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Devolver Digital is a publisher that goes out of its way to be somewhat goofy and tongue-in-cheek in virtually every aspect of its business. They have a fake CEO named Fork Parker. They make satirical press conferences for trade shows. They try very, very hard to be funny. Sometimes, they are! Other times, like with the case of Devolver Tumble Time–their brand new free-to-play mobile release–they just make some references to things that you might think are funny purely by being able to recognize them. It also doesn't help that this game makes you play through all of the bad free-to-play stuff that Devolver is supposedly trying to critique, which also isn't very fun.

Time waster

Devolver Tumble Time is very clearly a free-to-play game that is meant to make fun of other free-to-play games. In it, you tap and release on character icons in a virtual tumbler and the more that connect when you pop them the greater the rewards. In each level, you have a goal to reach regarding matching a certain number of icons, which you'll want to complete before time runs out.

It's a very simple game that (perhaps intentionally) feels immediately familiar. There are thousands of games on the App Store that follow this structure. And, like them, Devolver Tumble Time loves to up the challenge by simply asking you to do more in the same amount of time, which inevitably leads to fail states where you can either opt to give up or watch an ad to get 10 seconds added to the clock.

Meta about monetization

Very early on into the game, Devolver Tumble Time gets very transparent about being a game about games. The tutorial character is Fork Parker, Devolver's fictional CEO, and he chimes in about how great it is to watch ads, let you know about games that got canceled due to not fitting an analytical model, and even steals collectibles from you if you end up having to complete a level using a character you haven't gotten from the in-game gacha machine yet.

Speaking of collectibles, there are six in-game currencies, many of which don't really seem to do anything, and as for the characters you unlock, none of them really seem to have meaningful differences between them. It's all just emulating monetization schemes that feel bad to deal with and trying to get a laugh out of presenting you with those things.

Look at this bad thing you now have to play/watch

The gags in Devolver Tumble Time could be funny, but there is one major problem with them: They aren't gags. The game doesn't drop its act of being a free-to-play nightmare. It just is one of those while giving a wink and a nod as if to say “doesn't this suck?” The answer, of course, is yes.

This makes Devolver Tumble Time not really a joke game. It's just acknowledging its bad monetization before asking you for money, and most directly asking specifically for $99.99 to “unlock everything.” It doesn't matter if its timers have a low cooldown or the ads aren't real (just one boring, fake one), it's just a bad game. There's no real commentary or hidden layer to what it offers. It just comments on its own bad qualities.

The bottom line

There is nothing of value to be found in Devolver Tumble Time. It presents itself as a joke but it is both repetitive and unfunny. There is no meaningful critique happening either, as it just is the thing it sets out to make fun of, which is a monotonous, overly simple, poorly designed, and brazenly monetized time waster.

Source link:https://www.148apps.com/reviews/devolver-tumble-time-review/

Adventure games that adhere very closely to genre convention can be difficult to feel a lot of love for. Unless they do something particularly inventive to tell their story, they run a real risk of simply feeling derivative. Boxvilletoes this line very closely, but it makes up for some of its mechanical familiarity by moving at a swift pace through a charming world.

Adventure in a can

Boxville takes place in a world made of recyclables. People are made of various cans and other cylindrical, metal containers and the buildings are made of–you guessed it–boxes. You play as a blue soda can who has lost their dog (made of a tuna can), which takes you on a winding path through this city of cardboard where you often need to solve other can's problems to find a way forward.

This entire adventure is a wordless affair, though bits of backstory or explanations are provided through comic panels scrawled on pieces of cardboard. Most of these explanations function to give you some direction when it comes to poking around these recyclable environments, collecting items, and using them to solve age-old adventure game problems like how to get a MacGuffin for an NPC or reach a place you can't simply walk to directly.

No hints needed

As adventure games go, Boxville is thankfully pretty straightforward. That is to say, there are no moments I had when playing where the next step I needed to take was particularly unclear. Each part of the game is divided up into a specific part of the city, and all of the puzzles in each area only revolve around a handful of items. This makes it so that even if you find yourself having to resort to trial-and-error, you aren't juggling a large number of solutions to plug and chug through.

There are also virtually no puzzle archetypes that repeat in Boxville, so the challenges you enjoy stay fresh and enjoyable while the ones you don't just fade in the rear view as you continue moving forward. Something I found somewhat remarkable about Boxville's puzzle design is just how intuitive it all is. I never felt myself wondering why a solution was the way it was or how I was supposed to figure something out.

Short, simple, cute

As a result of having intuitive, non-repeating puzzles, Boxville doesn't take a ton of time to get through. The quest to find your dog is similarly straightforward and doesn't really give way to some larger or more intriguing plot.

This might result in some players hoping for a bit more by the time they reached the end, but I was honestly relieved that Boxville ended when it did. The scope of the game is small and to see it just focus on designing bespoke challenges in its unique world for as long as that seemed fun is more satisfying to me than padding the thing out or trying to shoehorn in other things into the game to create some artificial sense of additional value.

The bottom line

Sometimes the thing that makes a game enjoyable is how it gives you everything you expect while making it look easy. Boxville doesn't feel super ambitious and it isn't all that surprising, but it is a good point-and-click adventure that ensures you'll basically never get stuck or sick of it for as long as it lasts.

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