Tag Archives: App Game

Ingress Review

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It’s time to look at the game that came before Pokemon Go. Not many people know this, but Pokemon Go was actually copy and pasted from another game that Niantic made first. Copy and paste may be strong, but both games are quite similar and you can see how Ingress is essentially the beta version. As a result it’s pretty fun, but it really lacks the key aspects that make Pokemon Go so addicting and thus you’ll find yourself bored before long.

In the first place I picked up Ingress only because I wanted to be able to submit ideas for Pokestops in Pokemon Go. That seemed like a pretty fun goal to me, but then they said you had to be at least Level 10 to do so. That was when I stopped playing. I made it to Level 7, but each level doubles the EXP you need so it would have taken me a year at the most but at the minimum probably 8-9 months. That would be time that would have taken away from Pokemon Go and it was simply too much of an investment and I’ll let other players handle that one.

The goal of the game is to take over various points in the world for your team. There are the Green and Blue teams in the game so I went with classic Blue. Each location is essentially a Pokestop. (A little circle with a picture) You can drop off shields at the place and little generators to claim it as your own. If someone else owns it, then you have to destroy their generators before placing your own. If you take over multiple locations, you can use a Field Link to merge them and control a larger area. Nobody can take over a space that is in your area so it’s a good way to shut the opponent down. There isn’t really an end to the game but like Pokemon you can effectively say that you’ve beaten the game when you’re Level 16. That would take a really impressively long time to accomplish as well.

It’s tough going when you’re in the early levels since your weapons and defenses are weak. It will be impossible to take down any barrier that a high level has placed so stick to visiting all of the stops and getting what EXP you can. It’s really a game that is meant to be played while you’re exploring since there’s not a lot to do otherwise. There’s nothing to do if you stay in one place unless you live on a stop. (I live on two which is helpful but after spinning them then you’re stuck again) It’s a good game on the road and I may enjoy it more if Pokemon Go didn’t exist. This game is Pokemon Go, but without the Pokemon or the Gym Battling which makes it quite a bit less encicing.

Once you start playing you’ll get hooked on it, but eventually the fad will pass. I’d say that I lasted quite a while all things considered. Maybe I’ll check out the game again someday if they lower the level limit, but all mobile games stop eventually and this is just my time for checking out. The graphics are okay, but it’s not as if there is much to show. There are no creatures or anything, just a few simple animations. There is no real music in the game. There may be a main theme although I can’t remember it, but it won’t be earning any stars in that regard. As far as replay value goes, it’s essentially infinite so that’s a plus I suppose.

The game is at its best if you’re playing it with a few friends. Since it’s about taking over the neighborhood, it’s naturally fun with a group. On your own, you’re outnumbered and you’ll just have to really enjoy the process of playing the game since anything you do will likely be undone by the time you go back home. This will depend on how busy your area is of course, but at least in mine there are a ton of active players. Then there are also the likely bots and spoofers running around as well.

Overall, Ingress is a well made game, albeit a limited one if you’re on your own. It’s just very repetitive and while you can say that for just about every mobile game, it’s not quite as enjoyable as those. The game is also very vague on everything so if you want to learn what you’re actually doing it is advised that you look for the information online or go straight to Reddit. If you’re outside a lot and like visiting places then it’s a good idea to download this app and have fun getting the points. On the other hand, I’d recommend doing the same with Pokemon Go. At the end of the day, you need to decide which game is more fun and just pick one. You can’t have both open at the same time with one phone so if you play both then one is always missing out. That’s why I ended up choosing Pokemon. Ingress definitely wouldn’t rank as highly as most of the other Mobile games I’ve played, but it is tragic to an extent since it probably would get a much higher score if Pokemon Go didn’t exist. It’s just how it goes and you can’t help but compare the two as you’re playing. Maybe one day they’ll link both games with rewards or something, that would definitely be interesting. I am also interested in the new Harry Potter game that the company is working on as well. That should definitely be fun but like Ingress I’d probably only check it out for a little while. Ingress lasted a month and a half before I called it quite, we’ll see if Harry Potter can even last that long!

