Quick Version: You’re a fountain of useless knowledge and desperately searching for an outlet to convey your brain power. Sony Pictures Television has the perfect solution for you with two iconic game shows for your iPhone or iPod Touch: Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy.
(Editor’s note: By the way, we’ll be giving away copies of these games in the coming days as part of a much bigger iPhone App giveaway bonanza. More on that later.)
Long Version: It’s safe to say that we’ve all seen an episode or two from either of the aforementioned game shows in our lives, so you probably gist of things. I was never the biggest fan of Wheel of Fortune, but Jeopardy was right in my wheelhouse. SPT did a very good job of replicating the game show experience for handheld consumption and both offer countless hours of fun.
Wheel of Fortune:
Gameplay is strikingly similar to that of the actual game show sans Pat Sajak and Vanna White. The game is played in portrait mode and swiping from left to right spins the wheel. You have full control of how much you actually want to spin the wheel by swiping as little or as much of the screen as you want.
You can skip ahead when other players are guessing letters or spinning the wheel, which is a nice touch. Who wants to watch a computer pretend to think? There are three difficulty modes and 12 trophies to be won. Trophies vary from winning a game in easy mode to winning the million dollar grand prize.
What I found to be really confusing and irritating about the game were some of the categories and their respective answers. For example, what the heck does “racing tip of the iceberg” have to do with “before & after”? There were a few other instances where I was perplexed by the answers to certain categories but I was too dumbstruck to take a screen grab.
I’d recommend the game to anyone who is a fan of the game show or has an endless bank of random facts. It’s also pretty good for stimulating the old noggin while taking the train or bus when you’d otherwise be dozing off, looking around aimlessly, or trying to figure out which person sitting near you smells like pee.
Jeopardy:
Like the Wheel, you won’t see a dapper Alex mocking you in the iPhone version of Jeopardy. Gameplay on this particular title isn’t as straight forward, though. This one is played in landscape mode and also allows you to customize your own avatar.
This, too, has three difficulty levels, but also has a single player mode. You’re pitted against two other players, but categories for each round of Jeopardy are limited to three.
Actual gameplay was a bit awkward for me. Switching from category to category could be disastrous if it’s a tight game and you can’t remember which category is what. You can’t see what the other two categories are without choosing a clue from another category. Maybe my short-term memory is just shot, but I found this to be annoying.
When an opposing player is in control of the board, you can still opt to answer or pass it along to someone else. That was another odd aspect of gameplay, but whatever works, I guess.
I’m not the biggest fan of how SPT ported this game to the iPhone, but I still play it on the train to keep my brain from going to mush. Despite the irregularities in gameplay from the actual show, I’d recommend you pick this one up.
iTunes link: Wheel of Fortune
iTunes link: Jeopardy
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