Enigma, sometimes known as 'Mastermind' in its original board game form, is a great game when you are on the move. The goal is to find the identity of a line of coloured marbles chosen by the computer, you do this by using up to ten guesses of the solution, and for each you're given information on how many of the guessed marbles are “the right colour but in the wrong place”, “the right colour in the right place” or “just plain wrong”.
The twist, of course, is that you aren't told which marbles the clues apply to. So through subsequent guesses and deduction, you can work out the correct order of the marbles and make that guess before you run out of guesses. The clues, just as in the board game, are provided to you as smaller monochrome marbles.
Zingmagic are behind Enigma, and they've been long term Symbian programmers (since before it was even called Symbian) so it will come as no surprise that Enigma is stable and solid when running. It also has a competent user interface that does the job perfectly, but lacks the bells and whistles that those coming from the modern gaming world might be expecting.
Not to worry though, this is a strength of the app, not a weakness. All you need is on the screen, with icons that ask your guess to be checked, as well as selecting the coloured marbles and placing them on the game board in the right space. As with all the Zingmagic titles, you can change the background images (but only to those built into the game), the game board and the style of the playing pieces with other icons, to find the best combination that works for your eyes. This is something that makes a lot of difference on the smaller-screened phones.
There's no AI to play against here (other than the computer randomisation of the pieces), so there's very little to test out. If you like this style of game, then it's a simple check to know that it does all the things you expect, it's programmed fairly, and the graphics are clear. So where's the challenge? It's in the increasing skill level and complexity of the solutions you have to find.
Unlike the board game, expanding out the number of marbles to give you a longer solution to find is a simple matter on a computer screen – and so it proves to be. You can scale right up to six marbles, with duplicate colours possible, as the highest skill level. Because you are challenging yourself, it's a simple enough matter to find the right level compared to your deductive reasoning abilities... and then go a little beyond it.
You will have spotted that there is nothing stunning or ground breaking about Enigma; it follows the Zingmagic template of taking a respected traditional game, adding a usable interface and clear graphics, and then making sure that nothing else gets in the way of the gameplay. Given that, you might be surprised at this, but in my mind Enigma is a great game - it does what it sets out to do, and does it well.
-- Ewan Spence, Feb 2010.