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Connect 4x4
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Graphics & Sound:
This is one of many games available as part of the Hasbro Family Games package, so if you've already downloaded and played a demo of some other game in that release, you'll be familiar with the look and feel. Once you purchase Connect 4x4, you'll find it unlocked on the Main Games' Menu, and then it's off to a spacious table and some comfy couches... Those that have only played Connect 4x4 in the "real" world will know what to expect, but for readers completely unfamiliar with the game, we'll point out a few important items. First, the standard vertical board has been modified to look a bit more modern and streamlined. In the game, you aren't as involved in the construction of the board, just the choice of chips. Unlike the traditional Connect 4 experience, this one features three types of chip that you cycle through before dropping into a slot. Another neat element introduced in the Remix variant of Connect 4x4 is the ability to trigger special powers. These powers in turn will trigger neato sound and visual effects, reminding you that you're playing Connect 4x4 in a virtual world rather than your home coffee table. The use of avatars, at least in the four corners to represent each player, is a nice touch. Nothing about Connect 4x4 feels over- or under-designed; it's a great example of form meeting function in the gaming world, and the only thing missing from the whole production is that satisfying feel of physically dropping chips into slots.
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Gameplay:
I tend to think visually, so my first impression of Connect 4x4 was a game board set up in the back of a Jeep Rubicon, bouncing along some backcountry gulch... The reality is both more common and fantastic. Hasbro's reinvention of the classic game might well have cashed in on the 3D craze, if Connect 4x4 had come out more recently. It does add a dimension to the game by hollowing out chips and allowing you to play either the ring or the core at each turn. A ring covers a core, and a core fits into a ring, and there's even a limited number of blocking chips that are basically just the classic all-in-one version with a new look. In the regular version of the game, you take turns competing against friends or A.I. opponents, trying to match four in a row that runs up, down or diagonally. Beat those A.I. opponents to earn the "Smarter Than The Machine" achievement, by the way. The Remix Mode in Connect 4x4 for XBox 360 will introduce new elements to the gameplay, but doesn't mess with the basic formula. You'll still use the same game pieces, but now the board is filled with special items that react when touched. Some, like the Teleport ability, can be used by you to break an opponent's flow. Others, like the floating UFO that tractor-beams your piece momentarily before dropping it into place, just wait for someone to come along before springing into action. Remix also provides an extended play option that keeps things moving even after a match has been made, and reorients the board by removing matching pieces and score points. This virtual game room creates a nice adaptation of Connect 4x4 that is certainly one of the easiest games in the Hasbro package to pick up and play.
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Difficulty:
Easy to play doesn't mean easy to win, right? If you've ever been a frustrated Connect 4 player, prepared to be "frustrated times four" as you get into the world of Connect 4x4. It creates a game-within-game mindset, where you'll have to start thinking about planning ahead in ways you never did before. Even at its most difficult, the traditional game is a variation on Tic-Tac-Toe, where a moderately skilled player can keep blocking indefinitely to stalemate the board. Doing that with Connect 4x4 is much more challenging, since your placement of a core or a ring may block one player while enabling another player's match. Now a slot can be owned simultaneously by two players! The only surefire way to stake your claim on a spot is the use the blocking chip, but there isn't an unlimited supply of these babies. It's no fun just to play a defensive game, anyway. You'll want to think about how you can occupy the bottom row, in order to make vertical matches easier. It's a bit more like Othello/Iago now, in the sense that placement and ownership can just be upset by one other player's move. All this becomes a bit more muddled in Remix, but in a fun way. The nice thing about Connect 4x4 is that it doesn't require complex controls or bring complicated rules to the picture. Matching the colors in one of two ways and in multiple directions is a game that anyone can play and win.
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Game Mechanics:
Doubters might have said at one time that games like this make poor bedfellows with consoles, but Connect 4x4 translates quite well to this setting. The visceral "chink" of the chip falling and the feel of it in your hand isn't here, but for that reason we expect Connect 4x4 will prompt more than one player to run out and buy a copy of the actual board game. In videogame form, we liked the simplicity of the controls. With a button-push, you can switch between rings and cores, with another button reserved for the blocking chip. This is smart design, since the blocking move is a reserved, special one. The placement is dead easy, just sliding from left to right, and pushing another button to slot your selected chip. The game uses a timer to avoid people getting into "analysis paralysis," which we both loved and hated. They missed out by not including some handicap setting for younger players to disable the timer - as things stand, it can be a little frustrating for truly novice games that need more time to analyze the board, cycle through until they reach the proper chip, and drop in their designated place. Remix Mode doesn't change controls in the least, which is great, but it does require a bit more thought in placement of your pieces. Overall, we have to say that the whole package just works. It translates the action of the board game perfectly to the living-room screen, and fans of this Hasbro classic-reinvented will be thrilled with how their baby has arrived in videogame form. Definitely a highlight of the Family Games' bundle.
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-Fridtjof, GameVortex Communications AKA Matt Paddock |
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