"If there is an app for that"

Six Ages 2: Lights Going Out review

August 23, 2023 by RSS Feed

If you've heard of A Sharp's games (King of Dragon Pass, Six Ages: Ride Like the Wind), then a shortcut assessment of Six Ages 2 is that it is the most fully realized version of these uniquely narrative-focused strategy games. This is to say there is nothing fundamentally different here, but then again, there aren't really any other games that do what these do. Six Ages 2: Lights Going Out takes the idea of creating a lore-rich saga of survival to the most seamless, varied, and replayable places yet, solidifying it as the best game in the series.

Story > Strategy

Assigning genre labels to Six Ages 2: Lights Going Out doesn't really help describe what the game is. Although it is technically a menu-driven turn-based strategy game (and also has elements of gamebooks, role-playing games, and management sims baked in), using any of these terms are too... mechanical to capture what the game feels like to play. So yes, while it's true the game is about managing resources to ensure the survival of your clan as the world slowly but surely dies, Six Ages 2 is more about cultural understanding and tactful leadership of people to achieve those ends.

So, although there are hard numbers and victory and loss conditions present in this game, there is also a layer of lore and personality that constantly rubs up against any ability to turn the game into an optimization puzzle. There are people on your clan ring, for example, who help guide your decisions and may not agree with what you do, and doing things like swapping them out or repeatedly disagreeing with them can cause bigger problems. There are also times where your dwindling supplies may run up against a cultural norm of expending more than usual and you have to navigate what happens if you decide to defy tradition. Decisions like these constantly rear their heads and make for a game where you have to act as a leader supporting what feels like actual people as opposed to simply manipulating commands to make certain numbers go up or advance some tech tree.

A tale of survival

As you play through Six Ages 2: Lights Going Out, individual narrative threads take shape and they all revolve a central reality: the world is ending. Gods are dying, resources are dwindling, and demons of Chaos are roaming around and attacking other tribes, many of whom will be completely destroyed over the course of your playthrough. This makes the backdrop of every decision you make in the game being about trying to make the most of pretty dire circumstances, and learning how to lean on the strengths of surviving gods and exceptional clan members to survive for as long as possible.

This isn't to say Six Ages 2 doesn't have an end, nor is it simply a string of completely random events to manage. There are many complete narrative arcs that weave into one much larger storyline, and--given the amount of different choices you can make in the game--it all feels surprisingly natural. There are some repeated events, but aside from routine combat encounters, those were relatively rare. For the vast majority of the time, my playthrough of Six Ages 2 felt like a complete story that naturally evolved in response to the decisions I had been making, all without really feeling like I could see what was happening behind the curtain.

How deep is your lore

As much as I want to keep gushing about Six Ages 2, I do want to acknowledge some pretty big caveats to enjoying it. The first is that it's a game that portrays everything through still illustrations and accompanying text boxes. This is to say it isn't particularly flashy, though the art is quite well done and varied. The second is that this game is very big on its lore. You may not know who Orlanth is when you start the game, but you dang well better not only know who he is, but who worships him, what blessings he bestows, and more if you want to be successful in this game.

This is because Six Ages 2, like the games before it, exists in a universe where mythology drives nearly everything. Thankfully, Six Ages 2 has a good lore book built right into the game that you can reference, and--perhaps even more importantly--the game rarely ever has distinctly right or wrong ways to handle just about any decision. That said, if you want to try and make it all the way to the end of Six Ages 2, you should be ready to take a pretty deep dive into this fantasy world.

The bottom line

Six Ages 2: Lights Going Out may ask a lot of you, but what it gives in return is unlike most games I've ever played. This may also be true of the previous games in this series, but the execution here is peerless. Six Ages 2: Lights Going Out is in a league of its own thanks to its particular blend of strategy and narrative gameplay.

