Forest Island

 

Greetings mechanics and tinkerers!

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Take a relaxing cruise on the steamboats to: Forest Island

Today I bring to you a simple game full of animals. You start with a tiny island and you grow it by collecting light and hearts. As you expand the island you unlock more animals the rate of collection increases. There are many different objectives that pop up that give you bonuses but some of these require you to watch Ads to collect.

There is a daily log in full of bonuses. The tickets give you a time skip to gain a time skip for collecting light or hearts. The chests are the main way you get more cards of the animals you already have or have a chance to get special alternate colored animals that give you massive boost to light or heart production.

This is the main island you start off with. As far as I can tell this island is a set design and there is no randomness to its design There are several things going on here and I will break down what I can on this screen. At the top, you see several currencies. The first number with the paw is the total number of animals you have. The second is the hearts given by clicking on animals. Hearts are used to upgrade the level of your animals to make them collect more light. The box in the middle is the light you collected and this is what you use to upgrade the island. The hexagonal button on the bottom of the screen you can quickly upgrade by clicking on the red button or you can click the double up arrow to upgrade any part you want if you have enough light. Next are these green egg-like objects is used to upgrade special upgrades that I will cover later in this blog, which you can get these from the quest button under the trophy. The Trophy is a list of achievements. The last two buttons are the shop icon and a mail system which will sometimes send you updates about the game. Lastly is a rainbow gem that is used to buy extra chests from the shop menu. This is a premium currency that has very limited uses.

These tasks are the main way you gain rainbow gems for free. This game is very generous in earning premium currency.

Lastly, quests are ever-green and are the main way you collect the green eggs. These quests you can only have one at a time but this is the only way you can get these eggs.

The shop has many different things you can purchase or you can gain free chests as well here once a day. You can also buy gems as well under the next tab. 

There is an egg that shows up. Once a day you can hatch the egg for a chance to unlock a special bird that gives you very big boosts for every bird you own.

There are many birds you can collect but there is a very low chance of getting one when you hatch an egg. You do have a chance to get free chests or other rewards. You have the option to watch videos to reduce the timer until another egg appears but there seems to be a daily limit of eggs as well.

I now return to the big button at the bottom of the screen. As you progress along it takes a large amount of light to unlock a new part of the island.

When you click on the growth tab, you come to a list of very big upgrades that affect everything about your progress. These upgrades are ones you need to focus on for the most progress in this game.

When you buy a new island you get a small cutscene for each animal you unlock. This also brings you back to 'meditate' mode where you can sit back and watch the animals play and just listen to the music.

One of the quests you get from time to time is to enter into picture mode. You gain bonus light for taking pictures of the animals on the island. It doesn't seem to matter what you capture, it gives the same amount of light every time.

You access this menu by clicking on the paw button hidden at the bottom of the screen. As you level up the animals they boost the light each part of the island produces. Sadly at this time, it is very difficult to gain up hearts to level up all the animals.

The rare animal tab shows you all the cards you have collected to unlock them. Every level of the rare animal adds an extra animal that acts as the base animal per island. The more animals you have the more times the multiplier counts towards light collection.

Overall:

 4 of 5 cogs.

This is a chill game that claims to be relaxing. A lot of the time you're waiting offline to collect light or hearts. Other than waiting, there isn't much you can do but watch the screen. Sometimes you can collect coins from cleaning up bits of corruption on the islands.

Story:

 0 of 5 cogs.

This is the story you are looking for.

Amount of ads:

 optional only.

There are no ads that pop up except for the optional ads you can watch for the various rewards or advancement.

Accurate Advertising?:

💯%

I've seen this game advertised many times and the ads never really show much, but from what is shown exact screenshots from this game.

Graphics:

 4 of 5 cogs.

Graphics are very simple and follow a simple shading style like many indy games I have seen lately. The animations for the animals are well designed and look fairly realistic.

Gameplay:

 4 of 5 cogs.

The game consists of simple tap controls. There isn't much you can really do in this game but try to make the numbers grow and idle as you watch animals moving around their small sections of the island. I considered giving this game a much lower ranting for gameplay but it has some simple charms to it. I doubt anyone will play this one for too long sadly.

