Atlas Empires

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Use your dirigibles to take over the planet with: Atlas Empires

I bring you a blog about a geolocation game that plays like Pokemon go but with a collection of random stuff nearby and as far as I can tell there is no need to travel to places for resources as everything spawns around you. It seems some locations will give you small bonuses if you visit them but this game is very safe to play during the current times.

You pic a basic avatar for your character. There appear to be a few avatars you can unlock later using avatar coins but I never made it that far. You can not change how the avatar looks at all and it is displayed as part of your profile.

When you choose an initial place to build your base you get a screen here that shows your location. This game seems to uses the Open Streets API based on other games I've seen like this one. 

When you click on the base button you are presented with a large square area where you can start building different kinds of RTS-like buildings. You have a tower defense style area where you have to build up defenses to block other players from attacking and taking your resources. Some buildings will produce one of the 3 main currencies, gold, wood, or stone. This game has some microtransactions to buy runes that allow you to purchase rarer items. Be sure to protect your center base well because if this building is destroyed the enemy attack wins.

Each building can be upgraded using a large number of resources. Each upgrade adds hp to the building and makes it harder for your enemies to damage them. You have to be mindful of how you build up because you will unlock storage buildings for each resource, if you fill them up you can not upgrade other buildings until you get enough space for the materials needed. 

When you click on the picture of your character you will find all the hidden quests that give you runes. I have only found a few things requiring these and its stuff from the shop. You can also get a free stuff from the shop by watching optional videos.

You can click on the leaderboard button and see where you ranked. Each battle will give you more crowns and allow you to climb the leaderboard.

Here is the main game field. You build a base and as you can see I live in the middle of nowhere and stuff will randomly spawn around me all day long. This game is easy for anyone to play from home and stay safe. One last thing I need to go over and I do not have a screenshot of is the main battle troops you must find. There is a cardshop you can find or summon which allows you then to get 1 free card every 12 hours then you pay a progressing amount of gold to roll another gotcha for a new troop. If you have enough cards of a troop you can then level them up at the training grounds. 

It cost 10 gold to scout an enemy to attack. This is done globally and you do not have to leave your home at all to engage in PVP. I do not have any screenshots of the battle system. If you can clear all buildings you get 3 stars and better rewards.

Overall:

 5 of 5 cogs.

Normally I avoid PVP based games because most of them are pay to win. This game has some small elements as you can pay to instantly build everything or pay a monthly subscription to have two buildings going at the same time. Other than that, this game seems to be a bit more chill compared to other heavy PVP strategy building games.

Story:

 0 of 5 cogs.

There are some events it looks like but, nope, no really story here.

Amount of ads:

 

Optional Only

This game only has optional ads you can watch to earn a few things along the way. The game is very light in the way of ads.

Accurate Advertising?:

💯%

I only recall seeing an ad for this game once. The ad did not show much in the gameplay department, but the screenshots on google play shown enough that it uses the same kind of system as Pokemon go and similar AR games.

Graphics:

 5 of 5 cogs.

The graphics remind me a lot of Torchlight. There is a subtle steampunk atmosphere to the game but no story beyond that. The graphics have a cartoony aspect to them and the design of the avatars can not really be taken too seriously. I will note here, the game claims to have Augmented Reality but there is nothing in this game that uses AR. 

Gameplay:

 4 of 5 cogs.

The gameplay is a bit slow. You can explore around a lot and build up your base easily enough. As long as I've played this game I have yet to be attacked by a random player. There does not seem to be a revenge mechanic at all so it seems like it's easy to build up an army to take on the world. Eventually the ability to join a clan opens up as you level and I feel the game may get more complicated after that point.

Free play:

💯%

This is a surprising game that doesn't feel like it's pay to win. There seems to be generous amounts of items that spawn in the world and as long as you can walk around your neighborhood, you can easily play this game for free.

Fun factor:

😺 Surprisingly f2p.

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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Idle Panzer

 

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The steam-powered tanks roll in with: Idle Panzer

Welcome to a strange idle game where you build a german designed tank from the ground up. Learning about the many different parts that go in these war machines. Then you go into the campaign mode with these partially built tanks and take on waves of enemies.

You earn money over time and every part you buy and upgrade increases the idle income you get. You can choose how many points you want to put into the item bar. Once you complete a part it can no longer be upgraded. You have to upgrade many parts to certain levels to be able to unlock new parts to build. You can also tap anywhere in the top screen to generate bonus income per tap.

On the second tab here, you can buy multiplier upgrades for each maxed part. This increases the amount of passive income you get.

After you upgrade a tank to a certain point, you unlock the campaign mode. This is a kind of tower defense game with a bit of a spin.You have to slowly unlock more tanks by progressing further along the bar.

