For a while, Umbrella has been quite active in one sense, publishing a bunch of games from other developers under their studio. But an actual game developed by the team has been a long time coming, at least for the past 10 months or so. However, that all changes on February 23rd, when Wobblers, a title developed and published by the studio releases. This high score chaser feels quite unique, as you have to tap left and right to move your platform, and keep your wobbler from falling off the screen.
The thing is, Wobblers gets quite chaotic. You have to avoid bombs that could stun you and blow up your wobbler, while mountains of coins cascade down the screen. Other wobblers appear, though good luck keeping two on your paddle at one time. In fact, good luck keeping one wobbler on at a time. But the idea is that you’re just trying to keep everything afloat for as long as possible, juggling different challenges. It’s a fascinating take on the score chaser genre, and has that typical Umbrella charm to it. Check it out on February 23rd.
Entirely valid and shared criticisms, but I don't regret buying this one at all, even has someone who has to play it in short bursts. QoL changes would be MUCH appreciated!
*even AS
I would have given the game 5 stars because I loved playing it, but on youtube I saw some people who had problems with the game about the puzzles and timers, I would advice those players to play something else, enough games out there.
Spot-on review. I was absolutely enamored with this for the first couple of hours I played it, but all the flaws mentioned in the review started popping up the more I played. It was also impossible to get back into the flow of things after putting the game down for a week. Shame though..it really is a brilliant concept.
I have to politely disagree completely with this review (but of course we are all allowed different opinions, part of the fun in this game of life). The back tracking problem Carter mentions is mostly for completionists - I played to a 80% finish score and didn't need to back track any puzzles and kept moving forward. I'm not a fan of puzzle games at all, but I loved this! Easily my favorite iOS game of the year so far.
Thanks for this note . . . the mention of backtracking was killing this for me, but if it's nit required, that's a whole different story, cause I think it looks great!
I'll have to agree with this assessment. I'm currently playing through the game, and have done quite a bit of backtracking to get all the nuts and break new pots etc. It's fairly annoying to have to solve each room every single time just to get back to wherever you were before you started backtracking.
Other than that though, I really like this game, and can see myself playing it on/off for a good while to come. I just hope these issues won't be a major pain down the road.
Excellent review, with wholly valid criticisms, especially with regards to re-solving puzzles to backtrack and the occasional awkwardness of the isometric view. That said, the polish is so high, it's got to be worth four stars for me. I can see myself running out of steam before the end, though.
Just finished it yesterday, it was a pleasure to play every part of the game. Sometimes it was a bit tricky to know what i was supposed to do, but after a while i was playing again. Now i'm at 96%. Easily game of the month for me, maybe GOTY, we'll see.
3 stars is hard. I understand, but it's very low!
http://toucharcade.com/2016...
You know links don't work - or get fully shown in the app?
App traffic is minuscule these days. :(
Possibly shrinking to nothing with iOS 11 :(
Almost assuredly!
I'm loving the app and use it daily! (even though it might slow down my phone, ha!)
That's amazing to hear. I literally never use the website.
Same here. I find the app, warts and all, so much nicer to use than the website.
Me too, even if I can't click links lol... love the app
I can't read your opinion because links doesn't work for me, i don't know why. Maybe you want to tell me that it's normal for someone to have a different point of view from a game? I understand, that's why i'm reading TA since a lot of years, but like another reader said, 3 stars is such a bad score, normally for bad games, badly coded and poorly made.
I'm just surprised. There is so much love in this one. Visuals are incredibles, music remains in mind during the day, and playing is so comfortable! But i respect other opinions, for sure.
No, our review scoring scale is totally different from what most people assume. Google "why toucharcade loves everything" and you should find an article titled "Editor's Notes: How Our Review Scoring Scale Works, and Why 'TouchArcade Loves Everything'." It will explain a lot.
Thanks, i'll check it today.
Respectfully disagree with some of the comments, but to each their own. I think that as avid iOS gamers we are taking a lot for granted for a $2 game that gives us a great experience. I'm not saying this is a Zelda replacement but I've enjoyed hours of gameplay. Funny writing and great art style pushed this one into my favorites. Again not knocking anyone's reviews or opinions but it's less than a coffee, or a pint...for a great simple puzzle game. Cheers!
Wow, the TouchArcade game of the month gets 3 stars? I can definitely understand the issues that were mentioned in the article, but this game deserves at least 4, but I would say 4.5. The game is amazing, and if they were to fix some of the things the article mentioned it is a 5 star game for sure. I don't know...I've just seen so many games get 4.5 and 5 stars that were good, but still had their share of issues as well. The review is fair, but the rating is a bit harsh in my opinion. I know this game got a bad rap because of the price drop drama during launch week, and the issues mentioned in the article should probably be addressed; but the amount of joy and fun that this game brought to the table is worth much more than 3 stars for me. Everyone is entitled to their opinion though, just my 2 cents....
http://toucharcade.com/2016...
A game that's is rated 3/5 or 60% in the PC game realm is generally an unmitigated disaster with heavy bugs, poor AI, and playability issues like clipping or getting stuck in objects or walls. This is hardly the case with Red's kingdom. If it's not your cup of tea, that is fine. But do consider that you just punished the developer sales for something that tickled you the wrong way. I don't like puzzle games but I found this game interesting enough to pick up and play casually. In that regard, it performed flawlessly.
http://toucharcade.com/2016...
