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Project Highrise ($3.99) by Kalypso is the mobile port of the popular building simulation game that originally came out in 2016 for PC and Mac. It's received plenty of acclaim and is also known as the spiritual successor to SimTower. If you liked games like Tiny Tower, Mega Mall Story, or even The Sims Mobile, then you'll get a kick out of Project Highrise.

Many years ago, Tiny Tower came out and became one of my biggest mobile addictions. It was hard to resist the charm of pixelated people and owning my own skyscraper full of various businesses and tenants, and watching them all live their daily lives. It took me a while to completely kick the habit, but I've been missing the feeling of owning and managing my own digital building ever since then. When news of Project Highrise coming to mobile tablets hit my inbox, I knew that this was something I had to have, even though I haven't played or heard of it before. Now that I have it, I can definitely see myself losing many upcoming hours on this game.

Free

Tiny Tower

NimbleBit LLC

$4.99

Mega Mall Story

Kairosoft Co.,Ltd

Free

The Sims™ Mobile

EA Swiss Sarl

Visually, Project Highrise is fairly impressive with its 2D rendered graphics and realistic details. The game carries a rather simple and clean minimalistic style to everything, but manages to pack in plenty of detail. The environments you'll be building in are based on real-world settings, and you're able to see the ins-and-outs of each structure, which gives you a nice perspective on architecture. The people in each building are also distinctive and it's easy to tell them apart from each other, and things get lively once the building is bustling with business. Animations are smooth on my iPad mini 4, and I don't have any issues with lag or choppy frame rates. The soundtrack is delightfully upbeat and quirky, making the overall experience fun and charming. Who knew building and managing a skyscraper was so relaxing and not stressful?

There are several ways to play Project Highrise, but the main point is that you are both the architect and developer of the building, so there's a lot of work that needs to be done to become the envy of the city. You can either go into the Sandbox mode for complete freedom over your building, or Scenarios for levels with end goals to complete.

Sandbox mode has three difficulty levels: Beginner, Standard, and Challenging. Beginner starts you off with a lot of money, great economy, and plenty of tenants who are going to pay well for some building space. Standard gives you a good amount of money, solid economy, and tenants are easy to come by but don't pay as much. Challenging has few starting money, solid economy but higher costs and less revenue.

For Scenarios, you start with Downtown, but you can also get the North Side, South Loop, West Loop, and Totally Tokyo expansion packs through in-app purchases. Each scenario has a different objective that you must strive for with your limited resources, which can be a challenge in and of itself.

No matter how you choose to play, Project Highrise contains a ton of content, so be prepared to sink in at least several hours into this game. Controls are simple too, and optimized for tablet touch screens.

Everything in Project Highrise is done through the in-game menu. You can add more floors, stairs, elevators, electric storage, power lines, businesses, apartments, restaurants, and whatever else through a drag-and-drop, paintbrush-like interface. Just pick what you want, and then move it into place with your finger. Things like electric lines and floors can be "painted" on by dragging your finger across the spaces you want them to go.

As you are putting everything into place, you'll see the cost it requires to add that asset to the building. When you want to add things like restaurants or offices, you'll see what kind of business it is, the things they expect from the building, and how much rent they'll be paying you. Sometimes there are requirements, such as offices needing copying or courier services, to help keep them happy. Restaurants tend to like high foot traffic areas, so make sure you know where to place everything to maximize efficiency.

Like other simulation games, construction takes time. You can speed up the process by using the fast-forward button in the top right corner, and then resume normal speed by tapping the play button. You can also pause the game at any time if you need a moment to think and strategize.

The popular skyscraper simulation game is now on your iPad for hours of fun.

The Good

Project Highrise is a great tower simulation game, and it's definitely perfect for mobile tablets. This port carries over all of the great things about the original version, but in a more streamlined and optimized format. The visuals are rich and detailed, the music is fun and adds a ton of personality, and the controls are easy to learn. Plus, there are plenty of tutorials to help you get started if you're a complete newbie.

On top of it all, Project Highrise contains a ton of content, hours of gameplay, and you're able to freely make your own dream building. There's unlimited potential with Project Highrise, so it gives you a lot of bang for your buck.

The Bad

If you're not much of a simulation fan to begin with, then Project Highrise probably isn't going to change your mind. You may need to learn how to efficiently play through some trial-and-error, so it's easier to just start over with a new building once you get the hang of things. And while the game does have four expansion packs you can purchase, it's a little annoying that there are more in-app purchases for furnishings and other extras that don't come included.

The verdict

As someone who hasn't played Project Highrise before but appreciates tower building sims, I am loving the game so far. I'm still just in the shallow end of the game, but I'm enjoying it greatly so far. The visuals are great, the music is delightful, and the controls are optimized for this kind of thing. I can easily see myself picking this up whenever I have some time around the house and just losing myself for a few hours just building my dream tower.

Project Highrise is available on the iPad App Store for just $3.99. There are in-app purchases.

9.0

OVERALL

Replayability 9.5

Sound/Music 9.5

Gameplay 9

Game Controls 8.5

Graphics 8.5

$3.99

Project Highrise

Kalypso Media Group GmbH

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

Vandals ($3.99) by ARTE Experience is a turn-based stealth puzzle game that's all about promoting gorgeous street art. If you enjoyed games such as Deus Ex GO and Hitman GO, then you will love Vandals.

