With the rise of the internet and instant messaging, the way we communicate has changed a great deal over the past two decades. Even phones are used more often to send text messages than to make actual calls. A huge part of popular culture has risen out of this surge of text communication: the emoji. Showing how you’re feeling or adding a tone to a message isn’t always easy to do with text but emojis make it simple. You can tell if a message is supposed to be silly or serious, angry or happy, just by the emojis used. They’ve become even more important than our profile pics in telling our friends how we’re feeling online. Sometimes just a little heart emoji at the end of a sentence is more powerful than a lovey-dovey message and sometimes they just make it easier to explain yourself. They’ve grown in popularity to such a point that on different platforms they’ve even evolved to have different meanings.
These little icons which we all know and love have seriously impacted society in a large way. Today the emoji market is enormous, with emoji packs available for computers and smartphones which give users thousands of new and different ways to express themselves. Another massive trend in popular culture are memes which have exploded into the game market. But memes are not alone, as emojis have also become a feature in many games. While a lot of these games exist as smartphone apps available in Apple’s App Store or Google’s Play Store, emulators have allowed people to enjoy them on their computers too. These games are casual and fun, easy ways to kill time when your bored and even games you can play competitively with your friends. As these games become increasingly popular they become more intricate and entertaining. Let’s take a look at a few of the most fun emoji games out today.
Guess the Emoji
With over a million downloads, Random Logic Games has created one of the most popular emoji games available on the app store, Guess the Emoji. In this simple yet addictive game, players are shown a combination of emojis and must translate what they see into a common term or phrase. For example, the French flag and a lipstick stain would be a French kiss, or a burger and a crown would be Burger King. These funny little combinations get harder and harder with each level, constantly offering a challenge to players who think they know everything about emojis and popular culture.
Like most games, there’s another catch which can make it more difficult. You can’t just type the answer into a text bar, you’re given twenty letters to choose from at the bottom of the screen. Each letter you select disappears from the screen, further limiting your choices. This can make the game harder as you can be misled by the letters and taken down the wrong path. More challenge usually amounts to more fun so this is actually a great feature of the game.
As you progress through the levels you earn scores based on your time and amount of levels completed. These scores can be compared to other players with the in-game leaderboard. This allows players to engage in online competition but it can be ignored if you’re not looking to compete. This feature adds depth and longevity to the game for many players. But there are always achievements which you can unlock to record your progress if leaderboards aren’t your thing.
Another thing you gain as you play are coins. Although they can be bought from the in-game store it’s always nice to be able to earn this kind of currency for free. In fact, not earning such currencies for free can often be a big turn-off to a lot of players as it can cause them to hit a “wall” where they can no longer proceed without paying real money. Due to this feature you can be sure that your entertainment can go on uninterrupted if you only wish to play for free. But if you’re willing to put a little money in to expedite your progress you always have that option. How do coins help expedite your process? Coins can be used for the following hints which are available in each level:
- Expose – this hint selects a correct character in the puzzle
- Remove – this hint removes a bunch of incorrect characters
- Solve – this hint is rather self explanatory as it simply solves the puzzle for you. Be careful though as this hint also costs the most coins!
Along with these hints there is also the option to ask a friend on Facebook for help. This adds another social element to the game for those who are less competitive and don’t wish to engage in the leaderboards. Allowing your friends to join in and help with a tricky puzzle is fun for everyone!
This game isn’t exactly one of a kind though as there are many very similar games with only subtle differences between them:
- Emoji Pop – Gives players fourteen characters instead of twenty, making puzzles easier.
- Emoji Quiz – With a cute and bubbly interface, this game may be more attractive to some. Also, the ability to watch ad videos to earn extra credits (this game’s version of coins) may be appealing as you can earn as many as you’d like without having to beat levels or wait for login rewards. However there are no leaderboards or ask a friend features.
These emoji quiz games can be extremely fun and social. The terms and phrases can make you laugh or even teach you how to better speak in emoji, which we all know is a growing skill base in a world which finds itself dominated by text communication and surrounded with emojis.
