Do you enjoy putting puzzle pieces together into complex shapes or figures? How bout with an added challenge of having only a certain amount of tries before you have to retry? Picture Hangman is a game that mixes these aspects together well. The game is currently available for iPhone on the App Store and costs $.99. A version for the iPad, called Picture Hangman HD, also exists for $.99.

Review
Picture Hangman is actually more similar to classic jigsaw puzzle games, where you put pieces together into objects, rather than a pen-and-pencil Hangman. The reason being is that in traditional Hangman, when the picture of the hangman forms, the players guessing the word loses. On the other hand, in Picture Hangman for iPhone the goal is to form a complete picture. There is also guessing involved in what parts to put together in order for it to form correctly though. You get roughly five guesses each time and if you do not form a complete picture, you have to start over or the game lets you continue to a new picture.

The icon or interface presents you with a bottom row that has a list of object pieces you have to choose from that belong in the complete picture. If you guess one correctly, by clicking on it, it will be sent automatically toward the main picture. If you guess wrong, an x will be marked in the top part of the interface and you will have used up one of your five tries. The interface also includes a timer, score, and a parts icon. The parts icon shows you how close you are to completing the final picture and lists it as how many you put together out of how many there are total. The score can be added by putting a part into the picture correctly (10 points) and subtracted when making a mistake (also 10 points).

The game doesn’t have much music outside of sound effects for when object pieces are guessed correctly or wrong. The visuals are interesting in the sense the user interface above the main picture being formed is in color; while the actual picture and parts below are in black and white. This adds an interesting style though and is reminiscent of traditional pen-and-paper Hangman. There are also a wide range of pictures to form and the game shouldn’t get stale anytime soon.

One gripe I have with the game is related to selecting object pieces from the bottom row of the interface. The game is made to be played in the portrait orientation. This means that only three object pieces are showing at once to the player. You have to swipe horizontally to get to more pieces to show and this is where my problem came in. Sometimes when swiping the game thinks you selected the object if you had your finger close to it while swiping left or right. That was my main gripe with the set up. However, you can swipe slightly above the row to avoid this most of the time.

Recommendation

Picture Hangman is recommended for iPhone users who enjoy puzzlers and logical games.

Images

Note: A promotional code was provided by the creator for use in this article.

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