Collection

Island War

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The Game

Island War by Fastone Games HK is a mobile first take on the familiar mechanics popularised by games like Bad North. The game is built around collecting an army of various units, upgrading repeat versions and using that army to destroy other player’s bases. That’s essentially the core game play loop and it’s available in several different leagues and challenge modes, all designed to put your army to the test. You will also have to set up a base to defend your own island.

The game rewards you frequently in terms of giving you new units and coins. Premium currency is also fairly easy to obtain, although spending it doesn’t always guarantee a great reward. There are some gatcha elements like a battle pass for extra rewards, but the game is still ok without them.

Worth it?

If you’d like to play something similar to Bad North, but can’t afford to buy it, then Island War is a good option to check out. There’s plenty of cards to collect and upgrade. It also looks like the game is still being worked on with new updates and features ahead. The core gameplay loop does get a bit repetitive but the frequent awards, level ups and challenges keeps it quite varied. The gatcha elements are plenty, but generally you can get on quite nicely without having to use any of them. There are few ads and the challenge modes can be quite tough to crack.

Overall I’d say it’s worth a play, it will keep you busy from a few minutes to an hour a day, limited only by how many levels you unlock – if you exceed the level limit, once the new level limits are unlocked you will receive any backdated rewards. There are some lag issues with big armies on bigger islands, but other than that it’s a solid and simple take on a good game mechanic.

Tips

  • When attacking other player’s islands try and put your rafts down in such a way so as to hit the three core buildings fastest (Army Camp, Gold Mine, City Hall)
  • Use paratroopers to your advantage once you’ve lured away defending armies
  • Combine troops to upgrade as soon as you can – you can also look into specialising each raft for a specific purpose
  • Upgrade your City Hall and Army Camp asap to allow you more rafts and higher army upgrades

Useful Links

Spider-Man (2018)

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The Game

Spider-Man by Insomniac Games is a PS4 exclusive released in 2018. WARNING there may be some spoilers ahead. The game let’s you play as your favourite friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man in a fresh take on the story. The game throws you straight into the action as your first task is to take on Wilson Fisk aka the Kingpin, but fret not, putting him in prison is only the start of your adventure…

The story sees you take on various criminal organisations and both familiar and less familiar super-villains. However a large part of the game is based in the world outside of the story. Whereas normal games may have a few open world objectives, this game is actually packed with bases, challenges, collectibles and mini-side-quests. There are also a few side quests, but personally I think a few more could have been added, although with all the other open world objectives I understand why there aren’t that many. Completing quests will unlock Spidey costumes, each with their own unique abilities that you can mix and match across suits. The suits are a great element to the game and really keep you collecting the various tokens you need in order to unlock them. Each suit power is quite unique and it doesn’t feel like there’s necessarily a hierarchy but rather different powers for different play styles.

As the story progresses you will but heads with super-villains like Electro, Rhino and even Doc Ock (to name a few), while also learning about Norman Osborn and Otto Octavious’ past. At this point it’s probably worth mentioning Miles Morales – if you have watched Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, you will already know who this is although his story hasn’t quite begun yet in this story line. Some missions will let you play as Miles or MJ where you need to rely on your stealth to get past enemies (as you can’t match Spidey’s powers). These missions provide a nice break from fighting as Spider-Man and slow down the pace a little so that you can appreciate the tension of a given situation. There are also a couple mini games that recur in both main missions and side quests, these are generally pretty easy to solve, some of the more complex ones can be pretty fun to solve.

The combat is a fairly familiar combo-based type with access to nifty gadgets, badass finishers and aerial combat. Unlike other games with such combat (like Batman or Shadow of Mordor), you’re reliant on your Spidey sense to dodge incoming attacks as opposed to parrying or countering specific enemies. This takes some getting used to as combat is all about mobility, frequent dodging and the use of your gadgets. As you progress you will be able to upgrade your gadgets and unlock new and improve skills from the skill tree.

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Worth it?

The Game of the Year edition was on sale for £26.99 when I purchased it recently, but generally speaking you shouldn’t be paying more than £30 for the game, DLC included. The DLC offers a lot of extra gameplay and open world objectives as well. The campaign takes about 20 hours to complete, depending on how much of the city you explore and complete. Swinging around the city is quite an experience and they have really managed to create an immensely packed world with constant activity and distractions for you to get stuck into as you swing around the city. You can never just go from A to B – there’s always something going on somewhere on route that needs your attention.

