For this week's Demo Play Thursday i played South of the Circle on my iPhone 14 Pro. This game came out on the iOS App Store in October and it downloads as this trial of the game. once the trial is finished, there's an option to purchase the rest of the game.
It's an interesting trial as on one hand it feels maybe too short but on the other hand it ends at just the right place in the story that i want to know what happens next. so i'm a little conflicted about that. I feel that the game could do a better job at promoting the full version of the game. the trial finished and i don't have any sense how big the story is or how much is left. the trailer that plays in the App Store would've been a nice addition at the end of the trial to give a sense of scale of what's ahead.
Another weird choice is that the game starts without subtitles, almost requiring the game be played with sound or headphones. at the very least i would've appreciated having a choice. The game also doesn't highlight the options either. when you make your first choice in the game, i didn't expect there to be a circle that fills up. it caught me off guard a bit and i forgot the start of the story. i feel the game needs to do a better job at introducing these things so when the story starts, that's the sole focus. for example, just before the story starts, a white screen and in the top corner the option button appears. there's text saying what it is and something like an OK button. so when you hit the OK button, you see how the game uses circles as conformations.
The game appears to make smart use of the iPhone's screen. not once did i feel like the Dynamic Island got in the way of gameplay. the game also looks really good. the art style they've gone with works very well. it's distinctively different but, in this trial, everything was clear. in a way, this game could be one to show off the graphical capabilities of your phone.
So it's not the best demo i've played, but in the end it did succeed because once it was finished i was still interested in playing more of it.
For Mobile Friday this week i tried out Mortal Kombat: Onslaught on iPhone 14 Pro. this game is from NetherRealm Studios and is out on Android, too.
With the focus being on the recent Mortal Kombat 1 release, I hadn't heard of this game until i found it on the app store. I was curious about so many different aspects of this game that it had to be the next game i played. I could see from the game's app store page that it wasn't a 1 vs. 1 fighting game and that it's star rating wasn't too high.
starting the game we're greeted by the game telling us to download a further 1.745GB of data. Because of this, do not play this game for the first time on your mobile network. that's far too much data to download and will eat into your quota. the first time you play this game should be with Wi-fi. but even then, it took about 11 minutes to download and then install that data, enough time that i had to watch the same video loop 9 times during the intro. during the video i said that that time and video could be better served as a tutorial, but seeing as the game does a great job of that already i'd actually suggest the game use that time and video to tell the story of the characters throughout the series, or what had happened up to the beginning of the recently released fighting game. I've not played Mortal Kombat seriously since the Mega Drive, and whilst i am curious about the new game, i have no idea who most the characters are and what the story is.
With our first interactions with the game being that rough, i wasn't too optimistic about the rest of the game. But i'm glad to say i was wrong. from this point on, the game does soo much right. we get a lengthy opening cinematic that tells some of the back story and setting the scene for this game. we're set on our journey with a mix of writing and in-game cinematics. and then the game uses the first chapter of the story to teach us many aspects of the game via a well thought out tutorial. as i only played the first hour, it's difficult to know if the tutorial continues to be great as you level up and unlock more. i will say that the one thing it missed was the character types. the tutorial does a great job taking us through different aspects of the character but fails to bring up their type, for example if they're support, and how best each type could be used in battle.
the fights in Mortal Kombat: Onslaught are also quite accessible. the characters will do basic attacks automatically and when it comes to their special attacks, we're given the choice to simply press their icon to activate and let the computer use it or we can take control and be, maybe, more precise with it. the difficult of the battles was very appropriate in the first chapter and in the second it said we should start levelling up our characters. i didn't for the first battle and found it more difficult. so i took the game's advice, leveled up the characters, and things went much smoother.
One of the bigger criticisms i have with mobile games is how they push the store onto players. thankfully, Mortal Kombat Onslaught doesn't do this. what's even better is that you can press on any item in the game and it tells you what it is, what it does, and when to use it. the game does have a store and now we can use it with better knowledge of what's on sale and it's value.
Whilst there is a lot of good things to say about this game, the bugs can't be ignored. I don't know if there is meant to be voice acting in this game. i only got it in the second chapter. it could be that it's a bug. but in the opening cinematic to the second chapter there was a bug where the video froze and the audio continued. When i was downloading the game, i noticed on more than one occasion that the download seem to pause before continuing. i wasn't sure if the audio was correct, sometimes i felt like in fights that the audio was lagging behind the action on screen so punches looked like they hit and then i head it, if i heard it all as sometimes no sound seemed to come from punches.
Other than the big download when you start the game, Mortal Kombat: Onslaught is a good RPG. i've called it a Strategy RPG, it could also be called a Tactical RPG, and NetherRealm Studios call it a Collection RPG. What ever you call it, the core gameplay and the accessibility is good enough that it doesn't need Mortal Kombat. without the characters and such, it would still be a good mobile game. But with it, i do feel like it's enhanced the core and made it into something better. As a mobile game, Mortal Kombat: Onslaught is well worth playing and one that i won't be deleting anytime soon.
For Mobile Friday this week i tried out Ninja Must Die on #iPhone14Pro. this game is from Pandada Games and is out on #android, too.
I've had this on my phone for a little while but i noticed it got updated a couple of days ago and it reminded me to play it. the screenshots in the app store did make the game look cool, but i didn't have high expectations going in.
This game is one of the best mobile games i've ever played. there is soo much to praise with this game. let's start by saying that this is one of the most accessible games i've played. and they haven't done it in a patronising way either. it's very clever how they incorporated the tutorial into the level design. they show us how to jump, they let us jump, then they show how jump can be used in the level, in this example by having a coin trial. this smart use of a tutorial is felt throughout the game. sometimes the tutorial is just a text box, but that's often more than enough and more than what most games have done.
