Overview
If you’re looking to relax playing a round of a calm-paced, thoughtful, almost meditative game on your Android device, check out Paperama. It was added to Google Play just recently, and it has earned high rating among Google Play users by now. However, if you get quickly irritated when things don’t work out the 1st time, I would suggest you skip on this because origami takes patience, but makes your brain tick, and the more you progress, the more difficult challenges are.
Gameplay
You have to fold a piece of paper to create the shape given by the program, and the challenge is you only have a limited number of folds to complete the level. Additionally, there is the challenge of folding the paper precisely enough, to fit into the shape perfectly, so each fold you make accounts for the percentage displaying how precise you are. This is particularly challenging on touch devices, and at some point I found myself trying to peak underneath my finger to match the line.
The more accurate you are, the higher your percentage is – if you score about 90%, you get two stars, while if you score 97%, you get 3 stars. 2 to 3 stars unlock the next level, and there are 72 levels in total, split into 3 stages.
There are several options from within the game – you can request a hint, undo, or reset, and while resetting and undoing the last actions is unlimited, hints come at a price. So, be careful not to use them at the initial stages. There are about 5 hints you can use for free, but if you need more you will have to buy them via in-app purchases. You can earn extra hints by scoring 3 stars in each level. However, I would suggest you just take your time, relax, listen to the nice music and sort out the shapes slowly and meticulously. After all, this is the best part of the game – coming up with a solution on your own, which feels extremely rewarding, especially when the challenges become more difficult.
Graphics and sounds
The graphics are vivid, colorful, yet very simplistic because you are dealing with the digital piece of paper that you have to fold into an origami shape. The interface is straightforward and there is nothing you can get lost or confused about. The music is worth mentioning as a standalone element because it adds to the atmosphere of the relaxed, cool-paced gameplay of Paperama. Alternatively, I would suggest some nice chillout playlist to accompany the game.
Pros
Don’t be fooled by this seeming simplicity of the game – 3 stages and 72 levels amount for hours of gameplay, and chances are you will be using a lot of that Undo button. Another good feature is there is no time limit to complete each task, while the number of tries is unlimited, too, which means you can take as long as you need to complete each stage.
The game is free of charge, and I honestly believe there is no need to spend your money on in-app purchases for extra hints, which will set you off $1 for 3 hints, or $20 for 100 hints.
The game starts with a couple of easy levels where you train your aiming and get to understand the feel of the game. Nevertheless, before you know it, you face evermore challenging levels that require careful planning and a lot of folds and un-folds before you sort out the shape and squeeze into that limited number of folds. Take it as an advice – try to complete each level scoring 3 stars because it will give you more hints you will need during the more complicated levels. The best part is you can retry any level, whenever you feel inspired to score higher.
Cons
It is not a con per se, but this game is not for the impatient folks.
Conclusion
Paperama is a great brain-storming game for the fans of puzzles and the ancient art of creating beautiful shapes out of paper, the origami. Relax, make yourself comfortable and enjoy the challenge. After all, challenges make us smarter. I totally recommend it as one of the best free games on Google Play for the right gamer.
