Apples to Apples has been a popular card game and a staple in traditional family game nights. Needles to say I was eager to see how the very interactive game would transition to XBLA. Well, the answer may surprise you.
To begin with, all of the games fun factor lies with-in the online play. It does have a single player mode, but after 30 minutes to an hour of gameplay you realize that this game is meant to be played with people. The game also features a local multiplayer mode, but even though ti is a party game, it’s hindered by the fact that the local play is limited to 3 players or more. That’s really all that can be said about playing the game offline. Not to say it’s not fun, but the replay value in single player is just not there and based on how the game is played traditionally it really is no surprise.
When you play online, you find yourself having much more of a good time, but the game still feels like it’s missing a certain element. Not being able to see the people you play with can be a little dis-placing. The issue is the game has never had a competitive edge. When you play the game it’s more about having a good time with a bunch of people and not who can get the highest score. The premise of the game is to see a card with a keyword and several words that describe something. Then you are given a choice of words to choose from and whatever the judge likes the best is what is right. It’s more of an opinion game than anything else. When that element is taken from the game, it loses some of it’s core fun.
There are unlocks in the game, but most of them revolve around unlocking new Apple avatars and based on the idea that you have the ability to use your Xbox avatar in the game, Apple avatars become pretty pointless. The overall appearance of the game is okay, but not great. For the most part the game feels some what threw together, but considering the genre that it’s aiming for all in all it’snot that big of a deal.
Overall, the game is a great party game and even though it loses some of its charm moving into virtual space, it still makes for good fun, but not for long amounts of time. For the 800 MS points that it cost to download be sure you’re not buying it for single player purposes as you will not get your moneys worth. If you play lots of games online or have people over on a regular basis then Apples to Apples is the game you’ve been looking for.
