Board games have become an increasingly ripe area for mobile games to grow into; not only are they perfectly realized (in most cases) on mobile devices, but games based on older board-games often create a very pleasant feeling of nostalgia. Mr Ludo is one of these games, bringing back the ancient game of Ludo, or Trouble as some of us will know it, and gives it a modern facelift and an adorable, relatable theme.
The story
Mr Ludo is your average office working who is counting the hours left in his day before he can go home. But to do so, he has leave Ludo-style, before the occupants of his adjacent offices.
The gameplay
You’ll be playing against between 2 and 4 players on a Ludo board with either 2 pieces (for express games) or 4 pieces (for normal games). You each take turns rolling the die, moving your pieces around the board clockwise till you have made a full circuit, then you have to get your pieces into the middle of the board. Moving all 4 (or 2) of your pieces into the middle first will net you the win, and is usually the case with Ludo, games can often go down to the line, making for very exciting, if completely random, matches.
As a fun, themed mechanic, if you land on the same square as your opponent, your opponent becomes a victim of “office politics” and must return their piece to their office to start again. Because of this, it becomes a balancing game of deciding when to move more of your pieces out of the office versus trying to progress your pieces as far as possible, all the while minimizing the risk of becoming subject to “office politics”. While it’s not rocket science nor is it a particularly new game mechanic, the game is constructed very well. I did encounter several slow-downs, however, while running on my Nexus 7, and with no graphics settings to speak of, even older devices may find themselves struggling with the pretty graphics in Mr Ludo.
If you aren’t familiar with Ludo, there is a single-player tutorial of sorts that will ease you into the game, getting you more used to the game mechanics and playing with multiple players. You’ll also play on the various boards of the game and from this menu, you’ll also be able to set up local games on your device. Interestingly, the game requires you to use up beans to play these local games which is slightly counter-intuitive seeing as these games shouldn’t “cost” anything. In the scenario where you might run out of beans, you would be required to pay real money to buy more. Having said that, I’ve played for several weeks now and not gotten close to the stage where I need to pay real money to continue playing.
In a similar way, multi-player games must be bought into with coins; winning will net you a nice kitty of points, while losing won’t be so friendly to your stash of coins. It’s curious that the single-player and multi-player use separate currencies, but it’s normally not an issue as you will gain a fair amount in every game. If you do run out of coins, more can be bought as in-app purchases, or you can also accept the option of watching ads for coins.
Multi-player games can be set up and joined extremely easily, and while there aren’t a huge number of games going on, it’s easy enough to start or join a game any time you sit down with the game. Once in the game, it’s just like any other game of Ludo, which is a little unfortunate as I was hoping there might be extra multi-player functions like chat or emoticons to help taunt your opponents. You can also set up games with your Facebook friends, which is always nice, and the game keeps a leaderboard of all important statistics in the game.
The presentation
Mr Ludo is a fantastic looking game. The character models and board layout suit the office theme perfectly and the attention to detail is amazing. The various other board locations you can play in are equally well detailed and it’s quite a testament to developer, YoAmbulante, that the game looks so good.
The music in the game is appropriately understated yet comically uplifting and wouldn’t seem out of place in an elevator. If the music isn’t quite to your liking, there is a simple toggle button in game to turn it on and off. Personally, I think the music adds to the game very well and helps the game flow a lot more while the game is out of your hands.
The verdict
Rating: 4/5
I love Mr Ludo. The game has a lot of character and that bleeds through in all facets of the game. It’s not the most complicated or most thought-provoking game out there, but what it sets out to do it does very well and looks great doing it. It’s not perfect: more social features would be desirable and if it ran with less lag it would probably better. But for those who have ever spent time playing Ludo, Trouble, whatever you want to call it, you will enjoy the nostalgic hit that Mr Ludo gives you, and if you’ve never played before, get ready to play a thoroughly enjoyable game.
Game: Mr Ludo
Price: Free
Gallery of Screenshots
