Wheel of Fortune: All the fun without the cash and prizes.

There are two types of people in the world: "Wheel of Fortune" fans and "The Price is Right" fans.  Me, I have to admit I tend toward the Bob Barker end of the spectrum.  But since Drew Carrey has hijacked my favorite geriatric TV show, I guess "Wheel of Fortune" is okay.  

I must admit, I wasn't 100% sold on a game version for the iPhone.  Solving puzzle games isn't always my forte, and it seems like replicating the game-show would involve lots of down time while other players spun, guessed, and began to weep over those goofily depressing sound effects.   After tinkering with Wheel of Fortune, though, I must admit that it does a great job adapting the game.  If you like the TV version (specifically if you like trying to guess puzzles before the players on screen), you'll like this.  But the game does leave a couple of features off that I think could really elevate gameplay.

Lets start off with graphics, shall we?  They are simple and appropriate, taking on an almost cartooney feeling.  The wheel comes up with full animation whenever someone spins, and the options to spin, solve, or buy a vowel are simple and offered automatically before every turn.

Also, the app offers you the option to modestly customize your avatar, changing gender, hair color, skin color, and clothing.  It's a nice feature, even if it is fairly limited.

Also, when solving or guessing a letter the game provides its own custom keyboard which blots out letters that have already been guessed.  The controls require no thinking on the user's part; we can just focus on solving that puzzle as fast as is humanly possible.

Gameplay is smooth and easy.  Just like in the TV show, you play against two other players who take their turn to spin, guess letters, buy vowels, and solve puzzles.  It can get tedious waiting on these computer generated, soulless opponents, but luckily Sony has included a "skip" button that takes all the time consuming parts out of each move but still allows you to see the progress of the other players.  Still, it gets a little annoying to hit skip every two seconds...I would like it if the developer put a "skip all" option in the menus that provides a streamlined version of gameplay.  

In addition to this standard gameplay, though, the app offers a number of other options.  You can play a "toss-up" game in which you are the only player.  Letters are slowly revealed, and its up to you to ring in and solve the puzzle as quickly as possible.  This is a good way for "Wheel" fans to get their quick puzzle-solving fix for the day without committing to a full, drawn-out game.

Within the "Normal Game" option, users can also choose between easy, medium, hard, and single player--which limits your number of turns and dispenses with competitors, forcing you to play against your own weaknesses.  It's very Zen.

So with all these options and features, what could possibly be missing?  Well, two things: multi-player and wifi/internet modes.

I was a little shocked when I didn't find these options on the game.  "Wheel of Fortune" is a great game to play with friends, and it seems tailor-made for playing on wifi networks or even over the internet.  It isn't graphics heavy, so very little information would have to be transferred between phones to make it work.  In the best of worlds, it would be nice to be able to get my grandma, sister, and a couple of friends logged in on their phones (okay, my grandma doesn't have an iPhone) so we could play a game together.

Barring that, though, what if you are hanging out with a friend and both of you wanted to partake in some wheel spinnin'?  No dice.  You cannot play multiple real-life players in a single game.  And I really don't know why. 

So the game is about as good as you can make it, and if you are a "Wheel" fan or like word puzzles, it's worth the $4.99 price tag.  I would really want to see a multi-player update in the near future, though.  Fingers crossed.

You can buy Wheel of Fortune HERE.