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As someone who plays and reviews a lot of mobile games, I have (unfortunately) become very accustomed to engaging with gambling-like mechanics. It's gotten to the point where I am almost entirely immune to their charms and their mere presences acts more as a deterrent than something to keep me coming back. But, then there are always exceptions, like Luck be a Landlord, a game that is basically a glorified slot machine that manages to compel me thanks to some ingenious roguelike design hooks.

Gamble rent to pay rent

Luck be a Landlord is a game in which you spin a virtual slot machine to earn coins in hopes of racking up enough dough to pay an ever-increasing rent that is due in a certain amount of spins. At the start, the slot machine just has a few symbols, but between spins you get the option to add one of three random symbols to create more chances to win more coins over time. Also, between each round of paying rent you may earn some other bonuses like tokens to remove symbols, reroll symbol selections, and even items that provide passive, constant bonuses for the remainder of your play session.

With these simple tools, you are tasked with mastering different synergies of symbols based on the options given to you on any given run in order to keep up with the rate at which your rent increases. You “win” a round when you've been able to clear seven rent payments, at which point you can elect to continue playing in endless mode or take on a more challenging version of the game in a new run.

Strategic slotting

Spinning a slot machine and depending on random items to help you clear a run makes Luck be a Landlord sound like a pure game of chance, but this game rises above that label through some smart design choices that give you a lot of ways to take advantage of its random elements. Whether it is snagging an item that suddenly enhances the effectiveness of certain icon types, symbols that benefit from destroying other items to clear your board, or even items that shift the probability of finding rarer (and more potent) items, there's always some new possible way forward lurking just beyond the next spin.

The way the items and symbols in Luck be a Landlord can combine to let you overcome its challenges is dizzying, and leads to rounds of play that almost never feel the same. They synergies you can develop can also become so powerful that you trivialize the rent barriers of the base game, but reaching this point also gives way to other secret challenges and items to uncover, creating new ways to play and test your slot machine manipulation abilities.

Stuck spinning

A lot of the tricks Luck be a Landlord employs to be as compelling as it is are familiar systems from other genres like roguelikes and auto-battlers, but placing them into a slot machine distills the action into a potently pure form. This is to say that the mileage you might get out of the game depends somewhat heavily on your desire to experiment and optimize different “builds” or strategies, as outside of that the game is simply pressing a lever and seeing what happens.

Along these same lines, though, this is precisely what makes the mobile version of Luck be a Landlord especially great. As a portrait mode game that is super easy to pop in and out of at a moment's notice, it is the exact game I've been gravitating toward whenever I am between things, waiting for the bus, or just spinning a few times before putting my phone away for the night. The only problem with this is that the allure of stumbling across the exact right item I need after “just one more spin” has resulted play sessions that are often longer than I've expected or wanted them to be.

The bottom line

Luck be a Landlord successfully merges a slot machine with the roguelike and deck-building mechanics that make those genres feel so dynamic and imminently replayable. The result is an experience that is super easy to pick up and very hard to put down.

Source link:https://www.148apps.com/reviews/luck-be-a-landlord-review/

Bugsnax is a game all about creatures that embody features of two completely different forms of life. This dichotomy extends beyond the game's subject matter, though, and bleeds into almost every other aspect of the game as well. The resulting effect is a game that sometimes cultivates charming clashes but more often feels like an experience that is at odds with itself. It makes for a fascinating play nonetheless, and this mobile version is more than capable of allowing you to enjoy the wonders of Snaktooth Island without much of a hitch.

Trap and snack

In Bugsnax, you play as an intrepid Grumpus reporter who journeys to Snaktooth Island where a form of life known as Bugsnax roam the land. These creatures are named for their resemblance to giant bugs that have somehow combined themselves (and presumably taste like) snacky foods like fruits, burgers, cookies, etc.

A small group of explorers has already set up a small encampment on the island to learn more, but you quickly discover upon your arrival that things are in disarry. Two of the most vital leaders of the group have gone missing, and most of the other Grumpuses have fallen out with each other and isolated themselves from the group as a result. This then sets you on a mission to explore the island, interview group members, and try to find out what happened to its leaders, all of which involves some amount of trapping and/or feeding Bugsnax to Grumpuses you meet along the way.

Fetching flashback

Most of Bugsnax consists of exploring an area, meeting the Grumpuses there, and completing quests for them which in turn pushes some story event forward that unlocks the next area to explore. Given the way that the encampment acts as a hub to small areas branching off of it, the structure has a real throwback feel to it, almost like a Playstation 1 game, but with surprisingly polished visual and sound design.

This is where the style clashes start, but definitely not where they end. There's also the kid-friendly aesthetics that run up against a pretty dark story featuring characters who (with few exceptions) are often not very nice, the seemingly simple tasks of capturing and cataloging creatures getting convoluted with all manner of gadgetry and environmental manipulation mechanics, and all the ingredients for some kind of management system for the encampment but applied so lightly they largely feel like an afterthought.

It's interesting to see these points of friction rub against each other, but I wouldn't say they are as fun to play through as they are to observe. The brightest spot among these choices is Bugsnax's audio design, though, as no matter what you are doing you can be sure to be delighted by the inspired voice acting behind both Grumpuses and Bugsnax alike.

Mobile safari

Despite being a first-person, somewhat action-oriented game, I found little to no issues playing through Bugsnax using touch controls on my iPad. The port itself is technically sound and the design of the action combined with the layout of the on-screen buttons posed few–if any–challenges I might experience elsewhere.

The straightforward structure of Bugsnax also lends itself particularly well to mobile play, as there's only so many things available to do at any given time and the in-game journal does a great job of helping you keep track of everything you might want to do in the world of Bugsnax, even if it's not the main story quest (or any quest at all).

The bottom line

Bugsnax is certainly not the game I was expecting it to be, and that works both for and against it. I am glad it wasn't some cozy, edgeless romp about thoughtlessly collecting creatures, but I am also not particularly smitten with the direction it takes. In its defense, Bugsnax did make me curious enough to see it through to the end, but not for any of the reasons I thought it would when I first started playing it.

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