Crime City HD
This goes against my nature, but I downloaded the Freemium game, Crime City HD and despite all things, I actually like the game. I’m adamantly against Freemium titles and in-app purchases. Just make a decent game and let me buy it. Don’t nag me, don’t make me sign up for stupid junk, don’t hound me to write reviews and go to your stupid Facebook page. Games by EA and Gameloft have really abused the hell out of in-app purchases.
But strangely, Crime City HD is a game worth playing. Based on the content I’m surprised the game is in the app store. You go around a petty thug and work your way up to being a Mafia crime boss. You rob, intimidate, bribe, plant evidence, beat up and perform hits. The graphics are good and there are dozens of little missions you need to complete. Plus, there is a Sim aspect, where you build stores and make money off them. You also buy cars, guns, explosive and recruit other mafia members. Overall the game is damn impressive. As you may expect, the really cool stuff requires gold which you need to actually buy using the in-app purchase. However, the designers have done a decent job of making plenty of other buildings, armor and weapons available without using gold. You don’t have to spend money to progress, you can just it faster if you do.
Each action takes time to complete, like recharging energy after performing a hit, or creating a store or upgrading a building. This means you have to invest some time simply because things aren’t done instantly. I actually like this sort of game play. It keeps you coming back for more to check on your progress.
I still wish I could just buy the game and skip over needing gold and the like. However, this is a surprisingly good game and I’ve already invested several hours into it. A lot more time than other games I’ve purchased.
