Mahjong Artifacts 2 Review
A disclaimer before I delve into this review: before playing Mahjong Artifacts, I had never played Mahjong before. That, being said, I greatly enjoyed this game.
Mahjong, as the game will quickly and effectively teach you in the tutorial level, is a game in which you must eliminate tiles from increasingly complex formations by matching similar tiles together. You can only match tiles that are not bordering another tile on at least one side. You win when you match the two gold tiles, which are usually in the middle of the board.
Mahjong Artifacts also throws in some non-traditional “power-ups” to make things more interesting. For example, a joker eliminates all tiles of a specific kind off the board.
Mahjong Artifacts has three game modes: quest, classic, and endless. Quest is the meat of the game and contains 25 levels spread across five environments with different tile sets. When you finish a tile set, you unlock it for classic and endless. There is some semblance of a story in which you are hunting the world for artifacts, and this is illustrated using comic panels.
Classic contains 99 levels, and endless gives unlimited layers of tiles to match. There is one problem with these modes, particularly endless: the lack of an autosave feature when you receive a call or quit to the home screen. This, however, is just a small oversight.
The controls and interface are extremely well done. Simply tap subsequently on two tiles and they will match. You can press a button in the lower left corner to do a universal zoom, and you can hold your finger on the screen to bring up a magnifying glass. There are also buttons at the bottom of the screen that allow you to do things like undoing your last move.
Mahjong Artifacts 2 contains an extreme amount of polish. All of the graphics are well-detailed and extremely crisp, and I honestly don’t have any complaints about them.
One thing I think that could be improved is the music. Mahjong has a bit of a reputation for being an old person’s game, and the sleepy music doesn’t do anything to change this.
All in all, whether you’re a Mahjong beginner or a seasoned veteran, this game will appeal to you. Seeing as I haven’t played any other App Store Mahjong games, I can’t day this one is the best, but I can say that it would be awfully hard to beat.
The Good
Lots of content
Good tutorial for beginners
High graphical polish
Great controls and interfaceThe Bad
No auto-save feature
Sleepy music
Note: This is the only video I could find. It’s a foreign video of the PC version, which is virtually identical to the iPhone one.
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Category: Games
I don’t have a mahjong game on my ipod touch either and now I kind of really want this
Hey, thanks for your comments!
I represent G5 Entertainment, the developer of Mahjongg Artifacts 2.
We already work over the update which will have auto-save feature. Also you’ll be able to access all content in CLASSIC & ENDLESS modes without passing the Quest!
We appreciate your feedback!
Great to hear from you! Really enjoyed the game.
Well, I don’t have a Mahjong game on my iPhone yet and your review did convince me this is the one I should get. I’m dying to try that quest mode.
Yeah, I totally agree the no auto save is a bummer. Hopefully they will update and add it. It is beautiful. =)
These seems like a fun app! But the only thing that should be included is auto-save! Thats what i am always looking for in apps like this.
Quest is the only one that allows you to you start from the last level completed. But I agree, the lack of an autosave function is a bummer. Otherwise, it is one of the best looking, most polished mahjong games out there.