Over the course of a few months I’ve gone from not knowing who Nitrome was to being schooled in a master class by their games. I’ve played through their entire catalog at this point, and whenever a new offering is available, I’m ready and willing to snatch it and give it a shot. Ultimate Briefcase (Free) is merely published by Nitrome (the developer credit goes to Quite Fresh), and as an arcadey action game, it delivers on some level.
The premise is one of the best parts. Equal parts cartoony and absurd, the gist is that a giant missile system, Terminator style, is laying waste to a city. Your character is merely on their way to work, at which point your commute becomes a warzone, and the game begins. To be clear, said “zone" is literally only a few screens in total. You’ll be dodging bombs left and right, which range from gigantic mini-nukes to splash bombs, some of which pepper out power-ups and coins to pick up.
Once you’ve acquired enough energy you can use your briefcase (seemingly made of titanium alloy) for a shield, which protects your head but not horizontal blasts. Beyond that, moving from side to side with digital buttons is just about all you can do. It sounds shallow, and that’s because to an extent, it is, but the bomb patterns are nicely done where each run doesn’t feel the exact same. Having to dodge between splashes and set bomb blasts is great, since there’s somewhat of a telegraph system that you can pick up by learning the different bomb types and watching their shadows as they fall. Because of this, deaths don’t feel cheap.
Your job is to basically dodge as much as possible, grab coins, and unlock more characters. It’s a rat race but the sleek visuals and promise of better, RPG-like upgrades is a nice delivery system for more plays. In that classic Nitrome way, it feels like a retro game that’s built for a modern device. I especially like that there’s no real “doomsday clock" mechanic, where the game becomes impossible in a short amount of time. The portrait or landscape choice is a nice touch.
The extra content extends to not only characters, but levels as well. It’s not often you see the latter in games, as there are a few new things to account for, which mixes up playthroughs quite a bit. Oh, and that’s not even including the backstories that are unlocked, told by way of security cam footage. They help fill in some of the game’s lore, which trancsends the typical goofy gimmick you usually see in these types of games. It never really gets to the point of awe-inspiring on that front, but it’s a neat thing that elevates the project.
Nitrome is hitting it a little hard in terms of IAP lately though, which is also the case with Briefcase. In addition to a pricey $3.99 option to remove ads, there are also coin purchases for in-game content, which feed into buying more heart containers and power-ups. On top of all of this is support for video ads, which can be viewed once per death to return to life. It’s a little bit too much, and even though I wasn’t compelled to really spend anything, it can get a bit overwhelming at times. This is especially annoying if nearly every game you load up does it.
Ultimate Briefcase is going to be one of those things you pop out every so often to try to chase a high score, and with its semi-interesting progression system, occasionally earn something from. It gets a little aggressive at times when it comes to microtransactions, but it’s fun, and it’s playable, which counts for something.
Pretty much my sentiments exactly. My first handful of play throughs it felt really great. Then I realized each game was taking anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour. And then I wasn't even sure I understood the game any better. Also, the fight mechanics don't seem to make any sense. I can see losing shield/armor when you're attacked but don't really understand why you lose so much of your attack power. It doesn't take long before you're left have to place snags on the board that you have neither the armor or attack power to be able to deal with effectively. It's a great idea for the most part but I feel like it would definitely be a better game if some of these issues were addressed.
Very spot-on review, the vague sorta-promise of the story does not keep you wanting to play more after 2-5 plays, the repetitiveness lacks motivation and actual replayability, and when you level up you always get same 3 options on lvl2, lvl3, etc (presumably, at least every time I leveled up to 2 I got same choices), which hurts the replayability even more and removes a lot of fun from leveling in a roguelike.
The thing is, however, despite all that I believe it is worth buying, I don't think a lot of people will get hooked, but for a couple hours it is great, the price is right, is is one-time premium purchase and it does have a number of original (to my knowledge) ideas that are worth experiencing.
To be fair, the developer's been responding in the forums. An early update has smoothed the gameplay by auto-aligning tiles with the exit, and he understands the balance issues. (Two I noticed; some events act 'on all your events' -- but I've never had more than one at once, and having upgrades with special features is another unlock, so necessarily a mid/late game thing.)
Despite that, I'm already hooked; but the whole thing needs dish out its treats more often. More loot! It's the story of my life. And it could also do with a metagame like the one in Dungeon Raid, that opened up multiple different play styles.
I felt the same way after the first two games but I kept playing and learned the rules better, and how the nemesis moves and when, things changed. There is not much help yet online, and what I've found is mostly wrong! This game has much deeper strategy that appears at first. I've played about 10 games now and have been able to just about match the developers high score. I personally find this game to be superb. The problem the developer made was not explaining how it works exactly. Without that understanding, you cannot determine what strategies will work out best for you. Also you're going to have to like Math to enjoy this game. While you are told how many turns it will take for you to beat a snag and how many turns it will take for the snag to beet you, in reality it will change because you are able to improve your character after each turn of the fight. How many other games allow you to do that? I've put snags down that appear I will get slaughtered by, but still beat them because of the improvement I made to my character in the middle of the fight. Give this game a chance and you may find yourself absolutely loving it!
I can see the obvious potential there but they really need to adjust the balance a little bit more and I strongly suggest they give different abilities for different faces. Dungeon Raid was so popular thanks to the various classes we could choose so hopefully they will do the same for this one as well
Great review. I downloaded this the day it came out because I loved Dungeon Raid... but unfortunately, this one is not nearly as good. After playing at least 5 to 6 games, I STILL don't understand how to play Events. I play it still on the metro because it doesn't require constant connection like Clash Royale does.
I've played this for a little while and I think there may be a big misunderstanding with one of the game elements. Putting yourself into a dead end is actually very beneficial in two important ways - it clears the board, and also gets you all the xp from the monsters you've defeated. This is pretty much indicative of the issues you've stated with their being no instructions with the game, but I just thought I'd mention it.