Needs computer AI
While the automa offers a good solo challenge, AI challengers would change this to 4 or 5.
No CPU opponents, Automa only.
For the most parts this is a really good - if very perfunctory- adaptation of the board game. No more, no less.
There’s basically no animation beyond icons sliding around the screen, sound effects are very basic, and most people will mute the short music loop within the first 5 minutes.
Worse than all of this however is a complete like of computer controlled opponents. The experience is like playing the board game solo, where the single opponent is controlled via a card draw in the exact same way as the tabletop. It can’t plan, it can’t anticipate. It just does its own random thing which may include rushing around the map within 3 turns doing very little, and playing entirely within its own unique rules.
It’s a great replica of the (fantastic) board game, but it’s totally reasonable to expect a little more than that in the move to digital, and it fails to deliver on that.
There’s basically no animation beyond icons sliding around the screen, sound effects are very basic, and most people will mute the short music loop within the first 5 minutes.
Worse than all of this however is a complete like of computer controlled opponents. The experience is like playing the board game solo, where the single opponent is controlled via a card draw in the exact same way as the tabletop. It can’t plan, it can’t anticipate. It just does its own random thing which may include rushing around the map within 3 turns doing very little, and playing entirely within its own unique rules.
It’s a great replica of the (fantastic) board game, but it’s totally reasonable to expect a little more than that in the move to digital, and it fails to deliver on that.
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Does not have an AI
So you can’t play a multiplayer game. This is a replacement of the physical board game; if you want to play with two players or more, then you need other humans to play with you
Horrible implementation and horrible dev support
I gave the developers a chance to respond to this before writing this review.
If I could give 0 stars, then I would. The app doesn’t even work on the iPad. It is stuck in a portrait orientation but landscape layout, so the game only takes up half of the screen and the other half is the buttons to start the game, etc. Unplayable. I wrote to the devs twice trying to get support, but was ignored. After a six week wait, I’ve decided to write this review to warn others away.
If I could give 0 stars, then I would. The app doesn’t even work on the iPad. It is stuck in a portrait orientation but landscape layout, so the game only takes up half of the screen and the other half is the buttons to start the game, etc. Unplayable. I wrote to the devs twice trying to get support, but was ignored. After a six week wait, I’ve decided to write this review to warn others away.
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Response from developer
We have just pushed an update that fixes this portrait orientation issue. I apologize that it has taken us a long time to understand how to solve this issue. Additionally, I'm really sorry that we missed your support requests. We are working on improving the feedback system on our website so this does not happen again. If you still have the game, we would appreciate if you give this new version a try. You can also reach us directly at support@spiralburst.com if you still have issues, or if you wanted assistance with a refund.
Screen error has returned
Although just solo (looking for AI to play against) I was having some fun with it until the screen locked in an incorrect orientation (which I think was fixed at one time) and it hasn’t been corrected since
Broken
Game is broken, used to work but they’ve changed the orientation and it’s locked so that you can only see half the game and you can’t access anything on the right side.
A ton of potential that needs more development investment
This feels like a very solid implementation of the Maracaibo board game. It has a ton of potential, but it is also hurt from various things that simply need polishing.
* All actions should be undoable within a single turn. In essence you should be able to restart your turn if desired (or at least make this an option in settings). At the moment the undo seems limited, even within a single turn.
* The tutorial would greatly benefit from a back button, so that you can easily step back a screen or two and re-read something.
* The game doesn't handle mobile devices properly that have the default system font set to a larger size.
* On Apple silicon devices (macOS versus iOS) the game starts is the wrong orientation and can not be rotated, so it is basically unplayable, even though it appears to be running fine.
On the featureside, it would be great if there was support for multiple online players, both realtime via local bluetooth or internet, and a delayed email-style turn taking feature, where oneplayer takes their turn the other player recives a notifcation that it is their turn and then whever they start the app and take their turn, the next player is notified, etc, so that a game can be played as time allows over a few days, or whatever.
It would also be great to see content from the new expansion and any additional promos, etc.
* All actions should be undoable within a single turn. In essence you should be able to restart your turn if desired (or at least make this an option in settings). At the moment the undo seems limited, even within a single turn.
* The tutorial would greatly benefit from a back button, so that you can easily step back a screen or two and re-read something.
* The game doesn't handle mobile devices properly that have the default system font set to a larger size.
* On Apple silicon devices (macOS versus iOS) the game starts is the wrong orientation and can not be rotated, so it is basically unplayable, even though it appears to be running fine.
On the featureside, it would be great if there was support for multiple online players, both realtime via local bluetooth or internet, and a delayed email-style turn taking feature, where oneplayer takes their turn the other player recives a notifcation that it is their turn and then whever they start the app and take their turn, the next player is notified, etc, so that a game can be played as time allows over a few days, or whatever.
It would also be great to see content from the new expansion and any additional promos, etc.
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Excellent and faithful implementation of Maracaibo
Hopefully title says it all. Excellent implementation of the solo version of Maracaibo. Latest update (1.1.0) may have reintroduced a display bug in versions of IOS under V16 but developers are helpful and active on Discord and are aware of the potential issue.
Update fixed issues
Issues have been fixed with recent update. One of my favorites to play on my phone.
Response from developer
Hi Idyer14, thanks for this detailed bug report and I apologize for not responding sooner. We have just released a new update to the app which includes a fix for this camera view issue. Please give the new version a try and let us know if you continue to have this issue. Thank you!
Great with a big bug
Another person mentioned the board being stuck to where you cannot view the bottom section. this happens to me about 50 percent of the time if I have an unfinished game- if I exit out and log back in , it fixes it SOMETIMES. The way you can tell is if there is a small snippet of the scroll that appears saying to move your ship 1 to 7 spaces. If I log in and see that little Snippet at the top, I immediately shut out of the game and restart it until it goes away - pretty frustrating but it is not game breaking like another mentioned _. Hopefully this gives insight to fix it- also , if they added multiplayer this would be one of the best board game apps on iOS. Thanks!
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Response from developer
Hi Cheery, thanks for the review and I'm glad you're enjoying the game! We just released a new update that hopefully addresses the small scroll snippet and stuck board issues. Let us know if the new version solves these issues! Thanks again
