Sudoku Free
The app I am reviewing is “Sudoku Free.” I am using an emulator to run the program, but if I actually owned an Android phone I’m sure this would be one of my first programs as I am a huge fan of Sudoku. The app’s website is “genina.com,” which has also created a puzzle game called “Lines” and a Black Jack card game for Android.
Both the touchscreen and keyboard can be used to control the app. The touchscreen makes it very intuitive, and the keyboard allows you to enter numbers easily. One strange thing I noticed, however, is that you can also navigate the board using the keyboard, with [q w e i o] or [p] for up, [z x n m . ,] for down, [a s] for left, and [k l] for right. It seems to be designed for someone clumsily mashing their thumbs on the phone, but again I do not own an Android phone so maybe it makes more sense than it does to me.
The game certainly fulfills the required mechanics for a Sudoku player, with the ability to enter numbers, enter numbers as notes (if you know it could be one of a few numbers) and clear out tiles. There are several options available to the user, mostly regarding how difficult the game is. You can choose to have the game alert you when you enter a number that contradicts another number on the board, have it tell you the number of a certain number already on the board, etc. The game also includes several difficulty levels.
The app has positive reviews, and is in fact the highest rated free Sudoku game on the market.
I could not find a way to break the app, but again I am using an emulator. Based on the reviews, the game crashed at some point in the past, but the bugs seem to be taken care of now.
The app is free, but there is a paid version available by the same author. The free version includes advertisements, while the paid version is ad free.