Sometimes you find a good village building game in the most unlikely places... then GameLoft goes and screws it up. This... is an OK game, heavily burdened by incentives to send real money on Premium currency, and now plagued by occasional severe freezing issues that forces you to completely reboot your tablet.
The game is OK, but is severely grind intensive as you have to save up larger and larger sums of gold just to pass simple tasks early on in the game, as well as unlocking sections of jungle to clear to expand your your village, a task that quickly becomes expensive very fast. Alot of this is to encourage spending real money in order to progress quicker, and while you dont have to spend real money that makes gameplay a long slow grind of money gathering and level building.
Full review coming soon, as well as an update once the crash issue is resolved.
Showing posts with label free to play. Show all posts
Showing posts with label free to play. Show all posts
Sunday, June 9, 2013
Thursday, June 6, 2013
Tablet Review : Kiwi's Shipwrecked : Lost Island
Since we are on a roll with bad games how about a Sims Castaways meets Farmville clone which falls short, aka Shipwrecked.
My first exposure to this game was in one of the in game ads shoved down your throat while playing Order Up To Go (if you are a Sony gamer and ever wanted to know what in game advertising looks like... this is in game advertising, here in Order Up To Go). The ad looked interesting, but like a great many ads it was deceptive and left out vital details.
So set sometime in... I don't know, the romanticized age of pirates not from Somalia... well you have two survivors of a shipwreck (hunky man and strong female female character) building a colony on this lost island with the help of other people you meet as you play... and already we run into the first problem with this game, people.
This is one of those rare games where people act as the cursor, requiring one person free to do tasks like clean up debris for resources (a common chore you will partake in in this game), gather stuff from all the buildings and stuff you put on your limited space, perform tasks involving expanding into the forest around you and expanding into the forest around you. Sounds simple enough... but it isn't.
Just doing simple tasks is alright, but when it comes to building or uncovering task items from the wilderness it ties up a single character for a few hours, and you start off with only three characters. So, once all three are tied up in long tasks unless you are willing to pay in spirits/potions your stuck... So where are all the other characters hinted at in the trailer? Oh you can find them... in the game store, being sold for Premium currency that is impossible to come by! Translation the first three are free, the rest cost real money.
But wait, that is not all! A major part of the game is clearing away the jungle surrounding your tight small landing spot, to do this you use swords in order to clear the jungle one small section at a time and it seems OK... until you run out of swords. No problem, that'll regenerate right? No. No they don't. Well then maybe you just need to buy the right building to earn or craft swords. And that seems like a logical idea, only none of these so called stores give you an option to craft anything, and not even the ones related to swords yield swords. You only gain swords by leveling up, at a disgustingly slow rate only to earn a very low yield if one or two per hard fought leg e l up (earned doing the aforementioned endless chore of cleaning and building tending). The only way I figure you can earn swords? Buying them with real money. What utter rubbish! Making the two most vital elements of the game, people and swords, a Premium currency item. Unforgivable! That insures the only way you will get full use out of the game is by spending real money on said game! Rubbish! It's one thing to love a game so much you are willing to make the investment, but quite another to be forced to invest just to progress! That is not a good way to motivate you to drop money nor should you on this game.
Too bad too, it had nice graphics a decent story and had potential. Potential squandered by a lack of interactive shops or the ability to craft vital elements like swords, a tight stranglehold on survivors (a problem I have with another Castaway/Farmville clone I will be reviewing shortly), and again that stagnation of game development unless your willing to spend real money for that progress. Rubbish. A 2 out of 5. Go play Oregon Trail American Settler... before GameLoft updates the game into the ground and an early grave.
My first exposure to this game was in one of the in game ads shoved down your throat while playing Order Up To Go (if you are a Sony gamer and ever wanted to know what in game advertising looks like... this is in game advertising, here in Order Up To Go). The ad looked interesting, but like a great many ads it was deceptive and left out vital details.
So set sometime in... I don't know, the romanticized age of pirates not from Somalia... well you have two survivors of a shipwreck (hunky man and strong female female character) building a colony on this lost island with the help of other people you meet as you play... and already we run into the first problem with this game, people.
