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Game Recommendation- Dungeon MartDungeon Mart

Game Recommendation- Dungeon Mart

Published by gerardo medina on 12th November 2020

Welcome to the dungeon. We can’t wait to take your money! Dungeon Mart is a very unique shop simulator mixed with a merge game. I really enjoyed playing this game because there is no other game like this out there. I played Dungeon Mart on my Android phone for free. You can even play this game anywhere because it is an offline game.

STORY

This game starts off when a mischievous white rabbit sells you a legendary dungeon. But right after he disappears you find out that he really sold you an ordinary cave. Upset over what had just happened you decide to get back your money by swindling adventurers who explore your cave. And so the game begins.

GAMEPLAY

So how exactly do you get your money back? First, you got to sell them weapons and armor. To do that you have to spend money to make money. Buying basic weapons and armor allows you to merge them and then sell them. Merging two of the same type of weapons will give you a much better weapon to sell. The same goes for armor. Here is the best part though. Once the adventurers are done exploring your cave you get to toss them into the air and collect all of the treasure they have found. What I found to be funny (besides tossing them into the air for cash) is that once you do that the adventurers yell out a squeaky “Nooo!!!”.

GRAPHICS

The graphics in this game are very cute. The character design of all the adventurers is made in the style of chibi people. Big heads and small bodies with a cartoon-like expression on their faces. Plus the voice work for when they buy something in your store is childlike.

TIPS

There will be times where the adventurers will ask for meat, coffee, a shell, or an old book while exploring. Giving them these items will let them last longer in the cave. That means more money in their…I mean…your pocket. Sometimes you will get an alert telling you that one of the adventurers has found an extra large amount of treasure in the cave. They will be larger then the other explorers. You will have to toss them in the air multiple times in order to collect all of the treasure that they have found. Stealing from adventurers doesn’t make you all bad. For every ten seconds that pass, you can grant someone a free pass into your cave. Free pass? What? You didn’t think you were letting people into your cave with out an entrance fee did you? Just think about it for a moment. Letting small amounts of people in your cave for free means more people in your cave. Which means more people to steal from.

There are shop sims and there are merger games. But I have never played a game that was both. That is why I think this game is so unique. Add in the fact that the main focus of this game is stealing from chibi people and you got a hit. Please check this game out on Android devices. It’s free and playable offline.

I am Mrboldlyblue. A gamer, a reader, a writer, an artist and all around nerd at heart. I am passionate about all these things and would love to share these things with you. What better way then with a blog.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/MrBoldlyBlue
Facebook: https://facebook.com/thisdudesclubhouse/
Blog: https://thisdudesclubhouse.blogspot.com/

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The Game Recommendation Podcast – Part Time UFOPart Time UFO

The Game Recommendation Podcast – Part Time UFO

Published by Greyson Ditzler on 5th November 2020

On this month’s episode of the Polyspice Game Recommendation Podcast; Thorbjorne, Robert, Gerardo, Daniel and Greyson all discuss the mobile and Switch physics-based crane puzzle game Part Time UFO! 

Part Time UFO is a game developed by Hal Egg. A smaller division of the company behind the Kirby series. It has just as much charm and polish as anything we’d expect from the pink puffball. A game of surprising style and depth. The crew had a lot to talk about with this one; and we’re so excited to bring it straight to you in our second episode!

ovni game

This game is available now for mobile devices and enhanced on Nintendo Switch. If you have some thoughts you’d like to share in the game, let us know on Twitter!

Listen to our Podcast here!

Recommended Game – Battle Chef Brigade DeluxeBattle Chef Brigade

Recommended Game – Battle Chef Brigade Deluxe

Published by Greyson Ditzler on 20th August 2020

Introduction

Battle Chef Brigade Deluxe is a highly unique cooking game. It was originally released for Nintendo Switch and PC in 2017 as just Battle Chef Brigade. Before eventually being expanded on into its current version with several new modes and the added title of Deluxe. It remains to this day one of the most unique indie games that I’ve ever played. It’s unfortunate that more people haven’t heard about it. I suppose that’s the benefit of writing for a site like Polyspice. I get a chance to recommend a neat little side dish like this.

