Today I’ve downloaded the game Elemental Order by Clevyr, Inc. This game caught my attention because of his nice presentation. I didn’t really understand what the game is about but holding the glowing cue in my hand appealed to me. I intend to review most of the Merge Cube apps sooner or later, so the reason, although doesn’t seem logical, really doesn’t matter.
What is Elemental Order?
“Elemental Order” is kind of a cool Sci-Fi name for what is basically just a Merge Cube AR version of the classic Simon game that was first released in 1978. It’s a memory game in which the player needs to tap on certain glowing buttons in a specific sequence. The device shows you the sequence and it’s up to you to repeat it in the same order.
Here is a video showing the original electronic Simon game toy.
You first start the game with just a few colors, and the game gets more difficult with a longer sequence to remember as you progress. If you tap the wrong color, it’s game over and you start from the beginning.
The great thing is that I had that exact Simon electronic game when I was a little kid. My father bought it when he flew to a business meeting abroad and he bought me this device. I even have memories of me playing it. I remember that I liked playing it a lot. I am not a good player with anything that requires a good short-term memory. That being said, I had a good feeling that this game will bring up some good childhood memories, so I was excited to try it out.
By the way, check this page on amazon.com, if you are interested in getting the original Simon game or some of the modern versions of this game,
Gameplay
Elemental Order is a little bit more difficult than the classic Simon game. First of all, there are six facets for the cube, thus 6 different colors which you can click on, versus 4 of the original Simon game.
Second, sometimes it isn’t clear enough which side is highlighted because the other parts of the cube reflect the light. There are glowing shapes in front of each facet of the cube to make it easier for you to see which side is glowing, but still, it’s not that clear sometimes. Only after playing the game a few minutes that I found out that the connection lines on the cube show the same color as the facet which I need to click on. It was a bit confusing. My recommendation is to fade the non-lit color, even more, making them look dim and less saturated.
Third, you need to rotate the cube so the fact that you need to tap is in front of you and then click it with your finger on the screen in Phone mode (the mode that I’ve played the game on).
After each successful repeat sequence, the player receives points. The game comes with a local leaderboard.
Is it fun playing it in AR?
I remember the original Simon game to be much faster than this AR version. In that aspect, the game felt a bit slow. Although you can repeat the color sequence as fast you can, the presentation of the sequence felt a bit too slow and it was a bit annoying.
The thing is that when you get to long sequence, you want the Simon to show you them fast because if it shows you them slow, it will actually be harder to remember it. The main reason for it is that by the time it shows you the last part of the sequence, you might forget how it was started. My mind already remembered that first part and therefore I just need a fast run over the colors and see the last color in order to remember how to repeat the sequence.
Elemental Order definitely brought some of those lovely childhood memories that I had. Some pictures start appearing, and I remembered the time I was sitting on the bed in my parents’ bedroom with his suitcase open and playing that game for the first time.
Having said that, the game felt less exciting than the original. The original was designed for fast repetition, whether the Merge Cube version, due to the need to rotate the cube made the game feel much slower, less responsive as I wanted it to be.
Conclusion
Elemental Order is an original take on the classic Simon game. I really love the original game, but I didn’t enjoy playing the game on the Merge Cube. The game felt slow overall for a memory game. Remembering the colors is hard enough, I don’t I need the game adding more distractions.
The problem is that in memory games, I want to be able to act fast because every second the goes can make me forget the sequence. I want the game to allow me to react fast. The gameplay mechanic itself just felt counterproductive toward the goal of the game, which is remembering the sequence and repeat as fast as possible.
I also went to see some YouTube videos just to remember how the original game played before coming up to the conclusion that I made and trying to compare those two experiences. I did feel that something was a bit off, but I didn’t know what exactly. After playing it for several minutes and after seeing the original Simon videos, I understood why I didn’t like this version of the game.
There are probably better ways to create a memory game for the Merge Cube, but this one just didn’t feel fun and exciting as I remember the original one.
Download Elemental Order from the App Store here.