A lot of people spend a fortune on therapy sessions and psychiatrist bills trying to get to the bottom of who they really are, when all they really needed to do was shell out $0.99 on an iPhone game! (You can find a therapist on BetterHelp.) Joking aside, Persuasion is a fun little game that challenges you to question your personality as well as score high points.
First launched as a board game in the 80’s, (not that I was old enough to play it!), Persuasion is now an iPhone app that focuses on how good a judge of character you are. The welcome screen offers you a list of options, (hint: definitely take some time to go through the ‘How To Play’ section; if, like me, you usually just charge in to ‘Play’ mode like a bull in a china shop then this will save you a lot of time and confusion!), then once you are in ‘New Game’ you can choose your hexagonal board size. Playing with a larger board complicates matters in the sense that there are questions and potential pitfalls; you can also choose between one or two ‘paths’, which is also an interesting factor, as playing with two paths allows you to distribute your points more judiciously.
So, you pick a colour, (I always go red…no idea why, but maybe I can learn about it during the game!), then you set your ‘Prediction Point’ by scrolling with the two arrows either side of the screen and set what personality type you want to play as. You don’t have to pick your own purported personality, however, if you don’t then you’ll have to think like somebody else to answer the questions! After tapping ‘Set Target’, you then move your piece around the board following a flashing light that leads your piece over each mini hexagon and answering a series of questions that relate to your personality type, such as “If you have an important but boring job to do, will you put it off until the last minute?”. Answer ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ to these questions and you receive a sort of haiku that sums up your answer, like ‘Procrastination is the thief of time’. This is really fun, especially if, like me, you love little aphorisms and sayings that sum up the human condition and can be sprinkled into conversations to impress/annoy your friends.
Depending on your answer to the question, you receive a certain amount of bonus points that allow you to move closer to your ‘Prediction Point’; along your travels you may land on a positive or negative ‘Floret’, which will either deduct two pints from your score or allocate you two points. To complete the game, the line from your piece must reach the edge of the boar; then you are told how close to your predicted personality your really are, which all comes down to how far away you are from your predicted target. One feature that I really like is that you can instantly share your score and results on Facebook and Twitter, letting al of your friends know exactly how normal or crazy you really are!
Summary
Persuasion is a fun little game that challenges you to question your personality as well as score high points. This is a very entertaining app with a lot of depth and potential for exploration. For those of you who are getting a little tired of catapulting little squawking birds into thieving pigs and fancy something a little more cerebral, this one’s for you. The option to toggle between one or two ‘paths’ creates a whole other dimension to the game and you could easily while away a few hours getting to know yourself with this iPhone game. Plus, it’s from the 80’s, which is retro-cool now, right?!
Pros
It’s an interesting variation to more effects-heavy games that rely on visuals and game play to keep you entertained. Using your brain rather than your reflexes keeps you focused for a lot longer.
You learn some really interesting quotes and each of them are referenced to their author; Mark Twain features a lot, which is a bonus for me!
You can receive ‘Online Help’ via Persuasion’s support site, which is fantastic if you get stuck moving forward with the game.
Room For Improvement
Additional purchases: You can purchase more questions for an additional $2.99 per pack; in-app purchases divide a lot of iPhone fans; some say that it’s a travesty and that once you download an app you should own it all. I think that it’s fair enough to ask for a few extra bucks to vastly expand the game, however some may disagree!
The instructions could be made slightly clearer, as I didn’t know that you had to tap the screen following the flashing light to move forwards; this could just be me, but maybe the app should be more idiot-proof!
Really good fun, not to mention interesting! Definitely one to keep on the iPhone.