Battle Chef Brigade Deluxe is – in the simplest of terms – a combination of a side-scrolling beat-em-up, platforming, cooking, and match-three gameplay elements. It might sound intimidating or like too much to handle. But I can assure you that it plays like a dream. Once you get used to the controls, you’ll be eagerly slicing and dicing your way through fantastical beast galore in order to assemble gorgeous looking gourmet meals.

I barely even care that that egg yolk is also an eyeball, that looks delicious.
I barely even care that that egg yolk is also an eyeball, that looks delicious.

You play as Mina, a small-town cook working at her family restaurant who runs away from it all to accept an attempt to join the Battle Chef Brigade.  Most of the plat after that is twists and turns that I’d rather not spoil here. But it’s a largely light affair. The story smartly never compromises the gameplay and keeps it safe with cooking challenge after cooking challenge. Making sure to take the time to characterize your opponents in the time between the matches. While also allowing the difficulty to gently curve upwards at a reasonable pace.

Gameplay

In the average battle, you have several judges who want certain flavors emphasized in the dish you serve to them. And each ingredient that you collect from different enemies has different levels of three different types of flavor. All with their own set color. You mix the ingredients into the meal as necessary in order to match the general flavor profile the judge wants. And the rest of the details are up to you.

The dev team really wanted to make a cooking game that encouraged creativity, rather than forced you to strictly follow recipes as many other games do. Battle Chef Brigade shines once you realize that you can basically just do what you want. And as long as you do it well, you’ll succeed. Even if you fail a cooking challenge, most of them are only a few minutes long. As so retrying steals little time from you. And every failure teaches you a little more about how to play the game more optimally.

The meat is a little tough...
The meat is a little tough…

Elements

There are multiple elements and items added to the gameplay the course of the story that builds on the established mechanics quite well and added at a reasonable pace so that the gameplay doesn’t get too repetitive. Things like fragile ingredients and removing bones from meat, all-natural things for a chef to consider that makes the experience that little bit more skill-testing and immersive.  

What also helps the gameplay expand from it’s already solid core concept is the simple but strong customization system. Different types of cookware, spices, and stat-changing gear can be equipped between matches in order to sway the odds in your favor or alter the playstyle more to your liking. It’s a system that provides depth to whatever you decide you want your playstyle to be without being too alienating with it’s depth.

The gear customization screen has more combos than an old fashioned diner.
The gear customization screen has more combos than an old fashioned diner.

Graphics and Content

Then of course there’s the aesthetic of the game. Battle Chef Brigade Deluxe was inspired by the works of developer Vanillaware, such as Odin Sphere and Muramasa: The Demon Blade. This all shows in both the fantastical setting and beat-em-up elements, as well as the graphics. The visuals are all hand-drawn with an anime-inspired look loaded with both bright and soft colors and loads of memorable and diverse character designs. The animation itself might be rather minimal, but it’s mostly forgivable due to how expressive the art is by itself, held up additionally by the fantastic voice acting and solid soundtrack.

For $20 on all platforms Battle Chef Brigade Deluxe also offers a solid amount of content. On top of the roughly 12 hour long story mode, there’s also a local multiplayer mode, daily challenges with online leaderboards, free play mode, a mode similar to “Break the Targets” from the Super Smash Bros. series. It’s a great big buffet of a game with a one time fee, which is the best type of game and buffet.

Conclusion

There is not much that Battle Chef Brigade Deluxe does that I can criticize. The story could have been a bit more fleshed out in certain places, and some additional animations and characters to play as would be nice. But aside from that there is a lot here to love. It is a serious value for money, addictively fun, and still now wholly unique among both puzzle and cooking games.

Playing a game like Battle Chef Brigade is like taking a break from your favorite restaurants that you normally order from to try out a weird new food-truck. Perhaps it isn’t as familiar to you as your other typical meals. But sometimes it’s good to try new things and experiment because you might find something new to love. Battle Chef Brigade Deluxe is available now for PC, PS4, and Nintendo Switch. 

What are you waiting for? Strap on an apron! Vive La Brigade!
What are you waiting for? Strap on an apron! Vive La Brigade!