If you've seen many of my other Mobile Friday videos, https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLyEBkNKW1vyo4rdco4wtJvv-B3zoxcMUd, how games advertise their own shops is a frequent criticism of mine. initially, i was wrong in my assumption when this game showed it's first advert. i praised that they had a video of the character in action, but wasn't happy that there were items also included that we didn't know about. But when the second advert came up, i tried touching the items and a text box appeared telling us what the item does. that's incredible and something i've never seen before. i'd like a symbol showing that the item can be touched, but the fact that the game shows a video of a character in action and has information about the other items in a bundle, is simply amazing and something i've been wanting games to do. It's OK to advertise to us, but soo often games advertise things we don't know the true value of, like for things we've yet to see in the game.
The game is also stunning. on my screen at a high brightness it's one of the best looking games i've played. there's soo much detail throughout the levels, plus smart uses of depth, shadows, and shading. as i have the iPhone 14 Pro, the video out is only 1080p so i feel like this video can't convey fully how good things look. the music is great, too. it's definitely a game i'd like to have the soundtrack too.
There are only two main buttons and two extra buttons. the main buttons are down, on the left side, and jump/up on the right side. it's another way the game makes itself accessible. the two other buttons relate to weapons and abilities and are on timers, but they are also quite big. the levels are smartly built around these controls in such a way it almost feels like a rhythm game. failing isn't punished and you're quickly put back in the game. it's also possible to replay levels and aim for a higher score or complete daily tasks.
In this video we saw a few other ways the game tries to get players back. one way that we didn't get to see the conclusion of was sending out our summons on patrols. this is how they gain experience and rewards. another way we saw in this video is Race Mode. in this mode it's our character up against the scores from 50 other characters in a map. the higher the score, the better placed you are. as you rank up, you can get better rewards but you'll also be up against stronger opponents.
This game has a feature i've not seen before in any other mobile game, but one i many other games should copy. Ninja Must Die has something called "Pro Replay." This is a feature in Story Mode where you can watch someone else's level completion video. so if you're ever stuck, you can watch a video how someone else finished it. Or if you're unsure was to which weapon to equip for the level, you can see what others used and pick that weapon or something else suitable. Be careful as this may use up your mobile data.
I didn't get to see everything in this game, but what i saw blew me away in how polished it was, how accessible it was, and how smartly designed the game in general was. it's clear the people playing the game are not an afterthought. simply put, i recommend this game to not just fans of ninja's or runner type games, but to those who have felt overwhelmed or intimidated by other mobile games as well.
For Mobile Friday this week i tried out Need for Speed No Limits on iPhone14 Pro. this game was originally released back in 2015 on iOS and Android.
This is maybe the oldest game i've played for Mobile Friday. Honestly, it doesn't really show in a negative way. some of the more modern games i've played have issues with unexpected adverts or poor tutorials. This game has none of that. it's very accessible, and it does things more like a guide rather than a tutorial. every thing i unlocked would have a guide first to explain what it is. But the game often had another screen before the races explaining what is about to happen. as for the adverts, it was clear when i had the option to watch one to get an ingame reward.
If there is something that perhaps shows the game's age it possible some of the graphics. the cars are fine, the buildings are ok too. but the sky looked like it was painted and not very dynamic. it wasn't distracting, but it did look the worse in comparison to the rest of the game. but other than that, the game doesn't really feel old.
A bonus for playing a game this old is that there is a lot of content. the game has some simple ways to get players to come back, none of it in this video was a pain. it's possible that making progress will slow down the further you play and coming back repeatedly could get a bit frustrating as you'd have to do so often for only a little progress.
i do recommend this game. it's not only a good racing game but it's also a good mobile phone game. the races i took part in were all under a minute long and controlling the game was simple. touch and hold left or right to turn left or right. swipe up to activate the turbo. swipe town and turn to drift. this meant that i could play the game with just a finger on each hand. there didn't seem to be any additional downloads when starting the game for the first time either. the game is also still being supported, so if you used to play the game i'd recommend coming back and checking out all the additional content.
For Mobile Friday this week i tried out Dice Kingdom – Tower Defense on iPhone 14 Pro. this game is from 111% and is also out on #Android.
I wanted to play this game because i was curious how the dice element would work in a tower defense game. i had played Crystal Defenders not too long ago, https://youtu.be/CPxDtTKcWJY, and even though it's an older game in a different style the basic elements between the two of them seemed very similar.
So the dice are your units. they have different types. at first these are elemental, but as i progressed in this video i unlocked rarer types like sniper. so far, that's fairly typical for a tower defense game. the cool way that the dice are used is that the number on them reveals what level they are. it's a very easy way of visually seeing the levels of your units. Other than that, the dice theme seems more of an aesthetic choice rather than something that affects gameplay.
the biggest surprise for me is how accessible the game is to play. it has useful tutorials, you're able to click on the dice and get a video showing how they attack, and it guides you very well through the opening stages of the game. it doesn't feel patronising either. a very cool way the game is accessible is managing your dice units. the game shows this in a tutorial, too. you can press a button and the game selects the best team and puts them on the map. a second button clears the map of your units. the final button auto merges your units. for example, two level 1 fire dice can be merged into one level 2 dice. When you can't merge the units any more, you hit the first button and your best team is placed onto the map.
Whilst i was playing the game i realized that i was only using one hand. the game smartly uses the space available on the screen. there's nothing up top that the dynamic island could get in the way off, and it's the same at the bottom. everything i needed to click was down in the lower half of the screen and before long i was playing the game singlehanded. this coupled with how sort each of the monster raids are make this a great game for commuting.
