If you haven’t read part 1 yet, you’re missing out. I talked about SongPop and the Logo Quiz, two really big, really fun and, unfortunately, short lived quiz game apps that were popular a while back. This time around, the games are a little more recent.
Icon Pop Quiz
The Icon Pop Quiz has much better staying power than it’s Logo predecessor, although it runs on the same system as the previous game here. You get shown an image and have to guess what it represents. This time around though, you’re not limited to just logos. You can pick from a few categories: Famous People, TV & Film or Characters (or you can download the Icon Pop Brand app, also made by Alegrium).
Each image is a simple vector style drawing that symbolises iconic moments or characteristics of the object or person it’s representing. Often times, it’s quite straightforward, showing a scene directly from the film or a defining physical trait of an actor, while other times the concepts are a bit more abstract.
It gets a little more complicated in this game, giving you the ability to ask your Twitter follower or Facebook friends to help you solve it, share to Facebook or Twitter when you get an answer right, download the film/show from iTunes or to purchase the image as a wallpaper for your phone. You can also use power ups you buy with the in-game currency (tokens) that can be bought with in-app purchases or earned with every right answer. The power ups include hints, eliminate letters that aren’t used, reveal some letters or resolve to automatically get the answer.
The graphics in this game are cute and simple, which make it different from the Logo Quiz game - it’s much more stylised and the aesthetics are a huge selling point of the game. Not to mention it’s more involved with better social media integration and a broader range of topics. It’s even got a seasonal category that updates with holidays and current events.
4 Pics 1 Word
And finally, the quiz game we’re all playing right now, 4 Pics 1 Word. You get four images, each of them generic stock photos, that all share one common characteristic. The shared trait can be something simple like a colour or physical object, ‘red or ‘water’, or as complex as concepts like ‘indicate’, ‘private’ and ‘assemble’.
You have to guess what each word is using those four images as indicators and from a collection of 12 letters. You have the option of using coins to purchase power ups that will get rid of a few letters or give you one correct letter to make that level easier, the coins in the game earned each time you complete a level or through in-app purchases.
While the first few levels are generally easy, the words get longer and the concepts more abstract. Each level is randomised per player, so you can’t just go online and google ‘4 Pics 1 Word level 12 answer’ to beat the game (although you can look up a complete list of all the word answers possible and try to pick out your level).
It’s simple, it’s got a clean interface and it features a nifty little share to Facebook option (ask your friends for help) that adds a social element to the gameplay. It’s finely crafted and not overly designed or packed full of useless features. It does what it says in the title - four pictures that will lead you to one word. Will it have a long life cycle? Probably not - the game is limited to a few hundred levels, and even with updates to expand on that, it gets repetitive and the novelty will wear out soon enough.
Still, while this iteration of the genre may soon fall by the wayside, it still stands that quiz games are running strong and look to be here to stay. Even in the last week, Icomania has been making the rounds. I wonder what the next incarnation of the category will be?
Kelly Vieira writes reviews and things for Finder.com.au - we compare a bunch stuff like credit cards and home loans. Tweet her @_kellycvieira
