Shanghai,
by LandWare $19.95
Reviewed March 2002
Shanghai is the name of a city in China;
Mahjong is a board game played in China (actually, there
is no board, just tiles placed on a table, but you know what
I mean). Shanghai Pocket Essentials is a Mahjong game developed
by LandWare for Palm OS handhelds (and Pocket PC) based on
Activision's Shanghai Mah-Jongg series.
It's usually not easy to develop a Mahjong
game for Palm because the screen is small and low-resolution,
which can make it hard to clearly represent the many tiles
in Mahjong. Some versions of Shanghai, say by Astraware,
are quite difficult to see, but LandWare has done a great
job of making the tiles easy to recognize as well as attractive.
You'll enjoy a huge number of creative and attractive layouts,
4 play modes and 2 difficulty levels. Being from China, I
appreciate the classic style tiles in Shanghai, but I'm also
very pleased and impressed by the many additional tile designs
(from Egyptian to Indian, from space to dinosaurs). The various
available layouts are very cool as well.
Playing Hint and Tips
Distribute your moves in all directions.
This way you will open up more "loose ends" which
in turn will give you access to more tiles. Try different
layouts and find the one that's most fun or challenging
for you. |