Disney Emoji Blitz
With all the hype about emojis and emoji games even Disney has jumped on the bandwagon by making an extremely entertaining and popular game called Disney Emoji Blitz. The game plays a lot like the internet classic Bejeweled, but using emojis instead of jewels. A large puzzle area full of emojis is displayed to the player and they must swap the places of adjacent emojis to create rows of similar ones and collect points. This adds a cute spin on the fun of Bejeweled, with the emojis being friendly Disney characters we’ve all grown up with.
The game starts with the player selecting a starter emoji. This is an important decision as each different emoji character has a different ability. Because the player has a limited time limit to complete each level these abilities are a crucial part of the gameplay. Although you can unlock more emojis as you play and level up your first one is the only one you get to select. The rest are entirely random so choose your starter wisely!
Along with abilities, players have access to several other tools which allow them to clear levels faster. Tapping a storm cloud will clear and entire row and give you points for each emoji cleared. This can create massive combos as the new emojis which fall may combine into sets of three with the remaining ones around them. It gets even crazier when a storm cloud becomes adjacent to another storm cloud, creating a huge explosion which can clear several rows at once. Another bonus is the sun emoji. This one explodes, clearing all emojis in a star shape around it. The sun is far more powerful than the storm cloud as it clears multiple rows at once and allows for even more combos. Using these in combination with your special ability can really rack up your points quickly and lead to insane high scores!
Perhaps the most important bonus however is the blitz star. This cute rainbow patterned star makes the player go into blitz mode for a short period of time. Blitz mode is a super point collecting mode in which all cleared emojis give massive amounts of points. Because of the amount of points that can be earned by combos in this mode one should strategize their storm clouds, suns and special abilities around the blitz.
Just like most apps there is an in-game shop available for players who want to pay to get ahead. Spending money can help by unlocking more emojis faster or even granting special bonuses. If you don’t feel like spending money you don’t have to worry though, everything in the shop can be earned by playing the game.
Emoji Samurai
What’s more fun than slashing fruit? How about slicing emojis instead! Emoji Samurai allows us to do that. This game is fast paced and intense, being the most reflex based emoji game on the market. Players are tasked with slicing and dicing various emojis for points as they fly past them. You need to be quick to keep up with the ever-growing amount of emojis which leap across your screen. To further the adrenaline-pumping gameplay, there are also three different game modes:
- Arcade – You go through levels slicing emojis and avoiding bombs which immediately end the level when slashed. Collecting points faster gets you a higher score and helps you advance to the next level quicker. With each level the amount of emojis and bombs increases and the game gets progressively harder.
- Time Attack – You’re put against a clock, being given only a minute to slash as many emojis as they can. Bombs are very different in this mode as slicing them will explode nearby emojis and grant you extra points. There are no progressive levels here and you’re only competing against your top score.
- Hunter – You’re only allowed to swipe certain emojis which are displayed at the top of the screen. They change each time you hit the previously displayed one so you need to pay attention. Things can get difficult here as you need to look at the “hunted” emoji while also paying attention to the emojis flying around begging to be slashed. One wrong move can be deadly as slashing the wrong emoji will cause the level to end immediately. This mode is similar to Time Attack in that there is no level progression, just a competition against your high score.
The app has an in-game shop just like most apps. This shop however is limited in its selection and the only purchases available are new emojis, which are simply aesthetic. Players can also remove in-game ads by upgrading to premium version which is also offered in the shop.
More Emojis, More Fun
As more and more emojis appear it’s guaranteed that more emoji games will follow. How can anyone stop the power of these adorable icons? More importantly, why would anyone want to? Emojis are such a huge part of our social lives, why not enjoy them in our entertainment as well? It’s satisfying and lots of fun to learn to say popular phrases with images (sorta like hieroglyphs), explode emojis in ludicrous combos, or slash them to bits as they fly past. It’s just one more fun way that emojis make our lives more awesome!