I recommend players get Dice Kingdom. it's very accessible, easy to play one handed, and not a bad introduction to the tower defence genre. the game has other game modes to help pass the time and by the end of this video i hadn't unlocked them all. there are a lot of dice units to unlock and find so it's a game you can come back to again and again.
For Mobile Friday this week is i tried out SHAPE HUNTER on iPhone 14 Pro. this game is from @MotiyaGames and is also out on Android and Steam.
In the App Store, the trailer and screenshots for this game show how stylish this game looks. But when you play it, it's more than just style. the graphics and music work well together as does the art.
The core part of gameplay is solid. you have two weapons, you attack enemies, and after each level you finish you select a bonus/item/thing that'll go with you until the run ends. It works well, but the controls were a little unexpected. you can only move your character by using the spear, and to fire both the spear and bow and arrow you have to pull back, like a slingshot or Angry Birds, and let go. by the second or third run i had adjusted, but i think it would've been nice to have a second control scheme where you fire where you aim.
The only other thing that i wasn't sure about is if this game is a roguelike. in the store it's listed as one, but nothing was carried over into the next run. it's possible that i just didn't go far enough into the game to get an item that does carry over into the next one. but the game doesn't make it clear.
Because it's a roguelike, i can accept a certain level of ambiguity. but this game is a little too close to the line. there was a weapon tutorial, but not a movement one. it's listed as a roguelike, but never says how. But it's simplicity does make it surprisingly accessible so they're only minor gripes. i was a little more annoyed with the adverts just starting without any warning. thankfully, these are short adverts and not the 30+ second adverts i've seen in other mobile games.
I do recommend SHAPE HUNTER. it does feel a little rough, and in the video i mention that at the moment it's a game you play, enjoy, and leave on your phone and check it now and then after updates as it's only going to get better. But you shouldn't get a game thinking of the future. Thankfully, the game is good enough now that future improvements that'll come are bonuses.
For Mobile Friday this week is i tried out Tailed Demon Slayer: RISE on my iPhone 14 Pro. This game from CookApps is also out on Android. i haven't played the original Tailed Demon Slayer so this was my first time playing in this game world.
The start of this game is great but also a little weird. It's great because it does a good job of telling a story, putting the game and the game world into context. it's simple approach to world building is effective. so much so that i was waiting for more all throughout this video. and that's the weird thing about this game, so much effort is put into creating context, telling a story, and then the game does nothing else with it. Early on, i was always expecting the game to slow, or even stop, to tell more about the story. but once i realised that it wasn't going to, i was a bit disappointed.
That's kinda true for other aspects of the game. there are times when so much effort has clearly been spent on something and then it stops. the tutorial is a good example of this. the start of the game does a good job slowly introducing the game right up until it stops doing that and as this video goes on i found myself asking more questions. For those who have watched my Mobile Friday videos, you'll know that i appreciate games that slowly introduce themselves even if it means stopping players from accessing parts of the game. and whilst this game did a good job of that, i was able to get clothes and equip them long before the game's clothes tutorial. there's also an instance later of the game starting a tutorial, then showing an advert for said item in the store, then finishing the tutorial. putting an advert half way through the tutorial made no sense.
Ultimately, this aren't huge complaints. they only stick out because of how well the rest of the game is designed. This is one of the better autobattler RPGs i have ever played. having a good start of the story helps, as does a good tutorial, but one of the smartest things the developers did was trying to hide the grind. it took around 45-50 minutes before the grind became noticeable and i applaud all the clever ways they designed the game to try and hide the grind. There is the main "story" battle, then there are dungeons, there's also improving the stats of your character, there's summoning equipment, and then improving your current equipment. there are also quests to aim for, and when you do you can collect the earned items. But if you want more rewards, you can watch adverts. you can also earn things from the Battle Pass, Season Pass, 7 day missions, Quests, Album, and the Advance System. all the while, the game is still progressing, you're still earning money and experience. Essentially, the game is grinding in the background but it's hidden by everything else there is to do in the game.
It was a little much at the start, but once i realized what was happening and that there's no rush to do things it did become easier. For example, the Repeat Quest keeps track of your progress. so if you've completed a quest a few times, you'll still get the correct amount of reward. By the end of this video, i still had a lot left to unlock so there could be other ways the developers have tried to hide the grind.
The core gameplay is good, the graphics are good, the music is good, and the tutorials are good. there is a lot to like in this game. it also doesn't force adverts upon us, nor where there any additional downloads before we could start playing. Oh, the music is also good too. there's soo much to like about this game that it's easy for me to recommend this game to fans of the genre, to those curious, and to those looking for a new game to play.
For Mobile Friday this week is i tried out Postknight 2 on my iPhone 14 Pro. i haven't played the original Postknight game, but it is available on the iOS App store. i was a little concerned whether this game would assume i had played the original and not give much context for what's happening.
In a way, i think i was right. But it could also be a result of the game's tutorial being lacking and the difficulty being so much higher than you'd expect for the start of the game. My character died a few times in this first hour! If this was the first game or a standalone game, my instinct would be that the game is a little unbalanced at the start and the tutorial isn't thorough enough. But as this is a sequel, i do have to wonder if the game makes some assumptions about the players knowledge about the world and how things work.
The game makes a great first impression. graphically everything's nice and colorful and clear. the character creator is also simple and every change appears on your character instantly. then, after some introductions, the game asks if i'm familiar with Postknights. i thought this was the game checking if i had played the first game or not. so i said i wasn't familiar. But i don't think it made much difference. i never felt that the game did extra world building or that the tutorial more in-depth. it almost felt like that option wasn't working as intended, or what my interpretation of such a question must be different to those of the developers.
