Needs computer AI
While the automa offers a good solo challenge, AI challengers would change this to 4 or 5.
Response from developer
Thanks very much for the honest review!
Best Game On the High Seas
Never any issues with my iPad. This game is deep and brilliantly brought to life. Misses out on the multiplayer front.
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.
No AI in 2024
You play solitaire version, there are no computer opponents, which makes it BORING
Glitchy
I’ve played the game a few times and have not yet been able to get through one game without it locking up and not being able to move past the 3rd round.
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
Response from developer
Hello, we released an update on August, 2024 that resolves the portrait mode issue. The game is now loading correctly in landscape mode again. We apologize for the major issue this bug caused.
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.
Never even got to play
App is buggy right off the bat. It opens in landscape mode but half the picture is off the screen and you can’t see the content. Tried uninstalling and reinstalling, restarting iPad,etc…nothing works. Requested refund.
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!
Locked screen iPad
Just bought the game and the screen is locked into a position making the game unplayable. Looking at the recent patch notes as of 2days ago this is supposedly fixed. Guess not, waste of money.
Game doesn’t work
The game hangs after the first automatic player move, with no input possible.
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
Bug!
It’s a great game and it’s nice to have the possibility to play on smartphones. But I cannot play because there is too many display’s bug. Impossible to play. I wait an update… FYI I have an iPhone 14 Pro Max. Probably the Max format the problem…
Response from developer
Hello, we released an update on August, 2024 that improves display bugs on iPads and phones with larger screens like the Max. I hope this resolves your issue. There is also an override setting called "Force Mobile Scaling" that may improve this for you.
Too Buggy
I have this on an iPhone 12 Pro and it will not scale to the screen consistently. I had to abandon the tutorial but was hoping I could just play a game ( I know how to play the board game ) but it immediately got stuck on the opponent’s first turn by having no way of advancing the text to move the game forward.
The way you scroll and scale the screen is terrible, and often leaves icons you need to click in a spot that makes it next to impossible to do so without activating something else.
This game needs serious work and thus far was a waste of money.
The way you scroll and scale the screen is terrible, and often leaves icons you need to click in a spot that makes it next to impossible to do so without activating something else.
This game needs serious work and thus far was a waste of money.
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Buggy
Playing on iPhone 13 Pro. I’m trying to learn via tutorial but the camera is at the top of the screen. I can’t see the board at all and have absolutely no idea what’s going on. Prompts come up but I can’t see what’s happening. If I can’t learn the game I can’t play it.
I basically threw away $8
I basically threw away $8
New issues make this game unplayable
I’ve had this app for about a while now. It does have its issues but it has always worked for me and I’ve enjoyed playing it. However, recently there are bugs in the game that make it unplayable.
You can no longer scroll down to see the bottom of the board, which makes it so you can no longer use the Expedition mechanic in the game. Also when you draw back up to your hand size it cuts out half of the cards available to choose from. So the only options you have is draw from the deck or pick one of the 1st two cards. You can no longer look across the board to see the spaces ahead. It gets stuck at the top of the board now. So now you cannot see what Quests are coming up and it causes issues of moving across the main board.
I have uninstalled and reinstalled and it works for the 1st game, but if you open the app back up, it goes right back to the same issues. It has been a year since this was updated so I doubt it will be fixed which is a shame since I did enjoy playing this app.
You can no longer scroll down to see the bottom of the board, which makes it so you can no longer use the Expedition mechanic in the game. Also when you draw back up to your hand size it cuts out half of the cards available to choose from. So the only options you have is draw from the deck or pick one of the 1st two cards. You can no longer look across the board to see the spaces ahead. It gets stuck at the top of the board now. So now you cannot see what Quests are coming up and it causes issues of moving across the main board.
I have uninstalled and reinstalled and it works for the 1st game, but if you open the app back up, it goes right back to the same issues. It has been a year since this was updated so I doubt it will be fixed which is a shame since I did enjoy playing this app.
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