Release Thursday (Issue 3)
The main release of this week, of course, is Bioshock, which we will definitely talk about later. But along with him, a whole bunch of very decent paid and free projects appeared in the store the other day.
To be honest, the game was released on the 21st, but then we undeservedly missed it. The project is very interesting, but completely devoid of gameplay. The player buys heroes for himself, sends them on trips, waits until they return (or drops crystals on this case) along with a random loot, puts on new clothes, pumps one of the three skill trees, and sends them back for loot. Despite the fact that, in fact, there is nothing in the game except a body kit, the project is fascinating. Here you will find an excellent paper doll, and randomly generated texts describing adventures and monsters, and the very loot that is interesting to hunt. But the game really lacks a problem statement, an answer to the question of what pumping will give me, why I'm doing this.
Lately, I've started to really appreciate games that can be played while holding my smartphone vertically. It is convenient to play such projects not only in crowded public transport, but also while getting ready for bed, lying on one side. It's just a pity that not all developers remember this. Although the authors of Armies of Dragons are definitely aware of it. Their project is almost a classic tug of war. In other words, there is your castle, there is the enemy's castle. Periodically, both he and you have the opportunity to generate a unit and send it to attack enemy positions. Whoever is the first to make a fuss wins. The key difference between Armies of Dragons and similar projects is the monetization "body kit" borrowed from the battlers (unit types play the role of cards, each of which can be one of three colors on the field, working according to the "rock-paper-scissors" scheme).
It's amazing that the concept of a racing runner is becoming popular only now. For some reason, many continue to clone Temple Run and Subway Surfers "head-on", getting low sales instead of love, if not rotten tomatoes (and sometimes ideological borrowing reaches "copy-paste" scales, for example, it happened with Run, Forrest, Run). But it's worth changing the concept a little (changing the boy with the surf to a futuristic tarantass), and we get quite a curious project that we are not ashamed to play.
Brothers Ian and David Marsh have found their Grail. His name is a self—copying of his own hit, Tiny Tower. Apparently, the guys were dissatisfied with experiments like Nimble Quest and Pocket Planes, so for the second year in a row they gave out clones of their own original creation. If a year ago the copy was a cute Star Wars: Tiny Death Star, then this time Tiny Tower Vegas took over this role. Considering that the original still has no ideological heirs, and the project has not lost its former "stickiness", then NimbleBit wants and needs to be forgiven. After all, if Rovio is allowed, why can't they?
Let's say a few words about him anyway. The iOS version of the game can scare even a fan of pixel art with its blurred textures and low resolution, but... it's still the same Bioshock with brilliant music by Harry Schumann and a voiceover dispute between Levin and Ayn Rand. Therefore, if touch control in shooters no longer scares you, then why not?
A pleasant project, when playing which one gets the impression that everything that is possible has been mixed into it, referring to the abstract book "All trends in the mobile industry". For a complete set of Little Raiders, only collectible items and stamina are missing, as well as "everything is in place": role-playing elements, hero training, base construction, mission map, short game sessions, four resources, and so on. Dealing with this requires some effort. The question is, are many people ready for this?
The strength of the project is its positioning. They say it's an original indie project, a mix of a puzzle and a bagel. In fact, it is a modern version of ancient puzzles in which every action of the player led to the movement of the enemy, with a very conditional role model. Something like 86856527, but, actually, without any hint of an RPG.
