Ancient Game of GO at App Store analyse

Im so stoked on this universal binary included in the latest update. AGOG on the iPad is beautiful! I thought the iPhone version was a pretty sharp looking application, but the iPad takes the cake. My Grandma actually thought I was playing on a real board. I actually ended up teaching her to play, because the iPad introduces same screen multiplay. Ive also noticed that the AI is quite a bit stronger on the iPad than on the iPhone. I think this has to do with increased computing power. Either way, the difficulty increase was a welcome one. I still wish there were difficulty levels, though. If you were iffy about this app when it was a $2.99 iPhone app, buy it. I would easily pay $5.99 for just the iPad version of this app. Its an incredible value. The company that makes this app is pretty awesome (they also made SurfaceDJ for the iPhone), and tend to update their apps with actual value after a few months, so Im sure theres something to look forward to in Gos future.

Nice things: 1. Beautiful graphics, nice sound effects. 2. AI is generally pretty competent. Main complaints: 1. I cant see a way to question the computers scoring at the end, which seems like a standard feature in computer implementations of go. 2. As a result, I cant tell if its dealing correctly with seki. It claims to score by Japanese rather than Chinese rules. 3. The clock is not set up like it would be in a tournament: both players share the same time, and when its up the computer scores the game as is. Some sort of standard game clock, with overtime of 20 stones in 5 minutes (or similar) would be better. 4. Dragging a stone from your bowl onto the board is nice, but Id like an option to be able to just touch on the intersection I want. 5. It doesnt know about superko. (Ok, maybe that would be asking a lot.)

A good go program, but as pretty as the interface is, the usability could use a little work. The zoom is a great idea, but its blurry enough to hurt my eyes a bit. Also, an undo button would be nice to have. Im hopeful for the programs future.

Game is very attractive and plays well enough, but needs to fix a few things: 1) Always-on soundtrack -- shouldnt have to shut the thing up by reaching for the iPads volume control. 2) Mandatory turn timer -- user should be able to turn it off, or allow a much longer maximum than two minutes. 3) Only plays in portrait mode on the iPad -- Go uses a square playing surface, so we shouldnt be forced to rotate the device to accomodate the game. 4) No simple tap on the board to place a piece? Constant dragging from the bowl of stones gets tedious. A lot to like about this app, but the annoyances add up.

UPDATE, DOWNGRADED: ive now had this a couple of weeks and played many games. im starting to get rather ticked off at a few of my previous complaints as they are super annoying. it is so hard having to rate it so low because as i said before, this game is stunning and I really enjoy playing on it. the price is even a steal given the high quality and elegance. i cant for the life of me understand why a company that obviously cares so much about their product would just throw the actual game out the window. why neglect the actual reason for making the app in the first place. make it a first rate go app and ill give you 5 stars in a jiffy here is what is completely wrong. 1. you are forced to use a time clock even if you dont want one. there absolutely should be an option for no time limit. Not everybody wants to play like a pro and sometimes when your talking or discussing strategy and playing a 19x19 board 2 hours ends and your forced to quit. this just doesnt make sense. i want to play as long as i want and even take weeks to study a board or a particular game if i want. Please add zero clock and a pause. the maximum clock btw is 2 hours not 2 minutes as some reviewers have said and the time is just running all the time and doesnt guide any particular players turns as maybe it should or at least be optioned to. 2. you must must must have an undo. Sometimes given the nature of the medium your finger slips or you put the stone in the wrong place by accident. Its silly to not allow one to remedy this. also, i dont mind in a long intense game letting a player take back a silly move if we are playing to learn. you shouldnt be the one that dictates how we use the game. make it versatile, dont be a dictator. 3. also, the worst possible thing probably is that at the end of the game it scores for you by telling you who wins and what the score is, BUT you cant ever see the board again to check the score or study the board, you cant see how it was scored in a visual way (like iGoWIn does), the game is just lost forever and all you can see is the score. at the very least give us a screenshot. at best, please let us review the whole game step by step fro the first stone so we can review a game and see what we should have done differently or study good moves/positions and how we got there. let us take advantage of why we are playing on a digital medium in the first place. 4. it is slightly misleading as there is no 13x13 board on the ipad... why not? we have 9x9 and 19x19 why not in between? 5. this one goes along with the scoring, but it would be great to see in game territory estimation. ie real time visual scoring ive written the makers and have had no response whatsoever so i have no idea if they plan on responding with an update to any of my and all the other reviewers similar complaints. while i dont actually suggest the app, look at the features of clevergo pro. i do suggest smartgo pro if you want a great library of games and problems and the ability to replay and save games as well as branch off and bookmark certain positions in a game. also i recommend all the igowin apps. non are as beautiful as this one however. its a shame this one cant do what all the others do as it would be the clear leader.

Terrible app. Weak go engine and poor scoring. No ability to review or confirm. I play kgsgo and this is pathetic. Much weaker than the old igowin. If you like Go, do not buy.

I dont like the fact that there isnt an undo. You cant play this game without accidentally hitting the wrong square. An undo is a must. Also they have an adjustable time clock that you are forced to play by. Why? This is not the case with the real game. And lastly, the app keeps crashing in the middle of a game. Seriously annoying. I really like the app. For design and playability its great but it could be much better. If not for these issues I would gladly rate it five stars.