Pocket Gamer Community Spotlight - March 14th
You talk. We listen.
We know you lot aren't shy in coming forward with your opinions. Believe it or not, we read every comment, Tweet, and Facebook message. Sometimes we'll even respond to them.
The Pocket Gamer community spirit is fantastic, and to celebrate that we've started running a new weekly feature based on you, and everything you've got to say.
Here are some of our picks.
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We started this week the same way we ended the last one, with Clash Royale.
Matt Thrower explained why he thinks this is the mini-mobile MOBA he's been waiting for, and went on to wax lyrical about his experience.
As expected, you had some opinions on that.
Boyen thinks we've fallen into a cunning trap. 'This is not a MOBA, saying that it is is nothing more than a marketing trick by Supercell. I expected staff from pocketgamer to know better.'If you expected that, then you should have known better.
@hari_hari007 from Twitter took time away from being a super serious secret agent to show us his more playful side. '"moba"? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.'Also from Twitter @kb512tx thinks we may have had some new owners come in without us noticing. 'I have less respect now for them because of this. Maybe they are owned by the Onion.'
We could be, but we're definitely not.
Look, real talk. As a genre, MOBA is still quite difficult to pin down as it is relatively new in comparison to platformers and RPGs.
MOBA stands for Multiplayer Online Battle Arena. That's precisely what Clash Royale is, as you're always playing against someone else in a confined space.
Also - unlike RTS games - there is no unit construction. You just place your hero down on the map and set them to attack or defend. Again, this is a common trait associated with MOBAs.
There are lanes in each arena - a prerequisite core to a MOBA experience - each one leading towards a tower. If the central tower is destroyed, that means instant victory for the attacking player.
By destroying towers, you also open up further placement points for troops deeper into enemy territory. Again, a common theme found in a MOBA.
Sure, Clash Royale does a good job of blurring lines, and there are also facets of a card-battler and tower-defense title in here, but to outright say it's not a MOBA is also inaccurate.
Then again, we should know better.
Moving onto something completely different. Gameloft announced a brand new park-simulator using the Disney license. Disney Magic Kingdoms looks gorgeous, could be a lot of fun, and may be the hit that the company desperately need.
As Rafael Bueno puts it 'I'm actually pretty excited for this game.'
But there are some concerns. A Disney license is clearly going to attract a lot of attention from youngsters, and Magic Kingdoms seems like it will be F2P with IAP.
Curtneedsaride expressed his concerns. 'All games that hold content behind energy, timers, and premium IAP currency would be so much better if played in a premium experience, in my opinion. Even premium games can have timers ... I've tried my fair share of f2p apps, but I'd rather play a game made with passion and love instead of mechanics aimed and taking my money to make me feel like I'm winning. This Disney game has the potential to be a money/time sink.' Mrfatuous goes one further and says 'I'm not letting my kids near a F2P game … If you think adults dislike energy systems, you should try explaining to a 5 year old why they have to wait 45 minutes to unlock the widget they want. I'm a firm believer that games aimed at children should not be f2p. I can and do pay upfront for kids titles knowing that they can play safely.'There is certainly an interesting argument for both sides. Based on the current state of the market, F2P does make a lot sense for a game like this, and it could be an extremely profitable venture for Gameloft.
But with children presumably being the target audience, how easy will it be for them to make purchases?
In future, will all games provide appropriate filters to ensure agreeable - not inadvertent - transactions are always being made?
Something that really seemed to upset you is our review of Lost Socks: Naughty Brothers.
While Harry gave the game a very respectable and deserving Bronze Award, many of you thought that wasn’t quite high enough.
OrangutanKungFu took a break from martial arts to tell us. 'When did games reviewers become scared of difficulty? Isn't this a site devoted to gamers, rather than casual players who DO get put off by a steep learning curve? I think it's fair to warn that it's tough, but I doubt it's so hard that everyone will be forever stuck on the first couple of levels.'One thing Harry isn't scared of is a challenge, but we do have a very diverse audience at Pocket Gamer, featuring gamers of all skill levels. Surely it's worth pointing out that this game may not be catered to everyone's tastes, don’t you think?
Chris Jones actually got quite worked up by the whole thing and exclaimed. 'Stop pushing potential customers away from brilliant games like Lost Socks because you lack the patience, strategy and skill to play them. I grew up in the NES and ATARI days, I am 34 today and I can still handle any difficulty thrown at me by any game because I grew up playing such hardcore games in the Heydays of gaming. Don't kill mobile gaming by pushing hardcore and premium games developers away and only recommending free to play games.'Except for the fact that most games in our featured lists are premium titles, including taxing puzzlers like The Room and Her Story, and deep strategic experiences like This War of Mine, and The Banner Saga. We're pretty sure those titles aren't killing mobile gaming, they're actually enhancing it!
Reviews are - as always - subject to the opinion of the reviewer, and it's interesting to hear your experiences with the game were slightly different to ours.
Be sure to tune into the site next week as the App Army have also played this, and they had plenty to say about socks.
You've been offering Alysia some amazing Clash Royale tips in her ongoing diary. So much so, she's started using them in her videos.
Here’s a few of our favourites.
Daan van der Vring suggests 'first you have to send a giant so the tower will focus on shooting the giant and behind him you have to put a bomber or a dragon or archers. With that tactic I always win:)' James Wright adds 'When you're attacking the main tower but there is a small one left, place your troops on the far edge of the map, otherwise they will be distracted by that smaller tower.' Frikkilols also had some wise words 'The bomber takes out large crowds, the knight is okay, the giant and some ranged characters is a good combo. The dragon is good. Use the musketeer for good defence. You need to save up more elixir and think about every move more:)'Finally, some great words of advice from Edvard Rolvaag. 'Wait! Don't just drop whatever. Plan ahead and let your elixir build up. Drop on the paths! A troop will always follow paths' and 'only use arrows on troops with low health, like goblins, skeletons and minions.'
Got some strategies of your own? Why not head over to the AppSpy channel and share them with the team? They may get featured in a future video.
And finally, it's a big birthday this week…
No, it's not mine. It's not Glen's either.
Believe it or not, Pocket Gamer is 10 years old! *blows a party kazoo*Thank you for sticking with us and being part of something awesome. Your contributions - as evidenced by this post - are extremely important to us, and we love hearing from you.
Especially when you're wishing us Happy Birthday. Although not so much when you're telling us we’re too young for 'celebratory drinking'.
If you want to send us any birthday messages, whether it's in video form, as an image, or using good old fashioned text, send them through your platform of choice, and make sure to tag it with the #pocketgamer10 hashtag. We'll feature the best contributions here!
Thank you for all your comments, suggestions, and other feedback. We love reading them - however and wherever you choose to express yourself - that’s why we’ve decided to put all this together. So, don't be shy. Get involved! You could be the next to feature on our Community Spotlight!
