Game Quicky: TuboCity (Android) ~ Rolling Through Tubes

Official website

Today we are going to look at a recently released game for Android & iOS called TuboCity. No, that’s not a typo. The name of the game is TuboCity. It will all make sense when you see the screenshots. It’s not uncommon that the name is mistaken since the developer recently was at a convention where they had to put a post-it note on their sign telling people that’s it’s TuboCity. Ah well, funny anecdotes aside, we are here for a game review. In this game quicky, I’ll talk about what I like and didn’t like in this game. After that, I will wrap up my thoughts in a conclusion. So, ready… set.. HERE WE GO! As usual, feel free to leave a comment with your opinion on the game and/or the content of the article.

The game

In this game, you fly with your ship through space. Your goal is to reach the end if there is an end. So, you are flying through a tube in space. See, I told you it would make sense why the game is called TuboCity.

The bad

I think that there could be some improvements made with the tutorial. Usually, when I play these style of games, I love to test out the tutorial. Is it going to make me repeat the tutorial when I don’t finish the objective? That’s the question I ask myself.

And the tutorial does continue. I died at the last ring in the second tutorial, and it let me continue to the jumping bit. I died at the second ring, and the tutorial lets me continue.

Maybe it’s just me, but I always had a hard time doing the jumps. I never knew when to time it right. Maybe I should replay the tutorial a bit, to train for the jumps. Sometimes I got lucky and made a few, but I died more at the jumps then I passed them.

But, then I found something out. You can also double tap or tap with two fingers to make your ship jump.

Also, there is an option to change the way how you want the jumping to work. You have swipe, double tap, and two finger tap. I prefer double tap the most, to be honest.

You could just make a screen where you put the controls on for players to refresh their memory if they haven’t played your game for a while. I missed that.

I also think that the difficulty curve is a bit too steep. It’s great fun that the game puts you through a randomized tunnel, but I think that the first 10-15 hoops should be easy to do ones. In various runs, I encountered very difficult obstacles that I had a hard time avoiding. Also, I think that the rings are too close to each other. This is a big problem when you timed your jump just a bit too late, you land right when you need to make that vital turn to avoid the next ring.

The good

This game looks visually amazing. The effects and the presentation are all amazing. The visual tube effect is pleasing to the eye. The colors also complement each other and the different ships look great.

Also, I love how they used another color for the rings that you need to jump over. They make them easier to see and give the player a fighting chance.

While this game has ads, they are placed at good spots. They are placed right at the top of your screen. I don’t mind those ads in the games I play. Since they don’t force you to watch them or they aren’t in cheap places that your finger touches them easily.

While this game has just released, I see a lot of potential for future game modes. Like a bonus stage where you must jump through 5 rings in a row for some bonus points.

The music in this game is good. It’s very enjoyable in my opinion. I loved listing to it while I was playing the game.

The controls were responsive. If I went to the right, my ship went to the right. If I went to the left, my ship went to the left. If you don’t enjoy that style of gameplay, there is also an option to invert your playstyle.

I think it’s a great touch to add the contact info of the developers in the app. This way people can easily find your social media to follow the development of your game and contact the developer when needed.

There are microtransactions in the game for new ships, but they are crazy cheap. Thumbs up for that. Seriously, no ridiculous overpriced microtransactions here. And here is the best part of it all, they are optional! You don’t have to pay for them to win the game or to get a high score, it’s just a way to support the developers for their free game.

Yes, did I mention that this game was free? This blows my mind since if they would ask 2,5€ for this game, I would say that you get your money’s worth.

Conclusion

This game is a lot of fun to play. But, due to the tricky jumping, I didn’t enjoy my time with the game. If they made the game a bit beginner friendly and polished the jumping mechanic, I think I would have more fun with the game.

It’s a shame since there are three things I didn’t like about the game. The tutorial needs some work; the difficulty curve makes the game uninviting and the jumping is a bit too tricky. All the other things like the presentation, music, controls, UI… It’s all so well put together.

Maybe the developer will fix this with an update, and then my complaints in this article will be invalid. I wrote this review for version 1.08.

Thank you WhitePot Studios for asking me to look at your game. It was great fun to do. I also must stress that this isn’t a sponsored article. The developer asked me to give my honest opinion on the game, so here it is.

So, that’s everything I wanted to say about this game. I hope you enjoyed reading this article as much as I enjoyed writing this. I hope to be able to welcome you in another article but until then, take care and have a great rest of your day.

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First Impression: Coffe Noir (PC) ~ Detective Business Educational Game

Official website

It’s quite clear from the fact that I’m writing a gaming blog that I love games. I also work in a school secretary. Now, I came across this recently translated game that combines both worlds called Coffee Noir. Yes, this is an edutainment game. This game is developed by Doji Educational Innovations, a Poland-based company that specializes in educational and training tools. This game is browser based, so no installs needed. So, I have played this game for a few hours and I’ll describe in this article my thoughts about the game. This is my first impression of this game, which means I haven’t finished the game. As usual for my articles, feel free to write a comment with your opinion on the game and/or the content of this article.