Source link:https://www.148apps.com/reviews/six-ages-2-lights-going-out-review/

Geo Gods review

July 31, 2023 by RSS Feed

It's not common for a mobile game to rely first and foremost on delayed gratification. Although individual matches of Geo Gods may only take a few minutes, you have to play several rounds of it for you to even begin posting high scores or really understanding how to use its mechanics to your advantage. In another developer's hands, I may not trust such an experience to pan out well, but as a game from Arnold Rauers I didn't think twice--Geo Gods is a great game well worth sinking time into.

Enigmatic elements

Geo Gods is a tile placement game where your goal is to fill 17 hexagons with gods drawn from three decks of cards. Placing gods rewards you with points, and each god has their own abilities that can interact with other game elements to boost its own point value or those of other cards. Each time you place a god or elect to skip a turn, you discard the face-up cards on each deck before revealing the next cards in each deck.

Rounds of Geo Gods end when you fill up the entire game board, run out of mana gems (the currency that controls where you can place gods and how many times you can redraw), or are unable to play any more gods given your hand and remaining pool of mana gems. This all sounds complicated (and it kind of is due to the amount of interlocking systems), but the basic idea remains simple: try to find the best way to make the numbers on your gods go up in any given situation.

Time and pressure

If you are anything like me, your first few games of Geo Gods will not go well. You'll place tiles in ways that feel effective, but without more strategic knowledge of what you can expect from the deck, a fuller grasp of mechanics, and an understanding of how some dubiously-worded cards actually work, you'll hit the endpoint and feel pretty underwhelmed and discouraged.

That's totally ok, though! Geo Gods is designed to be a bit of a slow burn, so much so that your scores don't even post to the leaderboards until you've played at least a half dozen times. Over that time, provided you are committed to experimenting and learning, you'll start to master mechanics like the ideal time to activate crystals, cards you can and should lock, and what to expect from the deck later on in a game.

Free the gods

All of this might sound a bit intimidating, but again, this isn't something to worry too much about. And you don't have to just take my word for it. Geo Gods is a free game that lets you play to your heart's content. If you find yourself enjoying the experience and wanting to really compete in the game's weekly leaderboards, though, you can opt to pay $4.99 to unlock the full game, which includes some additional cards.

The weekly challenge is perhaps my favorite feature of Geo Gods, as it gives you an opportunity each day to see how you stack up against others while also competing to play the most consistently to net the best average score. This scoring mechanic is a nice way of balancing out some of the randomness in Geo Gods, and is a big reason why the game is currently a daily play for me. It also helps that this game has such a nice and soothing aesthetic, making for a nice little escape to dive into during the day.

The bottom line

Geo Gods has a pretty significant learning curve before its placement and scoring mechanics click into place. Once you get there, though, you are left with a very pleasant puzzler with a high amount of variability that will keep you on your toes, especially if you want to shoot for the top of the leaderboard.

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

Return to Monkey Island review

July 27, 2023 by RSS Feed

Return to Monkey Island answers the question of what you should do with an aging franchise that defined a genre: Give it a proper send-off. This adventure game welcomes the return of its original creators, features some super smart innovations on classic adventure game design, and closes the book on Guybrush Threepwood and LeChuck in a (mostly) satisfying way.

Find the secret (for real this time)

This latest chapter in the long-running and celebrated Monkey Island series once again focuses on Guybrush Threepwood and his pursuit to uncover the secret of Monkey Island. Only this time, the game opens with a vignette of his son playing with friends (which doubles as a sort of tutorial to teach you how to play the game) before settling on a park bench to hear his father tell the story of the time he actually found the secret he had always been looking for.

This frame narrative helps set up a story with a momentum that leads players toward where they have long been wanting to go, and features a lot of classic point-and-click adventure puzzles, corny wordplay, and expressive character design that have long been hallmarks of this series.

Revamped return

Tonally, Return to Monkey Island fits right in with other games in the series, and even features quite a few callbacks and cameos of iconic moments and characters of games' past. Structurally and mechanically, though, this game feels like a modern realization of the old point-and-click formulas of yore. This is to say Return to Monkey Island definitely still has you doing a lot of the same kinds of item combinations and pixel hunting that other games had you do, but everything is structured and designed in a way to feel more seamless and natural than it has basically ever felt.