This is one of those rare games where people act as the cursor, requiring one person free to do tasks like clean up debris for resources (a common chore you will partake in in this game), gather stuff from all the buildings and stuff you put on your limited space, perform tasks involving expanding into the forest around you and expanding into the forest around you. Sounds simple enough... but it isn't.
Just doing simple tasks is alright, but when it comes to building or uncovering task items from the wilderness it ties up a single character for a few hours, and you start off with only three characters. So, once all three are tied up in long tasks unless you are willing to pay in spirits/potions your stuck... So where are all the other characters hinted at in the trailer? Oh you can find them... in the game store, being sold for Premium currency that is impossible to come by! Translation the first three are free, the rest cost real money.
But wait, that is not all! A major part of the game is clearing away the jungle surrounding your tight small landing spot, to do this you use swords in order to clear the jungle one small section at a time and it seems OK... until you run out of swords. No problem, that'll regenerate right? No. No they don't. Well then maybe you just need to buy the right building to earn or craft swords. And that seems like a logical idea, only none of these so called stores give you an option to craft anything, and not even the ones related to swords yield swords. You only gain swords by leveling up, at a disgustingly slow rate only to earn a very low yield if one or two per hard fought leg e l up (earned doing the aforementioned endless chore of cleaning and building tending). The only way I figure you can earn swords? Buying them with real money. What utter rubbish! Making the two most vital elements of the game, people and swords, a Premium currency item. Unforgivable! That insures the only way you will get full use out of the game is by spending real money on said game! Rubbish! It's one thing to love a game so much you are willing to make the investment, but quite another to be forced to invest just to progress! That is not a good way to motivate you to drop money nor should you on this game.
Too bad too, it had nice graphics a decent story and had potential. Potential squandered by a lack of interactive shops or the ability to craft vital elements like swords, a tight stranglehold on survivors (a problem I have with another Castaway/Farmville clone I will be reviewing shortly), and again that stagnation of game development unless your willing to spend real money for that progress. Rubbish. A 2 out of 5. Go play Oregon Trail American Settler... before GameLoft updates the game into the ground and an early grave.
Wednesday, June 5, 2013
WIPR : Gameloft's Oregon Trail American Settlers Review
I thought it was a pretty rare treat getting my hands on this game, a rare Gameloft release that, yes, while cloning a popular series (the Ville series from Zynga) it turned out to be a pretty good and addictive game all in all.
Leave it to GameLoft though to shoot themselves with their new game update, ruining what was a pretty good game in the process. Mind you it is not yet completely ruined, and can be fixed... but right now it makes me want the previous version of the game back.
Besides small cosmetic changes here and there several bigger changes have been made, starting with an annoying game synching which seems to crash the game half the Times you try to play it. What a tripe, especially since this was the rare game that played offline well, unlike My Little Pony that suffers constant crashes loading if it's not online.
Disasters are changed. While you have less devastating disasters you also can't use food, wood or money to minimize the damage... you also lose the three choice option for a short pay premium currency or suffer this effect. The worst is building damage has your buildings now burst into flames and you have to craft... get this... paper and fire to fix it. Paper and fire! Also it used to be you could use wood to repair buildings. Can't do that now.
I only just started grinding into this new version, but the rampant crash issue really burned my butter... reminds me of my stupid router... anyway more notes to come as a full review is coming soon. Stay tuned.
Leave it to GameLoft though to shoot themselves with their new game update, ruining what was a pretty good game in the process. Mind you it is not yet completely ruined, and can be fixed... but right now it makes me want the previous version of the game back.
Besides small cosmetic changes here and there several bigger changes have been made, starting with an annoying game synching which seems to crash the game half the Times you try to play it. What a tripe, especially since this was the rare game that played offline well, unlike My Little Pony that suffers constant crashes loading if it's not online.
