Minesweeper Collection

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Greetings mechanics and tinkerers!

Avoid the depth charges by playing: Minesweeper Collector

I should have started with this game first but the other one was a much smaller game as it was just a tiny portion of this game. I wish the developer would just merge both games into one but I can see them keeping it for the extra Ad revenue.

First off, we have the ever classic mode. This is the same minesweeper game you find installed on any Windows-based computer. You choose your hardness level and try to beat your fastest time.

The next game mode is the heart of this game. I will go into more detail about each mode individually once I reach them. For now, I'm giving you a brief overview of everything.

Pets are a fun mechanic to this game. Hidden in the 'free' spaces of the maps are coins and pets. When you rescue a pet, they will give you a choice of free powerups to use. If you level up the pet to rank 3 you get stronger help. The pets make it a lot easier to clear some of the harder puzzles.

Here you will see a familiar mode. The puzzle mode was originally a paid DLC for this game. Eventually, it became a free version, which I covered last week. You get access to only the first puzzle here for free. If you wish to play this mode just download the other one from the play store.

The last mode is a newer mini-game that was added just last year I believe. It is a kind of endless tower that is tied to a leaderboard. This is an extra mode just to play around once you clear out all the other puzzles. There isn't much difference other than you face a boss after every 10 levels.

Standard classic mode. You start out with one patch of free area open and you have to find and mark the mines. Beginner level is easy and you can speedrun it once you learn the patterns of how mines spawn.

Here I show the example of the premium upgrade. It allows you to change skins and animation types. I purchased the premium because this is a very well-constructed game but note, the puzzle DLC is NOT included in that premium upgrade. 

The main game gives you a variety of odd-shaped trinkets you must solve. This helps a lot to break up the normal game of Minesweeper. Each object has a lot of new challenges and once you complete the object, you collect it. More on this later.

Once you click on the crown you get access to the leader board and achievements. You can explore these to see how you stack up against other players.

The scroll gives you challenges that give you bonus gold to buy powerups to use during these levels. Complete one and you unlock a new random challenge. These are endless and give you so many free coins along with the ones you find in the puzzles. 

Click on the book to see your collection. When you collect a full set of 9 items, you earn a key. It takes many keys to open up new puzzles. 

When you click on the chalice, you are presenting with different types of level puzzles. You have to complete several varieties of varying shapes and difficulty levels.

One of the examples of the many puzzles you will find. You can find all kinds of goodies as you uncover the area. You can also find free powerups too.

If you click on the 3 coins, you bring up the big list of powerups. clicking on each one gives a description of what the powerup does. Images of the scrolls mean you have to use that powerup to complete one of the quests.

As you first collect the pet you gain access to them. You must solve a puzzle for each of them to power them up. You gain more from finding them in random puzzles until you see this list here.

The last mode greets you with a home with an old man. Clicking on him makes the tower grow. 

Each room has a unique shaped puzzle and either square or hex shaped spaces. You can gain powerups after completing a puzzle.

The bag holds all the items you acquire and can only be used in this mode. This is a rogue-like mini-game and you have to go through it all with one go.

Now on to the most interesting mode in the game. The online mode gives you a set amount of hearts that refill over time. Clicking on a mine and you lose a heart. 

In online mode, you must collect gems of various points and upgrade them using gold. You can find higher-level gems as you do and replace what you have. You can then sell off older gems or lower-level gems when you find them for gold. These gems accumulate points that affect your rank. When you get enough points you can take on harder online maps with better rewards. You can sometimes find keys that allow you to unlock chests. The silver and gold locks require special keys to unlock only available at rank 3.

You also use your gold to research different buffs. Lower the time it takes to regen hearts or increase the sell value of gems. You unlock more buffs as you rank up. This mode is the most fun in this game and requires an internet connection.

Sometimes you find golden teeth as you explore the big online map. These teeth are used in the shop on the next screenshot.

You have a variety of things you can buy but I recommend saving all the teeth you find to buy the keys needed to unlock more gem slots.

You can then watch videos to earn gold teeth if you need to gain extra gold to buy those upgrades.

