Mahjong Adventure Switch Review – Chicken Hand
Mahjong Adventure from Fantastico Studio is a healthy and simple introduction to the world of mahjong, an ancient Chinese tile-based game that has gained lots of notoriety over the past century. It is a fantastic game itself, but is Mahjong Adventure the way for you to learn how to play this ancient tile game?
Well, there is only one way to find out, isn’t there? Let’s dive in and start making matches.
For those unfamiliar, mahjong is a tile-based game about making matches. Tiles on the top layer take precedence, and tiles can only be matched with ones that have at least one side free (Meaning a right or left side is free of other tiles). Learning to match quickly and effectively is the way to win, and Mahjong Adventure does a great job introducing the game to new players and challenging in a wonderfully progressive way.
One unfortunate thing right off the bat is the lack of options. This is a straight-up, single player mahjong game and not a whole lot more. You see, mahjong is at its best when played with more people. In most Asian countries, 4-player games are the standard, while some areas even have 3-player variants. To my surprise, Mahjong Adventure has no multiplayer, which takes a lot of the replay value away.
Despite that, the experience is still solid, and like I said, a great tool for people wanting to learn how to play.
The game is split up into seven groups of 9 levels, and each passing group is an upgrade from the previous, introducing more concepts and challenges within the mahjong world. As you clear levels, you gain coins that can be used to purchase powerups that can be used within a round to help in certain ways, like adding more time, helping you find matches, and rearranging the tiles to name a few.
Mahjong Adventure looks and sounds great, too. It has a strong Chinese-feel about it through the relaxing pipa soundtrack and the beautiful and authentic way the tiles click on and off each other while playing. Although the graphics are not anything to write home about, they are perfect for the game at hand and help continue to strengthen the feel of the overall experience.
The game is surprisingly fun and quite challenging, especially as you progress past the first three groups of challenges, and depending on your skill level, this will last you at least three hours to complete if not way more. Even the most skilled mahjong players can still get a lot out of this, but clearly the main target is for introducing the concept to new or young players.
For the asking price, Mahjong Adventure is fantastic. This is a learning experience to help pick up one of the most popular table top games in the world, and it does so in a fun and unique way. Sure, a multiplayer mode could have made this a killer app, but what we have is still a solid game with loads of single player gameplay. If you are looking to learn how to play the ancient game of mahjong, I highly recommend checking out this lovely entry.
Mahjong Adventure Review provided by Nintendo Link
Publisher: Fantastico Studio
Release Date: January 12, 2021
Price: $7.99, £7.19, €7,99
Game Size: 200 MB
Solid introduction to mahjong
Lots of single player gameplay
Great soundtrack
No multiplayer
Lack of other modes
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