Wizards & Dragons

[gsxr824]

Low bandwidth Version | Pop Up

[Enriana]

Looks nifty.. gonna give it a shot.

[C.Hannum]

Another of this second generation of Tiny Tower games. Looking very similar to the Castle Champions that was released recently, which I hated, so hopefully this brings something a little different to the table.

[Enriana]

It seems like a neat concept, but after the tutorial I got lost on what I was supposed to do - couldn't find missions/quests/tasks. The game didn't thrill me enough to keep trying; gave it about five minutes and then took it off my device. May try it again in the future, but for now, not so much.

[C.Hannum]

Originally Posted by Enriana

...gave it about five minutes and then took it off my device.

Your mistake

This is, so far, a bit of a pleasant surprise. It's far more Kairosoft than Tiny Tower. In fact, no timers per se or background progress at all from what I've seen so far.

You have 3 years to run each recruited student through your school, 12 different subjects you can raise their score in (graded from a start of E up to A). Whether they can achieve their dream job after 3 years depends on how well you taught them. You gain rewards based on the quality of graduates you produce. What students learn is affected by facilities in your school, the layout, and their personality and attributes.

Interface is a bit obtuse, and I'm thinking English was not the dev's first language, but I'm definitely going to give it some time to see how it develops. So far the only premium currency stuff I see are some rooms and 'power ups' you can use to teach students more easily, but I'm not seeing any sort of noxious freemium at all at this stage.

[C.Hannum]

Early enthusiasm was largely misplaced.

First, have since discovered this is a re-launch of a 2012 title (Wizard Academy) from the same studio, just updated for widescreen devices and, of course, gaining new eyeballs.

Second, although possessing some degree of depth and strategy, it's not much. With only a modicum of strategy and choice on your part the game, quite literally, plays itself with you just watching until the game clock ticks to another event that requires your input. So, while it is very superficially a rather Kairosoft like design, it is lacking in the degree of depth that makes the largely hands off gameplay worth it.

The weirdest part is the monetization: if you're sick of free games with aggressive IAP, this is the game for you. As best I can tell, the only reason to spend money is if you for some reason actually care about disappointing your little digital wannabe wizards, otherwise, let the one's who didn't study hard enough get a crappy non-dream job after they graduate and they'll just rotate back into the new student pool eventually with only a modest stat penalty from when they last graduated (but way ahead of a green recruit). The bonus for getting students their dream jobs is far too low to invest a single gold coin in let alone any of the the gem based boosts.

So, assuming you don't go nuts on trying to get everyone their dream job on their first crack at the academy, the game throws more than enough gems at you to do everything else in the game that's gem based, leaving you able to do whatever you want assuming you have the patience to wait.

Not sure if I'll finish the game (it seems to have a defined victory), but it was free and it killed some time today

[Sanuku]

Low bandwidth Version | Pop Up