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Purrfect Date ($4.99) by Bossa Studios is a dating sim that focuses heavily on cats, while also being wrapped in a shroud of mystery, humor, and drama. If you enjoyed other cat-lover games such as Cat Quest, Super Phantom Cat 2, and Cat Bird, but want a title that has a super interesting story filled with felines, then Purrfect Date is for you.

While I consider myself more of a dog person at this point, I still love and adore cats (just slightly less than dogs). But overall, I'm just a huge animal person, so I definitely can't resist any game when cute animals are involved, no matter what species. I've had my fair share of cat-themed games, with my most recent favorite being Cat Quest, but I can't help but check out a new cat-filled game if it's released. And Purrfect Date is one that does not disappoint, especially if you just love cats.

$4.99

Surgeon Simulator

Bossa Studios Ltd

$4.99

I am Bread

Bossa Studios Ltd

$4.99

Cat Quest

The Gentlebros Pte. Ltd.

Free

Super Phantom Cat 2

Beijing Veewo Game Co., Ltd.

Free

Cat Bird!

Raiyumi Inc.

Visually, Purrfect Date is gorgeous with the unique, hand-drawn visuals throughout the entire game. Cute and cartoony graphics greet players from the get-go, and in some ways, they remind me of my Saturday morning cartoons when I was a child. Both the humans and cats that you come across in the story are all unique, distinctive, and have their own personalities that you'll be able to discover by playing. Purrfect Date also utilizes a bright and vibrant color palette that is sure to appeal to the audience, but some scenes are also darker and gloomier, which helps set the tone. The soundtrack is endearing and whimsical, which I found to be a delight to listen to while playing. The game also has realistic sound effects that play to match the situation and dialogue that you're in, which adds some depth.

While Purrfect Date classifies itself as a dating sim, it's not as straightforward as you originally think it is when first diving in. It's also more of an interactive visual novel, with a bit of romance with felines.

You take on the role of a researcher who just landed a job on the appropriately named Cat Island to work with Professor Pawpur. You're there to help research and take care of the cats that live on the island. Just from this, it already sounds like a cat lover's paradise, right? But things take a dark turn pretty early on in the first chapter, as you discover the possibility of Were-Cats. Turns out there's more to Cat Island than you originally thought, and it's not a serene, feline loving paradise.

Since Purrfect Date is more of an interactive visual novel, there's a lot of reading involved. The story advances through the dialogue, and there's a lot of exchanges between your character and associates, as well as cats. However, you can choose to be either a male or female for each chapter, and there's a few different appearances to pick from for each. There's also a wide variety of cats to find on the island, and your Cat-A-Log device is able to scan and provide information on every feline you come across. The information includes breed, age, and color — you know, all the highly important details when it comes to identifying cats.

As you play, you'll have to make decisions that affect the outcome of the story's ending. There are 18 different endings that you can get, so there's a bit of replay value if you want to find out what all of the endings are. In each chapter, you'll have the opportunity to do research for the antidote for Were-Cats, recon with NPCs that you've met to investigate further, and even develop romantic relationships with the cats themselves. The only mandatory action is research, though.

Each time you decide to do romance, research, or recon, it will take up some energy, which is represented by hearts. You can rest to replenish your energy if needed, but that does mean missing out on another activity. Players can choose to do romance and recon as much as they want, with each opportunity filling up on of the progress bars. However, once you do research three times, then that chapter will close and the story advances. So ideally, you'd want to make sure that you're done with everything else before continuing with research, as there's no way to go back after you make your decision.

Since you are a newly appointed researcher in each chapter, that means you'll have to pick only one cat if you choose to date them. You can do the romance action up to five times in a chapter, and three recon and research actions. Again, while the only mandatory thing you need to do is research, the choice of romance or recon affect the results of your research. Therefore, you'll need to choose wisely, especially when it comes to the tougher decisions that affect your relationship with your feline friends.

The makers of I Am Bread and Surgeon Simulator have a new crazy concept game for you to try.

The Good

Purrfect Date is an interesting and unorthodox mashup of dating sim and interactive visual novel. The handcrafted graphics are cute, the sound design is realistic, and controls are simple, since everything's done through taps. The story gets you hooked in right away, and I love the humor and dark twist in plot. I mean, Were-Cats, who knew? I certainly wasn't expecting that when I was starting the game, but now I need to know more.

