If you grew up playing cards, then you need no introduction to Crazy Eights. Searching Crazy Eights on the Google Play Store, however, can be pretty disappointing as the variants that pop up may be different from the one you grew up playing. That was certainly the case for me.
When developer, Rob Maweni reached out to us to test what he and Bantu Vision had been working on – an Africa-centric version of Crazy Eights we were pretty excited to see what the game was about and what the African twist was.
Afro Eights as it is titled is in beta testing so it’s raw around the edges but it’s an extremely enjoyable game you can pick up for short sessions (usually a winning formula for mobile games).
Pros
Afro Eights allows you to play both Single and Multiplayer modes and I had a blast playing either. Multiplayer is usually more engaging because you know there is another person (or people since you can play with upto 5 players at a time) on the other end but the AI in single-player was just as fun and actually got the best of me in the majority of matches I played.
As I said earlier Bantu Vision’s Afro Eights is similar to the one more commonly known in these parts of the world whilst most versions I found on the Playstore looked foreign (at least to me) or had too many ads:
The African theme is not overbearing but it is noticeable and it doesn’t get in the way of the fun. The cards have African designs and figures and the music has an African theme. In my opinion, it’s a welcome touch and it doesn’t get in the way of the game most importantly.
Cons
As mentioned before, the game is in beta which means bugs will be the biggest drawback but Rob Maweni and his team wanted us to talk about whilst its in beta so that they can get feedback on their game.
In my time playing, I’ve run into two game-breaking bugs all in singleplayer mode but these haven’t detracted from the fact that the game is pretty good and I guess knowing that it’s good in its unfinished state means players have some positives to look forward to.
One other issue is that the UI in the menus isn’t as pretty as other games I’ve played. It works, but it’s certainly function over form. This is another issue which can be fixed with updates so I’m not too concerned by it.
Rob highlighted another bug that I didn’t personally experience:
Be warned though – it doesn’t do great on low resolution screens on android; there’s too much details on the cards, so we’re trying to see if we can work it out on unity or redo the cards but we’ll have decided by end of week so hopefully doing better soon after that
Rob Maweni – Chief Strategy Officer at Bantu Vision
If you’re interested in beta testing Afro Eights for yourself you can download it and take it for a spin below:
Android: https://play.google.com/apps/testing/com.Bantuvision.AfroEights
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