Connect Four Cities

Perfect for 10 minutes of play or to waste away a rainy Sunday afternoon, Connect Four Cities is a highly polished, attractive and addictive spin on an old favorite. Kudos to PlayFirst - they've done it again.

However, there are a few small features missing from Connect Four Cities. Given the title's simple turn-based nature, I would've liked to have some same-screen multiplayer, perhaps with players taking turns controlling the mouse. And though the various boards of Cities Mode provide a lot of options for multiplayer, I was sad to discover there's no way to play Classic Mode online. Lastly, it would've been nice to be able to create a custom gameplay mode online and choose which, if any, of the specialty checkers to use. Luckily, these are just minor quibbles and don't detract much from the game.

PlayFirst's Connect Four Cities brings to the Macintosh an excellent rendition of the popular Connect 4 game published by Hasbro. It offers the same strategic complexities of the original while adding to the fun with special pieces that mix up the action and present new and unexpected challenges.