There is a premium subscription for the online mode. It gives you some boosts that don't seem worth the extra cost.

There are several different maps. You choose the gem color you will be searching for. I would say look for a map with a low percent. You have a higher chance of finding gems or loot. Once a certain percent is reached the map is cleared and reset.

Clicking on the paper shows you all the remaining things left to find in the currently selected map.

This mood is so fun as there are many different mines hidden along the map. Standard square layout makes it difficult to complete but you can see if others click on blocks near your current location. 

Lastly, a map shows you the area you have loaded and explored. Each area loads in a square map that uses stream loading and unloading.

Overall:

 5 of 5 cogs.

Overall this is the best minesweeper clone I've ever played. There's a lot here to keep you busy for a long time. It is a lot of fun and so much to do.

Story:

No story.

Amount of ads:

 Very low.

Only option ads for bonuses.

Accurate Advertising?:

100% 

I do not recall any Ads for this game but the screenshots are very accurate. A straightforward game.

Graphics:

 5 of 5 cogs.

Many skins to choose from or you can go for the old-school feel of classic Minesweeper. A lot is going for this game and a lot of pixel art. 

Gameplay:

 5 of 5 cogs.

What can I say? There's a lot of fun here and I don't fault anything with this game except for the puzzle DLC issue.

Free play:

100%

You can play for free but I did buy the premium for skins. This is one of the rare games that I have made in-app purchases in.

Fun factor:

A blast! 

The fun doesn't end. I would recommend this game to everyone.

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Random Dice

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Today's mobile game is: Random Dice

This game is a very interesting mix of, PvP, Tower defense, and merge game. I didn't know what to think about this game, but I ended up enjoying this game. 

Here's the first screen you are greeted with. There are two currencies. Gems are the premium currency for this game and are earned by daily quests and winning in PvP. The second currency is gold. You get it the same way but it's more common.

This is the base of your deck. You get five different kinds of dice to start with. You can unlock more dice from the shop or co-op chest (Card box). The basic dice tend to be very weak and rarer dice offer better attack patterns. You collect multiple copies of dice to level them up using gold.

This is the store that you can buy packs of dice. The rarer the dice, the more it costs to buy. Further down you can find packs to buy gems, and chests that give a lot of dice when bought with gems.

This shop has skins for the battlefield. I've gone against someone that had a skin and it changed the battlefield for me as I do not have any skins unlocked.

This menu is for special modes that cost premium currency. There appears to be a way to win more gems back.

Here you get free items from the daily menu. Then you get more for completing the tasks. If you complete all of them, you can use the reroll once a day to get a new task, or replace an incomplete one.

This is the main PvP mode. As you kill one of the enemy squares it will send one to your opponent. You collect SP to put more dice on the board and spend SP to level up the dice up to stage 5. Each wave has a set time and after so many waves a boss shows up.

Overall:

5 of 5 cogs.

This game really amazed me with several simple mechanics combined into something new. There is a lot of luck involved so it's possible to beat someone with higher level dice. I will note here that I've had issues with stability and have been disconnects several times during a match.

Story:

🚫

There is no story at all.

Amount of ads:

There are no ads that are blasted in your face like most games. You can only watch ads to get a one-time PvP boost or to gain another co-op play. I recommend playing as much co-op as possible because it gives you gold and cards very quickly.

Advertised as seen:

💯%

Every ad I've seen has been straight-forward. They do not use tactics I've seen in so many other ads to get you to play.

Graphics:

  2 of 5 cogs.

The graphics are very simplistic and nothing stands out about them.

Audio:

    1 of 5 cogs.

The sounds are very similar and blend into the same tone.

Gameplay:

 5 of 5 cogs.

The gameplay surprised me and I find drawn to keep playing this game. It's rare that a game grabs my attention so deeply.

Free play:

 💯%

You can play this game without dropping money into it.

Fun factor:

😎 "Oh Yeah."

This is a fun game. I don't know how long this game will keep my attention, but it is a fun game to pick up and play. It's a fast-paced tower defence.

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