Review: Charadium
by Staff Writer
January 15, 2010
Overview
Charadium is pictionary that is streamlined, and takes advantage of the unique iPhone capabilities. Draw images to depict the words right on the iPhone screen. Guess words drawn by others right next to you or across the world. If you don't know pictionary, a person is given a word, and they have to draw a picture describing the word so people can guess it.
Features
Each game is composed of fifteen rounds with the person drawing switched every round. If a word is guessed correctly then the drawer and guesser score based on time taken. The person with the most points at the end win. You can play a full game, quick game where you jump in later in full games, or can play with people you know creating or joining a room. The game is all about multiplayer, and uses ngmoco's Plus+ network to connect people. Plus+ is also included for online high scores with four different tables including total points, most words guessed, most drawn guessed, and the best percentage of drawn pictures guessed. 23 achievements are also included for skill based, luck based, or time spent based. Nine colors are included to draw your masterpieces, and you just draw right on screen. In guess mode the traditional iPhone keyboard pops up. As the timer ticks down the number of letters appear, and then fill in until timer is out. 7 languages are also included.
Tilt to the left to leave the room, and tilt to the right to report abuse for the current drawer. A nice dictionary is included, but you can also suggest words here: http://charadium.com/words/
The Good
Charadium is truly an iPhone game that connects users from all over nearly instantaneously, and then allows you to draw pictures with your finger. The game is executed extremly well in almost every regard. Highlighted by the quick connection to online play, and it works well over wifi and 3G. Pictionary is always fun, and Charadium connects that level of fun to any idevice user across the globe. It's so much fun to guess words as the picture appears before your eyes with as much quality as drawing with your finger can provide. Not only do you need to figure out the drawing, but you need to type as fast as possible without losing accuracy.
Drawing the pictures is even more fun as you attempt to put a word into pictures that other people can figure out. Drawing itself is always fun as you try to provide as much quality as possible on the iPhone. Not only that, but you have to make a picture that others can understand, not just you yourself.
No game ever plays the same with a relatively extensive dictionary. On top of that every word is interpreted differently by each player. The game is loads of fun for anytime, anywhere. Its great pick up and play action that is super addicitve so you just can't put it down. If that wasn't enough replayability, Plus+ is included for online high scores and achievements.
The words are great to guess, and draw. There are easy ones like bowl, mouth, and car. There are some complex ideas that you have to put into pictures including faith, gossip, friction, and fiction. Allowing for multiple colors when drawing helps the pictures a lot to make a point. Also you can view previous games online if you have the game id, and it's nice to see the whole thing with all the pictures and potential guesses.
