Despite what you might be thinking, Pi-Pi-Ee is not the sound children make when they want some desert on Thanksgiving (though I'm sure it's very similar). It is the mathematical title of the Othello-like strategy puzzle game from Chris Underwood who also brought us the Hanna in a Choppa games. You start out with several pieces on a game board with the goal to outnumber your opponent. Click and drag to move your creatures around. You can move a piece one square (or hexagon, or triangle) away, and it will clone itself. Alternately you can jump your piece two connected spaces away from its current location, leaving the space you jumped from empty. If your creature lands next to an opponent piece, you capture it, and it changes to your color. Click and hold on one of your guys to highlight possible valid moves. The game is over when all the spaces are full, or if one player can't make any more moves.
The first few levels are simple enough, but it gets challenging soon enough, and if the AI isn't tough enough for you, grab a friend for two player mode and show 'em what you got. The board set-ups vary wildly, which keeps things from getting repetitive. A game on a board with squares can be vastly different from a board of triangles, and many levels combine shapes for even more interesting set ups and strategies. Sometimes being aggressive is the way to go, while other times blocking your opponent in the corner might be beneficial. Paying close attention to which spaces are connected to which, indicated by glowing blue lines, can be the difference between a win or a loss. If the web version leaves you wanting more, pick up the game for your mobile device which features more levels and an unlockable harder AI opponent. As a bonus, there are no in-app purchases whatsoever. Simple to learn, hard to put down, Pi-Pi-Ee is a wonderfully strategic game that will keep you coming back for more.
NOTE: This game was played and reviewed on the Galaxy Nexus. Game was available in the North American market at the time of publication, but may not be available in other territories. Please see individual app market pages for purchasing info.
Two player games are few and far between - where is the "add to favourites" link?
This is a pretty clever two-playerable game, but there are a few serious flaws with the AI on some levels. On level 8 I was in a vulnerable position in which the AI could take nearly all of my pieces with a jump, but instead it stared jumping back and forth between two useless positions as I slowly moved up and took all of its pieces.
A good game to play with a friend; but maybe not so much the AI.
@ pterion, I'm not sure why the favorites isn't showing up for this review. I'll pass on the info so we can look into it! Thanks! The mobile verson (which is free if you've got an Android) has more playing boards.
@thegreatescaper, I never had the AI do anything that blatently stupid, though it would occasionally miss a good move. The mobile version has a harder AI opponent that unlocks if you beat it on all the levels.
Love it! I'm tempted to print some of the maps and make it a board game with friends :)
I also got the AI doing some silly things like losing in 2 moves in one of the smaller maps.
Cool. I'd be curious to learn how far back this idea goes: the basic mechanic is exactly the same as a Mac game I was playing way back in the '90s, though that version had only a single 7x7 square board and a few levels of AI.
abfdrumz: The basic idea seems to go back to 1988.
The way the variously-shaped cells abut is a nice new twist.
Eric is quite handsome, but Mr. Underwood misspelled "allure".
I didn't know it went back quite that far. I have only ever seen the core gameplay concept in one game before, Thromulus on the Amiga in the 90's. It was only ever played on a small grid of squares though. I figured that it would be nice to resurrect and extend it, since I hadn't seen anything else like it in well over 20 years and I kind of missed playing it!
As for AI flaws, that's deliberate early on. No point beating up new players with smart AI, they'll just give up and play something else. If you want a full challenge, grab the mobile version and try the extreme AI mode. Much trickier.
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