App Store download link:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/icontest/id632555361?ls=1&mt=8
Available in Spanish, English, Japanese and Korean
Icontest is a new free app released by Plunge Interactive and now available on the itunes store. Icontest blends trivia knowledge with a fun variation on the traditional Hangman game play. Each round presents you with a picture image clue and a pool of letters. Using the letters, the player must guess the word from the picture clue. Categories range from movies and tv shows to comic book characters to cities and countries. Picture clues range in complexity and escalate in difficulty as the game progresses.
Icontest integrates with social media, allowing you to crowd-source difficult levels with all your friends on facebook and twitter. If your friends can’t help, Icontest provides two hint options. The first eliminates letters from the pool available. The second fills in one letter in the word. You are given six free hints, three for each option. But if you run out, Icontest allows you to purchase more helpful hints.
Icontest also integrates with the game center, allowing you to share your achievements and high scores.
Game review
Icontest pairs a number of traditional word game elements into an addictive gaming experience. Drawing on pop culture and trivia, Icontest presents you with a picture clue. In my play through, these clues ranged from drawings of superman and batman to a drawing of two men and a half. The early images were easy enough to guess but as the game progressed, I found the levels became increasingly more complex. Whereas early levels were simple identification, later levels incorporated multiple images that must all be combined to reach the final answer.
The game is great for single player play, but if solo play isn’t your style, Icontest also makes for a great party game. By the end of my first play through all my friends had gathered around and we were working together to figure out the clues. And its integration with social media adds a wonderful (and necessary, when the levels get harder) aspect to the game. At level 14, I was stumped. Even with using all my free hints and with the help of my friends in the room, I still couldn’t guess the word. One tweet and twenty minutes later a friend across the country tweeted me the answer!
The game is downright addictive. Every image presented an exciting new challenge and when I was stumped, I couldn’t stop racking my brain for the answer. For such a simple concept, this game delivers a ton of fun. The game really shines when you reach the later levels. The images are no longer straightforward and require quite a bit of thought. Even with a group of six friends, we still struggled at times to guess the words. But the words were never so difficult that you would give up and lose interest entirely. We always felts like the word was right there in front of us and if we looked at the clue for long enough, we would figure it out. This is key, as the game won’t lose your interest after just a few rounds.
One drawback is that the game currently has only one play path. This means that if you and all your friends and social media contacts really are stumped, you can’t go back and start a brand new play through. But the app is still young and this may change. And many popular apps use this format. Icontest, at times, reminded me of the Impossible Level Game. Eventually, you’ll reach a point that you simply get past. There will be a clue you won’t be able to solve, but that doesn’t mean you won’t keep going back to it time and time again to see if another look won’t jog something!
This is an app that is definitely going to keep a space on my home page. It’s great for commuters and students or anyone who is looking for an app to fill just a few minutes of downtime. It has a lot of potential and room for growth with some tender loving care from its developers. But as it stands, it’s a great app that is certainly worthy of a try.