Overall 6/10

Fire Emblem Heroes Stats and Records

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Stats time!
Heroes 129/278
Feathers 24710
Castle Level = Max
Story (Normal) 13/13 Complete
Story (Hard) 12/13 Complete
Story (Lunatic) 8/13 Complete
Paralogue (Normal) 13/13 Complete
Paralogue (Hard) 13/13 Complete
Paralogue (Lunatic) 3/13 Complete

Hero stats

Ike Level max Grade max
Roy Level max Grade max
Tharja Level max Grade max
Eliwood Level max Grade 4
Anna Level max Grade 2
Eirika Level max Grade max
Mathilda Level 36+3 Grade 4
Olivia Level 30 Grade 4
Peri Level 29 Grade Max
Roy Level 31 Grade Max
“Marth” Level 28 Grade Max
Caeda Level 25+2 Grade 4
Selena Level 22+1 Grade 4
Bartre Level 21+1 Grade 4
Roderick Level 21+1 Grade 4
Hinata Level 20 Grade 4
Stahl Level 18+1 Grade 4
Camilla Level 23 Grade 4
Niles Level 1+3 Grade 3
Donnel Level 14+1 Grade 4
Clair Level 1+1 Grade 4
Beruka Level 28+1 Grade 4
Leon Level 28+1 Grade 4
Clarine Level 1+1 Grade 4
Seliph Level 14 Grade 4
Henry Level 1 Grade 4
Lukas Level 17 Grade 4
Oboro Level 1 Grade 4
Est Level 1 Grade 4
Subaki Level 1 Grade 4
Mae Level 1 Grade 4
Arthur Level 1 Grade 4
Frederick Level 1 Grade 4
Merric Level 1 Grade 4
Rebecca Level 1 Grade 4
Felicia Level 1 Grade 4
Jakob Level 1 Grade 4
Kagero Level 1 Grade 4
Maria Level 1 Grade 4
Serra Level 1 Grade 4
Sakura Level 1 Grade 4
Priscilla Level 1 Grade 4
Fir Level 1 Grade 3
Lon’qu Level 1 Grade 3
Hana Level 1 Grade 3
Laslow Level 1 Grade 3
Sophia Level 1 Grade 3
Jagen Level 1 Grade 3
Sully Level 1 Grade 3
Shanna Level 1 Grade 3
Odin Level 1 Grade 3
Barst Level 1 Grade 3
Cherche Level 1 Grade 3
Nino Level 1 Grade 3
Robin Level 1 Grade 3
Cecilla Level 1 Grade 3
Virion Level 1 Grade 3
Setsuna Level 1 Grade 3
Matthew Level 4 Grade 3
Gaius Level 1 Grade 3
Azama Level 1 Grade 3
Alfonse Level 1 Grade 2
Raigh Level 1 Grade 2
Gunter Level 1 Grade 2
Narcian Level 1 Grade 2
Lissa Level 1 Grade 2
Jeorge Level 1 Grade 1
Olwen Level 1 Grade 1

Fire Emblem Heroes Review

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It’s time for a new App game! Since I got to Level 40 in Pokemon Go I figured it would be fine to finally check out another free game. This one got a lot of hype back in the day, but I think I got on the gravy train before it completely passed me by. After playing it for a few days I can definitely see why everyone loves it so much. The game is incredibly polished for a free game and it has helped make me a much bigger Fire Emblem fan than I was before. There’s so much to do here that if I took it seriously I would be here a while. It’s going to be more of a side project as new levels come in I’ll complete them and all but I won’t bother going for the more competitive goals.

The game actually has a plot which is already cool. Terry (Your original character protagonist) is summoned into the World of Fire Emblem. The realm is under attack by an evil sorceress with immeasurable power. She has enslaved whole worlds and almost the whole cast is under her power. Terry can tip the balance because he can summon heroes of his own to combat her and he is immune to mind control. You have to team up with the ones who summoned you to stop this foe and rescue everyone who has been enslaved. It’ll be tough though as you’ll have to defeat tough combatants like Lucina, Roy, Ike, and many others. Also, there are so many worlds that as soon as you leave one, the sorceress goes back to reclaim it.