There were quite a few little things like that throughout the first hour with Postknight 2 that added up enough to outweigh the positives of the game. it is charmingly cute, with a good soundtrack, and a combat mechanic that's great for mobile phones. the screen is used well and buttons are often nice and big. it's clear a lot of thought has gone into this game and it is noticed. But for me, someone who hasn't played the first game, the contrast between the good parts and where it's lacking was stark and frustrating. a classic example, for this series, is how i was able to get into menus for things that the game hadn't introduced, hadn't tutorialized, and that i couldn't actually use.
There are enough positives where i can recommend people try it. if you watch the video, understand the shortcomings, but really want to try it, i'd say go and download it. But, on the other hand, if you watch the video and think the shortcomings would be an issue then i'd say you're probably right and should try something else.
For Mobile Friday this week is i tried out Campfire Cat Cafe on my iPhone 14 Pro. I played the first 40 minutes, or up to where i felt the grind had begun, of this restaurant simulator.
I have played a few of these types of restaurant simulator games now, like Animal Restaurant, Cat Snack Bar, and Cats & Soup. I would say this game is closer to Animal Restaurant than the other two as it has a story and the grind doesn't come as soon as it did in Cat Snack Bar and Cats & Soup. What all these games have in common is that the art style is great, all of them are different from each other.
As well as a story, this game also has a decent tutorial that isn't just explaining how things work but they also use it to introduce characters and their personalities. What was also fun about the first 40 with this game is how when the game started to feel a little grindy, a new character appeared and gave us something new to do, even if it's a little brief. It's difficult to say if this continues as you make progress into the game as this game is actively being supported and expanded by the developers HyperBeard. I do feel that the game could offer some information on how to get to the next story part. the game relies on stars to progress, you get stars by buying things, and you get money from customers ordering. But sometimes customers want a food you don't sell and the only way to know that is remembering the food you sell or clicking on the customer and seeing. the food icon above their head is the same color as those who want food you can make. so it seemed a little confusing.
Also confusing was when the Bakery section was opened. i was told i couldn't do anything as i didn't have an oven. so that became the goal. but i could buy things for the bakery, even tho it said i couldn't bake anything. there was a little misunderstanding between what the game was telling me and also not telling me. I feel that such empathises was placed on the oven that i was under the assumption the bakery was effectively closed until it was made. but it turns out that wasn't the case. which lead to more confusion as to what the kiosk was for. But once it was made, the story continued and the game opened up more with a new character level up section.
Even if that's cleared up in a future patch, the rest of the game is very polished and something i'd recommend. my phone didn't get that hot playing for 40 minutes and there was no additional download at the start. the game wasn't obnoxious with it's adverts either. i always had the option to view them for in-game benefits, but it was never forced upon me. If you're familiar with these sorts of games then you'll understand that it could be easier and speed things up if you do chose to watch them.
For DC Heroes & Villains: Match 3 i'm going to focus on the game i played rather than what it might be like in the future. In my personal experience of playing a similar game like Marvel Puzzle Quest, the game i played could be different to the game now. for example, check out the video i did of the PS4 version of Marvel Puzzle Quest, https://youtu.be/LnnYjORtSEE, and check out what the mobile version of the game is now.
Another reason why i want to make this point is that this game feels like a work in progress. the core ideas, the current gameplay loop is there and it's fairly enjoyable. But, it doesn't quite work with an iPhone with Dynamic Island, there's wasted space, and many things are not clearly explained. I also imagine that some systems, like the various "currency's" may get simplified in the future as it has far too many and none of them are explained how to earn, or buy, them. You'll hear my complaints and suggestions throughout this video and hopefully i'm able to get across my thoughts somewhat clearly.
There is a lot to do in this game, but the main focus is the story mode. I focused on that mode in this video. i tried a couple of the side stuff, but my roster of characters was very small and very under leveled. it almost feels pointless to have been able to access it this early on. The story is clearly much bigger than what i played through in this hour and i'm genuinely curious as to whether the game will have just one story or grow into many. i found it engaging and mostly plausible, but i admit i don't know too much about DC Comics' stories. But the characters where clearly recognisable. they didn't feel too childish nor too extreme.
The frustrating thing is that i was having fun and enjoying myself, but almost in equal measure i was finding it frustrating. what ultimately made this game frustrating and why i stopped the video where i did was that i couldn't workout how to level up my characters. i had taken Batman to level 3 and just couldn't workout what to do next. i wanted him to get stronger, i need him a higher level to get more abilities. But i just couldn't work it out. it ended up being one frustration too many and honestly i haven't played it since. But i haven't deleted it either as it's clear from the version history, in the app store, that it's getting changed and adapted and filled out. so i may come back to it in the future personally, but also as a second look video at all the changes made to the game.
For Mobile Friday this week is i tried out Sumikkogurashi Farm, also known as Sumikko gurashi Farm: Gonna Make a Garden, on my iPhone 14 Pro. The game is also out on Android and whilst it's not new, it has been celebrating over 5 million players recently and in this video i started the game with the recently released 5.0 release.
Simply put, this is a game where you inherit a farm and it's up to you how you make it. the game's tutorial tells and shows you the basics, but stops short. once the tutorial lets go of you, the screen is awash of red exclamation marks, a huge map full of things you can interact with yet or aren't high enough level for, and it expects you to play. all the tutorial needed to do was take me to the Quest, Running Start, or Order sections, do one with me and then let me continue. so in the beginning of taking control i'm a little lost.
It also takes some time to understand the rhythm of the game. you need experience points to level up and money to buy things. but the game does a bad job of explaining how to get both regularly and it takes nearly the full 50 minutes with the game for me to get a sense of the rhythm needed to progress. before that, the game's speed had slowed down and had begun to feel like a grind. This is a game where you are meant to do things, turn it off, and come back to it later. there's very little to do with the game whilst you wait.
