iOS Review: Bang!

Paul Bobby

(pbobby)

United States

Playing solo is a terrible experience - I spend most of my time watching the AI players do their stuff; multi-minute wait times between my own turns.

Posted Wed Oct 19, 2011 1:16 pm
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Lee Shelton

(nlshelton)

Charlotte
North Carolina

Unfortunately, not universal app = not buying.

Posted Wed Oct 19, 2011 1:24 pm
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Andre Lucato

(AndreKada)

Brazil

pbobby wrote:

Playing solo is a terrible experience - I spend most of my time watching the AI players do their stuff; multi-minute wait times between my own turns.

This is a major issue I have had with the app. If there's a way to get rid of all those time consuming little card animations it would be great.

Posted Wed Oct 19, 2011 1:36 pm
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Ron Bahimi

(Bahimiron)

United States
Brookline
Massachusetts

Unpleasant for the new player. They need to have a look over at Puerto Rico or Ascension to see how you explain what a game element does. When I tap and hold (or double tap) on a card I want to know what it does and I want to know that now. Forcing me to read a slowly scrolling explanation of the card's function is complete nonsense. It may be jim dandy if you know what every card is because you're very familiar with the game, but as someone who used the iOS game to learn the real game it was absolute misery.

Posted Wed Oct 19, 2011 1:46 pm
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John McLoughlin

(Imaji)

United Kingdom
North Baddesley
Hampshire

The loss of interaction with the other players (bluffing, cajoling, etc) really dulls the game for me. The most enjoyable part is the interaction with other people, without that It felt a bit long winded.

I also agree that the down time between your go in single player feels like an eternity

Posted Wed Oct 19, 2011 1:58 pm
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Ralph T

(ralpher)

United States
Signal Hill
California

It's a waste of money. It's been out a year and still no online multiplayer and unplayable pass and play. Why no option to pass and play with AI players? And why limit the game to 5?

Posted Wed Oct 19, 2011 3:16 pm
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Brad Cummings

(thequietpunk)

United States

Connecticut

ralpher wrote:

It's a waste of money. It's been out a year and still no online multiplayer and unplayable pass and play. Why no option to pass and play with AI players? And why limit the game to 5?

Just a note on players. You can play up to 8 on iPad and 5 on iPhone. I think this has to do with screen size, but that is just from my experience.

Posted Wed Oct 19, 2011 3:19 pm
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Ron Bahimi

(Bahimiron)

United States
Brookline
Massachusetts

thequietpunk wrote:

ralpher wrote:

It's a waste of money. It's been out a year and still no online multiplayer and unplayable pass and play. Why no option to pass and play with AI players? And why limit the game to 5?

Just a note on players. You can play up to 8 on iPad and 5 on iPhone. I think this has to do with screen size, but that is just from my experience.

I think Ralph was specifically referring to playing the game with two live friends and two AI opponents to fill in the gap.

Posted Wed Oct 19, 2011 4:53 pm
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The Gray Dog Passes Go

(CaptainCosmic)

United States
Reno
Nevada

Bang (or Bang HD; either way) is a fantastic game marred by an inept developer.

The app itself is pretty slick; I have very few issues. It's very nicely done, and it's a breeze to play (I seriously do not understand some of the complaints I hear about this; I went from never having played Bang to understanding the entire game, including every card, in less than 20 minutes).

But the pretty package has been put together by a group who seems to think that iOS gamers enjoy empty promises. Let's put it this way: you know you're in trouble when your fans are openly mocking you on your own Facebook page. None of the promised upgrades have appeared; the promised multiplayer has not appeared; the developer moves at a glacial pace and doesn't understand why they hear complaints. The utterly insane desire to implement "multicross" across like eight different platforms — presumably, they'll draw the line at supporting the Sinclair ZX81 — has absolutely killed the game an iOS.

Last update for either Bang or Bang HD? April. But we've got no shortage of meaningless promises.

Posted Wed Oct 19, 2011 5:01 pm
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The Gray Dog Passes Go

(CaptainCosmic)

United States
Reno
Nevada

"Let’s just hope players still have it on their devices by then."

This is well-said. A succinct summary of many iOS gamers' frustrations.

Posted Wed Oct 19, 2011 5:05 pm
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Carl Patten

(Myok)

United States
St. Paul
Minnesota

No, no, I'm fine. How are you?