Solving that crime

First, before I forget to mention, the version I played was the version that is meant for casual gamers. That’s also the version I linked at the start of this article. If you want to know more about the educational side of this game, feel free to visit this website.

In this game, you play as a private detective solving crimes. Your name is Arthur Oliver. You try to solve a disappearance case and you go undercover as a boss of a coffee producer to try and get in contact with the suspects who could have kidnapped your client.

In this game, you will learn a lot about various topics like business management, economics, negotiation and many other skills. The developers created a video with more information about the story and the game, which you can see here.

The original language of the game is Polish and it’s recently translated into English. Due to the high amounts of text, I can forgive some parts of the game not being translated. While I was playing this game, I screenshotted the areas where I still found some Polish and mailed them to the developers. They replied a day later and they said they are going to work on it.

Another issue that I ran into is that in multiple areas the textboxes overflow. What I mean by that is that the text continues outside the UI. It’s a shame since this game looks great visually. I also notified the developers of this issue and they said that they will work on that as well.

The presentation of this game is well done. It didn’t take long for me to find my way in the UI. When I wanted to adjust some sales settings, I had to click on “sales” and I was there. The only thing I couldn’t find easily is an overview page of all my income and expenses. That would be a great tool in this business simulation.

Visually, this game looks great. Most of this game looks like it’s drawn by hand. I like the art style that is used in the game. I sometimes forgot that this game is an educational game and I was enjoying myself and if you can achieve that, you know you are doing a good job.

Something I wasn’t too fond off is the music. Don’t understand me wrong, it’s good music, but there isn’t too much music in the game. And when I heard the same music track for the 6^th time, I got bored with it. So, I muted the music and played my own music in the background. The sound effects in this game weren’t muted, and thankfully so, since they add so much atmosphere to the game.

Still in development

If you visit their IndieGoGo campaign, a campaign they ran in 2016, they said that there is still much in the pipeline for this game. A year after the IndieGoGo campaign we got the English version of this game. Now that it is released, we will get one major new feature in late 2017 and that is voice acting.

That’s something that the version I played lacked. The game sometimes felt boring due to me clicking in some many menus and reading so much text. If there were more voice acting and more animation on screen, this game would be more interesting to casual players. But, we should wait and see before we give our final judgment.

Something I applaud in this game is the fact that the educational parts aren’t forced upon the player. If you want to try your own strategy to finish this game, you are free to try. The game doesn’t stop you with annoying math puzzles you must solve before you can continue. This is how edutainment should be, since this way you teach players about something and they have fun. An example is that when you want to train your employees, you must finish the short test to gain a bonus with that employee. Don’t worry, you get the chance to read through the theory before you take the test. I was also happy that I could access it in negotiations since I could look up terms and theory of things I didn’t know.

Another big plus in this game is the handbook and wiki. In the handbook, you can find many pages with usual information about psychology and other usual topics that can aid you in solving the case. While I studied economics in high school, I don’t know a lot about psychology. And this way I don’t have to look up all the information.

Also, the wiki is quite handy to have nearby. When I forgot how to do something or how something worked in the UI or what something meant, my answer wasn’t too far away in the wiki.

This game also has a tutorial. The tutorial itself is quite long and holds your hand throughout the whole process, it’s highly recommended that you go through with the tutorial since it teaches you the game mechanics. The first time I played this game, didn’t end well. I tested my skills without following the tutorial.

Opinion of a teacher

As I said in the introduction of this article, I work in a school. But I also have some experience in teaching classes. This game would be great to use in an economics class. I wonder if the educational version of this game is different since you could use this game in two very different classes and it would be a shame that teachers didn’t use this game. I can imagine that teachers don’t use this game because, for example, an economics teacher doesn’t want that students have to bother with psychology in the economic classes.

This game isn’t for everybody. If you don’t enjoy mystery games or tycoon games, I would skip this game. If the videos from the developers interest you, give this game a try. This game is rather interesting.

There is a lot of replay value in this game. Since you can tackle the business side of things in some many ways, each playthrough is different from the last. So, no playthrough will be the same. Unless you do it on purpose of course.

Before I wrap up this article, I want to thank Doji Interactive for giving me a free copy of this game to test out. Thank you for putting this game under my attention. I have been playing this game here and there and I have been enjoying myself. When I wrote this article, a lifetime account costs 9,99 USD which is extremely cheap for the content you get in my opinion. Before there is confusion, this isn’t a paid article.

Conclusion

This game has a lot of potentials. When I have more time, I certainly will finish this game. This will most likely happen in my summer break. Most things I missed in this game like voice acting are things on the to-do list of the developer.

So, this game will only keep improving in the future and I can’t wait to see where it goes. If you are interested in mystery games and tycoon games, I would highly recommend checking the official website of this game since it’s a great game in my opinion and I can’t wait how this game is going to evolve.

Before I say goodbye, I should add something. The developers told me that in the coming months, there will be some updates and patches to the game. Another reason to get excited about the future of this game!

