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You know what you do with Mahjong? Turn it into a war game. That’s magical. That’s
what this game does, and hey...you know what else you do? You make the tiles 3D.
Obviously, I’m being a jerk. It’s Mahjong 3D: Warriors of the Emperor.
Now, it’s not that those things in and of themselves ruin Mahjong 3D. You couldn’t
even call it that without the 3D, and listen...wars with samurais and parchment paper? Always
a good thing. But it’s what this game neglects in favor of the superfluous that leaves a
bad taste in my mouth.
So you play as a young Chinese king. I’m not even going to try with the names. That’s
the thing. It’s easy to write reviews—those cowards can type whatever they want. Hey,
try reading that crap into a microphone! I gotta be like, “Oh, you’re this king,
and he’s trying to conquer these places.” I’m like Michael Cera trying to translate
the Bible.
So it’s cool that there’s a story...I guess. I mean, I don’t really need them
from puzzle games, but games like Puzzle Quest show that there’s definitely room for that.
But the problem I have is with the game’s decision to go 3D...specifically, the design
decision that move implies.
Now, the 3DS has two screens, right? And each one does something different. The top screen
does 3D graphics, but the bottom would let you actually touch the tiles. It’s okay
that Mahjong 3D went with 3D tiles instead of tiles you can touch, but at least find
a way to take advantage of the touch screen, as well. This game doesn’t.
See, you play by dragging your stylus on the bottom, which moves a cursor on top. So right
off the bat, you have this disconnect between the touch and the cursor, and it feels a bit
weird. The worst part, though, is how you make the matches. You have to touch a tile,
hold down the cursor, drag it to a match and release...and you do all this with the inherent
disconnect. It just feels like...there had to be a better way to do this.
Fortunately, if you can get the hang of it, there is a lot here in terms of content. The
game has a ton of levels, let alone varieties. There are a few different types you deal with,
including “debate” levels where you have to outmatch the computer. And if you somehow
want more, there’s even a level editor in this freaking thing.
This game has everything.
Well, except a natural and smooth control scheme. And that’s why I was so lukewarm
about Mahjong 3D: Warriors of the Emperor. It contends that 3D graphics and feature lists
and level editors are important enough to make simple control an afterthought.
Meh, I’d argue the opposite.