"If there is an app for that"

Dislyte review

May 25, 2022 by RSS Feed

I'm no stranger to gacha games, but wandering back into the traditional mold after spending over a year with Genshin Impact is jarring. Dislyte, the latest release from Lilith Games, feels like a slick and stylish update to AFK Arena, but no amount of modes, currencies, and characters to juggle can hide the fact that it's a pay-to-win game that wants to monopolize your time, attention, and your wallet.

Drop the beatdown

Dislyte takes place in a neon candy-coated sci-fi world where a sudden phenomenon granted certain people special powers. These chosen people, known as Espers, fight monsters that have awoken from Pandora's Box, and also have some infighting among their own factions.

This is the setup that leads you to plunging golden records into the Echo Chamber to recruit your own army of Espers that you can level, gear up, and take through Dislyte's story and various other combat challenges.

Pump up the party

There are seemingly 1,000 different things you can do in Dislyte, but the vast majority of them boil down to the same turn-based combat gameplay. You can mix and match a party of up to five different Espers to take into battle where you can then see if they can match up and beat out waves of monsters or other teams of Espers.

Team-building is where Dislyte gets really deep. With a huge roster of characters, all of which perform unique roles, possess different elemental affinities, and synergize with different kinds of gear and teammates, your options feel almost limitless, though that possibility space is very obviously defined by how much time and money you want to spend on expanding it.

Pulling for your attention

There's a lot to like when it comes to Dislyte's overall aesthetic. Barring a few embarrassingly over-sexualized characters, the game has a firm sense of its stylistic identity and actually does a good job of melding the club culture visuals of its characters with a soundtrack that represents a variety of subgenres beyond big room EDM and brostep (the 1-2 punch of commercialized club music that many video games seem to think are the only forms of electronic music that exist). Not all of it hits, but the variety and commitment is commendable.

Enjoying this style comes at a pretty high cost, though. Dislyte, beyond constantly tempting you with characters you could have or bundles you could buy to advance faster, is a huge time sink. Advancement taking a long time in gachas is nothing new, but Dislyte's combat is also super slow, even when set to move at its fastest pace. The game also constantly showers you with currencies for its different modes, enticing you to juggle them all the time. At a certain point, your power level also makes some of these fights trivial, so you can auto-battle them, but you have to leave the app open to complete them, despite an in-game feature that lets you minimize a round of auto-battles to do other battles at the same time. This turns Dislyte into a never-ending exercise in spinning plates that can at times leave you waiting around in the app like it's a glorified chat room.

Despite the ways the game heavily incentivizes increasing your power, Dislyte also kind of feels like a fruitless pursuit, as the game's real challenges comes from its PvP mode where you can face off against whales that have simply bought a better team than you. Although--in fairness--Dislyte has a flexible matchmaking system that allows to some ability to choose who you fight, ultimately you know the top of the heap will always be people who pay.

The bottom line

Dislyte feels like a solid embrace of all the things Genshin Impact left behind to shatter the gacha mold. Stylistically, it is interesting, and I'd recommend folks pick it up to play through at least its story if the events that took place during it were a bit more dynamic and less predictable. Since that's not the case, the best thing to do with Dislyte is probably just throw on the soundtrack.

Source link:https://www.148apps.com/reviews/dislyte-review/

King's Path Solitaire review

May 25, 2022 by RSS Feed

King's Path Solitaire uses traditional playing cards and you play it by yourself, but calling it a Solitaire variant is a bit of a misnomer. This game is faster and challenges players to bend their brains to weave through grids of face-up cards in ways that may initially seem unintuitive. Once things click into place, though, blazing through challenges is a blast that feels perfect for anyone looking for a quick burst of puzzle-based gameplay.

Make way for the king!

Every game of King's Path Solitaire is a sort of maze that always starts with the King card. Your goal is to draw or tap a path from the King through adjacent cards to eventually use every card on the grid exactly once. There are rules that prevent you from simply tapping any old card in any order you want, though.

The rules that govern which cards you can tap are somewhat akin to Solitaire's card stacking rules. You can draw a path to any card of lesser value, but you can also tap paths through cards regardless of value if they match in suit or value of the card you are currently using. For example, you can highlight a 2 of hearts and still have the ability to progress in the puzzle if there are 2's of a different suit or any heart cards immediately surrounding it.

Choose your path

King's Path Solitaire takes this ruleset and places it within a small handful of modes. The adventure mode boasts nearly 200 premade levels using a subset of cards to make your way through, and the daily challenge is a similar variant where you can compare your completion time against other players on randomly generated puzzles each day.

Similarly, the game's free play mode also has a daily variant, but challenges players to draw paths using the four kings of a full deck of cards to carve paths that cover as many of the 44 remaining cards (there are no aces in this game). No matter which mode you're playing, every puzzle is completely solvable, though free play does allow players to submit their best effort at completion even if they don't cover every card on the board.

Simple freedom

The first few puzzles of King's Path Solitaire might trip you up as you still try to internalize its rules, but once you get the hang of it you can blast through levels in seconds. There's something really satisfying about these mini-challenges, most likely because the game is so plainly legible that you can appreciate the way a board layout operates even if you spend only 20 seconds with it.

King's Path Solitaire is a free game, but you can opt to pay $2.99 to remove ads, unlock all of the adventure mode, and gain access to the free play mode. I kind of wish this purchase also came with some additional options for adjusting the game's color scheme or card designs to add some visual variety to the experience, but even without those options the purchase is worth it just to be able to cruise through puzzles uninterrupted.

The bottom line

King's Path Solitaire excels in its ability to make even its most complicated puzzles digestable and satisfying. It's absolutely worth adding to your puzzle game library.