Thank you for reading this article and I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing this article. I hope to be able to welcome you in another article on my blog, but until then take care and have a great rest of your day!

Preview: Pillars Of History (PC) ~ Time for History!

Official website

Today, it’s time to take a look at a game that’s still in development. A game that interested me as soon as the developer emailed me about it. Tritan Studio presents an Action RPG in medieval Europe. And in this article, we are going to take a look at the game and I’ll tell you my wishes for the game as well. As usual, feel free to leave a comment with your opinion on the game and/or the article. 

Personal note

Before we start, I want to stress that this isn’t a paid article. This game interests me so much, that I decided to write an article about it.

Also, the studio is going to start a KickStarter campaign for this game. I advise you guys and girls to take a look at it. Since this game is going to be worth it from what I have seen in the trailers and screenshots they released on Facebook.

Check their website/facebook page on the 20th June 2017 for more information about their KickStarter.  The KickStarter will run for a bit more than a month. So, please support them. Game development is hard and costs a lot of money.

You can also follow the development on their YouTube channel and their Twitter.

What is this game about?

So, you choose between one of seven characters that each have their unique storyline and background. Since this is an RPG, the actions you take decide the fate your character.

Your character development is based on your level progression. There will be also a class-system. Each class has its own basic stats, perks, and weaknesses.

But, you can also develop skills. You can improve these skills with skill points you earn from leveling up. So, you will have to choose wisely on which skills you spend them on.

There will be an exploration system. Since this is an RPG, this is a given.

Remember, like I said in the introduction, this game is set in the Medieval times. What were we doing back then? Of course, we were exploring new territories, nations, acquiring knowledge and such things.  In this game, you will be able to explore settings based on the Balkans and Eastern Europe. And here comes the first interesting catch. When you treat somebody badly, he or she can be serious trouble if you enter their homeland. So, be careful who you anger.

Of course, since we didn’t have the same technology back then, then we have now, exploring is a risky business. You will have to take care of yourself, your horses and your stock. Also, you might have to rely on a pathfinder or other people. So, that will be interesting.

What would an RPG be without interactions? A boring one, no? Like I said before if you anger somebody, it’s quite possible that you aren’t allowed access to a rich town that sells strong weapons or great items. Also, it will be possible in this game that if you play the nice guy, you will receive great rewards and serious discounts.

You will also have to survive from the land. That’s why the Tritan Studio focused heavily on this aspect. There will be a stamina system that can be recovered by rest and food. Nowadays, this might sound easy, but remember, we are back in the time of castles and knights.

So, what happens when you die? Well, you get robbed. Sort of. You lose part of all of your belongings. It’s better than losing your life isn’t?

Finally, let’s talk about the equipment. This will be quite important to your quest. Since, what’s the point of putting so many points in a sword skill, if you aren’t carrying swords? That’s common sense. But be careful, since the class that you choose can change which equipment you can use. For example, priests can’t use the heaviest armor, since they lack the training for that.

My wishes

So, this game has elements from games I really like. For example, the survival and stamina mechanics reminds me to the stamina and survival mechanic in The Legend Of Zelda – Breath Of The Wild. The losing of money and gear upon death reminds me of Pokémon Mystery Dungeon games. Other games that come to mind are the Elder Scroll games, FallOut, Europa Universalis IV and others.

The reason why I’m so interested in this game is that it mixes elements from games I like to play. So, I’m quite sure it will turn out quite fun.

Another reason is that I’m interested in the history of Europe. When I go on a city trip or on vacation, I love to visit historical sites. As a child, I often imagined living as a sort of superhero in those times. Yeah, those were fun times.

Because the concept of this game interested me when I read the mail, I wanted to write an article about this. But as soon as I saw the screenshots, development videos and other released material… Well, I think I’m getting somewhat hyped for this game.

So, here are something I hope that will happen in the game. The following things are my suggestions to the developers. This might or might not be in the game.

I think it would be amazing if there was mod support for people to create their own quests. This would be an amazing way to give the game some love and make it more alive.

Also, I think it would be great if there is a system to “sort quests”. The mechanic in The Legend Of Zelda – Breath Of The Wild is perfect in my eyes. You have a list of main quests, a list of side quests and such. And you can select a (side) quest and this will give you a marker on your map.

If there is a map system in place, it would be amazing if the map system looks like a map drawn on old parchment. Maybe even a feature where you can draw on the map. But you can’t erase your mistakes, since how are you going to erase ink in those times? So, that would mean that you have to buy a certain map again if you messed up.

A fast travel system would be interesting as well. But make it risky. I think it would be an interesting mechanic if you gave the fast travel mechanic seen in this kind of games a spin. For example, you might loose a horse traveling to a far off location in the mountains. Or, that you need a certain amount of resources to travel to a certain place.

The developer told me that this game will help you to learn a thing or two about history. I think it would be a great idea if you were able to play through some of those stories instead of finding scrolls of those tales.

What I have seen so far, the game looks amazing. The game will be playing in a 2,5 top down view. I can’t wait to play a demo build of this game. This game is certainly going on my wishlist.

