When Recettear hit the scene, RPGs had their stand-out shop-keeping simulator. When Dungeon Raid ($0.99) arrived, we learned that gem-matching games make excellent roguelikes. From there it follows that we need a gem-matching RPG shop-keeping sim, like, say, Adventurer Workshop ($0.99), right? It isn’t quite a Dungeon Raid or a Recettear, but if that’s a mash-up that excites you then you’ll be well-served by this game.
You play an artisan with customers that are, all things considered, extremely patient. An adventurer comes in with an order for a helm, and waits three turns while you ineffectually make a sword, some boots and finally her hat. The whole process eats away at your profit margin, but what are you going to do? As a crafter in a gem-matching world, you have to work with the tools you’re given.
If you’re familiar with Dungeon Raid, you’ll know how to play this game. If not, it’s pretty simple: just draw lines through adjacent gems with matching colors. But if you come in with your Dungeon Raid skills and guns a-blazin’, you won’t last long. Adventurer Workshop is a game of scarcity and tight profit margins, and each move you make eats in to your bottom line.
To keep your little shop afloat, you’ll need to keep customers happy while keeping your costs as low as possible. When customers drop into the field of play, they bring with them orders that specify an item, a level, and a turn limit. Fulfilling the order can be tricky; it requires making a line of matching gems that includes the customer, for one thing. So if a customer wants a sword but is surrounded by boots, you’ll have to clear a path within that turn limit. Not only that—the order’s level dictates the length of the chain you’ll need to make.
So, fine, you figure out how to make the order happen, but maybe it involves making a pretty big chain that won’t net you a sale. Whoops, every item you make comes out of your limited budget. If you go bankrupt, you lose, so you need to keep customers happy and paying well. The payment depends on the level of the item you give them (higher is better, even if it exceeds their request) and how quickly you put it together.
Juggling everything can get a bit demanding, but you can’t afford to fail. If the customer leaves unsatisfied, your shop will take a hit to its reputation, something it really can’t afford. This is a three strikes, you’re out kinda world. The game has a few fall-backs built in, though. For starters, you can file an item you don’t use into your stock to pull out for a later customer, which offsets your expenses a bit. You also earn experience as you progress, and every time you level you can choose a skill from a random list of three. These can lower your costs, increase your profit, remove gems or turn back the clock, among other things.
So where most matching games fall on the frantic side of things, Adventurer Workshop is a slower, more thoughtful experience. You’re still subject to the whims of good fortune, but you can use the forces of capitalism to your advantage. That’s the good news. The bad news is that the game is more than a little rough around the edges. The text reads like it’s been translated awkwardly. The skills aren’t explained until after you choose them. And the game crashes far more often than I’m comfortable with.
If you’re particularly sensitive to these things, you might want to wait an update or two to see the kinks worked out. But Adventurer Workshop is a game worth playing. It may wear its inspirations on its sleeve, but it’s something new, something fun and challenging. You can let out your inner adventurer in other games; Adventurer Workshop gives your inner artisan a chance to shine.
I've found the same flaws. I find 2.5/5 a bit too harsh though. The game is definitely playable and unlike you I really don't care about having Nadal or Sanchez.
I could manage to play online. Better I didn't. After every point you have to watch the replay (I suppose the game is doing something in the meanwhile). Horrible.
This review is a little harsh although I agree with most of it. (although licensing is costly and I could do without it).
My rating (3.5/5) For an iOS tennis quick-fix game... The game is fine. Great graphics, controls (the gamepad), and animations are great for an iOS game making it te best tennis game in the app store. The inability to save or customize your character, minor bugs, framerate issues, and lack of some of he modes from the console hold this game down.
... If all bugs are fixed - 4 stars. TA gives 4 stars all the time ... I think 2.5 is a little harsh for what the reviewer calls the best tennis game in the AppStore.
I completely disagree with the review. I found this game to be very good. This is a game I could play for long periods of time and find it fun. At least give it 4/5 stars!
I play this game on my iPhone 4 and it plays flawlessly with no problems at all!
No problem on my 4S and I would rather rate it 4/5.
I was very surprised by the ratings. I usually find myself closely aligned with toucharcade ratings, but this review just seemed like a miss, especially since this gets a pretty solid 4 of 5 stars across many user reviews in the app store. The game runs well on my 4s and ipad 2. The gesture controls took a while to get used to (I'm very familiar with different releases of the VT series), but after playing through the 1st couple matches with frustration as they were not intuitive to me, I began to enjoy them and found them pretty effective. I was a lot happier to make the games shorter (w/ fewer sets, etc) to enjoy this as a more casual game as I did not want to spend 15 minutes on 1 match! I found this to be one of the more rewarding sports games experiences in ios. If you are a fan of virtua tennis series, you really can't go wrong with this purchase, especially for 5 bucks!
2.5/5 is definitely way too harsh for this game. I didn't find anything to be really wrong with it. Sometimes I do get mad at the swipe controls, but it definitely doesn't deter me from enjoying the game too much. I was happy that they made an actual tennis game for the IOS and I was very happy to play it. No glitches or hiccups for me also. I dont know what to rate it but its very very enjoyable for me. Probably a 4 or 4.5 for trying to make something new.
what are you speak about?
"best tennis game in the app store"... bullshit!
Real Tennis from Gameloft is still better (controls, speed _and_ the ball and the player are bigger - but ingame adverts are freaking me out there....).
Thats a big fault in Virtua Tennis that the Sprites (Ball and Players) are to small on the iPhone....
"Real tennis" by gameloft is better, I agree. Better control and overall performance than virtua tennis.
Yeah I think the review is perhaps a bit harsh too. I rather like the touch controls on my iPhone 4, my only criticism being that the game sometimes ignores my swipes and I'll miss a shot (I think this would be alleviated on the faster 4S as I get a similar issue with GTAIII).
That said, in future it would be great to be able to play women's tennis and be able to shorten the matches a bit more. Even at their shortest they seem to go on for ages, which is a bit of a drawback for a mobile game that I will dib in and out of during the day.
I think the reviewer just is not good at the game. This game is awesome! The swipe controls take a little getting used to but that should be expected. Once you get used to this fantastic control option you will be playing like a pro.
I am playing the game on a 4S. In career mode all is good. The only problem I run into, and it's a HUGE one, is online play is buggy. To be more to the point it is simply unplayable!
If Sega can fix the online issue then I will rate this 5/5. For now I will give it a score of 4/5.
It is one of the best games available on the iOS platform! I strongly recommend it.
I would give it a 3.5/5 for now. with performance and network optimizations it could easily reach 5 stars but for now, meh.
I was thinking of getting this game. The game is in top 25 paid apps in my country & has fair user reviews. However, TA review is not that encouraging. Maybe, I'll wait a while to see if I can find better alternative in near future.
I enjoyed this game, but not as much as expected, better than Real Tennis, but not as good in playability and graphics to the FREE game Adidas micoach Tennis, probably the best tennis game for iPhone yet.
Honestly, the game is great. It honestly just needs an update to fix the lag and that'll do it.
This game is a online game, beware for traveling pocket gamer 🙆🏼
I played single player mode with real game controller only. And it plays like a dream what once was in Dreamcast. 4.5/5 in my book.