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Miracle Merchant ($1.99) by Arnold Rauers is a solitaire style potion brewing card game that will delight everyone. If you couldn’t get enough of Card Crawl or Card Thief, then you will love Miracle Merchant.

In the past few years, it’s become harder for me to find developers who continue to release quality games that I will purchase without hesitation. Fortunately, Rauers is one of those developers who releases top notch card games, and I must admit that they’re rather addictive. I grew up playing card games of all kinds, so I have a soft spot for them. When Rauers first released Card Crawl, I knew it was something special. Then Card Thief came along, and I added that to my collection. And now we have Miracle Merchant, which is possibly my new favorite.

App Feels Like

$2.99

Card Crawl

Arnold Rauers

$1.99

Card Thief

Arnold Rauers

Visually, Miracle Merchant falls in line with Rauers’ previous games and has the scrawny, hand-drawn cartoon art style. It always reminds me of cartoons like “Adventure Time” and “Regular Show,” which isn’t a bad thing in my opinion. The colors are bright and vivid, though you have some darker and more morbid ingredient cards too. Animations are smooth and fluid, with no lag on my iPhone 7. The game also has a soothing ambient soundtrack that is delightful to listen to, as well as some great card shuffling sound effects. Once again, Rauers has another fantastic hit on his hands.

In Miracle Merchant, there’s only one game mode, but that’s all you need. There’s also no extras, such as shops or upgrades, so all of the focus is on the gameplay itself. The gist of Miracle Merchant is that you are the owner of a potion shop, and you have to fulfill customer orders by combining ingredient cards. There are a ton of different potions to discover and create, with the results always dependent on the order in which you lay out the ingredients themselves.

Each round consists of you filling orders until you’ve cleared out the ingredient cards (you win) or you fail to get an order correct (you lose). so how do you play Miracle Merchant?

Along the bottom will be four stacks of cards, which represent colored ingredients. Customers come in with a required ingredient color (top speech bubble), and then tell you their favorite ingredient color (bottom speech bubble). To create a potion, you need to include at least the required ingredient, their favorite for a bonus, and then two more, as all potions need four ingredients to make.

However, there’s more to Miracle Merchant than meets the eye. On each card, you may see another color in the bottom corners, or even in the center. If it’s in the corners, you get a bonus if you place that indicated color next to that card on the specified side. When it’s along the bottom, that means you get the bonus as long as that color’s included in the combination.

In addition to the colored ingredients, there are evil ones too, which are black cards that may appear in any of the ingredient card stacks. Fortunately, some customers want these sketchy ingredients in their potions, and it’s easy to spot because of the black speech bubble with the star in it.

Each card features a number in the top corner as well. This number represents the value that the ingredient is worth. For a potion to be viable, it needs a value of at least one in order to count — anything less and it’s considered too weak. Customers won’t take these weak potions, thus ending the game. You’ll have to be careful with the evil ingredients though, because they have negative values, so balance it out with other high value ingredients. Having two like-colored ingredients next to each other nets you a “twin” bonus, so keep that in mind.

If there’s a customer that comes in and you are unable to fulfill their order because the ingredients aren’t available, then use the “boot” button to move them to the end of the line. This is helpful when all stacks have evil ingredients and you’re not able to guarantee the right ingredients for an order.

To keep things interesting and have a high replay value, there are missions for players to complete, in addition to trying to win games. These may include things like “Create a yellow duplex potion,” “Win five games,” and more. They’re rather hard to accomplish and take some time to complete (you need to win a round for them to clear and get new ones), so it just keeps you coming back for more.

The makers of Card Thief and Card Crawl have a new card based challenge for you to play.

Miracle Merchant is definitely another mobile card game hit from Rauers. If you’re a fan of the other two games, then this one delivers more of that addictive card game challenge in a unique visual style. The rules are simple to learn but it takes a lot of planning and strategizing in order to win. It’s a challenging game with high replay value because of that.

Just like the other two games, winning in Miracle Merchant is not an easy task. Since the goal is to fulfill all orders while clearing out all of the cards, it requires planning ahead to succeed. This is not the type of game for those who just want to win all the time, and it even requires some patience until your first win.

As a big fan of Rauers’ other two card games, I am in love with what Miracle Merchant has to offer. The game shows off the distinctive visual style of the developer, and the sound design is well done. The tutorial explains all of the basics to you in a simple-to-understand manner, but the gameplay itself is challenging and requires some thought. There’s a ton of possible combinations of potions to discover and serve, and the goals keep everything fresh.

I’ve just started playing Miracle Merchant since it was released last night, but I’m having a hard time putting it down. It’s just that good.

I highly recommend grabbing Miracle Merchant if you’re a fan of Card Crawl, Card Thief, or just want some unique solitaire-style card game fun on your iOS device.

Miracle Merchant is available on the App Store as a universal download for your iPhone and iPad for $1.99. There are no in-app purchases.

