Cursed Labyrinth -Hack & Slash review
March 09, 2023 by RSS Feed
Everything about Cursed Labyrinth -Hack & Slash doesn't sound all that great, perhaps aside from the price. It's a kind of janky roguelite deck-builder with a progression system that is fairly linear. The saving grace of the pitch--and why I decided to check it out--is the fact that it's free (read: not free-to-play). And, to my surprise, it's actually a pretty fresh and fun deck-builder despite the things working against its initial appeal.
Stop me if you've heard this before
Cursed Labyrinth -Hack & Slash is a card game where you play as an adventurer who must battle their way through dungeons and defeat bosses to earn loot. Your abilities are dictated by a deck of at least 30 cards you can customize to bring with you into battle, and with that one deck you need to fight through quite a few enemies and a midboss before reaching the final encounter.
The cards in your deck can do anything from attack enemies directly, create shields, heal, apply buffs and debuffs, and more. The enemies you face use cards as well, though they don't really use a deck. The cards enemies plan to play are laid out on the game board at the start of your turn so you can decide how to best thwart their attempts to defeat you.
Combo breaker
The game board itself is where Cursed Labyrinth -Hack & Slash starts to depart from territory covered by other deck-building games. As opposed to having any kind of stamina system for playing cards, you can play as many cards as you like so long as they fit into the five slots available on the game board. Where it gets even more interesting is the fact that most cards can be played on top of each other to combine their effects, meaning if you have an attack card and a heal card, you could add them to the same slot to have both of those effects trigger at the same time.
Whenever you end your turn, all of the cards on the game board resolve one slot at a time from left to right, which also adds an element of strategy in terms of skill ordering to the mix. And if that weren't enough, there is a system for something called "composting" cards, which allows you to effectively clear out slots of the game board by stacking a certain value of cards on top of each other. Mastering this mechanic is key to later stages of Cursed Labyrinth -Hack & Slash where enemies get really tricky with their combos.
Priceless grind
As you can tell from screenshots, Cursed Labyrinth -Hack & Slash isn't the most visually appealing game. Its onboarding tutorial is also a bit roughshod and doesn't do a great job of explaning all of its mechanics thoroughly. In fact, there are a few things that still occasionally pop-up in the course of a fight that seem to run against what I've learned of the systems through playing.
You can figure out most of what you need to have a good time with the game, though, and as you put more time into it you get rewarded with a lot more card variety and even new classes to play as. It definitely is a grind to unlock new things in Cursed Labyrinth -Hack & Slash, and some of the things that you unlock are just categorically better than the things you've unlocked previously, but the journey to get to those unlocks is still fun thanks to the game's unique mechanics, and it's hard to complain too much about rougher edges of the game considering it offers up such a fun core for zero dollars.
The bottom line
Cursed Labyrinth -Hack & Slash may not be the most polished package, but considering what it offers and its asking price, it is well worth checking out. This deck-builder feels unlike any other in ways that will keep you coming back to try and master its hardest challenges.
Source link:https://www.148apps.com/reviews/cursed-labyrinth-hack-and-slash-review/
credit : 148apps
Ultra Blade review
March 02, 2023 by RSS Feed
The first game from Kyle Barrett I played took some time to warm up to. Immortal Rogue was one of those games that you just had to keep banging away at before its initial walls broke down to turn it into something more compelling. Given this design philosophy, I wanted to make sure I sunk a good amount of time into Ultra Blade, which at first blush feels like Barrett shoehorning Vampire Survivors into Immortal Rogue, but for as much time as I dumped into Ultra Bladeit never really felt like these concepts meshed together all that well.
Kill to survive
Ultra Blade is a wave-based survival game where you can choose from a variety of characters before being dumped into an arena where endless monsters spawn and your goal becomes surviving as long as possible. As you kill monsters, items may drop that can help you level up your character and grant new abilities for them. The only catch is that you only ever get the chance to pick from a semi-random selection of possible powerups.
These powerups can do things as simple and straightforward as increase your damage or give you a shield and as complicated as giving you a throwable glaive or gear that transforms the way your heavy attacks work. In order to keep up with the ever-increasing power of the monsters spawning into the arena, you need to try and piece together the best combination of powerups and stay leveling up as quickly as possible while avoiding damage.
I'd rather play separate games
As you die and retry in attempts to survive more waves, you'll earn currencies, unlock new characters and gear, and gain access to other arenas to take on. Between that and the honing of your own abilities to recognize enemy attack patterns, learn powerup synergies, and master the basic controls, you'll almost inevitably extend your run lengths and get further in Ultra Blade the more you play it.
I like this kind of game design, but here in Ultra Blade it feels too much like it is splitting how its structure works across two different games that it is borrowing ideas from. Every play session feels like the permanent unlocks and in-arena unlocks are not substantial or frequent enough that you have a whole lot of room to experiment without harming your chances of success. As a result, the game feels like it nudges you to grind out ways to make the grind faster.
