History 2048

Genre: Unlimited Pattern Puzzle

Players: 1

.

Review:

(Note: This game is included in 3 in 1 – Logical Bundle, along with Miniature – The Story Puzzle and Just Black Jack.)

History 2048 is a version of the 2048 Puzzle game that was super-popular for a hot minute on mobile devices a few years ago. For those who missed it, the premise of the original game is that numbers appear on a grid, and you can slide everything one of four directions. Blocks that hit other blocks with the same value combine into one worth twice as much. With this being the case, you must slide the blocks to try and combine as many as possible before you are unable to make any more moves.

The gameplay remains largely unchanged here, although this game does away with the numbers and replaces them with little dioramas of scenes throughout history, with the time period depicted advancing through the eras as you combine pieces together.

These little dioramas are quite enjoyable to look at, with little animations and details, and one of the joys of this game is finally combining your two highest-value pieces to see the next diorama it reveals. Unfortunately, these dioramas are also the cause of one of the game’s problems – unlike simple numbers, it’s not immediately apparent what order these dioramas follow, and players who don’t memorize them can find the gameplay suffering as a result.

Another problem present here that isn’t in the original 2048 is the game’s isometric view, which was undoubtedly done to make the dioramas look good, but results in control issues, since players can’t simply swipe left, right, up, and down, but must do it at angles, which can cause problems both when played with a controller and with touchscreen.

And while the game may look nice, nothing was done here to capitalize on sound – the game has no music, and instead of the different eras being characterized by unique sounds, it’s all artificial bleeps and bloops. Disappointing.

The other issue here is that History 2048 is being sold for $5, which is $1 more than 2048 Battles. And while that game had similar control issues, it also featured far more options, including a variety of display options, and multiplayer play. Now, 2048 Battles is far from a perfect game, but it is clearly a superior alternative to History 2048, being sold at a lower price. Kinda’ makes it hard to recommend this game.

Ultimately, this is still at its core a version of 2048, which is an excellent game. But it’s dragged down by a presentation that values the way the game looks over how well it plays, and the existence of a superior alternative that’s less expensive. If you’re looking for a version of 2048 on the Switch, there’s very little reason to get this one.

tl;dr – History 2048 is a version of the 2048 Puzzle game popularized on Smartphones a few years back. This version looks good and plays well enough, but the isometric view is less than ideal and screws up the controls, and it’s lacking the options and multiplayer modes of the similar and less-expensive 2048 Battles

Grade: C

^{You can support eShopperReviews on Patreon! Please click HERE to become a Sponsor!}