Slice It!

Summary

Today I shall be reviewing a game that is fun to play both on a Motorola Milestone and on a Galaxy Tab. The game concept is simple yet fun enough to keep entertained for hours on end (and, no, it’s not just another retro game remake). Find out more about Slice It! ® in our test.

In over two years, the Android Market has accumulated over 220,000 various applications. And let’s be honest here – many of the apps available aren’t very good. Whether it’s because of bad programming, terrible design or simply belongs in the “pointless app” category– there are plenty of awful apps to go around. Nevertheless, I’m still happy with the Market by in large. I manage to always find a free app that fits my particular needs. Among the sea of apps, there are always a few games and apps that are exceptionally good. Here’s another that fits the bill.

Slice It! is undoubtedly one of the best Android games out there – plain and simple. The game is based on a simple recipe for success: simple game concept, good design, and easy controls. It’s the perfect mix for a game that’s fun to play. All right, that’s enough boasting for now. So what is Slice It! ® really about? That’s easier said than done, but I’ll give it a try.

Every level displays a geometrical shape in the middle of your screen on a sheet of paper. These shapes can be simple squares and triangles or more complex shape. All of these shapes have one thing in common: they are all two-dimensional. The player’s goal is to do the following: cut the shape into equal parts with a limited number of pencil strokes. All the parts have to be the same in size, but not necessarily in form. It’s important to make sure that each line is drawn through the whole shape and that each line is perfectly straight like cutting a cake with a knife.

In the beginner levels, you’ll think to yourself “Wow, this is way too easy!”. And rightfully so, because the first few levels are indeed ridiculously simple.

Splitting a square into two equal parts isn’t much of a challenge. Yet like many games of this kind, this game may start off easy enough, but gets trickier with every level. It’s very annoying when you realize that you have not only divided the shape into a particular number of parts, but that you also have to use a limited amount of strokes. Sometimes you’ve solved the level perfectly, but you have to redo the entire thing because you didn’t use all of the pencil strokes. Although it makes the game a lot harder, it sometimes feels more like a party pooper. Thankfully, most of the time it is impossible to clear level without using all of the pencil strokes.

In the more advanced levels, another element is added to make the game even more difficult. Some of the more complex shapes have blocks inside of them that you cannot draw over. Basically, these blocks delineate a “no drawing” zone. These limitations can really make you sweat, but are a nice addition to the game.

With every solved level, you are rewarded with points that you can then invest in hints. If you happen to be stumped on a level, you can get hint showing you where to draw your line. Personally, I used this feature a couple of times to give my brain a little push. The game music and sound effects are really superb. They enhance the game without ever becoming annoying.

Bottom Line:

With 140 Levels (more to come in the near future), this game is bound to keep you entertained for a long time. This brain game is both entertaining and challenging. All in all, Slice It is hands down a really great game.
 

Slice It! ® is really cute and beautifully designed. The bright graphics work well with the game and the menus are really simple to understand. On the Galaxy Tab the resolution seems a bit too low, however. Draw lines by sliding your finger across the screen or using multi-touch. With the latter it is much easier to draw perfectly straight line (put one finger at the beginning of the line and another at the end). That’s why I would recommend playing this game on a multi-touch device. Slice It! works seamlessly on both the Galaxy Tab and the Motorola Milestone.

After a couple of seconds of loading (that may seem a bit long) Slice It! ® runs perfectly on both devices although it does run a tad better on the Galaxy Tab than on the Milestone.

Slice It! ® is available for free from the Android Market. Unfortunately, the game includes a lot of ads that appear constantly throughout the game. Sometimes ads come up as pop-ups that you have to close to continue playing. Compared with other free apps, this game has too many ads. Only three stars here.