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Games like Laser Panic put me in a bit of a quandary about this whole review business. On one side of things, reviews often provide the utility of like a shoppers guide or recommendation, but there's also the part of this business that's about examining and critiquing a game's artistic merit (a side of this we do not see nearly often enough and I am guilty of not upholding as much as I should). Laser Panic doesn't really fit comfortably within either of these modes of examination since–as a value proposition–it is freely available, and on the artistic front, there's some neat game design ideas going on it, but you're very much getting what you're paying for.

Multi-legged mayhem

Laser Panic is an arcade game where you control a spider-like robot by dragging on the screen to make it skitter around various levels. Your goal is to open an exit by collecting a certain number of yellow diamonds that spawn into the level while also being careful of avoiding enemies that look like laser spheres, hence the name I guess.

In addition to simply steering clear of these enemies, little green rocket powerups also appear that you can pick up to have them automatically fire at these foes, destroying them instantly. Once you have collected the requisite amount of diamonds, you can go through the exit door to be greeted with a new level layout and repeat the process.

Multi-layered mechanics

Where Laser Panic gets interesting is how all of these basic ideas intertwine to create a surprising amount of depth for what otherwise might feel like a basic spin on Pac-Man. To just quickly list some of the wrinkles with its systems: your movement is fully analog, enemies can attack diamonds to convert them into new enemies, rockets have a blast radius giving them the ability to kill multiple enemies at once, and killing enemies builds up a green currency that gives you more lives.

These tweaks don't change the basic premise of running around a maze dodging enemies, but it can totally transform the way you approach this challenge given different situations. Maybe you want to manipulate the enemy AI into grouping around a diamond before you launch a rocket, or what might happen if you can squeeze just around an enemy to steal a pickup from them? Perhaps you hold off on picking up a rocked until two enemies start to cross each other's path. These are things you start thinking about and then taking advantage of thanks to Laser Panic adding some dimension to these mechanics.

It is what it is

Now is the part where I stop giving Laser Panic so much credit. As genuinely surprised I am to find a completely free (and ad-free) game with so many thoughtful ideas at play, it also feels like these cool ideas don't quite have a full game built around them.

This might sound nitpicky given the game's price tag and it's arcade tuning, but even with those in mind I still feel like Laser Panic is missing something. At a certain point as levels get more difficult, it just feels like there is little left to do besides hope you banked enough lives to muddle through. I don't think Laser Panic needs to have some kind of bloated progression system or rpg mechanics (in fact it should not), but I can't help but feel like there's some ingredient missing even though I'm not sure what it might be.

The bottom line

Laser Panic conceptually is very interesting and exciting, which is not something I typically find with free arcade games on the App Store. That said, I am not sure the whole concept is as fully fleshed out to make it truly special. Given the price, Laser Panic is well worth downloading just to witness how much it does with so little.

Source link:https://www.148apps.com/reviews/review-270326/

I have some complicated feelings about Loop Hero. I remember is as one of the big games culture phenoms under the height of COVID (along with Among Us), and it is an enjoyable upgrade treadmill that is fun as long as its systems are playing nicely together. Sometimes they aren't, as there are a ton of disparate things at play in the game, but the fact that any of it works is rather impressive, and even moreso seeing it tied so well together by its surprisingly cool art and worldbuilding. On iOS, you'd think it's kind of the perfect game to dink around with, and it is fully capable of sucking you in, but I'm not sure it has aged all that well since its initial release.

Loot loop

In the event that you haven't played Loop Hero, some explanation for how it works is required. This game borrows from a lot of other places, but as far as I know there aren't really games like it. You play as a hero who is trying to build up some semblance of civilization at the end of the world, and you do this by going on adventures where your character automatically moves around a track to fight monsters, secure supplies, level up, and find gear that will help you fight even more powerful monsters.

Your role as the player controlling this revolves somewhat around switching up gear to make your hero as strong as possible, but the main focus is actually on building up the land features on and around the track (via cards) to try and make things as hard as possible while still being able to survive so you can score the most chances at getting powerful loot to take down and end boss for big resource rewards and some story payoff.

Repeating randomness

As you advance in Loop Hero, you build up a village in between runs and the structures you build grant bonuses, add new cards to play with, and even unlock additional classes with their own gear and special combat abilities. The core of what you do in each subsequent run remains largely the same, though: kill, loot, die/retreat, repeat.

There are times where this formula is totally engrossing. It can be incredibly satisfying to happen upon a build that lets your hero go the distance to fell a boss or find special items like trophies to tip your battlefield builds in certain directions. There are plenty of other times, though, where things like this simply do not come together, and either you die or you retreat just to venture out again and see if things shake out better next time. As a game that you could basically let idle in the background of your PC while you do other things, this is mostly fine, but in other formats, not so much.

Meager on mobile

Speaking of format, this mobile version of Loop Hero is serviceable, though some of its ideas to make it more mobile-friendly are a bit odd. Perhaps the nicest thing about this port is that Loop Hero has flawless iCloud sync, allowing you to continue progress between devices, or even tie up a device to allow for some idle play if you so choose.

Beyond that, Loop Hero has added some options to try and make its smallish visuals a bit more readable, but it's all via an awkward magifying feature that didn't quite feel right in all of the configurations offered. Luckily, I found it easy enough to see and read everything on screen when playing on my iPad, though on my phone it was a little more difficult, to the point that I considered turning on high-resolution fonts on the game. I didn't, though, because it kind of ruins the aesthetic of Loop Hero, which I may have only mentioned in the intro but it's cool as hell and goes a long way to make its idle/looping gameplay more appealing.

The bottom line

Loop Hero hasn't suddenly turned into a different game in the years since its release, but you can also see why there haven't been any splashy games like it since. At times, the game feels like lightning in a bottle. At others, it gives the feel of countless other games that are just random systems slurries. When you could play it somewhat idly (and when folks had a lot more idle time), I imagine it felt more magical than it does now playing on a device where you have to face its imperfections head on.

Source link:https://www.148apps.com/reviews/review-270082/