App Review: Godzilla: Strike Zone

The newest incarnation of Godzilla due to hit cinemas soon there are people all over the world queuing up to see this epic movie with a stellar cast. With anticipations for the movie high Warner Bros have decided to release an app to accompany the movie. But the app isn’t as epic as the movie. But don’t let that put you off.

The free app is intentionally small with a key objective to draw more people into the Godzilla experience through a short of mobile advert. The app is fun to play and is more than just a marketing tool. The app has great visuals and the creators have chosen a good narrative to base the game on.

The player plays as one of the soldiers sent into the city in a HALO jump to rescue civilians from Godzilla and to protect the city from further destruction.

Acquisition – With an app based on a movie you would expect download times to take around 5 minutes but with this it was closer to 5 seconds. The player is immediately put into the action and play starts quickly. This makes the jump from starting to activation short. This speed is good but without a great deal of instructions it left this player slightly confused to begin with. When jumping from the aircraft the gameplay switches from 1st person to 3rd without warning which caused me to die several times thinking I was falling behind the characters I saw when in fact I was one of them. But this may be my issue.

Gameplay – the first mission is controlled solely by tilting the device. This works well for controlling the movements of the character while falling and using parachute. The narrative for the gameplay is well chosen and is clearly the point of the movie players would wanting a mobile game (obviously without ruining the plot of the movie). The gameplay brings reminders of Call of Duty and a little bit like playing a Cloverfield game. But that’s probably just the monster link here.

Mission are short, so don’t expect hours of play from this pocket sized Godzilla. Although short the levels are fun to play again but I doubt many players would keep it on their device for more than a week or so. However it has made me want to go see the movie more so maybe it has had the desired effect.

Once on the ground players must navigate a maze of broken streets while avoiding falling debris to rescue civilians.

Look and feel – The graphics are good, akin to PS2 quality. The soundtrack is also good. It is clearly taken straight from the oficial soundtrack and you get a few snippets of movie voiceover too to narrate your gameplay.

Social – At the end of each mission players have the chance to share a screenshot from their gameplay with friends via Facebook. A nice way to get friends interested and trying the game.

Monetisation – This game is FREE with no micro-transactions!! It also contains no adverts which is a pleasant difference from any apps in the app store which are crammed full of money making mechanics.

 

Verdict

This is a great free app and fun to play for a sort while, if you are a fan of first person shooters or military based games this is the app for you at the moment. Give this app a try if you are a fan of the film or are just considering watching it. It’s a nice short free app which won’t keep you busy for hours but will keep you hooked for a while. Although it won’t have me returning too much to the app it will have me playing starting and selecting the Godzilla movie.

 

App Review: Injustice: Gods Among Us

Like many of you out there I loved the Batman Arkham games, even though I am yet to play Arkham Origins, so the prospect of another DC superhero based game which isn’t made out of Lego was a big draw.

The console game of Injustice Gods Among us is a Mortal Kombat style fighting game where players have the choice to play as one of any number of DC superheroes and villains. For those of you unfamiliar with DC this includes Batman, Superman, Wonder  Woman, The Flash, Lex Luthor, The Joker and many other bad-ass comic book characters. Fighting takes place in many stages where players can interact with various parts of the stage like pressing buttons or activating any other special features of a level to destroy your opponent in cinematic and epic ways.

Nightwing uses a power move against Deathstroke in gameplay footage.

So with this in mind and after seeing various video reviews on youtube pre-release I was pumped when I saw there was an app version too, and for free.

The app includes much of the same characters, but with a lot of elements simplified and dumbed down for the mobile game. Something which you would expect from a mobile game with limited control interface and limited game complexity due to platform. The controls are very simple tapping the screen to attack, swiping for combos and holding 2 fingers on the screen for a block form the basic 3 ways to control your character.

You have a choice of 3 superheroes and villains to join your team for one of very many 3 v 3 fights. The game allows simple switching between characters and combos and power moves are easily gained and each have a certain amount of cinematic execution. For example playing as Sinestro (from Green Lantern) when executing a power move a boulder flies down from the sky and hits your opponent’s body. The power moves are charged by rapidly tapping or swiping when prompted.

This game is a great teaser for the full game on PC or console and its basic interface is easy to follow and makes executing combos and power moves easy. As a free game it easily draws in fans of the comic book franchises and seems more action packed than the comparable Marvel games. After a while the gameplay does become repetitive and like other fighting games it becomes a button basher, but in this case a screen tapper and swiper. But I may be too early into the game to judge this.

Monetisation: This game encourages the buying of credits to unlock new characters instead of having to wait to unlock them via play or through the laborious task of collecting tokens per match. Happily this game doesn’t constantly prompt the player to buy every 5 minutes and doesn’t have any annoying adverts to click past. Although this is good for the player I’m not sure how much a draw there is for players to give the publishers Warner Bros their money. But it is an element which we have yet to see, I imagine unlocking Superman and Batman will take many many hours of slogging in the game if you want them for free.

Return loop: Injustice: Gods Among Us doesn’t seem at this early stage of playing to have any real draw for players to return. Whereas some games like Angry Birds offers free gifts every 24 hours or Candy Crush which has a time lapse mechanic to stop users from playing until they have waited half an hour or bought another life. The return loop of this game seems much like the console game, just return when you want. But with many users experiencing technical issues in their comments on reviews I doubt many players will return at all.

Progression: The game involves a simple levelling up system where the player can level up characters by gaining experience points each time they use a character in battle

Single Player: No multiplayer features are yet available but they are something, if possible, we would like to see with this app’s next update

Big: This app is fairly large, meaning that download can take a few minutes as opposed to more simple games. But you are downloading and loading a very detailed and great looking and playable app.

What they are missing: The ability to play against friends would be a great way to get people to want to come back and fight. Getting users to build their ultimate team to pit against strangers or friends, much like Clash of Clans. But I think this game is trying to stand out with its very simple and relaxed style as many of us will have had far too much of time lapses, adverts and constantly being told they need to spend money on the game.

Verdict: This game is a refreshing step away from simple match the colour games and ones which shove constant reminders or barriers you way to play. The graphics are great, fully using the mobile devices graphics capabilities to produce a beautiful app. But I am concerned that it’s relaxed and single player style will not draw the crowds and result Warner Bros with a rather tepid game on the market.

But it has potential, lots and lots. So download it and give it a try, after nearly a day of having this game I am already hooked constantly Playing, Starting and Selecting my new DC hero and villain team mates. I’m looking forward to see what new updates this app will release if any

But what do you think?