AppReviewToday- AppReviews

The forces of darkness have descended and you, a Guardian, must venture out and destroy the dark beings with your magical powers and radiating goodness.

If you were to search for this term on the computer at the front desk of the library of video games there would be ten thousand results. A radical take on the mythology of light and dark Light a Way is not.

But it's original in other ways. Playing as a little girl, you have to destroy an endless succession of evil blobs to earn points to spend on upgrading your character and acquiring new creatures to add to your party. These magical creatures drift and float around you like colorful, deadly lanterns.

The further you get, the more powerful you become, but the monsters you encounter become more resilient too, placing you in a magic-fuelled arms race with the forces of evil.

Playing as a little girl, you have to destroy an endless succession of evil blobs to earn points to spend on upgrading your character and acquiring new creatures to add to your party.

The Good

Light a Way is beautiful, from the polished text-free comic book intro to the artsy in-game visuals. The light and dark motif allows for a gorgeous ethereal aesthetic where fairies and lumis dance around like colorful fireflies, shooting out beams of light at your enemies.

It's also packed with lots of other great stuff. As you progress, you'll unlock and obtain different staffs, spells, runes, fairies, and more. Additionally, at any given moment there are items for you to upgrade with the points that you extract from whichever dark creator you happen to be defeating at the time. There are also achievements and daily rewards to claim whenever you can find a moment amid the carnage.

But Light a Way's biggest pro is the way it takes an established mobile genre – the casual ARPG – and mashes it together with another established genre – the cookie clicker – to create something original.

Most ARPGs give you the option of either hacking and slashing by yourself or letting the AI complete levels for you, indicating that combat is not particularly relevant in games that are really about the upgrade loop. Light a Way is a clever halfway house, giving a sense of tactile involvement in the action but in the most streamlined possible way. It's pretty clever.

The Bad

Of course, not everybody rates cookie clickers, and if you're the sort of person who just doesn't see the point in repeatedly tapping on the screen – something a dog could realistically be trained to do – then Light a Way probably won't impress you.

And once you realize that the blobs you're attacking don't fight back, but just sit there and take a beating until they die, Light a Way loses its sense of jeopardy. At first, you'll frantically race to apply upgrades during bouts to boost your powers, but after a while, you'll realize that you can do your magical upgrade admin at your leisure while your opponent patiently waits to be slaughtered.

Again, this won't bother you if you buy into the whole cookie clicker thing. However, if you're expecting something more conventional you may end up disappointed.

The Verdict

Light a Way is a gorgeous ARPG with a distinctive, charming aesthetic. Developer Appxplore has cleverly taken a gameplay mechanic that's more about the thrill of upgrading than it is about the fighting, and stripped the action back to its minimal viable state, while still giving the player a palpable sense of involvement in the fights.

This makes for a decidedly casual take on the ARPG genre, with very little in the way of challenge. As long as you keep tapping, applying the upgrades that rapidly become available, unlock the stuff you're prompted to open and claim the things you're led to claim, you'll cruise along until you finish the game or put it down.

If you're looking for a thrill ride or a challenge of any kind, look elsewhere. But if you're in the market for a pretty, chilled out, meditative experience to engage you in a pleasingly undemanding feedback loop for a while, Light a Way will fit the bill.

7.2

OVERALL

Does it Well 8

Is Engaging 8

User Interface 7

Lasting Appeal 7

iPhone Integration 6

FREE

Light a Way

Appxplore (iCandy)

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

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