Review: Microsoft Minesweeper
Score:
80%
In a sense, there's little point in reviewing something which everyone can grab for free anyway - but this is an official Microsoft Studios title, and this is Minesweeper, always one of my favourite casual 'logic' games, so it's worth a look through, if only to entice you to grab it now and try for yourself. Plus, it's Xbox Live-enabled, so you get to win some pretty easy gamer points - again, all for free.
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You surely need no introduction to Minesweeper, something of a Microsoft 'first', back in the day? It has prevailed on most versions of Windows through the years and, decades later, it pops up on Windows Phone!
There are two themes included: Classic and err... 'Garden'. I'm guessing the latter makes more of the 'mines hidden under the earth' concept and at least there's no chance of you actually blowing your leg off by digging your spade into a real garden, err... I mean minefield.
Three grid sizes are included, nicely pitched for a one minute, five minute or fifteen minute game, depending on your mental dexterity, of course. There's also a 'custom' option, shown above right - don't worry, the mine positions shown in the diagram aren't actually where mines are being placed, they're simply there to give you a flavour of how densely packed you're making the minefield!
XBox Live 'G' points come very quickly, with animations and cute graphics throughout, this is all up to Microsoft's standards and, when not actually playing, there's good use made of the Windows Phone panorama 'modern' UI, as you'll see later.
While playing, you can pan around by dragging the minefield, or use pinch and splay to zoom out and in respectively, so you can play at a visual level that works well whatever your eyesight's like.
As you'd expect, tapping reveals the contents of a grid cell and, if needed, those of the cells around it, or you can long tap to mark a cell as having a mine inside. Get it wrong, of course, and boom, it's game over!
Graphically, Minesweeper is very flexible. Here's part of a large custom grid in 'Classic' theme - so you really can have this set up for your eyes, for your brain power and your finger dexterity.
Statistics are kept for your best times for each difficulty level - yes, the games are all timed (with a (themed) on-screen clock discreetly tucked away), but don't worry too much about this - the main challenge with Minesweeper is completing the grid at all. And passing time in an enjoyable fashion!
Having a 'Tips' section is a nice touch, with some genuinely helpful pointers for Minesweeper newbies. Note also from the screens here that there are banner ads throughout, which seems a little excessive - isn't Microsoft rich enough already? Shouldn't this game be a complete freebie? The ads are also all for Microsoft products, so perhaps the company sees it as just another promotional tool?
Achievements and Xbox Gamer points clock up happily though and now I can add Minesweeper to my ever-growing Xbox achievements gallery - it'll impress my nephew, who (cough) shares some of the same titles with me on my account!
Needless banner ads aside (and no way to get rid of them), there's nothing to dislike here in Microsoft Minesweeper. It's very competently done, attractive on the whole, free to grab and, doubtless, will be responsible for much pleasant distraction whenever I'm waiting in line or on public transport in the future.
Recommended. You can download Microsoft Minesweeper for free here in the Store.
Reviewed by Steve Litchfield at