For this week's iPhone Friday i tried Coin Summoner: Coin Pusher RPG, from Pomenest Studio, on my iPhone 14 Pro.
It starts with a great tutorial. it may feel a little hand holdy but it's great for more casual players or people new to the genre. the problem is that when the tutorial is over, we're very quickly greeted with a choice that wasn't covered in the tutorial. it's a mistake i see happen quite frequently, but it stands out here because of how well the tutorial was doing up to this point. there are moments later where we unlock new things and the expected tutorial doesn't arrive to show it to us, but when we access them ourselves the game does then provide information.
For as much as Coin Summoner: Coin Pusher RPG gets right, there are quite a few things missing from the experience. the game is basic in many ways and for the most part it works out well. but here's a frustrating example when it comes to combat. you don't know what your enemy is going to use, there are no hints until the fight starts. But even when we do know, at the match screen there's no way to change your team. you have to back out back to the home screen, go into a different menu to change your team, to then go all the way back and start the fight. we also don't know how strong the enemy is nor what moves they are going to use. instead of strategy, it felt like we were winning the fights by luck or brute force.
Some of the art looks low resolution, some of it looks nice. some of it fills the screen whilst others leave the top and bottom empty. the home screen is sparsely filled with art that's completely different from the game's style, and there was a moment when one of the characters we've been introduced to, and have seen with wings, appears with no wings. it does feel like this game used AI, which might account for some of the strangeness.
Coin Summoner: Coin Pusher RPG does have adverts. i didn't know that until it started happening. unfortunately, it's not handled well with the adverts just randomly appearing during loading after battles. the adverts themselves are also frustrating, and i know that's not in the hands of the developer, but when the advert just randomly appears and then is annoying, it's not a great experience.
Coin Summoner: Coin Pusher RPG is a fine game. the basic mechanics are done right. but there's not much else to it. this means it's deficiencies stand out more. it's the same problem the tutorial has. it's great until it's not. it's fine to play, but it needs more work, more content, and more cohesiveness.
Version 1.0.3 Played