CaptainCosmic wrote:

The utterly insane desire to implement "multicross" across like eight different platforms — presumably, they'll draw the line at supporting the Sinclair ZX81 — has absolutely killed the game an iOS.

They're doing this, instead of fixing the problem where long help messages disappear before you're done reading them, or getting rid of that annoying "swipe down to pass" control? Yeah, their priorities are way off in techie dreamland and not on the user experience.

Posted Wed Oct 19, 2011 5:55 pm
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Kevin Sussman

(Mr_Bickman)

United States
Los Angeles
California

"Let’s just hope players still have it on their devices by then."

I deleted mine long ago for the reasons you described.

Posted Wed Oct 19, 2011 5:55 pm
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Dave Coscio

(davex)

United States
Minneapolis
Minnesota

I agree. I really like the game and also don't think the issues with the game itself are THAT bad. It has a quick learning curve and I've never experienced "multi-minute" wait times between turns.
Is it possible for the owners of the game to take it away from the developer and give it to someone else? It's strange to see someone come out with a nice, working version that has initial popularity and just let the ball drop like that.

Posted Wed Oct 19, 2011 6:23 pm
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The Gray Dog Passes Go

(CaptainCosmic)

United States
Reno
Nevada

"Spin Vector" is an appropriately named developer.

Posted Wed Oct 19, 2011 6:26 pm
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Tom Tjarks

(Dreamshadow)

United States
Crowley
Texas

*nod* While this was a great party game on my ipad once or twice, the missing character powers and other promises that have never appeared make it hard to recommend in any form to anyone.

Posted Wed Oct 19, 2011 8:01 pm
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Scrumpy Jack

(SJack)

United Kingdom

well what splendid timing. a massive update to bang! has just been released with online multiplayer! downloading now.

Edited Wed Oct 19, 2011 9:06 pm
Posted Wed Oct 19, 2011 9:04 pm
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Portwain A.D.

(portwain)

Russian Federation
Moscow

It is a great app. I`d give it 4\4. One of the best board game on iPad

Posted Wed Oct 19, 2011 9:05 pm
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Brad Cummings

(thequietpunk)

United States

Connecticut

SJack wrote:

well what splendid timing. a massive update to bang! has just been released with online multiplayer! downloading now.

Wow that is crazy timing. I seriously had no idea...
I may have to revisit this...

Posted Wed Oct 19, 2011 9:10 pm
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The Gray Dog Passes Go

(CaptainCosmic)

United States
Reno
Nevada

Now THAT puts the dink in co-ink-ee-dink.

Downloading now ...

Posted Wed Oct 19, 2011 9:17 pm
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Dork Designs

(Devilduck)

United States
Mobile
Alabama

Dang... I was about to say the multiplayer was now available.

Posted Wed Oct 19, 2011 9:20 pm
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Scrumpy Jack

(SJack)

United Kingdom

and it's an update with a Bang!

ONLINE MULTIPLAYER!
Dodge City Playable Cards (Brown, Blue and Green cards);
Free “Scavenger” Character Pack: three new characters to unlock by earning the corresponding achievements!
Game Center support (achievements and leaderboards);
Mixed Mode pass-play: AI + humans;
Multiple music tracks;
Ready for Multicross Gameplay;
Ready for iOS5;
iCloud backup support;

I don't suppose it's async, let's take a look.

edit: arg, noone online

Edited Wed Oct 19, 2011 9:23 pm
Posted Wed Oct 19, 2011 9:21 pm
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Ron Bahimi

(Bahimiron)

United States
Brookline
Massachusetts

CaptainCosmic wrote:

I went from never having played Bang to understanding the entire game, including every card, in less than 20 minutes

That's swell. After some plays I too am now a crazy Bang prodigy such as yourself. This doesn't change the fact that forcing people to sit there and wait while text slowly scrolls across the top of the screen to explain what a card does is clunky, ugly design. Compare to Ascension where a double tap on any card blows it up instantly so you can read the description of the card at your chosen reading speed.

Whether or not people like the game its based on, every card game on iOS could stand to take a good look at what Playdek has done.

Posted Wed Oct 19, 2011 9:26 pm
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Gabe Alvaro

(blindspot)

United States
Berkeley
California

I see the update for the iPad app, but not yet for the iphone app.