But these complaints are not unique to this game, they can be used to describe nearly every other farm management game, as well as other styles of games. with that said, there are many positives that set this game apart. the biggest is the theme, Sumikko gurashi (すみっコぐらし). the game is full of these characters as well as costumes to dress them up in. the world design feels very appropriate, as do the bright vibrant colors. as this is the 5.0 version of the game, there is also a huge amount to uncover as you play.
In this video i got to level 10 and it already felt like the game was opening up. i ended the game knowing that i could buy a train station, i could help with global goals, and i had barely started to understand the Events taking place and the bonuses associated with them. And then there's my own house and decorating it, as well as decorating and designing the layout off my farm. near the end of the video i went to other farms and they were all very different from each other.
Sumikkogurashi Farm isn't a game to be played for an hour straight. it's to be played on and off. it can use notifications to inform you when it needs to be interacted with. when you do play it, there's always a few things you could be doing. I would say this would make a great commuting game apart from that there was an extra 93 MB download. the game does ask you first before downloading it. But i'd still say it's probably best to get the tutorial out of the way, as well as that download, and then play it whilst your out and about.
For Mobile Friday this week is i tried out Geo Gods, another game developed by Arnold Rauers as i had previously checked out Miracle Merchant https://youtu.be/kpCxEvBWk4w, with art by Alba Ballesta González and sound and music by Marie Havemann. I played this on iOS but it's out on Android, too.
Geo Gods is an interesting card game in that it doesn't matter if you win as your score is an average taken from 6 games. each card is a god and the gods are placed onto a garden. each god has an ability that affects the field or the gods in your deck and each god has an elemental type. by the side of the field are 6 elemental power crystals, each with a power target. the goal is to get enough of each type of god on the field to activate a power crystal with bonus points awarded for getting all 6 in a round.
That was the first hint that it may be difficult to get all 6, and in the 6 games i played in this video i never got all 6 crystals. It's an interesting challenge as each god card has an ability that can have a positive or negative effect on either the garden field, your deck, or mana that's needed to put down the god cards. each spot in the garden also has a cost needed to put a card on it, but also a reward that it earns for activating a power crystal.
This sounds difficult, and in-game the lengthy wordy tutorial does make it seem that way. but the game is still very playable. i may not have got all 6 crystals when i played and i may not have fully understood it, but as i played and tried again i did feel like i was learning and getting better. so it's very playable.
For me tho, some of the wording made things unclear. like after a game it says quit or restart. i feel that both words are wrong as quit sounds like the 6 games are ended and restart sounds like you start the 6 again from the beginning. i also felt that some of the card abilities didn't work as i expected them to from their description. maybe in trying to get the description to fit on the card, their choice of English was perhaps not clear enough.
But those are fairly minor and don't get in the way of some good card playing. what did frustrate me was learning on the home screen that i don't have all the cards because i haven't bought the game. this also meant that mode, clearly labeled on the home screen, was also unplayable. it left me wondering if i actually can't finish the game because i don't have all the cards, whether those locked cards are more powerful. essentially, it was a bad user experience.
But as the game has no intrusive adverts, or any adverts, nor does it have an additional download once started, i would say it's a great game to pick up and play. it's a little rough around the edges and that can be patched later. thankfully the core card game experience makes it a game that you can play one match of quickly or sit down and play 6 like i did in this video.
For Mobile Friday this week is i tried out Tower of God: NEW WORLD by netmarble on my iPhone Pro 14.
This game came out this week and it's not often i play a brand new game. especially one that's highly anticipated as this game is based on the Webtoon Tower of God, and it's subsequent anime. I've not seen either, tho i think i've seen a trailer or two for the anime.
on the iOS App Store, there are a couple of images, but they don't really get across what this game is, and honestly i didn't read the description. so starting the game, i didn't quite know what to expect. i liked that the game asks if i wanted to download all the voice data. so this means that the game is playable but it either downloads the voices as and when it needs them or is silent. i chose to download them all and it's a download, 2.62GB! But after playing the game, it's something i would recommend doing. i'm on Wifi so i wasn't worried about data caps, and if you're on Wifi i think you should go ahead and download it as i found the voices to be well done and in such a story heavy game i do think it adds to the experience. Plus, there's a cool video that plays whilst it downloads the data and when the video finishes there's information on a bunch of the games characters with cool art.
There is a lot of story in this game and for some, that's not what they want in a mobile game. the game is designed as a mobile game first. a great example is how battles work as i didn't control them. i have an option to use special moves or i can let the game use them automatically. meaning, as a mobile gamer we have the option to watch the action which can be useful when commuting. Another impressive way the game is designed with mobile in mind are the graphic options. i accidently started the video with low settings and around half way changed them to highest. but low the low settings actually looked quite good, plus my phone didn't heat up and it would help with battery life. once i changed to the highest settings i quickly felt my phone getting hotter and by the end of the video my battery was lower than expected, too. so if you're far from a battery pack or charger, you can set the graphics to low and still enjoy it. but if you're at home or plugged in, you can set it to the max your phone can do and enjoy the graphics.
The game has a unique graphically presentation because it isn't limited to the phones screen. the characters are big, everything is big and fills the screen. but there are often times they go beyond the screen, almost as if the game was designed for bigger screens like iPads. with everything being so big and the graphics and artstyles working so well, it's easy to get lost and be absorbed into the world. i wasn't distracted by anything, it was incredibly effective in grabbing my focus. it's kinda cinematic in that respect.