Greyson is an aspiring author and YouTuber with dozens of consoles and hundreds of gaming hours under his belt. He’s always looking for something new to play, and is always happy to share it with other people. He also likes the Shantae games, like, a lot.

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Recommended Game – Super Spider Herosuper spider hero

Recommended Game – Super Spider Hero

Published by Sean L. Akins on 20th August 2019

If you’re like me and have been playing video games for the better part of the past 25 years, mobile games are a hard sell. Which is why a game like Super Spider Hero City Adventure is so good. Super Spider Hero City Adventure, from this point on called Spider Hero, is a game by Onesoft Global PTE, and is a game where you play as Not-Spider-Man swinging across the city to catch Not-Mysterio.  I say things like that because this game is not licensed by Marvel comics, so even though they are obviously visually those characters, they are not called by their official name due to legal reasons.  But don’t fret, as this game is an obvious parody work, so it is legally allowed to exist.

Graphics

Spider Hero is a graphically good game.  Even on a tiny phone screen, everything is big, easy to make out, and easy to read.  And even though the assets, like the obstacles and backgrounds are obvious copy and paste, it fits the game. You are most definitely the Spider Hero webslinging across the city, dodging light posts and robots in your way.

Sound

Spider Hero is pretty basic for sound. You get a sound for the webs shooting out, a sound for impacts, a small explosion sound when you hit a robot that explodes, and a small jingle when you reach the end of the stage. Everything sounds great.

Gameplay

Spider Hero’s gameplay is perfect.  As I said previously, you’re webslinging your way across the city in order to reach the goal. And this is when the controls come in; you’re tapping and releasing to do what you need to do. But be aware of your momentum; if you swing too far or too fast, you’ll miss your target and potentially fall to the bottom of the screen and have to start the stage over again.

But don’t fret if you haven’t played in a while; the game seems to have an adaptive difficulty. I downloaded the game, went on to something else for a couple weeks, and the levels were back down to a more basic difficulty, even though I was still 40 levels in at the time of writing this.

Ads and in-app purchases

The ad policy is a simple one; the occasional ad after a failure, and the occasional ad to allow you to continue on your path to the end of the stage.  There are absolutely no microtransactions whatsoever, which is probably a necessity in a game that’s trying to get by on Fair Use of Copyrighted Material.  But even if there were microtransactions, they aren’t needed; everything you can unlock you do so via progression.

Final Analysis

Spider Hero is a great game to play when you’ve got a few minutes to kill while you’re waiting on something.  And since it’s not musically intensive, you can play it at a low volume pretty easily and not disturb anyone, though if you’re in a hospital or something, it’s still best to play with headphones or earbuds.  It’s easy to pick and put down for a ride on the train or bus, and it’s definitely worth your download.

You can visit me on twitter to see personal updates, my personal blog for full reviews, and you can support me on patreon in order to see updates on my novel.

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Recommended Game – Galaxy-Sky ShootingGalaxy-Sky Shooting recommendation

Recommended Game – Galaxy-Sky Shooting

Published by Sean L. Akins on 5th July 2019

If you’re like me and have been playing video games for the better part of the past 25 years, mobile games are a hard sell. Which is why a game like Galaxy-Sky Shooting is so good.  Published by Ivy, his game is a top-down space shooter, pure and simple with very generous hit detection and multiple modes of play, including an endless mode, a boss fight mode, and a campaign with 210 (as of writing this) levels. 

Download: Play Store, App Store.

Graphics

Galaxy-Sky Shooting Graphics

Galaxy Sky Shooting is a modern game.  All the sprites are modern, all the text is large and easy to read, and everything looks like it was made today.

Sound

Galaxy Sky Shooting most definitely has a modern sound design.  The music is very much a modern electronic soundtrack, all the explosions sound modern, and all the bullets sound like they were made today. Even the voice samples have a clear sound to them.

Gameplay

Galaxy Sky Shooting is in a genre that requires precision to dodge fire and hit enemies, but thankfully, it is very generous with hitboxes. No matter how wide the ship is, only the middle section where the cockpit would be is the hitbox for you.  So, as long as you keep that section out of the fire, you’re good. And since the weapons autofire, all you need to do is concentrate on dodging and lining up your shots.