Overall I would definitely recommend the game to someone looking to keep busy over a long weekend or few days. The open world stuff eventually becomes a bit repetitive and you want to finish the story. Unlocking new suits is awesome, although I found myself sticking to one super power that I generally liked and one power-up configuration too. It didn’t feel like there was much benefit to unlocking other suits other than aesthetic purposes or collecting them. The story is good and fun, albeit fairly predictable for the most part. Generally speaking, a solid game.

Tips

  • Webbing enemies to walls is a way to instantly immobilise them, punching or throwing webbed enemies at walls will stick them to the wall permanently
  • Get the extended perch takedown skill – it increases the range of the perch takedown dramatically, so you don’t have to be directly above or near the enemy – this comes in handy for stealthier missions
  • The perfect dodge to takedown skill can also be very useful as it can allow you to play a bit more defensively if you are getting overwhelmed by dodging at the perfect time and using that to get your takedowns
  • If you feel that you are getting overwhelmed use your gadgets to get out of a bind
  • Experiment with different suit powers to find what works for you

Useful Links

NEO:BALL

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The Game

NEO:BALL by Fil Games Ltd is a fun and fast paced online PvP game. NEO:BALL is currently only available on Android, but will give you a bit of a Rocket League vibe – it’s quite something. The game is simple – use your “car” to hit the puck into your opponent’s goal. There are various arena’s which represent different game modes – first to a certain score, time based and arena shape being the key differences between the various ones.

There are also tournaments and daily missions. Each match is different based on the arena being played in and players can customise their cars, their attributes and their selection of buffs and debuffs – which can all be earned from card packs.

The gatcha element is opening the above-mentioned card packs that you win from your games – each rarity level card pack will take a variable amount of time to unlock and you can only ever hold 4 – personally I found this a bit annoying as when you play a game and win a rare or special pack, if you have no space for it you will essentially lose that pack. You also can’t delete a pack so you may be stuck waiting for a while for rare pack to open – sometime forcing you into using your gems (premium currency).

Worth it?

The game is free to play and it’s quite an interesting idea. The PvP works well, but can be seriously infuriating (in a good way) when you are so close to winning or you accidentally turn and smack the puck into your own goal. Honestly I am not sure if I am not that good at the game or if it’s just not as easy as it looks but scoring an goal does happen more often than you think and it can actually be quite a challenge to pull off a good shout, especially taking the puck’s curl into account.

The gatcha element is a bit of an issue in that you can’t hold more than 4 card packs or delete ones you don’t want to open. Other than that there’s “login every day” type rewards and certain rewards for watching ads. The ads are very non-intrusive overall and are only really required if you’d like an extra bit of cash or to allow you tournament entry.

Tips

  • You can only ever hold 4 card packs – try to open common ones first as they’re faster to open
  • Different skins and different trails give different stats – see which work best for you
  • Go through the goal to come out on the other side of the map (your own goal)
  • You can choose which buffs/debuffs you’ll have access to in the customisation menu

Useful Links

Genshin Impact

Random Game Reviews2 Comments

The Game

Genshin Impact by miHoYo came out last week and it’s really something. The game is absolutely immense and best of all it’s free to play. Genshin Impact is an open world anime action RPG. The game features a character collection (the gatcha) element with a fairly familiar upgrade and ascension system whereby you can trade in gems and weak gear to upgrade and ascend the levels and ranks of your best gear or character. It starts out very story driven with a decent amount of questing to be done in order to get you up and running. But once you’ve got through most of that it really opens up in terms of questing and exploration that you can do. The world is big, not massive but with a packed good amount of treasures, mobs, side quests and collectibles.

The game is available on basically every single platform. I played it mostly on Android and that’s probably the most significant platform that it’s available on – this is a great game regardless, but for a mobile game there isn’t much quite like there. The game offers Zeldaesque pastel scenery and a really punchy, dynamic and fun combat system based around elements, weaknesses and combinations, forcing you to swap between characters to deal with different enemies. You are also accompanied by a Claptrap-level nuisance with a similarly annoying voice – Paimon your “trusted” assistant. Together you are on a mission so you may be reunited with your lost twin and help restore order to the realm (standard fantasy stuff here really). One feature that it could use is some sort of target lock system when in combat, especially on mobile as the camera can be a bit hard to control during an intense fight.

Worth it?