Check out their social media and their website if you think that this game looks interesting. Help the developer out by sharing and giving a like if you like the content. I’m looking forward for more screenshots and maybe even a demo. All their links are at the top of this article. But, here they are once more:

Website – Facebook – Twitter – YouTube

So, that’s is everything I wanted to say about this interesting game. I hope you enjoyed reading this article as much as I enjoyed writing this. I hope to be able to welcome you in another article but until then, take care and have a great rest of your day.

Review: Pokémon Mystery Dungeon – Explorers Of Time / Darkness & Sky (DS) ~ Expansion Dungeon?

Wikipedia entry

So, remember when Nintendo released an enhanced version of each generation? Games like Pokémon Yellow, Crystal, Emerald, and Platinum come to mind. Well, they also did that once for their Pokémon Mystery Dungeon series. When Explorers of Time and Explorers of Darkness released, a year later Nintendo released Explorers of the Sky. I have beaten Explorers of Time but I haven’t beaten this updated version yet. Why did I decide to write a review then? Well, the core mechanics haven’t changed in this version. In any case, it’s time to take a look at this game, what do I think about this entry in one of my favorite game series? As usual, feel free to leave a comment with your opinion on this article and/or the game. 

Note: In this review, I will focus mostly on the Sky version of the game. But my thoughts in this review apply to all versions of this game except the exclusive stuff in the Sky version.

Note 2: To avoid mentioning the full title of the game every time, I refer to the games by only using the last word in the title.

Let’s form a guild

So, you start up a new game and you get a personality quiz. This will decide which Pokémon you will be during the whole adventure. For some reason, I love doing this quiz. I have played it various times and I always end up with the same Pokémon.

So, the story of this game. You play as a human that got turned into a Pokémon. You meet your partner on the beach. After your partner gets his special artifact stolen from some rival gang, you and your partner go and reclaim the stolen artifact. After you have helped your partner, both of you team up and go join the local guild.

When you join the local guild, you learn that somebody is stealing the time gears and which controls time in that given area. So, you set out on an adventure to stop this madness and restore peace to the land.

And that’s just the basic part of the story. This story goes much deeper. You go on various quests and adventures, it’s great. The writing in this game is great, but some jokes are more aimed at the younger audience. In the Sky version, there is an additional backstory added to the game. There is also a longer epilog added to the game. I still have to finish the epilog, but I love the added stories so far.

The visual presentation of this game is, as you would expect from a Nintendo game, excellent. I can understand that the visuals might turn some people off since they aren’t upgraded too much from the original GBA title. Still, the detail in the artwork is well done. Also, the gorgeous full-screen pictures are an amazing touch. A common criticism of this game is that

A common criticism of this game is that the dialogues go on and on for too long. I honestly didn’t mind this too much, but I do understand why people complain. This game could have benefitted from some cutscenes, even when it’s just a big picture that goes over the two DS screens.

Was this needed?

The expanded Sky version has a very mixed reception. While some reviewers hated this version, some reviewers loved it. The biggest issue is that the things that were added in this version were somewhat minor at first. Why do I say minor at first? Well, this version has much more polish than the original versions.

Why do I say minor at first? Well, this version has much more polish than the original versions. Also, there are some many things added like: new dungeons, new story, more starters, new places and shops… But most of them appear after a bit of playtime or is post game content.

I think that this could have been handled better. I think that the Sky version should have been the only one that got released. It’s the superior version of Time and Darkness. So, if you haven’t played these games yet, don’t bother with Time and Darkness, play the Sky version.

Another interesting idea would be a sort of “save file transfer” feature. So, that you transfer your save file from either Time or Darkness to Sky and you get direct access to the new features without having to replay the whole game.

If you have played Pokémon Mystery Dungeon Blue or Red Rescue Team, you know what you can expect in this game. You go through randomized dungeons while fighting various other rogue Pokémon. Your goal is to reach the end of the dungeon so you can continue to the story.

Sometimes you have sentry duty over at the guild. Then you have to guess which Pokémon wants to enter the guild. I think this mini game would be pretty tricky if you aren’t familiar with Pokémon. But, if you are familiar with Pokémon, this shouldn’t give you too much trouble.

When you aren’t exploring a dungeon, you can go and visit the local town to buy items and upgrade your Pokémon. You can also go on various side quests and/or hunt after wanted criminals.

The core gameplay can be repetitive, yet enjoyable. If you play this game more an extended amount of time, it might get boring. But, if you spice things up with some side quests and trying to progress the story, the game stays enjoyable.

In Sky, there is a new Spinda Café added, which adds some new mechanics into the game. But, I’ll leave that for you to find out. One of them is a recycling mechanic and another is “the lottery” mechanic. That’s all I’m going to say about that. Check it out since it will help you in your journey.

When you die in a dungeon, you get kicked back to the start of the dungeon or the mid-way checkpoint. The catch is that you lose some items and almost all your cash. So be careful what you take with you since you can lose it when you aren’t careful.

