It’s free but…
It’s interesting how much the gaming landscape has transformed in relatively a short amount of time, compared to six years ago, most video games were mainly consumed on dedicated gaming machines. Consoles reigned supreme in the living room and on the go gaming were still strictly found on Nintendo and PlayStation handhelds. The arrival of smart phones brought about gaming to the masses, from casual to hardcore. However, this very same growth brought about the overabundance of games that developers thought the best way to entice gamers was to offer their games for free – with a catch.
If you’ve downloaded a game the from the Google Play store the past year or so, then you’ll be familiar with what I’m may be referring to: In app purchases. Unfortunately Royal Revolt 2 is littered with this bait and hook in-app-purchases blanketing what otherwise could be a great game. In this time and age, blaming IAP is cop out as this model have become common spread, but Royal Revolt 2’s totally outrageous IAP and tired gameplay cues taken from social games like Farmville, taints whatever fun to be had into nickel and diming affair.
The Good
Let’s start with what’s going for Royal Revolt 2- mainly an addictive unit management gameplay topped off with a pseudo tower defense flavor, it’s engrossing and slightly addicting. By actively upgrading towers and units, players can withhold and repel enemy forces from sacking their stronghold- which in actuality are other players themselves, a passive form of player versus player. Towers and units aside, you don’t actively provide defensive measurements from attacks, the only way to repel other players successfully is by investing in the constant upkeep of your towers and soldiers. Paths can also be manipulated to encourage maximum damage from your towers.
On the offensive end, players can actually someone specific units (albeit if unlocked or purchased) to aid in rushing enemy castles. Along the way you’ll traverse through traps, arrow towers, and obstacles set up by the defending player until finally breaking into their stronghold. On average, these skirmishes last no more than 2 minutes.
The art style is certainly cartoonish, with bobblehead like models for both friendly and enemy units, but it’s presented in crisp and bright 3D models that it’s difficult not to be turned off by its charms. These aren’t the Photorealism that most games strive for, but its art direction has its appeal.
Revolting Model
Unfortunately, these strengths are easily overlooked by the numerous IAP that the developers delicately encourage gamers to purchase. On more than one occasion was I met with a pop-up after a quest to drop a few real world dollars to purchase a special one time deal- which I then came across an hour later.
Royal Revolt 2, like most freemium games in its class, slyly promotes their IAP by the way it handles upgrades, purchases and unit development. Usually these upgrades can take between 30 seconds to a whopping 5 hours. These tropes have been done in games before, and unless you have the patience of a statue, you’ll be playing Royal Revolt at an incredibly slow pace and miniscule bite sized chunks.
There are two main currencies in Royal Revolt 2: Gold and gems. Gold comes pretty easily and rewarded almost too easily. Gem carries a lot more value than gold as they are instantly used to finish an upgrade, tower constructions, units and buy gold itself. They’re pretty expensive as well, with 500 per $4.99 real world money spent- enough to spend on a single worker to build your structures. While the game throws you a bone here and there by rewarding you with gems and gold through completion of in game achievements, these rewards are not substantial, barely making a dent in later levels where commodity becomes much more expensive.
In the end, the addictive nature and interesting social elements in Royal Revolt 2 is easily overshadowed by its pay to win model. Sure, players enjoy without spending a dime, but it will take the most patient of gamers to do so.
