the people who respond less often get very creative with how they depict the word. I appreciate the potential for creativity the game engenders. I do think it would be much, much easier on an iPad or with a stylus, but part of the challenge is drawing something with only your fingers and a limited color palate (you can unlock more colors the more you play, but you start with 4).

I understand why the developers included bombs (for when you get stuck), but so far they have only been annoying. The "use a bomb" button is right next to the letters to guess the word, so I have accidentally used a bomb when trying to pick a letter (or just accidentally brushing the screen) no less than THREE times, which I find a little ridiculous. I am probably in the minority here, but I find the placement of that button extremely obnoxious.

Anyway, it's a fun app for a while, and it's worth trying out the free version if you like Pictionary, but don't expect a lot of substance beyond that. It's a simple game, and a simple app.

2 comments:

  1. The problem I have with it is that the dictionary is too small, so I see a lot of repeat words that I can easily guess simply because I've seen it before. That, and the fact that a lot of the words are lousy words to have as a concept you can draw. Ludacris? QXR? Miley? How am I supposed to draw this?

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    1. I agree the dictionary is pretty limited; it's better in the paid version, but still not as great as it could be. I meant to mention that and forgot. XD

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