The game is free to play and from about 20hrs of playing I am yet to feel a real pay wall or gatcha element. There are no ads and there’s so much to do that I haven’t thought twice about any catches. Where I am sure this game will begin to challenge you is ascending your characters to the higher level and getting more of the rare ones. Nothing a bit of grinding can’t achieve – you get a decent amount of Primogems completing various tasks and quests – these can be exchanged for Wish, which can be spent on loot boxes for better characters or weapons. However you can also find rare loot in dungeons and from bosses, so there are definitely ways to get there without spending your hard earned cash. The game also offers cross-save for PC and mobile, PS4 sadly is not included in that.

Overall I’d say that this game has really elevated free open world RPGs especially for mobile. A massive open world, a great story, plenty of quests, regular updates, a lot more in the pipeline, events, the list goes on. Be warned it is a battery drainer, always requires a internet connection and is a hefty download. You can’t really have a proper play session in under 10mins on it so it’s definitely not a casual mobile game. If you are into RPGs and detailed open worlds and story with a lot of depth then definitely check this out.

Tips

  • You can heal your party at the Statues of the Seven
  • You can exchange your Primogems in the Shop for Wish which you can spend on loot boxes in the Wish section of the Paimon menu
  • Check your mail for rewards and daily login prizes
  • Learn the elemental weaknesses and combinations
  • Cook food and utilise the food bonuses you get off certain dishes before a big fight

Useful Links

#DRIVE

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The Game

Looking for a relaxing drive and a great collection of cars? #DRIVE by Pixel Perfect Dude is a beautiful arcade driving game. Dodge through oncoming traffic, collect bottle caps, buy and upgrade new vehicles and unlock new regions to drive through.

The game has simple controls and even has 3 different control configurations if you’re not happy with them. The controls allow you to steer, break and drift around corners although you’ll find this isn’t needed in most of the early maps. The game gives you challenges to complete and rewards toy with new vehicles, of course you can also buy them yourself and the collection is definitely worth noting. Choose from various wacky vehicles, vans and cars. You can also upgrade them, recolour then and even apply a “coolness” mod, just because you can.

#DRIVE also features a zen mode in which you don’t have to worry about refueling and repairing your vehicle. There’s also less traffic and you can really enjoy the scenery and that scenery is worth mentioning – the game features 6 magnificent and unique locations that you can unlock with postcards that you collect for every town you visit.

Worth it?

The game is free to play and has an add free version for £3.49. Overall the ads aren’t very intrusive, you’ll get the occasional one after a drive but you can usually skip them. You can also watch an ad to double your caps collected, I tend to only use that after a very good run.

A great game for a quick session, but be careful because you may find yourself playing for ages trying to collect caps for new vehicles and upgrades. Awesome for any arcade fans. The game is also regularly updated with new cars and improvements.

Tips

  • Play in zen mode when you need to cover distance
  • You can break before you pass the police to avoid a chase
  • Hold off buying cars as you will have quests for specific ones, you’re better off upgrading what you have

Useful Links

BitLife

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The Game

WARNING! This game is highly addictive. Don’t be fooled by BitLife’s (by Candywriter, LLC) simple appearance. This text based life simulator goes incredibly deep. Packed with obscure activities, oddly specific interactions, tons of achievements this one will just keep you coming back for more. The game also includes a few paid options, but more on those later.

The concept and delivery are simple – simulate a life, one year at a time. The game does this through simple random text messages and interactions in a diary type format. You can go to school, get a job, find love, have kids, die. But that’s only one way you could go, if you’re so inclined.

Alternatively you can break the law, kill people, cheat on your spouse, get hooked on drugs and ultimately die. Each year of your life you have hundreds of options to choose from at work, at school or with your friends and family. The replay value is amazing and the options are virtually endless, coupled with hundreds of achievements and challenges – it just keeps you coming back for more.

You’ll also have a record of all lives lived and a full diary of each your of their lives, if you ever decide to read back and have a laugh. You can also visit the family grave plot and check out your thousand year legacy.

Worth it?

The game has a free version, which does sadly come with quite a few ads at random intervals or for certain activities. There’s an add free option for £3.89, which will allow you to do a bunch of new things and remove all ads, most importantly you’ll be able to spend time with all of your friends and relatives without watching an ad – this is very helpful when you need to maintain them or get a happiness boost. It will also make you a Bitizen and allow you to join frats or gangs in prison. This paid version is absolutely worth it.

There is also a God Mode DLC option for £2.89, which will allow you to customise appearances and edit characters. Personally I don’t think it brings as much value as the ad free version, but can be fun if you want to recreate your own family or edit your character.

Overall a great game, the free version can get a bit tedious in terms of ads so I do recommend purchasing the ad-free version. It’s one of those games where you just keep thinking one more year and all of a sudden you realise you’ve lived 5 lives and spent 4 hours glued to your phone.

