Case Hunter

 

Greetings mechanics and tinkerers!

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Dig up your steam-powered case files with: Case Hunter: Brain Funny Cases

Today I bring to you a simple point and click game where you play a detective. You have many scenes you play through and have to solve a few msyeries. A lot of these are very easy to play. This game is gender inclusive and features very rare gender fluidity. You have 2 main currencies and an energy bar that refills rapidly. I've nearly beat all the case files in just a couple of days. I will go over what currency is used where later in the blog.

You get a 7 day log-in bonus. You can watch ads to get double the currency. You can unlock at least 2 skins from the daily log-ins. 

Moving on you can use the ever common blue diamonds as way to unlock more skins. Each one of these skins appear to give a permanent buff to different categories in the game. I do not know if the effects stack but these effects only seem to work for the Tycoon style mini-game.

A very simple option screen. I won't spend too much time here as there is nothing special here at all.

Clicking on the shop menu brings you up to this menu. You can buy a few things here. Further down in this menu you can also buy special furniture themes for the hotel mini-game.

Each level gives you a breifing of what your goals for the level is. Each level generally only takes up only one screen, but sometimes you can move to other locations as well depending on the task. You literally must check everything to collect any items you need. Sometimes you can find blue gems in a level but there's a catch. A strange cat collects them in a kind of bank. Which you can only collect by paying real money.

When you complete a level you get a collection of coins. You can double these with a video if you wish. When you fill up the bar you can get a chance to collect a chest with bonus items. Sometimes you can earn blue gems this way. If you get a chance to collect a chest, you can also watch a video to claim all 3 boxes instead of just one random one.

After you play along the main case files, you will unlock the ability to run a hotel. All your coins go into buy a new room and filling it with various equipment. As you progress you unlock special rooms as well for your guests. Over time guests will have requests for you and you must give them different items. You get these items, at random from a timed delivery system. This often leaves you with a problem of sometimes not having any items. In that instance you can buy the item with blue gems or you can watch a video to get a small chance of the item you need being given to you. Lastly on the left you will get the ability to hire staff members that will also help provide for your guests. You can hire them for a short time using diamond or by watching a video. When you give enough diamonds or watch enough videos they become perment staff memebers.

You can click on the paint brush to enterinto design mode. Each item can be switched to a new theme. You can buy individual items yourself with diamonds, or watch a video to permently unlock the style for each room. Each style adds to your hotel's stars which are needed to progress more in the mini-game.

Finally when you clear enough files, you unlock special case files. Here it uses the same kind of mechanics but you have to collect clues and solve the mysteries. Most of these are easy and you could potentially solve them all in one sitting.

Overall:

 4 of 5 cogs.

Overall, this game has some promise but it seems to be in early development still. The concept is fun but there is not much content at all. This is a very middle of the road game, and very incomplete. There are many easter eggs in this game as well.

Story:

 3 of 5 cogs.

This game has some story as your slowly uncover clues about the drive the whole story. Sadly the story is incomplete so I can not score this any higher.

Amount of ads:

 Optinal only

This game has no random ads that pop in your face but there are many different optional ads you can watch to unlock stuff. This game handles ads pretty well when they load. Sometimes I have to fully close the game and restart it to get ads to properly load in the background.

Accurate Advertising?:

💯%

I downloaded this game from watching a video but I think there are similar games like this on the market. I can not say for sure if I got the same one in the video as none of the evens are in this game. Lastly, the screen shots in goggle play are accurate.

Graphics:

 3 of 5 cogs.

The graphics remind me heavily of Gravity Falls or Rick and Morty. Not really much else I can add to that for this blog.

Gameplay:

 3 of 5 cogs.

The gameplay is straight forward but very lacking. The game has a good base to start with but there isn't enough content to keep anyone playing unless it updares frequently.

Free play:

💯%

You can unlock everything if you are very careful and watch enough bonus videso in the shop to earn the blue gems. This game won't take you long to complete so I hope this game gets more updates soon.

Fun factor:

🌈 colorful.

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.

Thank You for reading my blog. Please consider donating to the tip jar as these are tough times and every bit helps. You can get updates by joining my newsletter. If you enjoy these reviews please show others this blog by retweeting or liking my posts on social media.

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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!

I want to welcome back the blog into the new year and thank everyone that has read over my blog. Please consider donating to PayPal and if you don't like that option, I do have Cash App and you can send any donations to #HakuzoSionnach.

SCAM WARNING: I continue to see new ads circulating of games that claim to pay you hundreds of dollars in one 1. These games are complete scams riddled with many ads. If you find a game claiming to give you 4 digit figures in one pay-out, report them immediately to Goggle Play or any of the game stores you use. (Some have disclaimers now on screen because they seem to be getting in trouble but yet these games remain in the stores.)

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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.

Thank You for reading my blog. Please consider donating to the tip jar as these are tough times and every bit helps. You can get updates by joining my newsletter. If you enjoy these reviews please show others this blog by retweeting or liking my posts on social media.

Throw a cog(tip using PayPal) to your blogger.

Or you can donate with CashApp at:  #HakuzoSionnach.