Since downloading the game, you know that =Twenty will be completely focused around math. The goal of the game is simple: you have to connect numbers in a board so that they add up to a number that’s determined by the difficulty level you choose, and you have to repeat the process 20 times as fast as you can. It’s the board and you against the clock.
Developer: Ken Nakanishi
Price: Free (Ad-supported)
Highlights:
- Four difficulty levels.
- Connect 20 sequences as fast as you can.
- No in-app purchases, but some ads present.
Setup
There’s absolutely no setup needed. On my Nexus 6, the time from launching the app to starting a game was about five seconds. You just open the game, choose a level, and start right away. There’s no support for Google Play Games, however.
Features
The developer offers a concise “How to Play” explaining what you need to do in this game, in case you download the game without reading the description. You can choose among four different levels of difficulty: Easy, Normal, Hard and Expert. By the way, there’s a reason the Expert button is so small. It will take you forever to finish a game in Expert level. The difficulty level determines the number that you have to add up. For Easy, the number is 8. Medium will ramp up this number to 12, Hard to 20 and Expert to a whopping 36.
In game, you are presented with a 4×4 board in Easy and Medium, and a 5×5 board in Hard and Expert, with random numbers. The only restriction you have is that the numbers you choose have to be next to each other, and you can’t connect them diagonally. You can connect numbers by swiping through them. When your chosen numbers add up to the required value, they will nicely disappear and new random numbers will take up their place.
At the top of the screen, you will have the number of sequences you have to complete to finish the game, the time since you started the game and your personal best time. When you finish the game, the app shows you the time it took you to finish and gives you the option to share your prowess (or embarrassment) to your social networks. I think it would be a great addition to add a leaderboard here, so you can compare your best times to the ones being done by other people. For now, you are competing against yourself. Also, after playing for some time, the game can get a little bit tedious and repetitive, so it’s ideal for playing in short sessions.
Throughout the app, there are no fancy elements and there are very few animations. Buttons are simple and pastel colors are used for the most part. However, because of the developer’s decision to keep it simple, the app performs swiftly and the download is only 3 MB. Unfortunately, this also means that the landscape layout leaves much to be desired, even on the infamously-big Nexus 6 screen.
There’s an ad banner at the bottom of every screen (except How to Play), but it is not obtrusive at all. After a few games, however, a full screen ad is triggered. At least there’s absolutely no in-app purchases to be found, but there’s also no way to buy an ad-free experience.
Conclusion
=Twenty offers a fun experience in quick bursts, while boasting a simple interface and great performance. It may not offer much replayability, since once you get the hang of it, your scores won’t improve much, but the four difficulty levels can spice things up a bit. Nevertheless, it is an enjoyable exercise for the brain that will not consume your time or wallet.