Posted Wed Oct 19, 2011 9:26 pm
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Scrumpy Jack

(SJack)

United Kingdom

Devilduck wrote:

Dang... I was about to say the multiplayer was now available.

Apologies, I think I went a bit heavy handed by also updating a forum thread and the ipad mulitplayer games list quasi instantly. This is called Board Game Geek after all - heh

Posted Wed Oct 19, 2011 9:34 pm
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The Gray Dog Passes Go

(CaptainCosmic)

United States
Reno
Nevada

Bahimiron wrote:

This doesn't change the fact that forcing people to sit there and wait while text slowly scrolls across the top of the screen to explain what a card does is clunky, ugly design.

Except you're not "forced" to do anything. You've apparently never tapped the Help icon, even once.

Here's an example; note how you can read all about the cards at your own pace:

Being a "prodigy" is certainly not a requirement. Feel free to lower your level of snark.

Edited Wed Oct 19, 2011 9:43 pm
Posted Wed Oct 19, 2011 9:40 pm
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Ron Bahimi

(Bahimiron)

United States
Brookline
Massachusetts

So instead of playing a game I can sit there and read through the rules?

Once again, Ascension lets you learn while you play. The only way to learn what a card does while playing a game of Bang! is to either hold the card and watch the scrolling or quit out of the game and go into a completely different screen. That's just bad presentation. Hell, I think Neuroshima Hex's requirement that you tap on a menu that pops out and then tap on the information option is pretty cluky compared to Ascension's super smooth 'just tap the screen, okay?' method of information request. So one that requires you actually leave the game, or not even start a game, is always going to be pretty second rate.

I appreciate that their solution is good enough for you. I'm not convinced.

Posted Wed Oct 19, 2011 10:13 pm
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Carl Patten

(Myok)

United States
St. Paul
Minnesota

No, no, I'm fine. How are you?

Condescending hyperbole doesn't help your case. In a game with a lot of different types of cards, a new player isn't going to memorize them all before playing. Making looking up cards intrusive (exiting and reading the manual) or inefficient (the slow single scrolling line) is poor design for a video game implementation of a board game.

Posted Wed Oct 19, 2011 10:42 pm
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Michael

(Frogan)

Austria

I just spent a 100 GG and all I could think of was this lousy text!?

It's nice that there is an update, but is it just me or did the developers delete most of the locked characters, which were promised for a future version?

And after playing a few solo games, I believe the AI became more stupid, e.g. the AI-sheriff attacked the deputy, although there was an outlaw shooting at him the round before... or maybe this was a case of extreme short-term memory whistle

Posted Wed Oct 19, 2011 11:39 pm
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Nim Chimpsky

(macgruff)

United States

New York

Frogan wrote:

It's nice that there is an update, but is it just me or did the developers delete most of the locked characters, which were promised for a future version?

And after playing a few solo games, I believe the AI became more stupid, e.g. the AI-sheriff attacked the deputy, although there was an outlaw shooting at him the round before... or maybe this was a case of extreme short-term memory whistle

I haven't downloaded the update yet, and for reference there are 24 locked/"not yet available" characters in the pre-updated version.

Posted Wed Oct 19, 2011 11:51 pm
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The Gray Dog Passes Go

(CaptainCosmic)

United States
Reno
Nevada

Frogan wrote:

It's nice that there is an update, but is it just me or did the developers delete most of the locked characters, which were promised for a future version?

Three characters were added, by my count. All rely on a "player eliminated" condition, so they are pretty similar.

I don't have any of my Bang stuff with me at the moment, but I believe that there's still a metric butt-load of characters still not included in the game.

Edit: or, what MacGruff said above.

Edited Thu Oct 20, 2011 12:43 am
Posted Thu Oct 20, 2011 12:43 am
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Michael

(Frogan)

Austria

I just spent a 100 GG and all I could think of was this lousy text!?

macgruff wrote:

I haven't downloaded the update yet, and for reference there are 24 locked/"not yet available" characters in the pre-updated version.

Thank you for the count. I wasn't sure how many of these "not yet available" characters had existed, but in that case, all of them (or at least 21) disappeared. It's quite a cut and for me somewhat disappointing that Spin Vector didn't implement more of the content, which was once promised.

But on the other hand, the Dodge City cards were included. So let's just hope for some future, and more frequent, updates.

