No matter how powerful our games consoles, PCs and smartphones become there will always be a place for the old classic games of the past. One such game is Mahjong, which is an ancient game many of you might have played before but, I am sure that many more of you have barely even heard of the game. Mahjong – Ancient Egypt hopes to introduce a new audience to the game with a new and different setting, along with a twist on the game itself.
Description: Mahjong – Ancient Egypt, brings with it the charm of the original game together with new and interesting Egyptian tiles. The game has a unique user interface that will make you feel like you’re a playing a game in Ancient Egypt. There are 19 levels to play and you can create your own Mahjong Puzzles from the ground up.
How it Works: To start playing Mahjong – Ancient Egypt you’ll have to download the game from the Play Store. After that you have a couple of choices.
You can choose to create your own game, or take a look at the other puzzle layouts included in the game.
Big Hole is one of my favorites, it’s a little twist on the original game:
To play the game, just tap on a tile and then tap on another tile that matches to remove pieces. As you go along, you’ll see that the stack will get smaller and smaller:
There are a number of different layouts, try them all out to see which is best:
Creating your own level is quite easy as well:
Opinion: I’ve played a number of Mahjong games for Android and while it can be said that there’s only so much you can do with the genre, Ancient Egypt is a nice change of setting. The ability to create your own levels and complete a number of different layouts is refreshing as well. Graphically, the tiles look good and the game is smooth however, it’s clear that this is a game that’s been designed for older devices and so even on displays of 1280 x 720, this game doesn’t look quite right.
Ratings
- Speed (4/5) – At no point did I feel the game was running poorly or slowly, it ran well on a number of different devices.
- Features (3.5/5) – It’s still another Mahjong game no matter how you cut it, but there are a number of things on offer that will provide a little extra fun.
- Theme (4/5) – While there’s nothing wrong with the look of the game – in fact it does look good – it’s decidedly low-resolution which could deliver a poor experience on some handsets.
- Overall (3.5/5) – Mahjong – Ancient Egypt is a game that’s fun to play but, if you’re using a phone with even a higher resolution, you might not like what you see.
Pros
- Ability to create your own Mahjong puzzles.
- Lots of different layouts to play keeps the game fresh.
- Egyptian tiles are definitely a breath of fresh air compared to the traditional Chinese set.
- Game is easy to follow, even without instructions of any kind.
Cons
- Low resolution graphics aren’t too good on the eyes.
- Ads take up too much space.
Conclusion: Mahjong – Ancient Egypt is definitely a game that has a few problems but, there’s a lot on offer to those that like puzzle games and board games. The ability to create your own puzzle will be satisfying to a lot of people and the Egyptian setting is certainly a change from all of the Chinese tiles and settings that we’ve been used to for years now. If you’re a fan of Mahjong games and the like, Ancient Egypt is a decent title to give a go.