e full list of every game included in the Touchmaster package, but the excellent naming system employed by Midway means a quick look at the game titles will tell you absolutely nothing about how they play. Rest assured that there's quite a bit of variety here waiting for you, though the games can be separated into three different categories: Cards, Skill, and Puzzle. The first is self-explanatory, employing everyone's favorite rectangles in a variety of interesting ways. Skill titles include classics like word searches, a surprisingly fleshed-out trivia game, a surprisingly not fleshed-out basketball game, and so forth. Puzzle titles are a general mix of things and typically pretty good fun, though I might just be a sucker for Wordz, a game eerily similar to Wheel of Fortune but minus the awkward commentary.
The beauty of Touchmaster's collection is that every single game is available from the start, completely removing any unnecessary token collection or some other scoring scheme meant to extend the length of the gameplay. It's great fun to be able to fire the game up for the first time and immediately delve into its collection, allowing you to pick your favorites at your leisure without being forced to play any games you might not like. Kudos to the developers for allowing you full access to the lineup, as that capability alone makes Touchmaster one of the better titles for gaming on the go.
Beyond that, however, Touchmaster is a bit lacking. The interface and sounds are the definition of acceptable -- ugly as hell, sure, but still pretty functional, so it's hard to complain too much. But unlike our good friend Clu
bhouse Games, Touchmaster lacks any opportunities to customize the rulesets for its many games, an unfortunate omission which forces you to play each game exactly as it was created. It's an understandable design choice, given the unique nature of each of Touchmaster's game, but changing up the rulesets was one of the best ways to squeeze more replay value out of Clubhouse Games, so it's sad to see the feature completely absent.Still, there's quite a bit to do here, especially if you're the type who enjoys racking up the highest score possible. Though it doesn't come with any preset high score lists, Touchmaster gives you the option to upload your scores online, letting your fellow players provide the next high score marker to tackle. And even if you don't care much for numbers, some of the titles in Touchmaster include different difficulty levels, which does help extend the replay value a bit.
What are your favorite titles? I'm secretly partial to the word searches, if only for the unnecessarily dramatic lightning animation that is played whenever you enter a Lightning Round. Like most of the titles available, though, the word searches are excellent ways to pass a few minutes, so I don't feel too bad spending my free time scanning the screen for that last accursed word.
