You’d think by now that every possible way to play Tic Tac Toe has been exhausted already, and to a certain degree that might be true. Hidden Variable thinks otherwise, however, and has developed Tic Tactics to prove it, bringing the classic game back with even more strategy than before, but with a twist. In a normal Tic Tac Toe game, you’re given only 9 squares to work with, and more often than not, the game is decided within seconds of the game starting. Tic Tactics does use the core mechanics of Tic Tac Toe, but arranges 9 individual Tic Tac Toe boards in a grid.
How exactly does that work you say? Let’s say that you’re crosses and you manage to get three in a row in the middle. That gives a win in that middle board; to win overall, you’ll have to line up two more boards in a line. In a way, you can think of it as Tic Tac Toe within a game of Tic Tac Toe. As an added kicker, as you alternate turns, wherever you place your marker, your opponent will have to play their next marker in the corresponding board i.e. playing a cross in the middle square means that your opponent must play their circle in the middle board. If you didn’t follow that, thankfully there’s a very decent tutorial in Tic Tactics that will get you up to speed in a jiffy.
The resulting game is extremely strategic as you’re now not only thinking about where to play your marker on your current board, but where to send your opponent next to potentially sabotage their strategy. I’ve had great fun playing it so far and the game looks fantastic; the user interface almost Google-card-esque, but more flowing animations.
The game allows you to play multiple games in parallel, but you are restricted by the number of gold coins you have. Each game costs a certain amount, though you earn back coins by placing markers and winning boards and games, and since the game mechanics slow the game down so much yet is still rooted in simple Tic Tac Toe, you can have several games running at the same time without being scared of diluting your strategy. The game does feature in-app purchases, which allow you to buy more gold coins if you ever feel the need to play even more games. As a social aspect, the game incorporates Facebook integration which will allow you to start games with your Facebook friends and will eventually include leaderboards and game profiles that will show you exactly how much of a Tic Tactics Master you are.
I enjoyed myself thoroughly playing Tic Tactics, and to see a classic resurrected in such a strategic, interesting manner is proof you can teach an old dog new tricks. The preview version of Tic Tactics I played was already super polished and I have to give kudos to Hidden Variable because it’s one of the prettiest interfaces with fantastic animations that I’ve seen in a game in some time. Tic Tactics is due out in late November on Android and iOS, but has soft launched in Canada already, so if you’re in the area, hit the Play Store link below. For the rest of us, brush up on your Tic Tac Toe skills and stay tuned.
Game: Tic Tactics
Price: Free
