Tap Away

 

[Note: The image for this game has been updated to a different color as of the time the screenshot was taken.]

Greetings mechanics and tinkerers!

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Don't let the packages overfill the steam tank: Tap Away

I will start off the year with a hyper-casual game that has been floating around on the internet ads for some time. This is a simple game with many ads you must watch for rewards or ads that display when you complete a full level. If you do not wish to see ads just play in airplane mode but you won't be able collect the unlockables. This game is very similar to another game I have reviewed in the past so bear with any simularities there may be.

The main game consists of a 3d cube made of smaller 3d cubes that have to be removed in a certian direction. A lot of the lower levels are extremely easy and you have no blocks that do not have a clear path, The default skin shows arrows in which way the block moves but this skin can be hard to see for people that may have vision problems. Once you get to a certian level, you unlock a powerup that allows you to destroy many blocks at once, at the cost of coins.

When you complete a level you are greeted with a random Emoji and gain coins. You also progress to fill a bar that will give you a cosmetic. Once you fill the bar you are forced to watch an ad to obtain the cosmetic. As far as I can tell there is no other way to earn this cosmetic without the ad, but that being said if you complete a box, you can indeed watch the ad at a later date if you are not connected to the internet. Later as you progress you unlock daily missions that give you bonus coins as well.

Just a quick shot of the optiosn when you click on the gear icon on the main screen. We won't dwell on this one too long as it is very standard throughout most games.

Ther first cosmetics you can change are the skin blocks. You can use your coins to buy one at random or by one of 3 expensive skins with coins. You have the option to watch videos as well in one sitting to unlock all the skins before you progress too far in the game. It depends on your playstyle and how long you want to work to unlock these cosmetics.

These second tab is special skins you unlock by uncovering presents hidden in the blocks. These you can only obtain while playing online and with watching an ad after you collect them. Unlock the other cosmetics that unlock, you have to immedately watch the ad to get these.

The shortest cosmetic list is the trails. This is a partical effect that happens when you click on a block and it rockets off like a meteor. You can only unlock the last 6 with videos while the first 3 have to be found in a random present while playing.

The next tab brings us to the particle effect that displays when you tap on a block. There are several you can unlock on the onset with videos and then others you unlock from presents or from playing in endless mode. I will cover endless mode near the end of this blog.

Another short cosmetic list is the winning effects. This is what happens when you clear a level of off block and you trigger even more particle effects. Some you can unlock with coins but two of them must be found in random presents.

Sometimes instead of presents you find puzzle pieces hidden between blocks. If you complete several of these you can unlock special skin shown in the next page. You have the option to get a free piece for watching videos, and as far as I can tell you can not buy any with coins. 

Here are the special animals skins you can unlock. As you see you must complete 6 total puzzles to be able to unlock one of these skins. I feel these are the hardest cosmetics to unlock and are left a lot to random chance to find the pieces.

One of the last 3 modes you eventually unlock is this very... complicated endless mode. As you clear away blocks, you find more and more hidden inside. Each layer contains smaller and smaller blocks unless you clear the outer layer completely, then the next layer grows in size. This mode has a high chance of giving you presents or puzzle pieces.

The second to last mode is a challenge mode. In these levels you have to clear each block in a set amount of moves which means you have to carefully plan every single move to clear away cubes in time. These modes give you a one time clear reward of coins and there is no real reason to redo any of these levels.

The last game mode I have not been able to see as I did not progress enough before the writing of the blog. I will leave this as a surprise to figure out.

Overall:

 3 of 5 cogs.

Overall, this game is a very middle of the road hyper-casual game that anyone can play. You can clear all the content in a few sittings and then after that there isn't anything here to keep players coming back for more.

Story:

 0 of 5 cogs.

There is no story in this game at all.

Amount of ads:

 Many!

There are many ads. You have to watch an ad after every completed standard level. You have to watch ads to unlock cosmetics. and there is a constant banner ad at the bottom of the screen.

Accurate Advertising?:

💯%

The ads for this game are very frequent but they have been accurate. I normally try to pick games to review that have current ads playing and lately with all the scam videos it has been impossible to find actual good games to review.

Graphics:

 3 of 5 cogs.

The graphics are basic and generic squares. Nothing exciting about them beyond the few skins there are. Some of the trail and win effects are interesting but again there is nothing that really jumps out in this game graphicly.

Gameplay:

 4 of 5 cogs.

The gameplay is very simple and minimal. It cah be fun for a time but it does get repetitive very fast and because of it this game is slowly sliding down in ranking. Anyone can easily play this game and it doesn't seem to be too demanding on the phone's capibilties. Sadly this game is very short in content with no regular updates.

Free play:

💯%

The game is 100% free to play as long as you can stand the ads. 

Fun factor:

😐 average.

Are you an indy programmer or game dev?

If so, you can leave a comment or contact me on social media for a chance to have an interview with you posted to my blog. I am looking for many devs that focus on mobile programming. If you have a cross-platform game, that is fine too as long as it's on mobile.

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