The Bad

If you aren't a big fan of reading, then I hate to break it to you, but that's a requirement for Purrfect Date. Everything is revealed through the dialogue, and while you can skip through it, you'll be missing vital parts of the story, or even just the humorous puns and whatnot.

And if you hate cats, well, this game is not for you.

The verdict

As a cat fan, Purrfect Date is a nice surprise on the App Store. I didn't know about the game before this week, but it's certainly a fun, interactive visual novel experience. Plus, dating the cats (crazy cat lady style) is fun and silly, which is to be expected from the same people who developed Surgeon Simulator. And honestly, the visuals are charming and appealing to everyone, and the sound is great.

Purrfect Date is available on the App Store as a universal download for your iPhone and iPad for $4.99.

8.7

OVERALL

Game Controls 9

Graphics 9

Sound/Music 9

Replayability 8.5

Gameplay 8

$4.99

Purrfect Date

Bossa Studios Ltd

Source link: http://appadvice.com/reviews

Caravan War could easily have been the name of a segment on "Top Gear" in which the presenters destroyed a caravan every week in increasingly ostentatious ways. For better or worse, Caravan War is not a game about destroying caravans. Well, it is. But not that kind of caravan.

Viewing the action from an isometric top-down perspective, you have to fill your little world with buildings – a Headquarters, for conducting trades, a Mill, for producing stuff to trade, an Academy, for training guardians to protect your cargo, a Garage, for storing vehicles, and so on.

Then you have to create more buildings and upgrade the ones you have. To keep the wheels turning you have to trade, which means creating a caravan that can survive a journey through the fantasy badlands, and send out convoys whenever you've got enough cargo to sell.

It also means ambushing the caravans of other players, to steal their gold and cargo. But to pull off an ambush, you need a good number of well-trained bandits and a selection of souped-up towers to place in your enemies' way, in classic tower defense fashion.

And the only way to get an army of well-trained bandits is to upgrade your Tavern and your Bandit Camp and keep earning achievements so that you can get hero cards (and gems.)

Oh, and you should probably complete a few campaign missions to unlock that new tower so that you can nab some extra cargo and make enough money to buy a new weapon for your caravan.

And so on and so on.

Caravan War is an interesting take on the casual strategy genre that's richer and more involved than many of its stablemates.

The Good

Caravan War is a rich and detailed tower defense management game mashup where you're always balancing different priorities to keep your little fantasy empire thriving.

Whereas a lot of free to play strategy games hold your hand to a ridiculous degree, slapping a red sticker on every upgrade or unlock that becomes available so that you never have to use your judgement, Caravan War largely leaves you to do the rounds of your little kingdom alone.

And there's a lot to check. Not only can you upgrade your buildings but you can give promotions to your Guardians and Bandits, and tweak the formation of your caravan, among other things.

Your progress never stalls due to the free to play nature of the game. Even after you've completed the campaign missions, you can avoid an unmanageable confrontation by skipping to the next target caravan every time you send out a scout (for a small fee in gold).

The Bad

While there's nothing particularly wrong with the visuals, the 2D isometric graphics can look a bit dated on a device that's capable of gleaming polygons. The design of the world is generic, and the text is sometimes illegibly small unless you zoom in to read it – even on a large smartphone.

This all takes the shine off an otherwise exciting mashup of tower defense and management, imprisoning a novel concept in the staid uniform of a much more ordinary game.

If you can look past the game's ordinary appearance, you'll find a rich and rewarding free-to-play strategy game underneath – but you shouldn't have to look.

The Verdict

Caravan War is an interesting take on the casual strategy genre that's richer and more involved than many of its stablemates. The gameplay contains enough different threads that you always have something to do, and the difficulty is only ever as challenging as you want it to be.

Unfortunately, a slightly drab appearance detracts from the overall package, and there are more exciting alternatives in the App Store. But if you don't mind putting up with generic visuals, there's plenty to like in Caravan War.

7.6

OVERALL

User Interface 8

Lasting Appeal 8

Does It Well 8

iPhone Integration 7

Is Engaging 7

FREE

Caravan War

Hiker Games Joint Stock Company

Source link: http://appadvice.com/reviews