It seems like new levels are added every once in a while, but I don’t expect the game plans to end the campaign anytime soon. The most recent level did end with a big plot twist though. It was one that was certainly expected, but it still counts as progression. There are 12 Story chapters I believe and 10 Protologues, with 2 Xenologues. It’s a pretty good amount of content. I beat the story part of the game in about 2 days, but there is a lot of other content to explore. There are online Arena Battles where you fight other players, Training Stadiums to level up and collect gems, Special Battles where you can fight new matches every day to get more characters and items, Voting Gauntlets, and several other modes.

This game is not lacking in content in the slightest and I probably didn’t even get to try all of the modes for about a week or so. It’s actually very overwhelming at first, but you gradually get used to it as you play more and more. Too much content is never a bad thing after all. If I don’t want to play a mode, then nothing is forcing me to do so. The main currency in the game are Orbs. You get around 5-8 every day for logging in. You can use 20 to purchase a full set of 5 characters. You can also use 1 to replenish your energy each time you run out and you can use 1 during a fight to restore all of your characters and they all get an extra turn. You don’t want to be too frivolous with the Orbs when you start because they get more scarce as you go on.

I mentioned the energy earlier and that determined what you can do every day. Each action costs energy and when you run out you have to use an orb or just stop playing for the day. That’s how they get you as you can purchase extra orbs. I know quite a few people online who’ve spent hundreds on orbs so they could get their favorite character. I definitely won’t be spending any money on this game though. In part it’s because Pokemon Go was my only exception to that rule and also because the game is quite generous with the orbs. I have never been in a spot where I was out of orbs and needed energy or even been in a situation where I was close to that. You would also need to play quite a lot in a single day to approach that limit. It should be a non factor for most players.

Once you’ve beaten the available story chapters in the game, I’d say that the main focus is now to collect all of the Fire Emblem characters. There are currently 168 and I have about 60. The ultimate final goal would be to get all of them to Grade 5 and max them out to Level 40. Of course that increases your time exponentially as doing that is really a long term goal. As such I won’t really be gunning for that. At most I’ll log in every day for my new fighter and eventually maybe I’ll have them all. Even if they’re grade 2 or 3 that’s fine. To improve their grade you have to level back to Level 1 with that character and spend 20,000 Feathers and 20 Shields which are not easy to come by. It can take weeks to obtain that and I personally can’t say it’s worth it unless you’re super competitive in the game.

The gameplay is extremely smooth and highly customizable. It’s classic Fire Emblem gameplay as you position your pieces on the map and attack. All of the characters have special abilities and there are 3 types, Green, Blue, and Red. Each type is good against another one and week to another. There’s also a blank class, but I’m not sure where they fit into all of this. Different characters have different styles of attack like close range or long which you need to take into account. If you want to fight and know that you’ll win anyway, you can set the game to auto fight and let the computer handle the fight while you get a bite to eat or something. I admit that I started doing this quite a lot after I beat the game to save time. You can also turn off the animations for each attack which saves a bunch of time and I wish more games did that. It would be very useful.

Fire Emblem Heroes really shines when it comes to the graphics. They are exceptionally good and easily the best that I’ve ever seen in a mobile game. It spared no expense with the character portraits and attacks. It’s one of the things that really drew me to the game when I first started. It’ll be really cool if they can grab more animated cutscenes by the end of the game, but even if they don’t I’m still pretty satisfied. The soundtrack is also solid. The themes are limited, but memorable. All in all I’m sure a very large amount of money was put into this game and I’m sure that it has made it all back quite easily.

