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by Philip Michaels , Macworld.com Magnetic Billiards: Blueprint from Zee 3 Limited is a study in contrasts. The game has simple graphics it takesplaces on a billiard table sketched out on a set of blueprints butthe colors and patterns are quite striking. It's a pretty simplegame you can get right to playing without ever swiping your waythrough the in-app tutorials but there are tricks and tips you canonly master by diving in deep. And it's a textbook casual game thatyou can play in short bursts and put down again though, if you'renot careful, you could find yourself spending a lot of time tryingto conquer Magnetic Billiards. The point of Magnetic Billiards is to get similarly colored ballsto group together; the balls help you out by sticking together oncethey make contact with each other. You need to make sure thebilliard ball you strike makes first contact with a ball of thesame color a green ball has to hit another green ball before itcan make contact with any other ball or you run the risk of wipingout any bonuses, losing a life, or bringing your game to anunexpectedly early conclusion. That said, you rack up bonuses forfiring balls as close to other colored balls withouttouching Magnetic Billiards calls this "buzzing and you canalso score bonuses for banking a ball off the sides of the virtualtable. So there's a risk-reward factor to consider with each shot. Color Me Impressed: In Magnetic Billiards, you re trying to getballs with the same colors and patterns to group together. Youcan t strike a ball of a different color with your initial shot,but here, I ve managed to rack up a modest bonus for firing a shotclose enough to a differently colored ball without making contact. Magnetic Billiards offers two game modes: Classic and Arcade. InClassic, the game arranges balls in different patterns, and it's upto you to clear the table by grouping balls together by color.Counter-intuitively, you don't want to do this in a single shot:Taking your sweet time and multiple shots increases your bonusand your score. Once you've cleared the table, you're assigned aletter grade based on your score a nice variation on thethree-star rankings that appear in other iOS games that encouragesyou to replay levels you've already completed. (Curiously, A is notthe highest letter grade one of the many quirks you come across inMagnetic Billiards.) Arcade mode features a single game when you download the app.(Others are available via in-app purchase.) The Relentless modethat comes as the default Arcade offering in Magnetic Billiardskeeps adding balls to the table, no matter how successfully youkeep clearing out similarly-colored ones. It's essentially anendless mode except if you happen to strike the wrong ball andbring the game to an abrupt conclusion. The $1 price of admission to Magnetic Billiards gets you 20 tablesin Classic mode and the single Arcade game. The game offers packsof other Classic tables and two more Arcade games for $2 apiece; an$8 purchase unlocks everything. It's not exactly the free-to-playapproach favored by some game makers, but it does give you a chanceto test out the game for a low price without having to commit to alarge upfront fee. Controls in Magnetic Billiards are pretty straightforward: Yourfinger acts as the cue stick. The game gives you the option ofsetting whether you push or pull with your finger to fire off ashot, which is a handy setting for those times when your view ofthe board might otherwise by blocked by your fat fingers. Thedegree you slide your finger determines the strength of your shot;again, the game helpfully displays the percentage of how hard yourshot will be, giving you the chance to adjust for those times youjust want to tap the ball forward. Magnetic Billiards also providesyou with a guided arrows to show you where your shot is headed;happy and frowny faces tell you if you're going to be on target ornot. Some players might find that removes some of the challengefrom the game, though as you build up your bonus the tariff, inMagnetic Billiards' parlance the length of the arrows decreasesdramatically. Overall, I had little difficulty lining up shots,particularly once I learned that tapping elsewhere on the screencan cancel a shot that you're lining up, saving you frominadvertently shooting a ball that has no chance of reaching itstarget. Still, occasionally, I'll line up a shot but flinch ever soslightly as I release, making the shot go off target. That'smaddening, but it's part of the game. Other niceties in Magnetic Billiards include an old-timey pianothat plays on the app's home screen and gives way to more modernbackground music in the game itself. Electronic blips and beepsaugment your shots, enhancing the game experience, while a roboticvoice praises or pans your shots. For in-game tips and tutorials,the faces of Magnetic Billiards' creators pop up, which is an... interesting aesthetic choice. Menus felt a little bit cluttered to me, and ona few occasions, it takes a few too many taps to get to where youwant to go. In Classic mode, for example, you'll tap on a specifictable to play it, only to have the game ask you to tap again if youwant to play the table you've already selected. Those are minor complaints, however. Magnetic Billiards stands outin a crowded game section of the App Store by offering iPhone andiPad users a unique combination of a billiards game and a physicspuzzle. Don't let the simple look of its blueprint-style interfacefool you there's a lot of fun to be had here. [ Philip Michaels is Macworld.com's editor. ]. The e-commerce company in China offers quality products such as China LED Panel Grow Lights , LED Flood Light Fixture, and more. For more , please visit T8 LED Light Tube today!
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