9.4

OVERALL

Game Controls 10

Replayability 9

Graphics 9.5

Sound/Music 9

Gameplay 9.5

$1.99

Miracle Merchant

Arnold Rauers

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Vista Golf (Free) by Shallot Games is an elegant mini golf game that’s sure to appeal to everyone. If you enjoy games like Super Stickman Golf 3 and OK Golf, then you will love Vista Golf.

While golf may be relaxing to some, it’s pretty boring for me, at least in real life. Personally, I much prefer mini golf because it’s more fun and easier for me to enjoy, especially with friends and family. However, I don’t go too often for mini golf, so it’s only an occasional thing I do. Fortunately, there are video games that simulate mini golf so I can enjoy it at my leisure. While my favorite golf games continue to be the Super Stickman Golf series from Noodlecake, I still enjoy finding new offerings on the App Store. Vista Golf is the latest one to catch my eye lately.

App Feels Like

Free

Super Stickman Golf 3

Noodlecake Studios Inc

$2.99

OK Golf

Okidokico Entertainment Inc.

Vista Golf features a minimalist aesthetic with low-poly graphics that is sure to delight most people. In a way, the visuals remind me slightly of Horizon Chase, which I don’t think is a bad thing as it’s a modernized retro style. The courses appear simple and clean, with beautiful and serene landscapes that are lush and relaxing to gaze upon. The colors are bright and vivid, but shift to more muted tones as you putt in different locales. Animations are smooth and fluid with seamless transitioning and no lag. There’s a soothing, ambient soundtrack that immerses you into the world of virtual mini golf.

There are three difficulty levels in Vista Golf that players can select from the main screen. You can choose your difficulty level by dragging your finger left or right, or just use the arrow buttons. Each week, Vista Golf showcases one course for each difficulty level, so there’s three courses each week. These courses represent different locations from all over the globe, so you can experience lush tropics or snowy mountains while playing mini golf.

There’s also an infinite mode that lets you play as far as you want on a larger-than-life course that never ends. Regardless of how you want to play, both fun and frustration await you in Vista Golf. Plus, with new courses refreshed every week, there’s always new content to look forward to.

Controls in Vista Golf are super simple and incredibly intuitive. When the ball is still, there’s a circle that surrounds it. Just drag from within the circle to line up your shot and adjust the power of the hit. This is clearly indicated with the number (from zero to 100) that shows up under the arrow. To hit the ball, just release your finger. If you want to cancel, just get the number down to zero and then remove your finger from the screen.

Sometimes you will need to move the camera around to get a better view. This is done by dragging anywhere outside of the circle. You can also pinch to zoom in or out for a better look at the whole course.

If you ever need to undo a stroke, you’ll have to “rewind” and watch an ad to do so. But to make sure players don’t abuse this feature, you’re limited to two per course, so use them wisely.

Unless you’re playing the infinite mode, each course has a total of 18 holes for you to play through. Each hole has a par number, which is the number of strokes required to complete, usually, though you can always get less (better) or more (worse). By the 18th hole, your pars get tallied up and your score’s determined. The game features global leaderboards so you can keep trying to get a better rank. There’s also plenty of achievements to obtain.

A beautiful and minimalistic mini golf game.

Vista Golf is a fantastic mini golf experience on iOS. The low-poly design of the graphics is cute and quirky, while providing enough detail to create realistic courses. Vista Golf’s music is tranquil and calming, helping players focus on the courses and getting (hopefully) the fewest pars as possible. Having new courses each week means more reason to keep coming back to the game, and the controls are intuitive and responsive. And for those who truly want to relax, the infinite mode is excellent for doing just that.

While Vista Golf is an excellent free mini golf game, it is annoying that you have to watch an ad to use an undo. Also, I did notice while shooting the ball that the power levels may not always be accurate, so the physics in the game seem a bit off. For example, sometimes even a power of 20-30 causes me to overshoot, and something less ends up in an undershoot. It’s hard to predict where the ball ends up when hazards and obstacles are factored in, so hopefully that’s fixed in an update.

Vista Golf, despite the flaws in physics, is still enjoyable and downright fun entertainment. I love the minimal graphics because they still feel elegant and look great, the music is a delight, and the controls are simple to learn. Having new courses to look forward to each week means more reason to keep playing, plus infinite mode is a great way to relax. I just hope that the physics gets refined in an update to be more accurate and predictable.

I recommend giving Vista Golf a try if you’re looking for mini golf games. Vista Golf is available on the App Store as a universal download on your iPhone and iPad for free. There does not seem to be any in-app purchases, but ads are shown if you want to undo a shot.

8.4

OVERALL

Graphics 9

Sound/Music 9

Replayability 8

Game Controls 8

Gameplay 8

FREE

Vista Golf

Shallot Games, LLC.

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