Computers, unlike television, offer personalized experiences, and as such we computer users have less of a shared history than people who grew up watching the same television shows. Nevertheless, certain computing experiences create something like a common culture. Some young adults of a certain age undoubtedly played Oregon Trail. Similarly, anyone who had access to a Windows computer in the late nineties probably played MineSweeper at some point.
The object of MineSweeper is simple. Its board has a certain number of squares, some of which have mines. You have to clear the board without selecting a square that has a mine. To help you with this, typically when you click on a mine-free square, a number appears. The value of that number informs you of the number of mines that are adjacent to that square. With enough information available, a player can infer which square contains a mine, and flag it so as not to select it. Despite, or perhaps because of, the simplicity of MineSweeper, it can turn into a truly addictive game.
Super MineSweeper for Android follows the same style of gameplay that everyone is familiar with, but it also offers a new mode by transforming the squares into hexes. For those seeking something a little different, the hex-based gameplay provides a new opportunity to rethink old strategies and learn new ones that work.
Unfortunately, Super MineSweeper suffers from an awkward touchscreen interface. The game only allows you to zoom in slightly, and even zoomed-in, the squares or hexes are still too tiny to be precise about which one you are selecting. For example, one flags an area by long-pressing instead of quickly tapping, but sometimes the interface will register the touch as a selection rather than as a flag.
As a result, I frequently lost games by accident, making it more annoying to play than fun. I don’t recommend this version unless you really want to play the game with hexes.
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