It’s time to go back and rank all of the mobile games. In 1st is clearly Pokemon Go. The game’s amazing and I’ve put in over 1000 hours by now. You just can’t overestimate just how influential the title is. Truly a legend. 2nd is Fire Emblem Warriors. The immense amount of content and reasons to keep playing speaks for itself. I also like the generous log in bonuses as you really feel like it’s worth it to keep showing up. 3rd is Marvel’s Contest of Champions. It was a fun game, but a big step down from the first two as the gameplay was very repetitive. It also had a very long story mode but it was considerably lower budget and you never felt like you were making any progress. Honestly it’s a very similar style to Fire Emblem Heroes but think of the difference being like Mario Galaxy vs Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures. 4th is Ingress. It’s basically just like Pokemon only without the Pokemon and the Gyms. It may go up as some point, but my whole area is owned by the opposing team and I need to reach Level 6-8 in order to actually do anything about it. I dunno, it’s fun enough but I always can’t help but think of how many Pokemon I’d be catching if I had Go open. Finally in 5th is 1010!. It barely counts when placed with the others since it has no plot and it more of a very simple game app. Still, I did play through it so counting it is fair. It’s a lot of fun at first, but actually gets less so the higher your score gets. After all, who wants to spend 30 minutes trying to top your score only to come out short in the end? Definitely not me! That’s 6 App games that I’ve tried out now. It could be a while before another one so we’ll see how that does in the end.

Overall, App games are very addicting. It’s easy to see how this one got so far. For every great title like this one there are probably 100 low budget mobile games that are pretty bad, but I’ve done a good job of avoiding those so far. I hope Nintendo comes out with a Super Smash app at some point as you just know that would be really awesome. I finally got Roy, Ike, and Lucina in this game so I’m definitely very satisfied with my turnout. I’d like to get Marth at some point, but I suppose it could be a while. If you’re interested in the game, I recommend downloading it as soon as possible. Even if you don’t want to play it yet, download the game just so you can start receiving your daily rewards by logging in. That way you’ll be extra prepared with a bunch of extra items and characters by the time you really do start. There are still a bunch of features that I don’t fully understand or have barely scratched the surface of and we’ll see if I ever do. At least it’s nice knowing that they’re there if I ever need them. It may be time to get a real Fire Emblem game, but I’ve heard mixed things on the newer ones and the old ones are so expensive. It’s definitely a tough call.

Overall 8/10

Pokemon Go Update

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I have finally reached Level 40! In a sense, I feel like I’ve finally completed the game. Getting to this point was always my biggest goal. Now that it’s completed my priority is completing the Pokedex. I’m just missing 2 (Not counting regional exclusives) which are Miltank and Unknown. After I get those two, the final main goal is to catch a Top caliber (81%LV or higher) of each Pokemon evolution route. This game has definitely been intense and soon I’ll finally have my own Blaziken! He is officially going to be my Buddy Pokemon for ages and I’m gonna take him to all the gyms

Marvel Contest of Champions Stats and Records

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Stats time!

Level 6
Gold 8635
Silver 125

Characters
Groot 322
Juggernaut 158
Wolverine 141
Vision 139
Spider-Man 135
Captain America 135
Vision (Classic) 115
Colossus 104
Black Panther 104
Scarlet Witch 103

Marvel Contest of Champions Review

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Just looking at that cover should remind you just how changed Marvel is from the good ole days. We have a lot of heroes trying to replace the classic ones and most of the old ones have had drastic makeovers. No worries though, this game manages to include an enormous amount of characters so the classics are still here as well. With new characters constantly being added to the game, I don’t see Contest of Champions ending anytime soon. It’s simply too expansive at this point and I’m glad to see it doing well. The amount of content can be intimidating, but it also shows that you can do quite a lot even when under the free to play format. Someone should have told Super Mario Run about that.

There’s actually a plot this time. The Collector is having another game and has decided to pit the Marvel heroes against you. You are the chosen one and your opponent is Kang. Both of you collect Marvel heroes and duke it out until there is only one fighter still standing. The plot will probably have some wrinkles along the way though because there are dozens and dozens of levels. I only played about 10% of Act 1, which was already fairly long. Since they keep on adding new chapters and acts for special events, I can easily see this reaching an RPG’s length by the end. The story isn’t all that engaging so you’ll be playing it for the gameplay. Console games are still my priority though, which is why I didn’t play the game for too long. I played it enough to see what it was all about and then it was time to delete the app.

The gameplay is fairly straight forward. Tap the screen for standard attacks. Swipe forward to dash or back to dodge. You can also use charge attacks and special moves. Each battle will play out in pretty much the same way and the various special abilities will all blend together after a while. This is still a game with a reasonably small budget so you can’t go in expecting Marvel vs Capcom. Still, the graphics are very impressive considering. All of the character models are on point and it’s pretty surreal to see Marvel’s large array of characters all show up. The soundtrack is rather bland, but decent.