Something else that's unique about the game is what kind of game it is. it would be difficult to say it's simply an RPG. what we play as "ourself" is more RPG than what we play when we're Ban. His side of the game is more like a story based game. it's interesting that these two stories are split. "Our" story is the Adventure Mode and Ban's story is the Story Mode. it looks like both need to be played to get the full story. as i've not watched the Webtoon or Anime, i don't know how accurate either is, but if i was to guess Ban's story would be closer to the Webtoon/Anime and "Our" story is probably new. I put "our" in quotes because i don't know who i am in the game. we have a name that we create, but other than that there's not been any physical representation of us in the game. so i'm playing it, but i don't know who "i" am.
The game isn't perfect. i feel like the tutorial could be better incorporated into the story and spaced out a bit more. i feel like the shop is available too early and not explained as we have no sense of worth/value in this game and yet the game expects us to be able to make a purchase decision. And by the time the video ends, i felt like the game could've chimed in with a reminder to level up as the battles were beginning to take longer. but in the grand scheme of the game as a whole, this are minor quibbles.
Tower of God: NEW WORLD is a game that i recommend. it's one you could play straight from download, but i would download the voice pack first and then go out and play the game. i played for an hour and barely scratched the surface of this game. there were many other modes and menus locked. so for a free to play game, it offers a lot and doesn't throw endless adverts at you either.
For Mobile Friday this week is i tried out Liquid Cat Puzzle by Hoshiyadori.
I chose this game mostly because i liked the art style and thought the cats looked cute. i was curious as to how Liquid Cats would be used in a game and how the puzzle sections would work.
First off, in this video i don't really find out an answer about the Liquid Cats. but this game does have a little story so we do know that something happened to the seas changing them from blue to rainbow and since that happened the Liquid Cats had started appearing. we also know that they drink much more water than normal cats. in what i played, Liquid Cats are more like a collectable that gives the player certain power ups and abilities. so one goal of the game is to collect them all, to level them up, and to find the best team for each scenario.
The two main modes are Puzzle Mode and Battle Mode. Puzzle Mode acts like the game's story mode. by completing all the levels in a stage, you unlock more of the story. Battle Mode is, i assume, an online mode where you face off against 3 other players to see who can get the highest score in 1 minute. i was surprised by this mode as it seemed to work really well. tho i'm not too sure how the ranking system works or how it matches players together.
As i played i unlocked two other modes, VIP Stage and Event Mode. VIP works with tickets you earn in-game and its a place where you have to beat increasingly difficult stages. but in doing so you unlock rarer Liquid Cats that are stronger than the normal ones. The Event Mode seems to be something that'll change meaning the available Liquid Cats will also change with each new Event.
One of the biggest praises i can give the game is how it manages adverts. this is a free to play game and in recent weeks i've played many which have been lazy in dealing with adverts. those games have taken up the whole screen, disrupted game play, and generally been rude with them. this game does have adverts but they only take up the middle of the screen. they're not long and this screen also comes with a useful tip. by the time you've read it and understood it you're often free to continue as the advert has finished. the game also gives warnings about them. on the home screen, a balloon flies across the screen. i went to pop it and the game warned me that it'll play an advert and i'll get a reward. this is how games should use adverts.
because of this, i can actually recommend this game for those playing outside of wi-fi. there's no additional download either. there's a lot to do in the game, so much so i won't actually be deleting it and i'll play it in my own time. if i have to pick a negative it's the soundtrack. it doesn't quite match what's happening on screen. it's a bit too chiptune whilst the graphics and clear, bold, and cute. the chiptune music felt a little bit rough and harsh. but on phones it's easy enough to play games in silence so i don't consider it an issue. so please, try Liquid Cat Puzzle!
For Mobile Friday this week is i tried out Miracle Merchant by TiNYTOUCHTALES. It's not a new game and it's out across the iOS app store and android.
I've seen the app icon on the store for a while but only recently downloaded it. but i didn't really know much about it other than it was a card game. i think i saw it mentioned it was a solitaire style game, but i don't think that's quite accurate enough to describe it. It's more a card matching game. you need to match cards to what the customer needs, but also to what the cards themselves need.
It can sound a little complicated and after some of the games i've played recently i too was concerned that i was about to be dropped into the deep end. thankfully the game starts with a simple but effect tutorial that, to me, felt like it covered most of what you need to know. there were a couple of UI stuff i'm sure i worked out for myself. but i'd say the biggest thing Miracle Merchant doesn't do is keep a record of what card matches do.
there are 4 colors of cards and 1 extra trap color. each of these has a picture on them. it wasn't that clear whether the items made by combining four of them were a result of the cards used, the pictures on the cards used, or the amount of money you got from combining 4 cards. i would've liked a book next to me that would tell me what combinations i've found from the cards available.
There's a sense of wanting from this game throughout. it starts us off with a great introduction sequence as we move through a town. and that's the only time we get to see it. i was playing it for free so for me all there is are a few games of completing customer orders. it was shown that if i bought it, i'd get daily challenges unlocked. but it also looked like that was it for those who bought it, one extra mode. the game has great art style, all sorts of interesting characters on screen and a cool world too. but all i get to to in this game is match what the customer wants to the cards i have. i wanted more from this game because the world looked soo interesting.
Miracle Marchant is worth playing for free. there were no additional downloads, no intrusive adverts, and my phone didn't really get hot. but for many, i imagine that this game is a one and done. that's not to say it's bad, i don't think it is. but once you've won, there was nothing left that i wanted to go back and play. i imagine that'll be the case for a few who try it.
For Mobile Friday this week is i tried out Super Cat Tales: PAWS from NEUTRONIZED. I played this game on an iPhone 14 Pro so i also had a look at whether or not the Dynamic Island was an issue.
