| Developer: Oberon Games | Publisher: Microsoft |
| Release Date: January 30, 2007 | Also On: None |
Included with Windows Vista, Mahjong Titans is a first to be included in a Microsoft operating system. While we have always had some variation of mine sweeper, solitaire and sometimes even a chess, Microsoft decided to make Mahjong a part of the Vista experience. Even with its limited number of patterns, Mahjong Titans manages to be a delightful surprise freebie with the new and very expensive Windows Vista system.
Mahjong Titans comes with only six tile sets. These include the Turtle, Dragon, Cat, Fortress, Crab, and Spider. The small number leaves much to be desired, but the good news is that the tiles randomly generate, meaning you can play the same sets a hundred times over if you want to. Obviously this is the biggest oversight in the game and was more than likely intentional on Microsoft’s part to force you to actually spend some money on a Vista-ready build of a similar game. The traditional number of sets is usually in the dozens for games like this.
For those of you unfamiliar with mahjong, all you have to do is match identical tiles (in the case of flowers, dragons, winds and seasons, other tiles of the same type). There are two sets of each tile and they stack on each other to make a pattern. Only tiles that are free can be selected. The game will highlight tiles that you can select and if you try to click one that you can not play, a pop up box will appear telling you to select a different tile. Tiles on the top, sides and in open areas not surrounded by other tiles can be selected.
Some of the rudimentary features of Mahjong Titans include a save game feature, statistics, an undo button and a hint button. You can save games on exiting the program and load those saved games when you restart. You can also change various options in the file menu. Turn off sounds, animations, and select whether to save games or not on exit. Overall, there isn’t much here to alter the experience all that much, but the gameplay, graphics and sound do a fairly good job on their own. The screen is bright, the tiles are colorful and vibrant, and the animations are smooth. I guess that’s about all you could ask for in a free game: something that works.
| Graphics: | 8 |
| Sound: | 5 |
| Gameplay: | 7 |
| Creativity: | 6 |
| Replay Value/Game Length: | 5 |
| Final: | 6 |
| Written by Kyle | Review Guide |