On August 1, 2008, iLounge published iPhone Gems: Every Sudoku Game, Reviewed, a feature article looking at 23 different Sudoku releases for the iPhone OS. This review focuses on Phase2 Media’s Sudoku Unlimited ($3) and Sudoku Classic (Free $1); you can read the full article, with screenshots of all of the games together, through the link above. A collective screenshot below shows you some of the other Sudoku interfaces you can expect to find in these titles.
If you’re reading this article, you probably already know that Sudoku is a one-screen puzzle game based upon a 9-by-9 grid that’s partially filled with numbers. The objective is to fill the empty spaces of the grid with single digit numbers so that the same digit does not appear twice on any horizontal or vertical line. Additionally, the same number should not appear twice in any of nine 3-by-3 mini grids on the screen.
iLounge’s top-ranked Sudoku games are ones that offered fully-functional renditions of the game, with impressive interfaces, bonus features, user customization, and pricing as of the time we tested them. The fewer of these features a given game had, the lower it rated. While updates to these games may well be released over time, and their features may change, we couldn’t wait around forever for bad or so-so titles to catch up with ones that were already good or great.
Sudoku Unlimited and Sudoku Classic differ only in frills. The Unlimited version has five difficulty settings, three different font-and-background combinations, and options for sound effects, animations, a timer, showing errors, and the like; an auto-fill feature shows you all the possibilities so that you can solve the puzzles more easily. A cool-looking Hint mode also provides answers if you need them. Phase2 has bothered to include a fully explanatory help system for the game, plus an e-mail link to send feedback. You can play your own iPod music; none is included.
The Classic version drops the multiple skins and some of the options, while having only 250 puzzles versus the Unlimited version’s randomly-generated ones; it has also varied in price from free—as we originally rated it, a B+—to $1. We really liked the look of the Unlimited Version’s interface, and felt that the free version was a stronger introduction to the game at no charge than some companies offered for $1-2. However, now that the company is charging again for both titles, we think they’re both worth flat B ratings.
Our Rating
Company and Price
Company: Phase2 Media
Website: www.Phase2games.com
Title: Sudoku Classic, Sudoku Unlimited
Players: One
Price: $1-$3
Compatible: iPod touch, iPhone, iPhone 3G