One issue is that the gameplay can get a little repetitive. I suppose that can be said about most mobile games, but other titles like 1010 and Pokemon Go are super fun anyway. You may be doing the same thing hundreds of times over, but it never gets old. Contest of Champions will get old after a while so you shouldn’t play it for too long at a time. If you play it seriously for collecting all of the heroes though, then this may not be a factor. I also have to give the game some props for not making the pay to win element too prevalent. You can still play for a while each day before hitting your limit and that’s a good thing. Madden Mobile got annoying for how quickly you hit the daily limit along with Pokemon Shuffle.

The main menu is a little cluttered and complicated, but at least it shows that there is a lot to do here. There are all kinds of modes to explore and crystals to earn. It just never stops and you can be lost in the menus for a good 20 minutes before deciding what to do. The replay value here is endless and that’s what we’ve come to expect from these apps. With this one gone, it’s going to be back to Pokemon Go for me. That’s really the only long term app game that I need. These other titles are good, but ultimately can’t compete.

Overall, Marvel’s Contest of Champions is a fun enough game. The graphics are sound and assembling your team of heroes can be addicting. Eventually you’ll either start to get frustrated by obtaining duplicate heroes even though you only have 5 or 6, or you will be completely into the game by then and just hooked on all of the future updates. If you’re a big mobile player, then I recommend adding it to your roster. If not, then this one can probably be passed. It’s good, but you could always just buy Marvel vs Capcom instead for the superior fighter. I know that DC also got a very similar fighting game on the app store, but I don’t plan on trying it out anytime soon.

Overall 7/10

Super Mario Run Review

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I finally went and played a few Toad Rallies so now this game is set for the review. As you may know, you have to actually pay the 10 dollars in order to play the full Mario Run game. I’m not going to call that a ripoff because then you should just consider it like any other game. I suppose 10 dollars isn’t all that much, but I’m not willing to pay that at the moment so this review is of the free content. I acknowledge that the full game would probably be closer to the next level.

Well, this game’s a free runner so there isn’t much to say about the gameplay. You’re always running and you’ll automatically jump over enemies so you just have to focus on not falling into any holes. The game is super easy at the moment, but all Mario games have an easy World 1. It’s to build you up to what is to come. You can practice your tricks on the enemies and at least rack up the experience points. You are able to play the first three levels under the free form of the game. The other main thing to do is to play the Toad Rallies. Basically, they are time trials against other players and the winner is the one who gets the most coins. Grabbing Toads through cool tricks are a must if you want to win these. I’ve won a few battles and it’s fun to get the extra Toads, but it is a bit of a gambling game as you can also lose toads when you lose. That part will probably get annoying as you face tougher levels.

The graphics are sharp as you would expect them to be. The Mario characters all look good and it is clear that this is in the Super Mario Bros series. They even have the nice spin to get you some extra air distance. The music wasn’t working for me at first, but got better later on. It’s Mario so the musical themes and the sound effects are on point as you would expect. On a technical level, this game certainly does not disappoint at all. There is very little content under the free version so there isn’t much replay value at all, but the full game should give you a good amount for the 10 dollars, not to mention all of the extra characters that you’ll unlock.

You can also earn some My Nintendo Points here, which you can use for musical themes for your 3DS or even the occasional download game once every few months. What holds this game back a little is the Free Runner format. Honestly, I’d prefer to control Mario myself as this style could get a little annoying after a while. The extra challenge should definitely help with that though. I don’t see this becoming as big of a phenomenon as Candy Crush or Pokemon Go, but it is a nice entry to the Mobile Market for Nintendo. I hope to see them continue to participate, but I also want them to give us some epic games on the Switch. They have a lot of good series under their belt so they have to make the most of them.