Each level of the campaign has different tasks you have to do to complete it. You start off with 1 tank that will attack these random vehicles of war. You can also tap on the enemies to do damage to them as well.

When you click on the icon of the scroll you come to this screen. You have to use the coins you earn in this game mode to unlock new tanks once they are available to buy.

When you click on the icon of the tank, you come to this screen that allows you to upgrade how many coins you get while offline. You can even expand the idle time as well so you don't have to check in on the game as much.

The second tab allows you to upgrade your tap damage in campaign mode. Not much more to explain here.

The last tab is the upgrades to the tank. All the parts you have built up on the build screen increases the power of the tanks in addition to what you pay into here. There is an ultimate but I did not progress far enough to unlock this part of the game.

Lastly on the build screen if you click on the trophy you can then choose to prestige. It looks like the more you progress before you prestige the more bonuses you gain and are forced to start over from the beginning again.

Overall:

 4 of 5 cogs.

Overall, this game is a basic idle game with a couple of unique elements to it. From what I can tell, this game has an accurate representation of the parts of a tank. The tower defence like game is a different tank on and gives you a distraction from the base game.

Story:

 0 of 5 cogs.

You think there would be story in a game about building a tank from the ground up but there isn't any guiding force.

Amount of ads:

 none

As far as I recall there are no ads at all. No bonus ads either.

Accurate Advertising?:

💯%

The ads I've watched have been pretty spot on and is why I decided to review this game.

Graphics:

 5 of 5 cogs.

These graphics are fairly high quality 3d art with a lot of earthen colored textures for the main hud of the game. I love the graphics as there is a very heavy steampunk vibe from this game.

Gameplay:

 3 of 5 cogs.

It's an idle game with some small unique things but at the end of the day there is a limited amount of things you can do with this game to keep you from getting bored.

Free play:

💯%

Fun factor:

🚁 Militairy like.

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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Merge Catgirl

Greetings mechanics and tinkerers!

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The stray cats have found: Merge Catgirls

Welcome to the cafe full of catgirls. This game is an anime-inspired dream that I feel a lot of people wish they could run a cafe filled with catgirls. This game is a very simple idle and merge game. There is no clear point to this game except for collecting new and rare catgirls.

This game has a very short and not very helpful tutorial. This game is pretty standard. Merge the same catgirl together and gain more power to buy more catgirls. Every so often you can do a tap event on the top half of the screen to get free rainbow tuna cans, the game's premium currency.

Here is the basic game screen you see the most. You start off with a very limited number of reserve platforms to hold your catgirls while you merge them or have them on the main floor. You have to remove the cat from the cafe before you can merge them and this really slows down the game vastly. You also do not gain any tuna while they are idling on the reserve pad. These are two things I feel slows down the game and force you to focus on them just to progress.

After a point, you can buy specific levels of catgirls directly. No matter which level you buy, the cost to buy the next one increases permanently. Sometimes you can get a free catgirl from watching a video or by using rainbow tuna to buy the highest level cat available. You can see a note about catgirls here. There is a special level to every catgirl that only increases as they physically work. The total time of hours worked shown in a later 

Even further on in the game, you can see the whole 'cat'alog. You get a second button that shows you secret cats. It appears merging certain cats will give you these special cats but there are no hints of which catgirls to merge.

Lastly, as you progress you can unlock outfits for your catgirls. Certain cats have unique outfits exclusive to them. You can also do a few tasks to raise the affinity of a catgirl that makes them more effective workers and earn you more.

Overall:

 3 of 5 cogs.

This game is visually appealing and had some fun ideas but it falls just a bit short. The game feels very incomplete and there is no point in really merging anything unless you try to get more catgirls. Since there are a limited number of reserve bays you can't really save cats to try merging for these secret cats. I have not unlocked any secret catgirls yet but I feel these cats give you a lot of tuna production or even rainbow tuna.

Story:

0 of 5 cogs.

Beyond the tutorial, there isn't a story or focus to this game. You can get small tidbits about each catgirl but there is no epic sweeping story here.

Amount of ads:

 Optional Only.

You have the option to watch videos to earn catgirls or premium rainbow tuna. There are no in-game ads to interrupt you. 

Accurate Advertising?:

💯%

The ads for this game do not really show you too much and do not show any gameplay at all.

Graphics:

 5 of 5 cogs.

Fairly standard anime-style art. Though this art has a noticeable vector style to it.

Gameplay:

3 of 5 cogs.

The gameplay is just too common for any merge game. There is no unique aspect that will keep players playing this game for long except maybe trying to unlock secret Catgirls.

Free play:

💯%

This game is easily one to play without paying anything into it. You have many optional videos to help you along but you must play this game while online.

Fun factor:

😾 Missed opprotunity.

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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