This is the third game in the series and i hadn't played any of them before today. i don't think it's important to have played any of the other games. its possible that those games may have added some back story for the characters and the world, but for the first world that i played through it didn't seem to be an issue.
the game doesn't feel like the first in the series. it's very polished and refined, and when you combine it with the graphic style and the bright bold colors, it makes an impressive first impression. So much so, that through the hour of playing i could only come up with some small critiques where and there. that was until i came across a bug. for some reason an advert played after a level had started and once i was able to close it and get back to the game, it was clear that the game had taken my last command of pressing right and was stuck on it. i could press left and the character would briefly go left but as soon as i let go the character went back to going right even though i wasn't touching the screen. what was more unfortunate was that this part of the level required me to run on a treadmill like device and it just wouldn't activate. i had to kill the character and restart that level.
The adverts were really the only issue i had with the game. they're soo bad it almost felt rude and even though the game is as great as it is, the adverts can't be ignored as they are part of the experience. Super Cat Tales: PAWS is a free to play game and i have no issue with there being adverts. but the way they're handled feels so rough and sloppy compared to the refined game. the first advert came out of nowhere and didn't ask for permission to play or at least give me a heads up. the game is played horizontally and yet most adverts were vertical, so they were tiny on the screen. and even the horizontal adverts didn't fill the screen so there were big black bars either side. it's a shame they couldn't so something like play an advert in-game, like in the sign they use to advertise paying for the game to remove ads.
The controls are simple, there are two buttons; left and right. each time they add a technique to what those two buttons can do, they do it brilliantly with a simple graphic showing how it's done. that's something i can really appreciate and it really makes the game accessible. something else that makes the game accessible is that your character can, mostly, take a hit. the cats run into enemies to defeat them, unless they have a pointy end, but if you make a mistake and walk into them it's OK as the enemy will have taken a hit and you won't have died.
Even tho i only played through the first world, the variety of levels was quite impressive. it didn't feel samey nor did they feel too difficult. with a control scheme as simple as this game has, the levels feel like they take full advantage of it with their layout but with the art direction and colors, the levels also were clear to navigate and i always knew where to go. there is one exception and that's the home base. i feel that maybe a little tutorial is needed to act as an introduction to show what's where. it felt more luck than design that i managed to complete that section.
Super Cat Tales: PAWS is a game i do recommend people play. it's great there's no additional download when you start the game, but people need to be aware that the game will throw video ads at you. there weren't as many as last weeks Neodori Forever, https://youtu.be/peXQekqMcTM, but there was one that did kinda break the game. it only happened once so for now i'll assume it's a bug. Super Cat Tales: PAWS gameplay and design and art and music and characters, i feel, are well worth it. But that does mean this maybe a wifi only game for some people.
For Mobile Friday this week is i tried out Neodori Forever from Strobetano. when i recorded the video i didn't know that the game was also out on Switch and PlayStation 4.
It's hard not to go into this game thinking you'd be getting an experience similar to Ridge Racer or Out Run, basically one of those arcade style racers from the late Mega Drive early PlayStation era, and i admit i thought that was what i was going to get. it feels like that, to a certain extent, was the goal of the developers. the graphic style, the art style, the play style, and the music all work together to create a game which pulls on nostalgia but in a modern way.
You can hear it in my voice as i play the game how my excitement and enthusiasm dwindles and becomes more frustration with it. it has all the things i mentioned above but it seemingly completely drops the ball when it comes to the players experience playing the game. right from the off it drops you into a race with no tutorial or no option to practice in a time attack mode. there are other instances of it not providing information. for example, i still have no idea why i was collecting coins. i have no idea what the police did. and it took too long for me to work out that the fuel canisters were actually replenishing my health.
It's hard to think of what else the game did right. the only other highlight i can think off is how, in the settings, there was an option to resize the UI. i tried it out and found what i thought worked. but then throughout the rest of the game the Dynamic Island and the curved corners of my phone's screen got in the way. thankfully it rarely was anything critical or important, but it just highlights how the developers had a goal and implemented it but in such a way that it didn't fully take into account the player experience.
It's worth mentioning that there were no extra downloads starting the game for the first time. but i can't recommend this game for those on data plans due to the excessive amounts of adverts. i recorded around 50 minutes of gameplay, but ended up having to cut nearly 7 minutes of it due to the adverts in the game. i think in all there were 18 adverts. each time, the game never asked my permission to play them. there was no warning either. there's no health system, there's no energy system, there's no countdown. the adverts just ended up playing after every race attempt, win or lose. imagine playing the game for 45 minutes 5 days a week. lets say that's 15 unskippable adverts. i dare to think how much data 75 video adverts would use up.
So, for the second week running, i can't recommend getting this game on iPhone. it's just a bad experience for the player. However, getting this on console could be much better as there wouldn't be soo many intrusive adverts, each with a different quality, length, and even aspect ratio. plus, console versions would be better adapted for controllers and offer rumble. as for me, i have deleted the game.
For Mobile Friday this week is i tried out F1 Clash from Hutch, it was formally known as F1 Manager when it was originally released in 2019. i played it for around 50 minutes on my iPhone 14 Pro, but it is also out on Android.
I'm a big fan of F1 and have watched it since the 90's. so going into this game i did have a certain level of expectations. I know the rules of F1 and how things tend to go. From the very beginning of this game i had issues with it. F1 Clash starts with a "Tour" and i fully expected that to be the tutorial, for it to take me round each of the menus (maybe calling them facilities) and to somewhat hold my hand through my first interactions with the team. Nope, the first thing on the "Tour" was for me to design the car's livery.
things don't improve when you do the first "Race". your two drivers are Daniel Ricciardo and Mick Schumacher, and then they're not your drivers anymore. it almost feels disrespectful how abruptly their participation with your team ends. Race is in " " because i totally misunderstood what kind of game this is from that first tutorial race. in the tutorial, you're racing against a full field of other drivers and teams. But actually, that's not the point of the game. and even now, writing this, i'm annoyed that i was made to do a tutorial that totally misrepresented what the game actually is. because what you're actually doing is racing other people.