Tips

  • You only get 1 ribbon per life so if you are aiming for a specific one and you’ve achieved it, be weary not to end up getting another
  • Purchase the ad-free version so that you can easily spend time with all friends and relatives at once – a great happiness boost
  • Study hard to get scholarships
  • What you study at university will determine what kind of job you can get after
  • Experiment, try new things, explore

Useful Links

Reddit Tips Directory:
https://www.reddit.com/r/BitLifeApp/comments/a6y7xc/bitlife_guide_tips_tricks_from_level_winner/

iOS: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/bitlife-life-simulator/id1374403536

Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.candywriter.bitlife&hl=en_GB

TAP! DIG! MY MUSEUM!

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The Game

Tap! Dig! My Museum! by Oridio Inc is a simple but addictive game in which you dig up and collect dinosaur skeletons. Manage your museum by putting anything you find on display. The game has a very simple core gameplay loop in which you excavate bones on a hexagonal grid. Your pickaxe starts out fairly weak and you only have a limited number of taps to uncover all bones on the level. Once you start making money you will be able to upgrade your digging abilities. Upgrades are limited at first, but y There are also some premium boost items that can be used to help both in your excavations and in the museum, a little bit more on those later.

The are three tiers of dinos to excavate, various species and types ranging form marine life to therapods or pterosauria. You will gradually turn your dusty old museum into the most dino-packed building imaginable. Upgrade rooms, shuffle exhibits around, change the lighting and much more. The game offers a decent range of customisation for the rooms and you can group or theme your rooms as you please.

Worth it?

Overall this is a very addictive game, the completionist in me just wants to keep digging for more and more dinos. The game can be a bit repetetive, but that’s to be expected given the simplicity. When running low on cash or digs you may resort to video watching, and that can become quite a big part of the early game. I’m not against video watching as a whole, but the occasional free power up or an ad free version would be nice options. A few less videos to watch or a ad-free version could help.

I also feel this is a bit of a missed opportunity on an educational front, even just some bullet points with facts in the dinosaur book in-game. Overall though I would say a very fun, addictive and quite rewarding game – digging those massive dinosaurs out bone by bone and piecing them together really keeps you coming back.

Tips

  • Upgrade your digging ability as much as possible at first
  • Sell old exhibits or redo them when you can clear the level quite easily
  • For the secret fossils you can keep digging or reset as specific dinosaur until you collect all secret fossils from the specific location – check the wiki for more details on that.

Useful Links

Wiki: https://tap-dig-my-museum-wiki.fandom.com/wiki/Tap!_Dig!_My_Museum!_Wiki

Apple Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/tap-dig-my-museum/id1460645640

Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=jp.oridio.museum&hl=en_GB

Random Dice: PvP Defence

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The Game

Imagine Hearthstone meets a tower defense game completely reliant on RNG. Random Dice: PvP Defence by 111% is exactly that. The objective of the game is spawn, merge and upgrade dice in order to defend against waves of enemy dice. It features two primary modes – PvP and Co-Op and is based around collecting new dice with different power ups. There are various types and tiers of dice all with unique abilities.

As it’s a mobile game there is obviously the gatcha element, but very subtle it’s not very intrusive. Playing co-op mode allows you to collect cards to open chests which will give you new cards. The game also features an arena mode in which you have a random deck and 3 lives to go as far as you can. There is also a 1 game version of the arena that allows you to risk your gems for more.

Worth it?

Definitely a great time killer, although sometimes Co-Op games can go on for a while (I’ve had 25min games), but PvP is usually around 3-5 mins. The collection element is good and kept me coming back a lot, wanting to grind quests and co-op to get more dice.

They are still updating the game regularly with new dice and Crews are being added as well now. It’s a simple but effective game and can get pretty mental. There are some occasional minor performance issues, but nothing game breaking.

Overall would recommend as a casual mobile game.

There’s a huge collection of unique dice, with new ones being added regularly.

Tips

  • There are daily quests you can complete to collect gold and gems (the premium currency).
  • Once you complete a quest you can reset it (you can do this once).
  • Try and fill the whole board with dice before merging them.
  • Save up 40k gold because the shop occasionally has Legendary dice, you can also reset the shop more often by watching videos.
  • Spend gems on arena – the win potential if you go beyond 7 is maddive.

Useful Links

Wiki: https://random-dice.fandom.com/wiki/Random_Dice_Wiki

Discord: https://discord.com/invite/zQj6tCM

Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/randomdice/