Sunday 7 December 2014

Sumdoit - 3.5 Stars


What is it?

I found this app through the Touch Arcade forum - a great place to see what indy developers are producing and a brilliant sharing community for hints and tips to getting your app right.

This appealed to me from the word 'puzzle'! When I went to look in the App Store I saw that it was a maths puzzle game. After my horrendous attempt at Financial Controls revision in November I wasn't sure if I was in the right frame of mind for this one, but hey ho ho (get it?) I gave it a shot.

When you open the app you are presented with three options 2x2, 3x3 and 4x4. Within those options you can choose from Easy, Difficult, Extreme and Insane... obviously I started on easy! To select the game you select your desired level and then press the play button (Sounds self-explanatory but I just constantly tapped the level to start the game - d'oh).


The easiest way to describe the game is from the 2x2 setup (pictured right). There are four blank squares in the middle and four answer squares around the edge. Above is a bar containing a selection of numbers that you need to drag into the the blank squares to create the appropriate sum that gets you the right answer. Once you advance to the Difficult level you have to also add in the +, -, x or / to the grid with the numbers again to get to the correct answer for all of the numbers around the edge.

If you do not like maths then this is not the game for you but if me you like a cheeky, numbers-related, brain teaser then this is pretty good game. I would even say it would help kids with thinking of maths in a different and interactive way (well as good as maths can be outside of counting Christmas presents!).

Being picky the app doesn't flow as easily as it could from one level to the next. Each time that you complete a level you are taken back to the main level and have hit play again. 


Other options available on the main menu include a heart, a connection icon, a question mark and a pie chart. The heart takes you back to the App Store to rate the app. The connection icon allows you to share the app with your friends on Facebook, Twitter, Email and via iMessage. The question mark gives you a summary of the game, but not in-depth instructions. Finally the pie chart takes you to the GameCentre to see how you are doing against friend and other players.

It took me a couple of games to realise that each level that you play is timed, with the scores collected cumulatively and displayed on the main menu. This then goes on to the Game Centre, but I am not sure how this is worked out as the person in the lead has used just 3 seconds so it must be by level!

There are ad's in the app and they are screen invaders with countdowns that are a bit annoying. 


Now for some ratings.....


Ease of use - 4
I am one of those people that will just try anything on an app or computer and if I break it, it's not my issue. But not everybody is like me and can be hesitant to just have a play. Personally I think that this game is relatively easy to grasp and use, but some instructions or tutorials would be good

Price - 5
This is a free app with no in app purchases. 

Adverts - 4
This app does have ads and pretty annoying ones. Full screen ads are all over the place and some are timed so you have to endure them for 5 to 10 seconds and yes I ended up in the App Store!

Keep, jury is out or delete - Keep
I liked this and will probably have the odd play of it over the next couple of weeks especially after the pain on my Finance exam has passed ;)

Overall Rating - 3.5
I like this app it is a good maths puzzle game :) 

Where to find it:
Apple: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/id933510213?mt=8 

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