Life has been fairly busy for me lately, so whenever I have some time to spare I want to just sit down and bust out some games. It takes the pressure off for a while, and it's relaxing, you know? My favorite genre of game is puzzles, as they're stimulating but calming at the same time. When Square Enix released their series of GO games, I fell in love with them right away. There's just something about those minimalistic puzzles and the mix of stealth that are hard to resist. So when I saw Vandals, I felt it was reminiscent of those games, and I had to check it out for myself. I can definitely say that this one does not disappoint.

$4.99

Hitman GO

SQUARE ENIX Ltd

$4.99

Deus Ex GO

SQUARE ENIX Ltd

$4.99

Lara Croft GO

SQUARE ENIX Ltd

$4.99

Monument Valley 2

ustwo Games Ltd

$1.99

Mr Future Ninja

Appsolute Games LLC

Visually, Vandals is truly stunning. The game features a visual style that reminds me of other games like Monument Valley and Mr Future Ninja with somewhat isometric graphics. However, unlike the dreamscape or futuristic settings of those other games, Vandals focuses on realistic and modern environments, based on real world locations. Each area you'll explore in Vandals showcases inspiration from the locales in real life, but they truly shine with the modern graphical style and lighting. Colors in Vandals are a nice mix of dark tones and bright and vibrant neons that provide excellent contrast with each other. Animations are smooth and fluid, so there's no issues of lag on my iPhone 8 Plus. The ambient soundtrack is rather atmospheric, and the sound effects are lifelike. Overall, the developers have knocked it out of the park here with the visual and audio design.

Since Vandals is a puzzle game, it's level-based like many before it. There are five chapters, each taking place in a major city from all over the globe. At the moment, Vandals includes Paris, Tokyo, via São Paulo, Berlin, and New York. Each locale has 12 puzzles to solve, and you must clear the previous one before you can progress. There are three stars to earn on each level, though one is technically a "bonus" that you can collect on the stage if you choose to, though it's usually out of the way.

The goal of Vandals is simple and straightforward: sneak around police surveillance and tag walls with your glorious works of spray paint art. However, it becomes harder and harder to do this when security becomes more intricate and trickier to get around.

Each puzzle consists of pathways on the floor that are represented by solid or dashed lines. Dashed lines are only for you to sneak by, and police cannot traverse on these. The dots on the paths indicate one space, and you can only move one space per turn. Just swipe in the direction you want to go. As you move, the police move as well, and the red line represents their eyesight. Don't be caught in the red, because that's when the police catch and arrest you. Your goal is to reach the space with the spray paint icon on it to paint the wall, and then reach the goal space, where you then sneak out of the area like nothing ever happened.

You're equipped with a whistle, which you can use when you need to distract the police. To use it, just tap on the icon in the bottom right corner. You can also pick up empty bottles on certain spaces, which can be thrown to another nearby space to distract the cops. With these two tools, you'll have to plan your moves strategically to spread your art and get out of there.

Again, up to three stars may be earned on a stage. You get a star for being invisible (not ever detected by the cops), another for completing the puzzle in a certain number of moves, and the last one can be collected on the stage itself. You need enough stars to gain access to the other areas, so try to get as many as you can.

The best part about the game is the street art part. Once you get to the walls, you're able to freely draw whatever you want, or you can just tag it with your name that you chose at the start of the game. Your creations get saved on each stage, and a photo gets put into your in-game Black Book. You can share your best artworks with others if you want, which is pretty cool.

In addition to challenging puzzles and the ability to create your own street art, Vandals has a lot of background info on the evolution of street art since the 1960s. As you play, you'll unlock more facts and tidbits from 40 experts, and these are accessible from the Black Book as well.

A turn based stealth adventure.

The Good

Vandals is an excellent stealth puzzle that rewards creativity. The visuals are gorgeous to the eyes, and the original music is immersive. Controls are simple enough for anyone to pick up, and the game can be played in either portrait or landscape modes, along with a left or right-handed option. Being able to weave in your own artworks into the game is a nice touch, and it definitely encourages creativity and uniqueness among each player.

The Bad

While there's a lot of good going on in Vandals, I think that the animation speed can be a bit slow and tedious at times. This is especially true when transitioning to the spray painting screen on a level you've already done, going through menus or stages, or if you need to retry a stage because of failures. I wish that there was a way to speed up some of the animations, or even skip them. Maybe the developers can consider that in a future update.

The verdict

Vandals is definitely a new puzzle favorite of mine. I love these types of games, and Vandals is challenging while looking and sounding amazing. Controls are simple, and you can play the game in whatever position is most comfortable for you. I just hope to see faster menu and scene transitions, because it does get annoying after a while. Still, Vandals is an excellent turn-based stealth puzzler that encourages you to get a little artsy.

Vandals is available on the App Store as a universal download for your iPhone and iPad for just $3.99.

9.2

OVERALL

Graphics 10

Sound/Music 10

Gameplay 9

Replayability 8.5

Game Controls 8.5

$3.99

Vandals

ARTE Experience

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