The music for this game is excellent. There is one song that almost every time hits a chord with me. That song’s name is “Don’t Ever Forget – I don’t want to say goodbye…” and it plays near the climax of the whole game. To avoid spoilers, I’m not going to say too much about it, but it still gives me goosebumps while writing this part of the review. And I’m not the only one. Just go on YouTube and read the comments. Yeah, you will understand what I mean.

The music adds so much to this game. There are so many memorable moments that are made so much more powerful with the soundtrack. So, I highly recommend playing this game with a good pair of headphones. Thank me later.

A quick note about the sound design, it’s great. But honestly, due to the amazing soundtrack, it didn’t pay too much attention to the sound design to comment too much about it.

Snatch that jewel

This game can be pretty difficult in some places. But, most of those moments can be defeated with some grinding. Yet, sometimes you have or can get lucky and finish a difficult dungeon by finding the stairs on each floor.

In Sky, there are various tweaks at the difficulty. But the random monster houses can be so cheap. I died more than once because of this.

The controls for this game are great. I didn’t have any problems with them. The only annoying thing is that you attacking diagonally is a nightmare. I had to struggle with the controls more than once to do that. Also, attacking at a corner doesn’t work. Your attack always misses. This is fixed in later entries in the series.

Due to the randomized nature of the dungeons you enter, there is a lot of replay value in this game. But, you will miss a skip button for skipping the story bits.

Speaking about that, something that annoyed me was the end of the day after you finished your missions. You go through dinner with your guild and it takes a bit too long. I honestly think that a skip button for this would help. But, that would be tricky since sometimes at night time, you get important story bits. So, I can understand why it isn’t added.

This game’s length is great. If you play through the game to just beat the main story, you will have 30-ish hours of gameplay ahead of you. But, I have read that when you want to complete this game, you have over 150 hours of game time ahead of you.

So, that’s everything I wanted to talk about in this game. I didn’t talk about some parts, but hey, that means there are still surprises for you to find when you decide to give this game a try. So, it’s time to wrap up this whole review in the conclusion.

Conclusion

The bad:

-Some minor issues like not being able to attack at corners aren’t fixed from the previous entry in the series.

-The bad reception for the Sky version is understandable. Due to the release of Sky, the Darkness and Time versions look unpolished.

-This game could have benefitted from some cutscenes.

-A skip button for the story isn’t here. This would benefit 2nd playthroughs so much.

The good:

+ Great story and writing.

+ Great visuals.

+ Amazing music.

+ Fun, yet sometimes repetitive, gameplay.

+ …

Final thoughts:

If you want to give this game a shot, I highly recommend playing the Sky version. If you think the games are worth a replay, you might give the Time & Darkness a chance. But remember, as I said in the review, the Sky version is better since it has much more polish than the originals.

This game is excellent. This game is one of my favorite games in the series and I can’t wait to finish the additional content. I have beaten this game at least 4 times, so that’s why I wrote a review instead of a first impression.

I can understand people who are let down by the Sky version since they played Darkness and/or Time first. But, don’t let it discourage you to not play this game. You would miss out on a great Pokémon spin-off that is slowly growing into an amazing series.

This game doesn’t have too many flaws, but the flaws it has aren’t too big of a deal in my eyes. They didn’t stop me from enjoying the game and having a great time.

In any case, thank you so much for reading this article and I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing this. I hope to be able to welcome you in another article but until then, have a great rest of your day and take care.

Score: 95/100

Ethan’s Mini Marathon: 16-hour challenge for SpecialEffect

Committed video-gamers Gamely Giving are continuing on their journey to raise £1,000 for people with disabilities.

This time they’re being led by ten-year-old Ethan in a 16-hour family-friendly marathon on 24 June 2017 in support of SpecialEffect, a charity that puts fun and inclusion back into the lives of those with physical disabilities by helping them to play video games.

Gamely Giving are a team of friends and bloggers from all over the south of the UK. Following on from their participation in GameBlast17, during which they played  for 72-hours straight and raised over £800, they’re asking people to help them reach their target by sponsoring via their online fundraising page.

“Gamers joined hands to raise as much as possible for SpecialEffect during GameBlast17 so they can continue their amazing work. Over £100,000 was donated in total and we’re extremely proud of doing our part for the organisation,” said Kevin, a member of Gamely Giving.

“We’re continuing our support by participating in further events such as Ethan’s Mini Marathon. It’s admirable to see such a sincere commitment to SpecialEffect from someone so young, and his example inspires us to keep going and create more opportunities to raise awareness of the charity through gaming.”

As an added bonus for viewers, for every £1 donated Ethan will place a block of TNT on a massive structure in his Minecraft world along with a sign showing the supporter’s name. He’ll then light it towards the end of the stream and see how much destruction it causes!

Anyone can sponsor the team online at www.justgiving.com/fundraising/GamelyGiving2017, and can watch the event at www.twitch.tv/GamelyGiving from 07:00 GMT on Saturday, 24 June 2017. For more information, please visit the website at www.GamelyGiving.com.

Game Quicky: Galatic Warrior (Android) ~ This is for EARTH!

