Heist is an Android game that can be played with your smartphone or tablet, but it isn’t just any Android game as it merely uses your smartphone or tablet for the controller, while the visuals of the game are played on your TV or another monitor or screen. This is because Heist is actually a game designed for Chromecast, which means that you connect the game up to whatever display your Chromecast is hooked into. It’s also a game that’s designed for more than one player, and as such you’ll end up needing at least four people to play but you can have more people connected if you want to. As this isn’t a game that you’ll be playing by yourself, how fun it is might collectively be decided by the group of people you play with, so let’s take a closer look at the game and see what it has to offer its potential players.
Before you can get started with checking out Heist for the first time, you’ll want to head to the Play Store and install Heist to get things going. Heist is free, but it does offer in-app purchases, which is simply a one-time buy of the game. You will end up needing to buy it eventually as Heist will only allow you to play the first few games for free.
When you first open up Heist you’ll be asked to connect to a Chromecast device by tapping on the “Play” button. Once done, you can proceed with the next couple of steps to begin the game.
Once everyone is set up, the gameplay is actually pretty simple, however, there is a tutorial that can walk you through the different aspects of the game and its details if you want to be completely clear on the rules. To get to this simply tap the “how to play” button on the screen and it will run you through a series of rules.
You can essentially have as many players as you want it seems, with either two or three teams. The game recommends that teams be of equal size, which, is probably a good idea to make the game more fair as well as easier to play. Teams include bank robbers and cops, as the game is called Heist, after all, and if there is a third team playing there will be bankers as well.
When the game starts, you’ll have a game board laid out on the TV screen or monitor, and there will be a number of pieces on the board. Nine cards are color coordinated to each team, which are orange for robbers, blue for cops, and green for bankers if the third team is playing, and there will be a set of neutral bank cards which are gray, as well as yellow cards which are for the bomb.
The idea of the game is to turn over all your cards before the other team or teams, but you can only do so if your team has guessed the correct word or phrase, called a clue, which is decided upon by the team captain. Cards can also be laid out with words or pictures on the game board, and the captain will need to offer up a clue to the team based on these cards. If the team correctly guesses, they can tap that corresponding card on screen and move closer toward the goal of overturning all cards first. Players can also choose whether or not to set a timer for each time a clue is being guessed by tapping the timer button on screen, which lasts for one minute.
If the bomb card is tapped, this instantly ends the game as it gets rid of the team, and it’s explained that it should be avoided at all costs. How many bombs are on the board is decided before the game starts, with options for one to three bombs. This is also the screen where you decide how many teams are playing, and whether you want to use pictures or words for the cards.
When it comes down to it, Heist is a neat little game that can be lots of fun with the right amount of people, however, the more players the better as you’ll want at least two team captains and two other players, one per team. While the rules aren’t complex in the first place there are quite a few things to take into account, but once you learn them, Heist is very simple to play, and it makes great use of the Chromecast. If you frequently have friends over or your looking for something fun to do with family, Heist is a nice option to liven things up a bit.
Ratings
- Speed (5/5) – Nothing out of the ordinary here. The game opens up quickly and connects to the Chromecast quickly so all is well.
- Theme (4/5) – The game UI looks nice and is easy to interact with.
- Features (4/5) – The game isn’t packed with features but has what it needs to be fun and entertaining
- Overall (4/5) – A great game in a party setting with a handful of people. Definitely worth trying.
Pros
- Easy to play
- How To Play instructions for those who want them
- Ability to play with up to three teams
- Free trial
Cons
- Wasn’t clear on whether or not other players had to connect to the game with their own phones.
When it comes to games that are played over Chromecast, Heist is one which proves to be entertaining and especially so with a large enough group of people so as to allow for splitting up into the maximum of three groups. While the game does end up costing a few bucks, Heist allows you to test things out by playing a few games so you can get the feel of things before you have to buy which is a nice touch, and the game is pretty easy to play. Should any players have challenges with the rules, the How To Play tutorial explains things enough to make the gameplay pretty clear which users will definitely like. In the end, Heist is certainly a game that is good to keep in the library for those times when you have may have friends or family around and are looking for something fun that can engage everyone.