Eli, just because red's kingdom got posted as game of the week or game of the month, doesn't change my opinion that this reviewer's assessment is flawed. 3/5 is implying the game works fine in the early stages and then breaks down in later parts to be almost unplayable.
Most people would assume the "newer" updated article would take precedence over an older article.
Yeah 3 stars to me means not worth your time it just Ok.
Quite literally the first paragraph of every game of the week post since we started doing them 3.5 years ago:
"The idea behind the TouchArcade Game of the Week is that every Friday afternoon we post the one game that came out this week that we think is worth giving a special nod to. Now, before anyone goes over-thinking this, it doesn't necessarily mean our Game of the Week pick is the highest scoring game in a review, the game with the best graphics, or really any other quantifiable "best" thing. Instead, it's more just us picking out the single game out of the week's releases that we think is the most noteworthy, surprising, interesting, or really any other hard to describe quality that makes it worth having if you were just going to pick up one."
I also recommend reading the article I linked if you don't understand how our scoring system works.
I can easily see getting frustrated if you try to 100% the game, and maybe because I played over the course of only a few days I didn't have the same experience, but I thought this game was great and can't wait for additional updates
I'd go along with this score.
It's a beautifully made game, beautifully presented. Charming.
I just didn't have much fun playing it.
I'm surprised to see such a critical review of a game so many people enjoyed, myself included. The main critique of not wanting to re-solve puzzles is somewhat understandable. For me though, most of the puzzles really weren't that hard, especially if your only concern is making it to the next room, so I was never annoyed by it. As others have mentioned, you shouldn't have to backtrack that much when just completing the story, unless you do a poor job navigating and don't consult the map and your objective's location enough.
The reviewer makes it sound like getting stuck is common, but I never got stuck in a room and had to reset, and I've 100% completed the game. The devs seemed to put a lot of care into the room designs to make sure you can solve it no matter what corner you back yourself into. I think the reviewer just gave up too easily.
The isometric perspective complaints are curious. Even if you can't follow a line with your eyes to see where you'll roll, you can hold on the screen and directional dotted lines appear as a visual guide. There's also not an issue with important or dangerous things being completely obscured as a result of this view. Perhaps a portion of a wall behind a pillar, or a harmless block to bump into.
As for the need for lightning quick maneuvers, I recall 2 rooms that required multiple danger-free attempts to be fast enough through sheer speed, even if you know exactly what moves to make. There's probably hundreds of rooms in the game.
The arguments brought against this game seem rushed to judgement, uninformed, and trivial at times. The real shame is that this particular reviewer covered this wonderful game.
Very well spoken, could not say it better. I have nothing against Carter or anybody in this world, but this game is chosen Game of the Month by the TA community, so you should consider that the least, I see many crappy games that get 5 star reviews from TA that I don't wanna play even if they were completely free, so this is no bonding with the members this is just how you scare them away and look some place else.
But this is a review of Carter's experience, doesn't it seem a little weird to soft ball a review or change your conclusions of your play through because some people on the forums like it? Having a different opinion on a video game is totally a-OK. Personally, I'm not sure I'd want to read a site where they're giving dishonest reviews, that's how you'd scare me off.
Okay point taken, I always feel bad for devs. who put in a lot of work and make something unique and than comes TA and says 3 stars ha ha, to me that's a bit unfair, but I am very gentle about games I like, there not always as good as I sometimes say, but I wanna help an indie studio or a one man dev., is this wrong what I do, please tell me. I really like TA it has become a part of my life, I am everyday 2 hours on the app, I would even pay 10 Euro a month if it was easy implemented to pay.
I agree that it is Carters experience and unfortunate it was not too his liking. May I suggest when a game that is well received by the TA community ( game of the month or week) but disliked by a single reviewer it could be worth re reviewing by someone else to clarify their dislikes are not their own issues with the game
My disagreement with a 3 star review is this actually being a well received game for the majority of players a
What if I told you Carter's concerns were shared by multiple members of the TA staff?
Diversity is the spice of life.
Are you doing a review for Slayaway Camp, Carter? That seems to be the game for those who got worn out on Red's. At least that's me take on the Slayaway Camp thread.
I am reviewing it, yes. And yeah...that's been my experience so far with Slayaway.
Is Red's Kingdom the Limbo of 2017?
I don't usually comment on stuff like this, but this writing seems pretty bad.
"Even for a writer, I've had ideas for articles that didn't work out because the ideas I had in my head didn't quite work out on paper. Now, sometimes these ideas still get pursued to completion. I'm not going to put words in Cobra Mobile's mouth as to Red's Kingdom[$2.99], but it certainly feels like an idea that someone had that was really cool, and I liked it too!"
To paraphrase: Even for a writer, he's had ideas. Some of his ideas didn't work out because they didn't work out. The ideas that didn't work out sometimes get completed anyway. (??) He's not going to imply the developer thought their own idea was cool, but he also liked the idea.
Usually the writing here is good, but this article really stood out.
Carter writes terrible reviews. He prefers games with simple minded 1 tap jumps.