Tough luck
I don't want to sound too down on Ultra Blade, because it can be quite fun. When things are really clicking together in a run or you unlock a new character to try and learn the ins and outs of, it can be quite engrossing. It's just that this situation doesn't arise as often as it does in other games. This is usually fine because different games should be different from one another, but when Ultra Blade is so clearly spinning out its own flavor of Vampire Survivors mechanics it's hard not to.
Looking at Vampire Survivors, a big part of how it rewards you is through how it makes you feel like you are lucky all the time. Things that appear random aren't, actually, and--even if they were--most of its progressive unlocks upgrade into abilities that are so powerful that you don't have to worry a whole lot about playing optimally. Ultra Blade, on the other hand, makes luck feel hard to come by and the ways that you can overcome that through player skill alone feel pretty limited unless you have already invested the massive amount of time necessary to unlock and level all of the game's characters, relics, etc.
The bottom line
Ultra Blade is a fine game, but it falls into the trap of reminding you of other, better games you could be playing. The mashup of progression mechanics here is interesting, but they don't feel as rewarding together as they do separately in other games you can already get on the App Store, one of which is free.
Source link:https://www.148apps.com/reviews/ultra-blade-review/
credit : 148apps
Gomorrah review
February 24, 2023 by RSS Feed
I don't know anything about the Gomorrah tv show that this mobile game is based on. If the game is any indication, though, Gomorrah is stylish crime family drama that has some quality writing. There are some text formatting issues that can make it hard at times to fully parse what is happening in this game, but otherwise Gomorrah is an enjoyable text adventure with some nice art and light management mechanics.
Fated family
In Gomorrah, you play as Nina, the 18 year old daughter of the top organized crime lord in Naples. Without giving anything away, some things happen that put you in a position where you need to lead your own crew of mobsters as you set about trying to solve a mystery of sorts.
Given your age and relative inexperience with mob life, a lot of your moves get questioned and folks doubt your abilities while the game puts you to the test of deciding how Nina rises to the challenge. Some of this is done through dialog choices that make up the bulk of the game's seven chapters. There are also some interludes where you are placed in a light management sim and given choices on what kinds of jobs to give to certain crew members to make sure you maintain funding, respect, and power over your crew.
Graphic and novel
The moment-to-moment action of Gomorrah is basically everything you'd expect from a good crime family drama. There's a lot of subterfuge, backstabbing, and--of course--death. Similarly, the management portions of the game are pretty standard meter balancing exercises that mostly feel tedious and only slightly meaningful to how the overall story plays out.
That said I am quite impressed with the game's writing and art. There are clever turns of phrase and artistic flourishes that breathe life into the characters and reveal a lot about Nina and her relationships with her parents and others. It made entering every vignette something to look forward to, which is not something I can say about just any mobile text-based game.
A mob of text
Something else I appreciate about Gomorrah is how it divides its story into chapters that then get subdivided into individual stories of roughly the same length (a few minutes). It sounds like a really small touch, but knowing and having consistent and intentional breakpoints in a story is very helpful for a game that is so easy to break out and start playing just about anywhere.
I just wish that this kind of thoughtful structuring also went into the text formatting of Gomorrah. Every story is divided essentially into comic book-like panels with text and drawings that fill your screen without having to scroll that you tap a button to proceed through or make a choice about. While it is nice to not have to worry about a need to scroll, Gomorrah often formats dialog between different characters with no line breaks, which can make it difficult to figure out who is saying what without reading carefully or re-reading a block of text a couple of times to figure it out. This isn't a huge deal, but it can break any kind of natural reading flow and it's very easy to accidentally thumb past something which could pose a problem since there is no way to go back to read anything you may have missed.
The bottom line
I was not expecting to enjoy the story of a mobile game that ties into a universe I have no frame of reference this much. Gomorrah is a well told crime drama that is reasonably paced and enjoyable to make your way through, provided you can take your time to read through it carefully.
Source link:https://www.148apps.com/reviews/gomorrah-review/
credit : 148apps
Rocco's Island: Pocket Edition review
February 22, 2023 by RSS Feed
I'll be the first to admit that seeing a game with match-three or Threes!-like mechanics generally illicits a groan from me. There are simply too many of these kinds of games regurgitating these puzzle formats with little to no innovation. Rocco's Island: Pocket Edition is different, though. While there are plenty of arguably rote and tired puzzles in the game, they are contextualized within an adventure filled with a lot of twists, turns, and heart that make for a special experience worth playing.
Perilous puzzling
Rocco's Island: Pocket Edition starts out looking like a run-of-the-mill point and click adventure game. You play as a young woman who has woken up on a mysterious and magical island. Shortly into this visit, she rings a bell that initiates a world-ending set of events that she immediately wants to stop with the help of a little magical companion who alerts her of her mistake.
