Reviews

Cryptose Review

Cryptose, developed by Insurgent Games, is an interesting puzzle game where it is your job to decrypt messages either as a Hacker, a Detective or a Spy. The whole game is based around encryption and decryption and while playing the game is entertaining, it also allows you to learn a bit more about how it all works when it comes to encryption.

Gameplay: This game is about as simple as it gets in regards to picking up and just jumping right into playing it, however the simplicity ends there. Once you choose which profession you would like, you are presented with your first message to decrypt. The process is one of elimination. Select a spot on the message you want to substitute the current letter that is there for one that you think actually belongs there. When you select a spot, another window opens up showing you what letters in the alphabet you have to choose from. You start off with the entire alphabet and as you start replacing letters, they become unavailable for further use in that particular puzzle.

Letters are replaced in the ‘hangman game’ style, so if you replace a J in the note with an S, all the J’s are replaced with an S. You may be thinking right about now that this sounds pretty easy, but it is not. Why? Because you have absolutely no clue as to what the message actually is. You may actually complete the message and it may make sense but if it is not the right one then you don’t progress onto the next message.

Features:

  • Thousands of phrases to decrypt
  • 3 themes to choose from
  • Unlimited Hints
  • Learn about encryption, cyberpunks and code breaking

 

Controls: The controls are pretty straightforward as I mentioned above. Tap a spot where you would like to replace a letter with a different one in order to decrypt the message. Everything is very responsive with no delay between tapping and the alphabet to choose from popping up and back to the main message

Graphics: The graphics are well done in that everything is very easy to read which, in a game such as this, is pretty mandatory.  The is no problem when trying to figure out what letter is what regardless of screen size.

Overall: This game is a really good puzzle game, especially if you enjoy word puzzles. While educational it is also fun and an excellent time killer. not only does this game teach you about things such as code breaking, but also helps tune your analytical skills as well as problem solving skills. While some people may find this game a bit drab due to the lack of eye candy, graphically speaking, this is a word puzzle game after all. My only gripe with this game is the unlimited hints. This little feature tends to take the challenge away from the game since it is real easy just to hit the hint button whenever you get a bit stuck instead of using your brain. I think an option to have a limited amount of hints per puzzle would be a good addition to this game.

Still, for anyone who enjoys word puzzle games, this is a title that you should look at getting as it is a fun, challenging game with a lot of replay value thanks to the inclusion of so many phrases to decrypt. You can try the lite version on the Android market which has 1 theme and 3 phrases available. The full version has all 3 themes and all phrases available for $2.99USD.

Rating: 4.5/5

Developer Website: Insurgent Games

Click QR Code to enlarge for easy scanning: {rokbox}images/stories/QRCodeLibrary/QRCryptose.png{/rokbox}

Android apps at AppStoreHQ

Share This

You Might Also Like