Official website

Today, I’m taking a look at a new Android game called Galatic Warrior. This game has been developed by two brothers from Spain. It started as a hobby and after seven months, this is their result. I have to applaud them since game development is hard. So, they mailed me and asked to give my opinion on their game, and as usual, I’m going to give my 100% full opinion on this game! Also, feel free to leave a comment on this article with your opinion on the game and/or the content of this article. 

The good

For a game that’s developed by mostly 2 people, this game looks amazing. The visual presentation of this game is top notch. I really love the artwork in the game. The only minor complaint I have is that the current icon isn’t in pixel art.

The UI of this game is very easy to use. I only have one minor complaint about it. When I’m in the upgrade menu during gameplay, the buttons in the settings tab and the shop tab overflowed at the bottom. The other minor complaint I have is that in the credits menu, the Twitter icon looks ugly in my opinion due to the bird not looking right. But, that’s nitpicking in my opinion.

This game controls quite nice. The only advice I would give to the developers is making an option to flip the buttons. What I mean is that the joypad is on the right side and the attack buttons on the left side. I think left-handed people would be happy to see that feature.

This game is fun to play in short bursts. To play one quick round and try to earn some coins to upgrade your character. This game also auto-saves, so no worries about loosing progress. Your goal is to kill all enemies that come to you in waves. They get spawned in random places in the area. When you kill an enemy, you get coins that you can use for upgrading your character.

This game is free! This game has microtransactions, but in a surprising twist, the microtransactions aren’t way too expensive. For 8000 coins, you would pay 4€ in this version of the game. Compare that to other titles, and you would pay 20€ or more easily.

You also keep your gold when you die. That way you can grind yourself to better armor and gear in order to better survive the arena.

There aren’t too many ads in the game. This is a big plus in my book! I know that it’s one of the only ways to earn money with your product, but if you overuse it, gamers can get turned off. Thankfully, this isn’t an issue in this game.

This game is still in development, so that means that each negative I say can be improved in future versions. The developer told me that they aren’t only creating more content for the game but also working on improving the game.

This game has achievements that let you earn XP for your Google account. Neat. And the XP you get is quite a lot, and you can earn each achievement by playing the game.

The bad

The opening story always plays when you boot the game. I know you can skip it, but I think that this should play when you start a new game. And only once.

The difficulty in this game isn’t the best. In my playthrough, I wasn’t able to beat the first world after trying each level at least 20 or more times. I think the following suggestions would help to fix this issue:

• A pouch slot, where you can store either one health or mana bottle.
• Make the enemies do less damage in earlier waves. The further you are in the waves, the more damage the enemies do.
• Introduce a new type of enemies in a more “safe” environment. What I mean is that it should be the only enemy on screen. This way the player can get used to the behavior and the pattern of said enemy before mixing the enemy types.
• Archers are pretty OP in my opinion. I know you can roll out of the way to avoid getting shot, but when you are fighting, you can’t roll out of the way in time. Also, when you are walking towards them, they seem to be able to hit you at least once or twice. I think it would be fairer if they miss their shot in the early levels once or twice. Also, speaking about the archers, they can shoot in a diagonal line, but you can’t.
• Give the player a rest period after 5 waves. So, thoughts can be collected before he/she continues. Or at least, give them a chance to heal for eg 50% of their coins.

I know that this game should be hard, due to the story and setting of the game. The story goes like this:

“In year 2370, when fighting in the arena was universal sport, a boy from planet Earth dreams of fighting in it. He wants it since he was a child, he admire great fighters like his father. But since the day he became 18 years old… he could fight in the arena! It was time to carry out his dream…”

But, this shouldn’t mean that this game should have a very steep difficulty curve. Ease the player more into the game, so this way they get more interested in the game.

Something I think this game really lacks is a total wave counter. When I played the first level, I kept continuing in waves and I never know when the level would end.

Conclusion

So, should you play this game? In my opinion, yes! At the current version, the game lacks polish in the difficulty curve and some very minor issues. But, like I said, the developers are still creating more content for the game and they are going to improve it. So, the game can only improve from here. Also, it’s free! So, you don’t have anything to loose!

There is a lot of potential for this game to become a very good game. The current version (v0.212) I played isn’t even finished. Also, the development is quite active of this game, the last update releasing on the May 30th. I’m really curious to see how this game is going to develop. I’m going to keep an eye on this game and play it again when the game reached a future stage in development.

If you want to follow the development yourself, here are the links:

Google Play – Twitter – Facebook

In any case, that’s everything I wanted to say about this game. Thank you for reading this article and I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing this article. I hope to be able to welcome you in another article on my blog but until then have a great rest of your day and take care!

Score (of this version): 3/5

Pocket Knights 2 Global Pre-Registration is Now Live!

Exclusive rewards offered to preregistered players

HK – June 2017- Pitaya Network announced the pre-registration for Pocket Knights 2, an action RPG in 3D with MMO features. In Pocket Knights 2, players take on the role of a savior to fight corrupted the dark force behind dragon flight that threatens the world where all races and humans once peacefully coexisted.