Free play:

💯%

This game is very generous to those that play for free. You can collect rainbow gems just by playing and completing objectives and working to unlock everything. There are some balance issues that do make the game feel bogged down a lot as you progress and soon will become stuck waiting for enough light to continue on.

Fun factor:

☃ Chilly.

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.

Holiday break.

 A very short update to let everyone know the blog will be on break until January 8 of next year.

My Little Universe

 

Greetings mechanics and tinkerers!

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Airships have crashlanded in: My Little Universe

Today I will be posting a much shorter blog. This game is one you may have seen many times on ads across the netverse, and I got around to being able to review it. This is a simple game from a mechanical standpoint but the main focus on this game is to explore worlds that you create one hexagon at a time. Since this game focuses so heavy on exploring and adventuring I have only a limited number of screenshots to keep spoilers to a minimum.

The main point of the game is you have to figure out how to survive and gain more resources. You start off with some very weak tools that slowly get upgraded as you explore along. As you progress you will get 1 or 2 new paths you can build. I didn't notice that the amount got cut off in this screenshot, but the white square will list a couple of materials with numbers. You must gather those materials and fill in that hex of land. As your progress you find more complex materials or new forms of the same resource with better output. You can clear out a spot of resources and it grows back in just a few seconds. This leaves to an interesting mechanic as you can idle in the middle of this resource and it will auto-collect for you as long as no enmy is nearby to attack you.

As you progess along you will find a few upgrade facilities. Some allow you to process materials into new ones which are then used at these forges to upgrade your tools or make a couple of new ones down the line. You can watch ads to gains some of the missing materials if you don't want to stand around and collect them yourself.

The HUD can only show about 5 different materials at a time so you click on your backpack you can get the full list of everything you've collected. There is a lot to explore and it seems there are many planets you can visit. I still am on the first planet as there is a lot to do.

Overall:

 4 of 5 cogs.

This is a chill and relaxed game for the most part. The enemies can be a bit wiely at times but when you die, you just respawn at your crashed ship. I still have a lot more to explore in this game and I hope that there is still plenty to find. From what I can tell, each planet has a set level design and there is no procedually generated content here.

Story:

 1 of 5 cogs.

There is a small amount of implied story but there is no direct dialog or any other real hints of story behind just stetting. You seem to be traveling planet to planet for some reason, but beyond that I do not personally know.

Amount of ads:

 

Too many!

This game is chucked full with ads. Every time you build a piece of land you are forced to watch a video. You can circumvent this by playing in airplane mode as this game does run perfectly offline. There are some points around the map where you can collect resources by watching optional videos.

Accurate Advertising?:

💯%

The advertisement is one for one here. The videos and screenshots are straightforward and no scam or clickbait here.

Graphics:

 4 of 5 cogs.

The graphics are very generic ans simple polygonal designs. Everything is flatcolored and there are no shaders used in this game. The art for the materials appear to be pixel art.

Gameplay:

4 of 5 cogs.

The game is easy to play. You have a virtual joystic that appears when you touch the screen and slide around. There are many resources to unlock and find. As you find one material you will eventually run into a new one that you need to collect. After a time, some materials are no longer needed and you can sell them at various vendors around the map for gold.

Free play:

💯%

This game is free to play and loaded with many videos. You can pay to remove the ads from the game but I do not know how this affects the optional ads. You can easily play this game without paying anything into it if you don't want to.

Fun factor:

👽 Extraterresial.

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.

World Flipper

 

Greetings mechanics and tinkerers!

SWINDLER ALERT!: There has been a large number of mobile video ads on android devices. Each one of these videos shows what appear to be Asian-origin people with very bad voice-to-text voice-overs. These videos not only tell you the exact way they scam you, but they also claim they don't do it. Any apps that claim you can make hundreds of dollars a day are fake.

I have checked out some of these games. Each one of them follows the same pattern and all offer you nothing. A couple makes you think they are legit but they want you to pay them 5 dollars to collect 1000. These apps have you watch an infinite amount of ads and give you some wait time excuse or say that all claims are filled. Then you have to watch 20 videos to get your winnings. These apps are just gaining as much from ad views as possible before disappearing soon. I can not believe how much they spend on ads just to scam people into money. I will show a couple of screenshots of the games to avoid. As there are literally a hundred new games that dropped, and are in 'early access', that I can not post every possible one.