Ads and in-game purchases

The only downside of Galaxy-Sky Shooting that I can say is the ad policy and microtransactions.  Ads are frequent; they happen between levels, and sometimes between switching menus.  However, once you’ve viewed enough of these mandatory ads, you are given the options to tell the game that no, you don’t want to view ads, and they either let you pay to remove them permanently with a one-time fee, or view one more ad to remove them for the day. That does not count toward the ads that let you double your rewards, though. Those are still available.

Microtransactions, however, are extremely prevalent.  You can buy all the different currencies, as well as new starships, more rolls on the upgrade wheel, and so much more.  Thankfully, there’s only one ship that you’re locked out of permanently if you don’t buy their VIP upgrade.

Galaxy-Sky Shooting final analysis

Galaxy-Sky Shooting is in a genre that is mindless fun, and when you combine good control and reasonable hitboxes, a game like Galaxy Sky Shooting can be a blast. It’s great for a short round or two while on the bus or train, and it’s also good for “Oh, one more round” gameplay when you’re on your own. While not perfect thanks to the overbearing ad policy, space shooters are a perfect fit for mobile devices because they make full use of what mobile devices have to offer.  If you want to toss a couple of bucks their way to remove ads permanently, that’s up to you, but otherwise, it’s a great free mobile experience that you don’t want to miss out on.

Check me out on twitter here, my personal blog here, and if you want to support me in my other writing endeavors, check out my patreon.

You can recommend games to the Polyspice audience too. Take a look at our content guidelines.

Recommended Game – Slayin’

Recommended Game – Slayin’

Published by Sean L. Akins on 29th May 2019

If you’re like me and have been playing video games for the better part of the past 25 years, mobile games are a hard sell. Which is why a game like Slayin’ is so good. Released by FDG Entertainment, Slayin’ is a game built around touchscreen controls. You have a button that moves left, moves right, and an action button that is determinant on the class you’re playing. It’s also built around a retro visual and audio aesthetic, which is something that’ll appeal to players like me who enjoy retro games.

Graphics

Graphically, Slayin’ looks like it came straight out of the 1990s; it looks like something you’d have seen on the Super Nintendo or Sega Genesis back in the day, but in a good way. It fits the aesthetic of the game and feels right for what you’re doing.  All the effects in the game are bright and colorful, and all the interface borders are a great representation of what they’re trying to show; the dragon one is my favorite, and it makes the dragon look appropriately terrifying.

Sound

The music is appropriately epic for a game where the end goal is to slay a dragon, and it’s appropriately sad when you die. And, like the graphics, it feels like it came off an old console, but in a good way; everything sounds like it came from an older console game, and the game is better for it.

Gameplay

Slayin’ also offers multiple characters to unlock, starting with the basic knight, the powerful mage, the roguish knave, the not so good archer, the amusing tamer, and the ninja, which I have yet to unlock due to how much that class costs in-game points. Each class brings something different to the gameplay; the knight brings in armor and bigger and faster weapons than the other classes, while the knave moves the fastest and can collect gold for upgrades fastest due to his high luck stat.

Ads and in game purchases

Free mobile game live or die depending on their ad policy, and I’m happy to say that Slayin’ does it right; an ad at the startup, and ad if you choose to revive during the gameplay, and maybe an ad when you go from the results screen to the startup menu. 

And in no way are you required to buy anything with real money to do well here.  The currency for Slayin’ is gold, which buys upgrades during the gameplay to make your fight against the hordes of monsters easier, and fame, which you use to buy other classes, interfaces, background music and more.  And while you CAN use real money to buy fame, you’re not required to, as all buying fame will do is help you unlock things faster; you gain no advantage in gameplay from buying anything with real money.

Final Analysis

But the important thing to remember is that Slayin’ is fun. I’ve personally logged hundreds of hours trying to unlock all the characters, background music tracks and interface borders, and I still haven’t gotten to the dragon yet. Check Slayin’ out on the Google Play and Apple store. You won’t regret it!

Check out my full review of Slayin’, and check me out on twitter.

You can recommend games to the Polyspice audience too. Take a look at our content guidelines.