But are they real people? i don't know. i wasn't signed into Facebook or Apple, so where did these other "online" people come from. when it was choosing them, the same backgrounds kept appearing. and the first two opponents had the same driver line-up. at no point did it ask me about playing online or say that was what we're doing, and yet it tried to give the impression that was what we're doing. this isn't the only time something like this happened as i pressed a "Free Rewards" button assuming it was a free reward, it said collect now. but as soon as i pressed it it started playing an advert. it never asked for permission. and it wasn't a short advert either. i cut about 1 minute 15 seconds from this video. as the game did that to me, later when i see another "Free Crate" in the shop i'm genuinely apprehensive about clicking it as i assume it's just going to be another video.
At least clicking on that did something. in the Race section, a new option appears alongside "Duel" and "Spinners" but i don't know it's name. it had the name of this weekends Race at Barcelona in Spain, but what it is actually called i don't know. i clicked it and it told me the rules and then took me to a screen that had many options but they were all locked. even now i don't know why. nothing in the rules explains this. the locked button never tells me why it's locked. it's never explained what i need to do to unlock it, even tho the game had no issues with letting me get to this screen. even now i have no idea what the point of that was.
That's not the only time where the game locks stuff off, or has a lack of information. right at the beginning when you're designing your car's livery, there are locked liveries with no explanation on how to unlock them. In the shop there are drinks you can buy with no information as to what any of them do. later on i find another screen else where that details what each drink does, but it should've been in the shop. When it comes to assigning drivers, every driver is listed. at the time they were listed by series and i had no idea what that meant. i later learned that it was do to with what "race" i had unlocked, but at this point in the game it was needless confusing.
And then there's the Formula One stuff of the game, but even that is not realistic. If you're a fan of F1, it's really difficult to recommend this game. the tyre rules are not respected, the Ai is a mess, the racing is unrealistic, there are soo many crashes it makes a series like Formula E look tame. i even had a moment when, in the pits, i had a car being worked on and it got rear-ended by it's teammate. there's zero consequence for crashes and yet when tyre life hits zero the cars crawl to snail pace, and who knows how long a tyre will last as there's zero information being given to you. there's no help, you have to guess all the way.
I could go on, but ultimately i just wasn't having fun. it's an old game that feels even older. the developers should've made something new in a modern style. i just can't recommend it.
Mobile Friday this week is Disney Mirrorverse, a game on iOS and Android that's been out for nearly a year now.
I've seen this game been advertised in other games i play as well as seeing it in the app store. But, with it being free to play and Disney, i didn't really give it much of a chance and that's on me for judging it before playing it.
So i played it and this video shows the first 50 minutes, or so, of the game. and i'll be honest, i was pleasantly surprised. one of the bigger things i took away from my time with the game is how polished it felt and how much it respected the player as a gamer rather than as something to extract money from.
one of the first things the game does is set out why everything is as it is, and they use a Mirror Universe. it's simple and they throw in some Disney Magic to add to the effect. it holds your hand in telling you what to do, maybe a little quick for some players, but for the most part i'd say it works well. tho, the first enemies do feel like they take a few hits to kill. throughout the first 10 levels of the game, Chapter 1, the game continues to help teach you how to play.
The game also guides you at the home screen, again teaching you what things do, where things are, and how to do things. i do appreciate this approach. it's something that makes me, as a gamer, feel like the game is thinking about what i need rather than treating me as a cash resource first for what the game needs.
It was a satisfying first hour with fun gameplay. nothing too complicated, but just enough story and characters to keep my interest and to keep me going along. the game does use an energy system to gate how much/how long you can play, but in the time i spent with it i never came close to not having enough as i kept on leveling up and earning more as well as being able to carry more.
I'd definitely say give it a try. there were no extra downloads after installing it and whilst it did get my phone warm, that could be due to trying out a "beta" 60 fps mode. feel free to talk in the chat if your phones get warm without that mode.
Mobile Friday this week is Tomb Raider Reloaded, a recently released game that's out across iOS and Android stores from developers Emerald City Games and publishers CDE Entertainment.
I'll admit that this is the most of a Tomb Raider game i've played since the first one came out on PS1! it's a series that i've never really played, and i won't say which it is but it's not the biggest series i've never played/played much of. So going in, i didn't particularly care about how they treated the serie's past.
I think you'll see throughout the video that the game never really grabs me. for the most part, in the 50 minutes i played, the gameplay was mostly solid. i say mostly because controlling it still felt a little off. i thought that maybe there was some lag or some issue with where you were controlling the game on screen. for example, on screen you can see where i initially touched to move. but my finger would be much further away from that spot by the end. the game also did the thing of saying we could buy something for it with no context as to what any of it meant. i don't mind free to play games advertising their own items/bundles/deals/etc... But what i do mind is when they offer something that the game itself hasn't explained/tutorialized or even been shown in the game.
It's a great looking game. i don't mind the art direction they went with for Lara's design. the music is fairly minimum and didn't grab me that much, but i did like the voice acting. it's just that i was getting bored by the end. we played through soo many stages in this video and they were mostly the same premise. we also did a couple of boss battles and they felt like bullet sponges. the game feels slow. in one way that makes our character feel more human whilst those around maybe a tad faster. but it also slows down the pace of the game that kinda goes agains the games own design. the stages are small, they feel like they should be completed fast. but Lara moves a little slow, the enemies take more bullets than you think they'd need, and the lack of rumble disconnects the player from the action in an unexciting way.
