Shopkeeper

The shopkeeper is a point and click narrative game. It’s has a very simple story telling style like finding teddy type of game where you click on items that leads to next half of story. I usually do not blog about games that I do not like, but this game was extremely disappointing to a point that I have to blog about it.

The art style looked unique and designed looked great. The screenshots in the game store looked good too. On top of that, it was a story based game. So, I told myself, Why not?  Let me get to the point.

Main Character is wearing a suit

When I first started playing, I had completely no idea on what’s going on. It’s perfectly normal to feel that way because some games begin like that. However, after I made few decisions (which led me to the wrong pathway), I still had no idea on what’s going on.

Then, I decided to google about the game. Basically it’s about a young businessman who was looking for an Antique to impress is mother in law. The types of gift you choose leads to the right ending. If you choose the wrong one, you will lose the game and thus the game repeats (You wouldn’t know it until you realise the scenes repeats). 

I have yet to choose the right decision but I believe that’s the end to the game. I really have a strong dislike for this game because you have no idea what was your mistake. Ok you chose an antique, then it was the wrong gift. But why was it a wrong gift? Or why was it a successful gift?

I don’t see any clues or maybe I am not observant enough to pick up clues. The worse part of this whole game is that you just feel clueless and when it repeats, it makes me unhappy. Like why am I repeating? Am I going back again? What’s going on?

Usually my patience level is quite high but this game knows what strings to pull to annoy me. The art is unique and beautiful but the story is not being delivered well. To me, a game that fails to enure that the audience gets hold of the concept at least the middle of a single gameplay has failed to capture the art of game design.

To be honest, I would not recommend people to buy this game unless they want to suggest on a game they would like to improve on. I feel that this game has a lot of potential but they really need to pull themselves together and make a game that is straight forward at least. 

Notes that I am trying to see on how it can be used to win this game

Conversation between the Main character and Mother In law

Phone app - Lane splitter

Lane Splitter game 

Lane splitter was my favourite action racing game app I ever had. Lane Splitter depends on your quick reflexes as it requires you to dodge cars and manage the traffic jam. This game can be highly addictive.

Lane Splitter has a simple mechanics. All you have to do is to press the screen to make the bike go faster. Player can collect coins and near miss (almost got hit but dodged) provides you points. Player plays as the Main Character known as Jake Melton. He is racing through the traffic as he is late for his wedding.

Jack drives a sports bike, thus player has to drive around in the bike. It’s an endless game where you have to go on and on till one point of time you will crash your bike and lose. However, if manage to speed for a certain period of time, the bike itself will increase in speed.

This game is very easy to learn but it can be very hard to master it. There are challenges on the road. There are careless drivers and you have to avoid blind spots. Sometimes while you are on a left lane, suddenly a car decides to go on your lane too and starts switching to your lane.

It’s either you speed up (a vehicle in front of you) then switch lane, or slow down (upcoming vehicle). This kind of surprising challenges appears and you have to think fast before you crash. If you do not crash, you earn points. If you go pass vehicles also gives you points.

Coins are useful to unlock pickups and characters. There are pickups in this game that could be used in the game. There are also few other characters with different storylines. Players can unlock them by collecting coins.

I personally feel that this game is addictive due to the score system and the simplicity of the mechanics. The game is very easy to understand and it does not require commitment to the game. Player can play the game and abandon it for a while without worrying about the game progress.

Besides that, the score system plays a huge part as the players are trying to beat their own high score.  I used to compete with my friends by comparing score system. The higher the score, the more pro you are at lane splitter.

There are tons of endless games are out there in the market now. I feel that endless games are good because it caters to players who prefer not be committed to play the game in order to progress. They just want to play it to fill up their time.

I personally feel lane splitter is not that bad of a game after all. It’s simple, easy and challenging to play. It’s fun enough to be downloaded and it has sufficient level of challenges to keep you going on to play it. It just depends whether it suits your gaming style. I would definitely recommend this game to others.