There may have been a time or two when playing Return to Monkey Island that I felt slightly perplexed by a puzzle or task, but I never once felt stuck or without a clue of what I was supposed to be doing next. The game's handy to-do list and optional hint book go a long way in keeping you always on track and moving forward, but there's also a lot of credit to be given to the thought behind all of the puzzle designs in the game, every tooltip that pops up when holding a finger over it, and the way the game writing guides you through its story.

Goodbye Guybrush

Another celebration-worthy aspect is the way that Return to Monkey Island tells its story. As a game focused on allowing you to actually discover the secret that has been danced around for over three decades, it firmly and confidently commits to reflecting on Guybrush's legacy and putting an endcap on a series, at for the most part. There are multiple endings to the game (some of which are gags), but some are less satisfying than others, and I almost wish the game commited to a single one. Still though, it is a story lovingly told, and--despite a somewhat abrupt turn toward the end--is a heartfelt send-off for a series from the original creators.

As for how the game plays on iOS, well, it's basically perfect. Point-and-click style games always tend to work well on touchscreens, but Return to Monkey Island goes above and beyond by having gesture and multi-touch controls that ensure you never accidentally skip past dialog (unless you want to) or select the wrong item when two are close to each other. I imagine it's a great playing game on other devices, but Return to Monkey Island plays so well on my iPad I'm not sure I'd want to play it anywhere else.

The bottom line

Return to Monkey Island is a game made with a clear affection for the genre and series itself. It is also a confidently told story with some incredible design work to make sure it still feels like a classic point-and-click game without all of the sore spots that usually come with that.

Source link:https://www.148apps.com/reviews/return-to-monkey-island-review/

Luck be a Landlord review

July 25, 2023 by RSS Feed

As someone who plays and reviews a lot of mobile games, I have (unfortunately) become very accustomed to engaging with gambling-like mechanics. It's gotten to the point where I am almost entirely immune to their charms and their mere presences acts more as a deterrent than something to keep me coming back. But, then there are always exceptions, like Luck be a Landlord, a game that is basically a glorified slot machine that manages to compel me thanks to some ingenious roguelike design hooks.

Gamble rent to pay rent

Luck be a Landlord is a game in which you spin a virtual slot machine to earn coins in hopes of racking up enough dough to pay an ever-increasing rent that is due in a certain amount of spins. At the start, the slot machine just has a few symbols, but between spins you get the option to add one of three random symbols to create more chances to win more coins over time. Also, between each round of paying rent you may earn some other bonuses like tokens to remove symbols, reroll symbol selections, and even items that provide passive, constant bonuses for the remainder of your play session.

With these simple tools, you are tasked with mastering different synergies of symbols based on the options given to you on any given run in order to keep up with the rate at which your rent increases. You "win" a round when you've been able to clear seven rent payments, at which point you can elect to continue playing in endless mode or take on a more challenging version of the game in a new run.

Strategic slotting

Spinning a slot machine and depending on random items to help you clear a run makes Luck be a Landlord sound like a pure game of chance, but this game rises above that label through some smart design choices that give you a lot of ways to take advantage of its random elements. Whether it is snagging an item that suddenly enhances the effectiveness of certain icon types, symbols that benefit from destroying other items to clear your board, or even items that shift the probability of finding rarer (and more potent) items, there's always some new possible way forward lurking just beyond the next spin.

The way the items and symbols in Luck be a Landlord can combine to let you overcome its challenges is dizzying, and leads to rounds of play that almost never feel the same. They synergies you can develop can also become so powerful that you trivialize the rent barriers of the base game, but reaching this point also gives way to other secret challenges and items to uncover, creating new ways to play and test your slot machine manipulation abilities.

Stuck spinning

A lot of the tricks Luck be a Landlord employs to be as compelling as it is are familiar systems from other genres like roguelikes and auto-battlers, but placing them into a slot machine distills the action into a potently pure form. This is to say that the mileage you might get out of the game depends somewhat heavily on your desire to experiment and optimize different "builds" or strategies, as outside of that the game is simply pressing a lever and seeing what happens.