Posted Thu Oct 20, 2011 7:11 am
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The Gray Dog Passes Go

(CaptainCosmic)

United States
Reno
Nevada

Frogan wrote:

But on the other hand, the Dodge City cards were included. So let's just hope for some future, and more frequent, updates.

One thing I'm semi-hopeful about: this whole "multicross" thing is apparently (and finally) working. My impression is that it's the feature that was holding up progress on other items like new cards, new characters, etc.

If that's the case, then there's no reason why Spin Vector couldn't start getting us the other 21 characters in a more timely fashion.

Posted Thu Oct 20, 2011 7:16 am
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The Gray Dog Passes Go

(CaptainCosmic)

United States
Reno
Nevada

So is it really "multiplayer" if there's never anyone in the lobby? I've yet to play even a single game due to lack of players ... shake

Edit: It's getting better; I've actually played a couple of matches. Of course, I first had to navigate through a long series of errors and disconnections. Jesus wept.

Edited Thu Oct 20, 2011 7:34 pm
Posted Thu Oct 20, 2011 5:11 pm
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Alan Newman

(Al Newman)

United States
Wantagh
New York

I'll be there eventually, Duke.

I had another version on the iPhone but I only play games on the iPad now. I'll download and familiarize myself with it again but it'll take some time. As usual, too many games, too little time.

Also, am beta testing E&T and Cabals and that takes time as well. Sigh...

If only there were 48 hours in the day. And 14 days in a week.

Regards,

Alan

Posted Thu Oct 20, 2011 10:57 pm
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Brad McKenzie

(bradandmary)

Thailand

Joining the commentary late - there is an option now to remove the extra animations that made the game much longer. Certainly makes for a faster playing game.

This is still one of my favorite games. I look forward to playing with all of you online!

Posted Sat Oct 22, 2011 2:17 pm
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Andre Lucato

(AndreKada)

Brazil

bradandmary wrote:

Joining the commentary late - there is an option now to remove the extra animations that made the game much longer. Certainly makes for a faster playing game.

Hey Brad. Despite the flaws I really like the iOS Version of Bang too. However those little card animations feel a bit time consuming. It would be great to be able to get rid of them too.

Edited Mon Oct 24, 2011 3:18 am
Posted Sat Oct 22, 2011 4:46 pm
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The Gray Dog Passes Go

(CaptainCosmic)

United States
Reno
Nevada

Bang online, in a nutshell:

"Connection lost ..."

"Connection lost ..."

"Connection lost ..."

"Connection lost ..."

"Connection lost ..."

Spin Vector is a joke. I would have thought it to be impossible to suck all the fun out of Bang, but I would have been wrong. One-star review left at App Store.

Posted Sat Oct 22, 2011 6:00 pm
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V L

(Neo42)

United States

Virginia

Bahimiron wrote:

CaptainCosmic wrote:

I went from never having played Bang to understanding the entire game, including every card, in less than 20 minutes

That's swell. After some plays I too am now a crazy Bang prodigy such as yourself. This doesn't change the fact that forcing people to sit there and wait while text slowly scrolls across the top of the screen to explain what a card does is clunky, ugly design. Compare to Ascension where a double tap on any card blows it up instantly so you can read the description of the card at your chosen reading speed.

Whether or not people like the game its based on, every card game on iOS could stand to take a good look at what Playdek has done.

It's the most puzzling design choice I've ever seen (in an ios boardgame app anyhow). The slowly scrolling text box to read a card is TERRIBLE. Full screen card blow up would be fine, just like ascension. OR if the box was a square, wider and taller and showed multiple lines of the card at once and auto scrolled.

And at first I didn't realize that tapping and holding a card would even show that screen.

I went out to their website to look for a card chart or something and found only the FAQ saying how to read the slowly scrolling box.

On BGG I found some player aids that help somewhat. So now I tap and hold and then look up the card on the player aid. Clunky! I'm going to check the app again though and look for a rules section or something.

edit:
The speed of the game is fine in my opinion. I don't understand why people want that part to go faster. The only thing that bugs me is the slow card description box.

edit 2:
There is a VERY NICE rules section available from the title screen. BUT it needs to be accessible during gameplay. Pausing a game appears to delete/quit it (it asks you if you want to quit). I couldn't see a way to get to the "rulebook" while playing the game.

Edited Wed Dec 28, 2011 8:44 pm
Posted Wed Dec 28, 2011 8:21 pm
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