Memory Battle Time isn't your typical memory challenge game for our Windows Phone. Memory Battle Time is a card matching game that tests your memory but along with the traditional game play where you find matching pairs of cards Memory Battle Time also has levels of play where you find matching pairs based on association (e.g. tennis ball matches with tennis racket, baseball with baseball mitt).
To add to the challenge, Memory Battle Time will also test your speed skills in that each level is played on the clock.
Graphics gets the job done, there's definitely plenty of challenging game play and overall... Memory Battle Time is a fun Windows Phone game to spend a little time.
When you first launch Memory Battle Time you'll need to log into your Live Account so you can have access to the online leaderboard and online duels. Once you log in, you'll be sent to the main menu of the game.
The main menu has options to view the leaderboard (classification), play the game, view the help pages, and access the game's settings. Settings cover your nickname, country of origin, sign in/out, and music/vibration settings.
Hidden in the background of the main menu is a free game option... a practice game of sorts. As you successfully complete a level, that deck of cards becomes available for a free game. Just tap the deck of cards sitting on the book shelf (left side of the main menu) to play an un-timed, free game.
Prior to the start of each level you'll see a symbol representing the type of deck, whether the task is to match or associate the cards and your time limit. Memory Battle Time relies a lot on symbols that lack labels and it may take a few rounds to have everything come into focus. I like how the main menu rotates the display between symbols and labels and wouldn't mind seeing that approach elsewhere.
The game screen for Memory Battle Time has a 4x5 grid of face-down cards that you'll have to match up. Each level of play is timed, which is displayed at the bottom of the screen and by the red/green status bar that runs along the left and right side of the screen. Up top is your player name, duel info (more on this in a second), and the level of play. Your points total is sitting at the bottom right of the game screen with a duel button resting bottom center.
Game play follows your typical matching game format. Tap a card to reveal what is on the face of the card and tap another card in hopes the two match. If they match, you earn points. If they don't match, they flip back to face down and you try again. Complete the process until all matches are discovered before the clock hits zero.
Some of the matches are direct (teddy bear and teddy bear) while other matches are associative. Some of these associative levels have you matching tools of a trade with a character who uses that tool (fire hose and a fireman). Some of these associations can get tricky such as matching up cartoon boyfriend/girlfriend.
Memory Battle Time also has cards that will provide bonus points when matched and bomb cards that will deduct points if you don't match them with the other bomb card. If the timer strikes zero you fail the level. If you make all the matches with time left on the clock, those seconds are converted to bonus points.
Along with solo play where you're competing against the clock, you also have a duel mode where you can challenge other Memory Battle Time players online. You bet time need to solve the matches to earn bonus time. If you're not interested in dueling you can turn off the feature by tapping the duel information button at the top of the game screen. This will keep you hidden from the list of eligible duel players.
I think where Memory Battle Time sets itself apart from other memory games is the wide variety of playing cards to match and the associative matching games. You not only have to remember where cards are but also how they associate with their match. The duel feature is a nice touch and keeps things fresh. The pool of players is a little on the thin side but one must take into consideration that Memory Battle Time is a fairly new game. Hopefully the online competition will increase as the game becomes better known.
Overall, Memory Battle Time is a challenging game for your Windows Phone and one of the more challenging matching games out there. The user interface could use a little polishing but after playing a few levels you get the hang of things. I just can't help but think some of the navigational controls could be better labeled/identifiable. Still... if you want a game to test your memory skills Memory Battle Time is worth a gander.
Memory Battle Time is a free, ad supported game for your Windows Phone. It is available for both Windows Phone 8 and 7.x devices and you can find Memory Battle Time here at the Windows Phone Store.