Disasters are changed. While you have less devastating disasters you also can't use food, wood or money to minimize the damage... you also lose the three choice option for a short pay premium currency or suffer this effect. The worst is building damage has your buildings now burst into flames and you have to craft... get this... paper and fire to fix it. Paper and fire! Also it used to be you could use wood to repair buildings. Can't do that now.
I only just started grinding into this new version, but the rampant crash issue really burned my butter... reminds me of my stupid router... anyway more notes to come as a full review is coming soon. Stay tuned.
Thursday, May 30, 2013
Minor Tablet Reviews : TeamLava`s Story Franchise
Be it as much I love cafe Sims, the Sims of TeamLava are short term low key easily cranked out cloner games with short term appeal, and no permanent place in my collection.
I reviewed a grand total of 3 TeamLava games. Two being Cafe World clones (Restaurant and Bakery Story) and a different clone where you run a nightclub (Nightclub Story). The games are ok but lack a severe amount of depth and content. All the games do their job, they fulfill that need to run a diner or nightclub, but only at the most basic level. Where games like Cafe World excels, in that your options and possibilities grow as you play, this game quickly stagnates and falls apart.
Besides the minimal graphics you find almost from go your grinding hard with little e reward for all your efforts. Working hard to keep counters filled, and diners happy, it takes a long time to level up, much less unlock New machineslike ovens, stoves, drink makers and do on so you can grind out more and more recipes at a time. Worst, certain devices suck in terms of quick recipes that only take a few minutes making it longer waits to keep your counters stacked, which is made worst by the inability to stack recipe items to keep certain foods stocked on your counters. The idea of one cook item per counter is counter productive, but TeamLava went there not just in early releases but seemingly in every release. Why they went there, especially when Glu got it right with Tavern Quest, boggles the mind.
But wait, that is not all. Besides hard level progression it's hard to keep your counters stocked. Not only because of the one cooked item per counter limit, but also because the diner ai (underwhelming forgettable ai) eat like animals, quickly depleting your recipes. Also? Restaurant Story has an unforgivable very early task (2nd or 3rd) which cannot be completed no matter how long you play, tasking you to cook an item none of the cooking devices prepare. What a quick and early fail!
And if that is not enough, and Lord knows it should be, but the game is heavily dependent on three broken facts.
- One. The games are heavily dependent on premium currency in order to progress as a few later missions can't be completed or skipped without it.
- Two. The games are heavily dependent on making friends on either Facebook or the game site TeamLava uses. And you know what a pain that is especially since a few of these company owned things (looking at you GameLoft) are impossible to work with.
- Three. The games have too many long term items that take too long to finish, and not in so called game time mind you as most of the games we will be looking at play in realtime, and having far too much time heavy recipes to wade through (especially to complete early tasks) is such a pain.
Combine all that with lackluster gameplay and graphics and TeamLava really need to go back to the drawing board, and instead of grinding out 100 sad inferior games work on making 10 games, and making them well. Otherwise these games barely meet your needs, but will ultimately disappoint. A 2 out of 5 times 3.
I reviewed a grand total of 3 TeamLava games. Two being Cafe World clones (Restaurant and Bakery Story) and a different clone where you run a nightclub (Nightclub Story). The games are ok but lack a severe amount of depth and content. All the games do their job, they fulfill that need to run a diner or nightclub, but only at the most basic level. Where games like Cafe World excels, in that your options and possibilities grow as you play, this game quickly stagnates and falls apart.
Besides the minimal graphics you find almost from go your grinding hard with little e reward for all your efforts. Working hard to keep counters filled, and diners happy, it takes a long time to level up, much less unlock New machineslike ovens, stoves, drink makers and do on so you can grind out more and more recipes at a time. Worst, certain devices suck in terms of quick recipes that only take a few minutes making it longer waits to keep your counters stacked, which is made worst by the inability to stack recipe items to keep certain foods stocked on your counters. The idea of one cook item per counter is counter productive, but TeamLava went there not just in early releases but seemingly in every release. Why they went there, especially when Glu got it right with Tavern Quest, boggles the mind.
