Movie Maniac: Game Review, Evaluation, Recommendation..
Details
Platform: iPhone/ iPad touch/iPad (Requires iOS 4.2 or later)
Developer: Animoca
Version: 1.0
Current Update: November 19, 2011
Size 22.5 MB
Have you ever been into a movie house where noisy, barbaric movie-goers were seated in front of you? Annoying, isn't it? I've been there -- a lot! And have you ever wished you can get rid of them? From the creators of Pretty Pet Salon and My Car Salon, here comes another smashing gaming adventure from Animoca! Well here it is, your virtual one-stop stress-reliever on the go application -- Movie Maniac!
'you! yes, you!'..'
Gameplay
Basics. Game mechanics is just simple: look for an annoying audience, aim your target, and throw whatever items you have in-hand. Available items to be thrown were sundae, popcorn and soda drinks. You can unlock special items by reaching certain number of points, like Hammer of Destruction if you were able to get 30points; and Dynamite if you happen to earn 100-200 points. Every target hit is equivalent to one point. Special items that were sold at the item shop will eventually give you higher points.
Difficulty. Since you don't have any goal or quest to finish in a certain round, the main difficulty lies on the number of distracting audiences you managed to smack down. You were only given three lives (a trophy icon located at the lower right hand of the GUI) to record the highest score. Your life will be depleted if: [1] you have missed your target three times in a row; [2] you shot an innocent movie-goer three times in a row; [3] you just let these troublesome audiences do their distractions; [4] you smacked a sleeping audience, or those with 'Zzz' icon on their head; [5] you allowed all these incidents to happen.
Game Features
Graphics. Set in a 2D-animated movie house, Movie Maniac is another Animoca breakthrough which players would love!
Audio. The moment you reached the start-up page, a soothing sound of jazz with a mixture of upbeat tone of drums would surely set your mood for a movie day out! At the item selection page, you would still hear the same background music as of that in the start-up page! What is interesting is the tone played when you hit 'play now' button – the rolling of a film reel. This would definitely complete the whole mood inside a movie house.
Setting. Realistic! Many of us would surely relate to the games' concept – meeting uncivilized audiences in a movie house! And the whole idea of throwing random things towards these distracting movie-goers is absolutely unique!
Camera Angle. First person point of view. This mode of viewing completes the whole package of this application. Like in writing, first person point of view passages allows your readers to feel the story closer. Just like what was portrayed in this game, it lets the players feel the scenario accurately.
Throwable Items. Popcorn, sundae, and soda drinks – most popular items you can bring inside a movie house, and the closest things you wanted to throw to these disturbing audiences.
Distracting Audiences. Lusifa the Great(Wrestler), Chatty Cathy(Mrs. Gossip), Undead Frank(Zombie ) – these were the featured 'barbaric' audiences in the game.
Controls. The tap-and-swipe method in this application makes it more interesting, since you need to make sure you have adjusted your target in a manner not to hit the innocent audiences seated at the front and middle row of the movie house.
Evaluation
It was indeed fun, real-life and unique application to begin with, however there are several points that I want to suggest for the said application. Listed below were these aspects I wanted to emphasize:
Settings. I have noticed that instead of a movie, the audiences were watching 'Animoca Application Store'. Hence, I would love to suggest placing a real movie clip, or a musical slide show of several screenshots from different Animoca apps. An advertisement banner was already visible in the GUI, thus making the publicity of other Animoca or other apps, redundant.
Goals. Your main objective upon playing this game is to smack down distracting audiences, however as the game progresses, the game becomes boring and senseless. If I were to redesign this game, I would want to make it an adventure series application, where players would pass through several levels, complete quests/goals, and earn in-game money for throw-able items upgrade.
GUI and Controls. Shown below were screenshots from Box Battle Lite, showcasing the cannon trails (right image) that serves as a guide in adjusting the cannon from left to right or vice versa. While the image located on the left side indicates that you can rotate the mouth of the cannon for you have a clearer aim. I have presented such images, for I wanted to suggest for a functional bar used as an indicator to adjust the speed and direction of thrown objects.
Bonus Rounds. I have mentioned earlier that if I were given a chance to redesign this application, I would want it to be an adventure series game. After I have included quest and several levels of difficulty, I would place next, “Bonus Rounds'. Who would not love bonus rounds? These rounds I personally consider as the ice-breaker of somewhat a stationary adventure game. Example of bonus round was: [1] hit distracting audiences as many as you can.
Tutorials. Another thing that I have noticed in this game, is the lack of 'Help' option or a tutorial page. Even though all you have to do is throw things at these annoying movie-goers, still a simple textual instructions would be of much help for players who wanted to try the game.
Monetization. Best way for a certain application to earn money is to put up an item mall in-game. For this game, I would suggest these items to be available for shopping: [1] shoes, slippers, soda in can, bottled waters and hand bags for the throw-able items. [2] unlockable character for assistance, just like in Top Bar, the 'Bouncer' that tosses troublesome patrons. (refer to the image below). Since I have already mentioned 'patron toss', I would love to suggest for another GUI, showing these distracting audiences tossed outside the movie house. 'Patron toss' alert will only appear once an audience is caught recording the featured video clips for movie piracy.
Another way that I believed would be effective for the game's monetization process would be placing real movie clips, or animation of Animoca characters. By this, we can promote other Animoca apps, and at the same time, players would not be dragged to boredom staring at a stationary image on the movie screen. Also, we can place MP3 format music background, or any Animoca signature tunes, thus making the whole set-up realistic.
Conclusion and Recommendation
If I were to rate this game, I would grade it 7/10. My ratings would be somewhat unfair, since I am only able to play the free version of the game, where only three throw-able items were tagged as free. However, I would still like to recommend this game for games enthusiasts. Also, I would like to commend this application for players of legal age, due to some explicit content like dynamites and destruction hammer.