In early May, Pocket Knights 2 has released in North America and won players’ warm affection. Proving to be a potential game, Pitaya wants to invite more players to play and interact so they decided to launch the pre-registration event for global players. By pre-registering, players can receive exclusive rewards, including massive potions, coins, and diamonds that help beginners to speed up their process.

To top it off, there’s also a milestone pre-reg event where players can collectively help to unlock some exciting extra rewards! Players can invite friends to reach the final reward!
Over 1,000: 100,000 Golds, Energy Potion*3, Stamina Potion*3
Over 2,000: Exp. Book*100, Shadow Set*1
Over 5,000: Legendary Stone*2, Diamonds*200, Skill Fruit*500

The game will be available soon worldwide on App Store and Google Play. Players can visit the following link to sign up early and claim exclusive pre-reg rewards after global releasing the game.

Sign up for the pre-registration at
https://www.pocketknights2.com/ or https://goo.gl/forms/raWjE6Scgd0qq6Hr1

Watch the trailer for Pocket Knights 2
Follow the Facebook page to keep up to date on all the latest events at
https://www.facebook.com/pocketknights2

About Company

PITAYA NETWORK is devoted into mobile game developing and publishing with huge passion and full attention. The company aims at producing and delivering the most outstanding mobile games into the overseas market. Pitaya has achieved critical success with Dungeon Warriors, Pocket Knights, and KungFu: Legendary Brotherhood. These titles achieved top rankings and have been featured in the Apple Store and Google Play Store. Pitaya strives to keep game oriented and focus on providing an awesome gaming experience for players.

Game Quicky: Game Dev Story (Android) ~ Still Updating

Wikipedia article

Before I started this blog, I used to write my reviews in Dutch on another blog. On that blog, I reviewed this game. Since I started this blog, I was convinced that I reviewed this game, but it turns out I was wrong. So, that’s why I’m going to review my first ever game I bought for my smartphone. Game Dev Story, I don’t remember how I found this game, but I do remember that I played this game for hours. But, what do I think about it? Let me tell you in this article. I have chosen for a game quicky since this game doesn’t have much else going on besides the basic tycoon gameplay. In a game quicky, I list all the things I like and don’t like about the game and then write a conclusion. So, as usual, feel free to write a comment with your opinion on the game and/or the content of this article. 

Introduction to the game

In this game, you are the boss of a game development studio. You choose what your team works on, a new game, a console or a contract. You also choose which employees work in your company and what training they have. You are also in charge of the advertisement campaigns. Each year you can attend GameDex (which is E3) and each year there is “Best Of” awards show.

This game is released for Android, iOS and in the summer of 2015, a Windows Phone port has been made. There is a Japanese version created for Windows computers. More details about the game can be found in the Wikipedia link at the top of this article.

The bad

In all other Kairosoft games, you have more than one save slot, but in this game, you only have one save slot. So, if you want to restart your game without losing your almost finished studio, tough luck.

The music is pretty good, but there isn’t too much music in the game. That’s a darn shame since the music gets repetitive quite fast.

There is a lot of downtime in this game. There is nothing else to do when your team is working on a game or on a console. Besides managing your advertisements and training your team members, there isn’t a lot to do. But, the game is paused when you are in the menus…

On my phone and tablet, the words sometimes cut off unnaturally. This happens when the word doesn’t fit on the screen. It’s a detail that annoys me to no end. I don’t see this happening in other games from the developers, so why this isn’t fixed in this game… I don’t understand.

I think it would be interesting if you can split your team in two and give them separate tasks. For example, one part works on a contract to earn money and the other part works on the new game. That would make the game more interesting.

I haven’t tested this too much, but I think this game drains a lot of battery in some cases. One time I fully charged my tablet and I played this game on the train to work. It was the only app running in the background and my WiFi and such were all off. After my workday, my battery of my tablet was almost drained. But, it doesn’t happen every time, since a week later I tested the same thing and my battery was at 95% then. So strange.

The good

This game can be challenging if you make too many risks. Sometimes I got lucky with my reviews and sales, but other times, I paid attention to what combinations worked and made my money that way.

This game is fun in short bursts but is really addictive in my opinion. I had play sessions of this game that took over 2-3 hours without a break. I’m so happy that this game has an autosave since I would forget that this game has a manual save button.

This game has some random elements, so the replay value of this game is very high. I have replayed this game several times and I enjoyed each and every playthrough.

The writing and humor in this game are amazing. There are a lot of pop culture references and some are really funny. I’m not going to spoil them but if you know a bit of gaming history, you will enjoy the humor as well.

Visually, this game looks adorable. It has the Kairosoft charm all over it. This game was my first introduction to their games and I don’t regret it. If you enjoy this style of gameplay, you will most likely enjoy all their other games.

The demo of this game provides the first years of the full game. But, the full game is rather cheap. I bought the game for 3€ and you get your monies worth!

There is a screenshot button built in the game that you can let it share with your Twitter or Facebook accounts. That’s such a neat addition to the game.