From there, you tap to wander around and island answering riddles, completing match-three puzzles, and reaching score goals in 2048-style challenges to uncover the mysteries of this island and prevent the doomsday countdown you unintentionally initiated. Along the way, you meet all manner of magical creatures like the hand of the king who is literally a large, disembodied hand or a large talking fossil that has been around long enough to see and record the entire island's 30,000 year history.
Matching with mystery
Although the puzzles in Rocco's Island: Pocket Edition are not particularly elaborate or original, the context in which you are completing them is. The entire island is full of bizarre secrets and goofy characters, and if you make your way through the end of the game there is a pretty satisfying (though convoluted) narrative payoff.
It also helps that Rocco's Island: Pocket Edition has an interesting structure. Due to the world-ending nature of the bell, you are actually given a limited number of lives to complete every puzzle in the game upfront and you draw down from this pool if you happen to fail any challenge. This raises the stakes of what are otherwise generally pretty standard and familiar puzzles in a way that is fun while also not feeling overly punishing.
Putting the pieces together
It may sound weird for me to be praising a game with unoriginal puzzle design, a convoluted story, and--as I'm just now about to mention--a strangely low frame rate, but somehow everything Rocco's Island offers combines to elevate its high points and minimize its uglier aspects.
Part of this could have to do with the fact that this is perhaps one of the most ideal candidates for a mobile port I've seen. The relaxed and familiar puzzle-based gameplay feels better suited to playing on a phone or tablet than just about anywhere else. It's not a perfect translation, but players can get a really great sense of whether what Rocco's Island: Pocket Edition offers is for them or not thanks to its free-to-start model that allows players to complete basically the first quarter of the game before asking $ 4.99 to unlock the whole thing.
The bottom line
Somehow, Rocco's Island: Pocket Edition is enjoyable despite itself. I'd even go as far to say its odd combination of puzzles and story make it particularly special. It's not often this happens with games that base a lot of their gameplay around tired match-three mechanics, but that is just a testament to how this game has found a brilliant use for such a worn out concept.
Source link:https://www.148apps.com/reviews/roccos-island-pocket-edition-review/
credit : 148apps
Endling - Extinction is Forever review
February 15, 2023 by RSS Feed
The pitch for Endling - Extinction is Forever is certainly intriguing. Marketing material will tell you it's a game where you play as the last fox left on Earth as your scrounge for food for you and your cubs and bear witness to the destructive power of humans. Technically this is all true, but the way Endling executes on these ideas is woefully underwhelming and plagued with technical issues.
Sneaky survival
Endling is a bit of a survival stealth game. You, as a fox with young cubs, venture out into the world under the cover of night to simply scavenge enough food to keep your family alive. You do this via direct control of the fox, though you are constantly locked into interweaving, rail-like paths you can hop between to dig through trash, hunt other wildlife, etc.
Making it to the next day isn't just a matter of finding food, though. There are humans and other creatures that may see and attack you, traps to look out for, and even certain food sources that have their own dangers associated with them. You also need to make sure you get back to a shelter before daybreak, as there is some implied mortal consequences for being out and about during the day.
Sniff out the story
On any given nighttime excursion, there are no other required objectives outside of scavenging. That said, there are points of interest that appear on the in game map as well as scent trails that can lead you to uncovering bits of story about Endling's world. The entire game is wordless, so the story bits are conveyed via still images and some character interactions, and in my time with the game it was hard to piece together a coherent narrative, really.
Things happened, of course, but it was very difficult to distinguish some characters from one another and figure out what any of it really had to do with the game Endling asks you to play. Eventually, additional events also come to a head and funnel you toward what felt like the inevitable conclusion of the game from the start, though I'll avoid spoiling anything in case someone can't or doesn't want to try to predict how a game like this might end.
Thorny and threadbare
Endling looks pretty amazing in motion and it definitely creates some emotional moments, but enjoying either of these aspects of the game can be pretty frustrating. Endling suffers from a number of bugs that can prevent you from making progress or force you to restart the game from a checkpoint.
Even without these bugs, Endling is systemically very thin. There's a single meter you have to manage throughout the game and doing so isn't particularly difficult or satisfying. There are peripheral systems like fast travel points, cub skills, and others, but none of them are particularly impactful on any of the core actions you perform to make progress in the game. As a result, Endling feels pretty tedious almost immediately and never really evolves into something that makes that tedium feel worth it.
The bottom line
I can see and appreciate the things Endling is going for, but it mostly only makes troublesome and weak attempts to reach them. Outside of the marketing, it never really feels like a game where you are the last fox on the planet. You don't actually get a good window into the horrors of human destruction. Yes, you play as a fox and you see cut down trees, but the message isn't sold to you within the game itself or through the things it asks you to do, which is pretty disappointing.
Source link:https://www.148apps.com/reviews/endling-extinction-is-forever-review/
credit : 148apps
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