Introduction
I remember some 3-4 years ago when a particular game called 2048 became a very trending game. Although the game was originally released in 2014, it became a viral hit around 2015 and almost everybody with a smartphone was playing it worldwide. The idea behind the game is to slide numbered tiles on a 4x4 grid to combine them to create a tile with the number 2048. However, one can continue to play the game after reaching the goal, which will lead to creating tiles with larger numbers. The game will only eventually come to an end when the player has no empty spaces to move tiles and no adjacent tiles with the same value. It was really an enjoyable game.
Some days back, while surfing Github, I came across a repository with app name 2050. It caught my attention which prompted to read more about what it's all about. In the words of the Project Owner;
This is a game loosely based on 2048, but with circles instead of squares.
Much like the original, you start with small numbered pieces and combine like-numbered pieces into progressively larger ones, working toward 2048.
Unlike the original, the pieces are free to move in any direction, bounce off of the walls and each other, are subject to gravity, and grow progressively larger.
I've played this game for a while now, and I'm enjoying every bit of it. In this article, I will be reviewing the game app. Unlike most of the app reviews I have done, this will be a little different as it is going to focus primarily on the Gameplay, but this doesn't mean I won't be touching the other features that made up the game app. My thoughts and opinions will be shared alongside the review of each feature. This promises to be another interesting app review, sit back, relax and enjoy this article.
Why the name?
This is one thing that you will definitely think about if not the first time, the thought will definitely come to mind after some time. I also asked myself this question, and I must admit that at a point I wondered if the ball will actually sum up to 2050...lol. But this is far from the reason behind that name, the name 2050 was given to this game by the PO simply because "it's 2048, but in spherical form."
2050 Gameplay
If you are familiar with the traditional 2048 game, you'll clearly have the idea of how this game operates. The idea is to swipe so numbered tiles of the same value can enter each other to double in value and continue to build on like. But unlike the normal 2048 game, 2050 are numbered balls whose size varies directly with the value of the number contained in each ball.
Balls of the same numbers/colours/sizes are manipulated to the direction of gravity to touch and merge together which will in turn result to a bigger ball with a different value/colour/size. For example, two '2' balls will make a '4' ball, two '4's make an '8' and so on.
Changing the direction in 2050 is done by changing the direction of gravity which is done by Swiping to the preferred direction and this can be done at any angle. Which means unlike the conventional 2048 which moves only in Vertical and Horizontal directions, 2050 moves in all directions hence the 360° tag in the title. To make the balls move downward, swipe down. To make them fall upwards, swipe up and so on. New balls are generated as the device with each swipe or change in direction.
Also, in devices which are equipped with Accelerometer. Swiping can be replaced by rotating your device. But you have to note that In-game gravity will point toward real gravity and that this may not work correctly in space, other planets, free-fall, etc. Even though my device is equipped with an accelerometer, I don't like playing with the feature on as it was once said in one of my favorite sitcom series The Big Bang Theory "Gravity thou art a heartless bitch". I practically could not effectively control the gameplay when I tried using this mode. Gravity took over and balls were spawning at free will every time and bouncing all around the screen.
Once a player makes a single ball with a value of '2048', such player has successfully completed the game, but have the option to continue playing afterward. It is possible to get to 4096 and maybe more but I haven't achieved that yet. You may wonder why that is so, the answer is not far fetched. This is due to the fact as the number and size of balls increases, the space available for gameplay will start to become tightly packed together. And once the pressure reaches a certain threshold (which can be viewed on the pressure meter) the game is over. At this point, the user has to start a new game.
Now that the part of the gameplay has been covered in the review, I'll like to delve into other features which are present in the game. Due to the fact that these features are pretty basic, I won't be wasting so much time talking about them as every game player are already familiar with them except maybe the use of 'Accelerometer' feature. Here is a quick review of the other features present:
2050 UI
The game UI is pretty basic. The app is basically the same as that of "Progress Bars" which I reviewed just before this one. This particular project is made by the same Project Owner and he also confirmed that the same Theming ode was used for the 2 apps.
There isn't so much to say about the app's UI as it sports an Unchangeable Green Header. The only change that could be made to change the appearance of the app UI is changing the theme option which also has just 2 options which are Light and Dark mode.
It can be seen from the image above that no matter the choice of the user from the available theme options, it'll always end up being either Light or Dark. I prefer the light theme of this app and honestly, I don't know the reason for that.
There are other 2 important tools present on the gameplay window, they are the;
Gravity Watch: This looks like a wall clock with a single pointer. It shows the current direction in which the gravity is currently is with the aid of the pointer.
Pressure Guage: This is the bar that shows how tightly packed the spaces available for gameplay is currently. It measures how free and restricted the balls are. Once the guage is full, it is game over.
Pause feature
The function of this feature is pretty easy to know. This allows users to pause the current game which is in session while they attend to other things or are distracted. The pause icon is easy to spot at the top right part of the screen once the app is launched and in use.
Restart feature
This feature icon is next to the Pause button. It is used to restart a game session. This may be due to a couple of reasons which is to be arrived at by the player. The feature though seems cliche, but it is essential in the game.
Menu button
This is the 3 horizontal dots at the far end of the feature button icons. With the help of this particular feature, users are able to play the game in fullscreen mode, Access the page to enable and disable Accelerometer settings, Change theme settings and pretty much any other feature present such as Help and About pages. The image below shows how clicking this feature button looks like
This is an image showing what the "Settings" page looks like, where to Accelerometer and Theme Settings are located
A little comparison with the conventional 2048 game
The original 2048 game is really an interesting one, but the mechanics of this 2050 game are really nice to look at and highly interactive. I like the fact that 2050 unlike 2048 can move in any direction and also the bouncing of the balls gave me extra excitement. And also, the fact that the balls get bigger as their value increases thereby reducing the space available for gameplay makes it more intriguing than the conventional 2048 game.
Summary and Conclusion
In summary, this game takes the idea of the 2048 game to another engaging and entertaining level. This is a really nice way for geeks to have fun a cool off some steam. I really find the game interesting and I know many people will too. So why don't you give it a try and let me hear your thoughts!
Resources
All of the images used are screenshots of the app from my device. All other places where other images were used were duly cited.
Github profile:
Thanks for reading.