Overall, I’d recommend Super Mario Run. It’s a fun little title and this game is probably worth the 10 dollars more than some other games. However, don’t expect too much out of the gameplay and there are other Free Runners that you could play for free…just throwing that out there. The game isn’t for Android yet and unfortunately, it appears that this may be the case for quite a while thanks to security concerns. Don’t worry, you guys aren’t missing a whole lot. I’ll probably play this game a little longer, but then it’s time to put it on the shelf. I don’t really play mobile games all that much anyway. For the most part, I like to just stick to 2 of them at a time and I already have Pokemon Go and Marvel’s Contest of Champions on the front. The latter is just about done though so I’ll probably have a review for that one up soon as well. Now I’m set for that Switch Mario game coming out soon.

Overall 7/10

1010! Review

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It’s been a while since I reviewed an App game. I technically don’t play a whole lot of them. The first one that I ever dove into was Madden Mobile, which I played for a few months last year. After that, I picked up Pokemon Go this year, which I still play quite actively. I’ll probably review that one once I’m done with the game. I’m planning to stop once I’m level 30 or once I’ve filled up the Pokedex and then I’ll probably just let it rest until Johto. 1010! is a game that I only downloaded because I was challenged by someone who claimed that I could never beat her score. I chuckled and realized that she didn’t know who she was talking too. I am the master of all games and never back down from a challenge! I downloaded the game, and quickly sighed. This was going to be too easy!

The gameplay is fairly simple to pick up and play. You have a classic board of squares that are all empty at first. You are given 3 blocks on the bottom that you have to add to the field. Their shapes will vary based on a limited number of possible shapes. You must fit them all in and then you are given another trio of blocks to add. You don’t have to worry about color coordination as it is purely based on filling rows and columns. Once you fill a row, the row becomes empty and likewise for columns. Completing multiple rows and columns at once will give you bonus points. You keep on going until you are no longer able to add blocks onto the field. When that happens, you have been defeated.

It’ll take you maybe 2-3 minutes tops to understand the rules, but you will get better at making decisions as you play. Soon you’ll be able to eye ball the field and instantly know where you should place the pieces. That being said, no matter how good you get at the game, you can’t get away from the fact that a large portion of the game is completely based on luck. If the game gives you the wrong blocks at a critical time, it’s game over. You always have to gamble based on which block you think will show up. I am not trying to downplay the skill involved though. Some people consistently get scores in the 10000s which is no coincidence. Luck is involved quite a lot, but so is skill. You simply have to play the game enough to really figure out what style works for you.

In the end, I got up to a score of 2919. I deleted the app after a while, but it was a fun run through. I didn’t manage to pass the person who had over 9000, but I helped my Mom get into the game and she shattered the score by about 3000 so I’d call that a win. I did beat the challengee’s friend though so that counts as another mild victory. In the end, you can do just about anything if you put your mind to it! That was my motto as I got into this. The gameplay is certainly a lot of fun and it is easy to just play this for hours and lose track of time. I’ve said it many times and I’ll say it again, mobile games can be great because of how addicting they are and how easy they are to subtly play. It’s hard to take out a 3DS or PSP in public because it might get snatched, but playing something on your phone? That’s no problem!

There’s not much to say about the graphics since there isn’t much to look at here. Everything looks clear so I’ll give it a thumbs up in that category. You can slightly change how the game looks with one or two free options, but the default look ends up being the best way to play. I don’t recall any actual soundtrack, but I usually played with the volume off anyway. The one problem that I have with the game is that its time consuming. After a while, you’ll find yourself less incentivized to play as your high score gets higher and higher. It simply takes too long to get a score that high so you’re better off not even trying. I can’t imagine how people with scores over 10000 keep on playing. Just getting near that number will take a really long period of time. There’s not much of a way to fix that though unless the game added a timer. It’s still a lot of fun so it’s a mild thing that I think could boost the game to the next level.

Overall, 1010! is a fun app. You may not want to play it forever and ever as you’ll find your time vanishing, but it’s fun to play once in a while. It’s certainly good for passing time on the train. I’m the kind of guy who never looks back when it comes to Apps though so don’t expect to see me playing the game again. I do recommend it of course, but Pokemon Go is the only App that I’ve had time for lately. I do intend to play the Pac Man one at some point though. Who knows, if someone challenges me to another App, you may see another review sooner rather than later! Nobody can stop my mad gaming skills!!

Overall 7/10