But wait, that is not all. Besides hard level progression it's hard to keep your counters stocked. Not only because of the one cooked item per counter limit, but also because the diner ai (underwhelming forgettable ai) eat like animals, quickly depleting your recipes. Also? Restaurant Story has an unforgivable very early task (2nd or 3rd) which cannot be completed no matter how long you play, tasking you to cook an item none of the cooking devices prepare. What a quick and early fail!
And if that is not enough, and Lord knows it should be, but the game is heavily dependent on three broken facts.
- One. The games are heavily dependent on premium currency in order to progress as a few later missions can't be completed or skipped without it.
- Two. The games are heavily dependent on making friends on either Facebook or the game site TeamLava uses. And you know what a pain that is especially since a few of these company owned things (looking at you GameLoft) are impossible to work with.
- Three. The games have too many long term items that take too long to finish, and not in so called game time mind you as most of the games we will be looking at play in realtime, and having far too much time heavy recipes to wade through (especially to complete early tasks) is such a pain.
Combine all that with lackluster gameplay and graphics and TeamLava really need to go back to the drawing board, and instead of grinding out 100 sad inferior games work on making 10 games, and making them well. Otherwise these games barely meet your needs, but will ultimately disappoint. A 2 out of 5 times 3.
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
Tablet Update 5/14
If you are an Android user you probably got your free 500 coins yesterday from Amazon promoting their new coin system (you use real money to buy coins which can be used to buy apps, games and stuff from the app store). Yesterday I used up most of my coins to buy two titles for review as well as pick up a few free titles.
I bought Plants vs Zombies (my second time reviewing it) and The Bard`s Tale (loved the PS2 version... too bad this IS the PS2 version). Free we are looking at Fantasy Defense, the much beloved tower defense game in Asia... because who doesn't like brief glimpses of women with Tohru Nishimaki (Blue Eyes) sized breasts, and enemy female chibi characters with breast bounce animation mechanics... I kid you not.
Order Up has a tablet version... looking at that... too bad it's the 3DS version with changes made to encourage free to play micro transactions... ugh. Also looking at Robinson, yet another SIM city builder with flavors of Sims Castaway.
Reviews coming soon, stay tuned.
I bought Plants vs Zombies (my second time reviewing it) and The Bard`s Tale (loved the PS2 version... too bad this IS the PS2 version). Free we are looking at Fantasy Defense, the much beloved tower defense game in Asia... because who doesn't like brief glimpses of women with Tohru Nishimaki (Blue Eyes) sized breasts, and enemy female chibi characters with breast bounce animation mechanics... I kid you not.
Order Up has a tablet version... looking at that... too bad it's the 3DS version with changes made to encourage free to play micro transactions... ugh. Also looking at Robinson, yet another SIM city builder with flavors of Sims Castaway.
Reviews coming soon, stay tuned.
Sunday, May 12, 2013
Waiting To Recharge 5/12
Soo... gimmick, gimmick, who got the gimmick? Guess I do.
In this case the recharge we are waiting for is virtual in nature as Game On becomes the blog for Antisocial Gamer. Subsequently we will talk about tablet gaming, and later Facebook games as well once that laptop comes in.
I will start off by covering games I rejected, and why I don't recommend these titles to you. After that games I am playing right now like...
Bakery/Restaurant Story
Not much of a Cafe Worldesque SIM but it's a freebie and OK... if you remember a fee things about the game that limits its full potential.
Kingdom and Lords
Damn underwhelming Age of Empires lite social game... but I needed a review item that was not Spielberg or ponies so... here you go.
Jurassic Park Builder
My first thought was that line from Jeff Goldblum from the first Jurassic Park about marketing and selling without any real thought put into it... there, I said something about you that didn't involve me kicking you Goldblum! Happy?!?
Tavern Quest
A surprisingly good mix of Cafe World SIM and low key RPG. Good work, Glu!
My Little Pony
Yes, pony city building SIM. A game that requires lots of patience in order to keep from spending money on rechargeable and premium currency gems. Too bad Hasbro marketed this to kids with zero patience. Fun... in small manageable doses... hide your credit card!
So stay tuned!
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