It amazes me that this game is over 10 years old but still gets updates from time to time. The last update was 25th April 2017.

Conclusion

This game is an amazing casual game. If you enjoy tycoon games or just enjoy games in general, I really advise you to give this game a go.

This game isn’t perfect. It has same flaws, but hey, who knows what future updates will bring. Maybe new gameplay mechanics get added and make the game more interesting.

But, I honestly advise you to buy the full version since it’s so worth it!

That’s all I wanted to talk about in this game. Thank you for reading this article and I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing this. I hope to be able to welcome you in another article but until then, take care and have a great rest of your day!

Score: 4/5

First Impression: Rise and Fall – Civilizations At War (PC) ~ RTS with First Person Twist

Wikipedia entry

This game brings back so many memories. But recently, I fixed an old computer that runs Windows XP. I was looking in my collection for some games to play and I came out in this game. I installed the game without a second thought and started playing it again. So, in this article, I’m going to share my opinion on this game from my latest playing sessions. I tried to not be nostalgia blinded for this first impression. So, it’s time that we gave this RTS game a shot. I could have reviewed this game but I played more free games instead of the campaigns, so since I haven’t finished all the campaigns, it’s a first impression. As usual, feel free to leave a comment with your opinion on the game and/or the content of this article. 

Who do you wanna play?

In this game, you can play as different major historical figures like Julius Caeser, Cleopatra, Achilles, Sargon II and 4 others I won’t spoil for you. I have now played the first introduction campaign and a handful of free games. So far, my favorite character to play as is Cleopatra.

The voice acting of the characters is pretty well done. But something I noticed while playing with Cleopatra, is that the heroes don’t have taunts or speak when you aren’t in first person mode. That’s a shame because the voice clips of the first person mode could have been easily used in non-first person mode.

There are two main campaigns, and that’s about it. But, there is a very big campaign editor in the game that’s easy to use and has a lot of tools to play around with. So, you can download and install additional campaigns easily. It’s a shame that there aren’t too many custom campaigns floating around on the internet. I have to admit that I haven’t played any custom campaign, but I will fix that in the near future.

In the two main campaigns you play as either Alexander or Cleopatra. So far, I have only played parts of Alexander’s campaign and the story is rather interesting. You play through his journey to the throne. I wonder how Cleopatra’s is going to be.

The presentation of the past

 Visually, this game looks quite nice. While you can see the game’s age in the graphics, I think that they hold up quite i well to this day.

I love the menu of this game. It’s quite easy and simple to use. Also, the demo movie of this game is playing in the background while you are browsing the menu. That’s genius.

I have played this game both on a machine that can handle the minimum specs and on a machine that can run this game in HD twice. On the minimum machine, I noticed some slowdown in the animations when there were too many things on screen, but the game seems to not go in “not playable” mode.

The animation are quite nicely made. I especially love how the game looks in first person mode. It made me miss the ability to rotate buildings. Since I like to build statues at the edge of my city and walls around that, so I can’t see them in first person since I can’t turn them.

But the soundtrack, let me tell you, it’s one of the best ever soundtracks in a PC game I have ever heard. I love to put the soundtrack on to write articles or to just casually listen too. It’s one of the best soundtracks I have heard in years for RTS games. It might be one of my favorite soundtracks ever made to be honest.

Charge!

So, in this game you have a RTS game with a first person view mode. You can watch and control your hero when he/she reaches a certain level. Then, with one easy press of the button, you can control your hero and do their special moves.

Each hero has her/his special abilities and weaknesses. When you are selecting your hero, you always get a very descriptive textbox telling you what they are. Each civilization has two heroes you can pick from.

There are a few other things that are handled differently in this game then in your typical RTS. First of all, you don’t have to collect food. Secondly, you don’t have to go through the ages to unlock technology, you have to upgrade the level of your hero. Thirdly, there isn’t any siege workshop, your villagers build your siege units. There is also an adviser and glory system. But, I leave that for you guys to figure out.

Something I really love in this game is that you can place units on top of your walls. Also, your regular units can’t attack nor destroy walls. You need the special ladder units or siege units for that.

You can also climb any ladder in first person mode. So, when you see an annoying siege tower in your enemies base, go in first person mode to climb up it and kill those archers.

There are so many details and things I love in this game, I could continue for quite a bit more, but I’m convinced that when you enjoy RTS games, you will enjoy the breath of fresh air this game is.

Also, something that threw me off guard is the fact that each map has a special goal you can meet for winning the scenario. So, be warned, some are economic goals and can creep up on you before you know it. But, you can disable these goals before you start the single player match.

I’m certain that this game has me hooked. Apart from the slowdowns on the older machine, there isn’t a lot that I think this game does wrong. I do have some nitpicks, but I have mentioned them all in this article. When I finish both the official campaigns, I think I will write a full review of this game and give my final opinion on this game.

But for now, I think it’s time to wrap this article up. I hope you enjoyed reading this article as much I enjoyed writing this article. Thank you for reading and I hope to welcome you in another article. But until then, have a great rest of your day and take care.