Along these same lines, though, this is precisely what makes the mobile version of Luck be a Landlord especially great. As a portrait mode game that is super easy to pop in and out of at a moment's notice, it is the exact game I've been gravitating toward whenever I am between things, waiting for the bus, or just spinning a few times before putting my phone away for the night. The only problem with this is that the allure of stumbling across the exact right item I need after "just one more spin" has resulted play sessions that are often longer than I've expected or wanted them to be.

The bottom line

Luck be a Landlord successfully merges a slot machine with the roguelike and deck-building mechanics that make those genres feel so dynamic and imminently replayable. The result is an experience that is super easy to pick up and very hard to put down.

Source link:https://www.148apps.com/reviews/luck-be-a-landlord-review/

Bugsnax review

July 24, 2023 by RSS Feed

Bugsnax is a game all about creatures that embody features of two completely different forms of life. This dichotomy extends beyond the game's subject matter, though, and bleeds into almost every other aspect of the game as well. The resulting effect is a game that sometimes cultivates charming clashes but more often feels like an experience that is at odds with itself. It makes for a fascinating play nonetheless, and this mobile version is more than capable of allowing you to enjoy the wonders of Snaktooth Island without much of a hitch.

Trap and snack

In Bugsnax, you play as an intrepid Grumpus reporter who journeys to Snaktooth Island where a form of life known as Bugsnax roam the land. These creatures are named for their resemblance to giant bugs that have somehow combined themselves (and presumably taste like) snacky foods like fruits, burgers, cookies, etc.

A small group of explorers has already set up a small encampment on the island to learn more, but you quickly discover upon your arrival that things are in disarry. Two of the most vital leaders of the group have gone missing, and most of the other Grumpuses have fallen out with each other and isolated themselves from the group as a result. This then sets you on a mission to explore the island, interview group members, and try to find out what happened to its leaders, all of which involves some amount of trapping and/or feeding Bugsnax to Grumpuses you meet along the way.

Fetching flashback

Most of Bugsnax consists of exploring an area, meeting the Grumpuses there, and completing quests for them which in turn pushes some story event forward that unlocks the next area to explore. Given the way that the encampment acts as a hub to small areas branching off of it, the structure has a real throwback feel to it, almost like a Playstation 1 game, but with surprisingly polished visual and sound design.

This is where the style clashes start, but definitely not where they end. There's also the kid-friendly aesthetics that run up against a pretty dark story featuring characters who (with few exceptions) are often not very nice, the seemingly simple tasks of capturing and cataloging creatures getting convoluted with all manner of gadgetry and environmental manipulation mechanics, and all the ingredients for some kind of management system for the encampment but applied so lightly they largely feel like an afterthought.

It's interesting to see these points of friction rub against each other, but I wouldn't say they are as fun to play through as they are to observe. The brightest spot among these choices is Bugsnax's audio design, though, as no matter what you are doing you can be sure to be delighted by the inspired voice acting behind both Grumpuses and Bugsnax alike.

Mobile safari

Despite being a first-person, somewhat action-oriented game, I found little to no issues playing through Bugsnax using touch controls on my iPad. The port itself is technically sound and the design of the action combined with the layout of the on-screen buttons posed few--if any--challenges I might experience elsewhere.

The straightforward structure of Bugsnax also lends itself particularly well to mobile play, as there's only so many things available to do at any given time and the in-game journal does a great job of helping you keep track of everything you might want to do in the world of Bugsnax, even if it's not the main story quest (or any quest at all).

The bottom line

Bugsnax is certainly not the game I was expecting it to be, and that works both for and against it. I am glad it wasn't some cozy, edgeless romp about thoughtlessly collecting creatures, but I am also not particularly smitten with the direction it takes. In its defense, Bugsnax did make me curious enough to see it through to the end, but not for any of the reasons I thought it would when I first started playing it.

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