Source link:https://www.148apps.com/reviews/kings-path-solitaire-review/

MU Origin 2's latest update welcomes an enhanced Guild Territory, new character progression features and more

May 24, 2022 by RSS Feed

In the massive content update for MU Origin 2, Webzen is giving players more reasons to stay hooked to the mobile RPG with QOL features, new Guild content, fresh items in the in-game shops and so much more.

MU Origin 2 features a revamped Guild Territory with more rewards, a new NPC, enhancements to the Territory Treasure Storage and more. The Guild Territory Boss is also available for players to take on - when the Guild Territory hits Lvl 2, players can challenge the Boss Monster near the Boss Caretaker NPC for awesome rewards.

Meanwhile, players can also obtain the Archangel Transfer Stone from the [Receive Transfer Stone – Illusion of Archangel] NPC at Lorencia once per character. They can also boost their battle prowess with the Accessory Resurrection system, the Core Awakening feature, the Mythic Jewel enhancements and so on.

As for the quality-of-life updates, players can now access "Hide" functions in the settings, as well as enjoy an "Auto Evolve" system during the enhancement of the Tarot Card. Other updates include an expanded level for Ancient Seal to 150 and Divine Source to 200. If you're keen on giving the updates a go yourself, you can download MU Origin 2 on the iOS App Store and on the Google Play Store for Android devices. It's a free-to-play game with in-app purchases.

Source link:https://www.148apps.com/news/mu-origin-2s-latest-update-welcomes-an-enhanced-guild-territory-new-character-progression-features-and-more/

Apex Legends Mobile to release on May 17th for Android and iOS

May 24, 2022 by RSS Feed

The much-awaited mobile version of the popular battle royale Apex Legends has finally got a release date. EA and Respawn have been working on Apex Legends Mobile for years and now, the game is all set to go live on May 17th.

The beta tests for the game began more than a year ago. Since then, Apex Legends Mobile has been released in several regions in its testing phase. On May 17th, the final version will be launched globally on both Android and iOS.

Apex Legends Mobile: What to expect?

Apex Legends recently kicked off season 13. However, the mobile counterpart will begin with its own season 1. Additionally, the mobile version will have some exclusive features, modes, and social tie-ins. And of course, ALM will have different controls that are tailored for mobile.

As EA mentioned earlier, Apex Legends Mobile will have exclusive passes and events. Along with this, the mobile game will feature mobile-only maps and modes in the future. The devs also made it clear that cross-play won’t be available.

So far, EA has not commented much about the in-game content. But since this is a mobile version, we can expect fewer legends and maps to begin with.

EA and Respawn are yet to announce details like characters, maps, modes, and more. With the launch only a few days away, the devs might reveal these in the coming days.

Apex Legends Mobile will be free to download and play. Pre-registration for the game has been available for a long time. Both Android and iOS users can head over to stores and hit the “pre-register” button. You will be notified when the game releases and get some rewards.

You can watch the launch trailer here.

You might be interested in: Apex Legends Mobile soft-launches for Android in select regions

Source link:https://www.148apps.com/news/apex-legends-mobile-to-release-on-may-17th-for-android-and-ios/

Ensemble Stars!! Music: Why you should look forward to the upcoming rhythm game on mobile

May 24, 2022 by RSS Feed

Ensemble Stars!!Music, the immersive mobile rhythm game, is finally coming to the English audience, letting fans experience the thrills, glamour, and drama of the music world with their favourite idols. Here’s just a few of the things you can expect when the game finally launches.

Fantastic idols to follow

The follow up title to the popular Ensemble Stars! gives players a close-up look into the lives of idols from the prestigious Yumenosaki Academy - a talent school where agencies recruit graduates to be their latest superstars. There are 49 talented stars to experience, all with spectacular character designs that are displayed in 3D live scenes. These idols will both mesmerize you with their dazzling video performances and serenade you with their vocal talent, thanks to the game’s all-star voice over cast.

Feel the rhythm

There are four difficulty levels to choose from in Ensemble Stars!! Music, so whether you’re a beginner or an expert, you can play along to the stellar stage performances with the 3D LIVE mode at your preferred pace. Simply pick your preferred idol as a Center - you can even switch up their attire to personalise their Special Performances (SPP) to your taste.

Once the music’s over you can let your idols relax in the Office—an idol zone tailor made by you specifically for your stars. From fluffy sleep masks and shaved ice stands, you can provide numerous creature comforts and furnishing for your idols to interact with.

An heart-warming narrative

As everyone knows, the idol life is filled with a great many trials and tribulations which Ensemble Stars!! Music demonstrates its superb narrative. You’ll get to witness all of the emotional highs and lows that happen when the crowds have gone, and the idols are out of the limelight. Written by popular Japanese light novelist Akira, the game's narrative takes players on an emotional rollercoaster throughout the entertainment industry.

Pre-registration rewards and special event

As a reward for eager fans, players from the US, CA, UK, and Australia who pre-register for Ensemble Stars!! Music on the iOS App Store and on the Google Play Store will receive Diamond×200 at launch. Pre-registering on the official website will also net some additional benefits, including an Exclusive Title, Diamonds×200, DIA Scout Ticket×2, Gem(L)×1 for 3 colors, and Gem(M)×1 for 3 colors. Finally, the official website will be hosting a special Invitation Event where players can invite five of their buddies to receive up to 6 DIA Scout Tickets.

To follow the latest news around the game be sure to check out the official Twitter page for more Ensemble Stars!! Music announcements.

Source link:https://www.148apps.com/news/ensemble-stars-music-why-you-should-look-forward-to-the-upcoming-rhythm-game-on-mobile/