Review: Hangman RSS - Don't Just Read the News, Play It - Plus Win a Copy
by Staff Writer
January 26, 2010
Overview
Hangman RSS is a brand new game from Finger Arts who brought us Guess the News. Hangman RSS has a similar premise where you guess real time news headlines, but this time with Hangman style. We gave you a sneak peek, and now it’s time for the in-depth review. Hangman RSS gets top news headlines every time you enter the app, and then you try to guess the missing words. Each word gives you the entire alphabet to guess from rather than each missing word in the headline filling in with the letter you guess. After you guess the news, you can then read it inside the app.
Features
Hangman RSS has four difficulties with each one increasing the number of words to guess in the headlines, and less of the story excerpt. You need to guess a certain number of headlines in a row to unlock the next difficulty. Every letter guess is just a tap away, and you have seven wrong guesses until you’re hung. After finishing any article in the game, you can then read it in the in-game page viewer, or in safari. One hint per missing word is included which gives you the next missing letter. OpenFeint 2.4 is included with high scores for the runs for each of the difficulties as well as high scores. Over 40 achievements are included as well.
The Good
Hangman RSS is a great word game just like Guess the News, but it's even better. It’s just such a different experience to not just read the news, but to play it. You can figure out the headlines if you know the news, and you can find out the headlines if you know the words. The hangman style is truly exceptional as the game changes every time rather than guessing old words and phrases like every other hangman game out there. Every word in the headline gives you a whole new alphabet to guess from, so you need to be careful with only seven mistakes.
As you guess the missing letters the entire headline comes into focus, and you can decipher it. Every story has a little excerpt from the story which can give you some hints. On others you just guess the popular letters like e, t, r, s, and a to slowly reveal the headline. Every game is just easier to relate to with actual current news to guess.
The interface is extremely smooth and streamlined, and has high production values just like Guess the News. It’s great to see the letters fly up into the words, and point values, and words popping out. The game has sound effects for each letter guessed, as well as finished words, and completed headlines.
Hangman RSS will always give you a different game since the news always changes. Headlines will never repeat giving nearly infinite replayability. On top of that OpenFeint is included with five high score tables, and over 40 achievements. The game also saves your run progress, so if you leave in the middle of an article on your run of four you come back with a new article continuing the run of four.
