Plushed Gold Fever from Blacksmith Games is a great example of mini-games done right. The combination of cute graphics, engaging story and well executed mini-games makes for engaging play whether you are 5 or 50.
In PGF the story starts with a jealous Voodoo Mouse paralyzing and scattering the Plush Toys of a Wild West town across 3 different areas. As a stuffed horse and sole survivor it is up to you to rescue them by engaging in three different mini-games.
You have to smash blocks (Bejewelled 2 style), ride a mine cart (side-scrolling fun!), and grab gold and plushies with a mechanical arm (just like a real-life plushie grabbing machine that eats oh so many quarters.)
PGF also allows you earn coins during play to buy two more characters (pig and cow) and buy upgrades for the different games instead of waiting for them to drop during play.
Pros
The three mini-games are very well done, and fun to play. They are easy enough for young kids to play (I believe they are the target audience for this app) and fun for adults to enjoy as well.
The tutorial is also well executed and informative without being boring or overly long.
The graphics are cute wit out being ridiculous and appeal to kids of all ages.
Cons
The game orientation doesn’t change. When you flip your phone over the game doesn’t flip with you. Why leave out such a basic feature from your game?
Coin collecting is slow. While buying upgrades is reasonably cheap, buying the two extra characters to play seems unreasonably high. The developer either needs to lower the price or increase the pay off in coins in the games.
Rating
Overall I give this game 3.5 stars out of 5. The game itself is well executed and well thought out. The big draw back if the slow pace of coin collecting. PGF makes it too slow for the game’s target audience to advance and as a result they will lose interest over time.
Danomatic Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5
Apps in this post
Plushed Gold Fever
- iPod, iPhone, iPad (free as of the writing of this post)
Bejewelled2
- Andriod (US$0.99)
- iPod, iPhone, iPad (US$0.99)
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