Free - to - play games often look sympathetic , but it ’s difficult to make love at a glance whether the business exemplar is pernicious and sport wrecking , or reasonable and worth pump a few bucks into . With Freemium Field Test , we ’ll take a late barren - to - dramatic play iOS game , put it through its pace , and have you know if it ’s really worth your time ( and money ) .
It ’s easy to get excited about this weekend ’s discharge ofMission : Impossible – Rogue Nation , particularly after 2011’sGhost Protocolpumped some aliveness back into the spy cinema franchise . Just look atthe late poke : The bike chase ! That railcar chase ! The gadgets ! Tom Cruise hang up off of an airplane ! It ’ll be baffling to top the last one , butRogue Nationseems like it ’s got a fighting chance .
What aboutMission Impossible : Rogue Nation(note the dissimilar colon placement ) , the iOS game ? Sure , it has plenty of action : Shooting citizenry , shooting objects , and … true , it ’s mostly just shooting thing . That ’s well and o.k. , since it ’s free and has solid yield economic value , but it does n’t really capture the feel and flair of the reservoir material — plus it ’s dilute with annoying freemium prompts and limitations .
You ’ll shroud behind cover while reloading and bilk gunfire , plus you could switch over to alternate spots in the stage .
The pitch
There ’s a reason why the Rogue Nation game finger a lot more like a true - up shooter than a spy dangerous undertaking : It ’s a hardly mask reskin of Glu ’s existingContract Killer : Snipergame , all the mode from the carte du jour design through to the mission objective , interface , and gameplay constituent . Even the degree are the same .
No wonder it does n’t come across like a natural annexe of the fertile and interesting commission : unsufferable brand . It does n’t help that you do n’t play as series star Ethan Hunt or even see him or his supporting agent : He ’s referenced in text , but otherwise remains out of heap . Instead , you ’re a rival agent levy to take him out , but the thin storyline changes direction before long . It does n’t even have the neat gadgetry seen in the moving-picture show , aside from an automate helper drone . At least the classic root Sung makes an appearance .
Whether wielding a sniper or rape rife , using the oscilloscope or reticle is the key to accurate shots .
So it ’s not much of a deputation : Impossible biz , but Rogue Nation is a competent enough screen - based shooter . In some missions , you ’ll obliterate behind a faraway pole , popping out to beak off prey with your sniper rifle . Other time , the end is just to eliminate all enemy in vista while hiding behind crates and wall , using an assault rifle or other lumbering weapon to pump lede into generic goons .
Sometimes you ’ll just need to cause a bunch of damage by shoot cars and crate — that ’s when the spy premise really goes off the rails . Stealth missions drink down up once in a while , but by and with child , Rogue Nation is all about aiming your accelerator pedal and completing quick - hit missions as you follow up on bad men across the planet . It all works well enough , but there ’s little challenge and variety to the missionary work : the only things that change are the backdrop and your weapons , and it ’s the latter detail that drives the freemium grind .
The map is pepper with missionary post to accept , but torpedo requirement often keep them just out of orbit .
The catch
Surprisingly , Rogue Nation is n’t very restrictive when it comes to playing for long stretches of time . It has an energy meter , but I ’ve play 30 - plus moment in sessions and not run into any roadblocks . Perhaps late missions are much more hard , making death more potential and zapping that meter in a hurry — but across the several former hours I play , it was never a job .
But while you’re able to keep playing , Glu never countenance you forget that Rogue Nation is a loose - to - play game , and that lucre trumps creativity or originality here . Frequent prompts appear with special fling : parcel of shooter that you may buy at a deduction in thisone - time offer , yet still are wildly expensive . Elsewhere , you ’ll be prompted to watch picture advert in exchange for item like bombs and throwing knives , the latter of which seem more or less crucial to get through stealth missions . look out a video ad also let you double your earnings after missions , which I actually care : I ’ll merrily allow a 20 - 30 second commercial-grade run rather of another identical two - minute level .
It ’s rightful , you may watch a television ad for amber — but you ’ll deal 20 - 30 seconds of your spirit for a unmarried bar . And the packs are wildly expense .
Where Rogue Nation proves more restrictive is in its arm requirements . Each charge require you to have a gun of a sure military rating , which means you may either advance an exist triggerman to the decreed tier — or purchase a new one instantaneously . Both routes are either irksome or expensive . Glu keeps thing puzzling with three different currency type — earned John Cash , slowly - amass datum crystals , and premium Au — but one matter is consistent : The artillery be a screaming amount of hard cash .
That ultimate bundle on the right ? The $ 100 gilt ring just hatch the disbursement . earnestly .
Need a more muscular sniper rifle to take on a mission ? It might cost you $ 15 or more in gold . That special time fling of a discounted firearm two - pack ? Nearly $ 20 . The “ bargain ” section in the memory board could n’t be more wrong , thanks to the front of an Ultimate Agent Pack of high - final stage gun that costs almost $ 100 worth of gold . Will you still be recreate Rogue Nation in a few months ? Will it even still be in the App Store by the time 2016 undulate around?Don’t spend $ 100 on a freemium movie game , please . I pray you .
This is hilarious : when you level up , the safe ’s door explode to discover loads of amber bricks … and you get two of them .
Ultimately , I dropped $ 10 on a pack of gold to afford a handful of gun upgrades that eased some of the repetition — it tolerate me to skip the vulgar delegation and go straight to those that realise intelligence , which is demand to push the campaign along . But the atomic number 79 runs out quickly and the hit man requisite only get more and more audacious as the game build .
The verdict
Like contract bridge Orcinus orca : Sniper , the politic game that Glu slapped this permit upon , Mission Impossible : Rogue Nation is a competent , free activeness game that ply raft of things to fritter away . But beyond the composition Song dynasty and thementionof the main grapheme ’s name , it does n’t strive to enamour the excitement or personality of the movies : It ’s content to kill time and attempt to take your money ( or ad revenue ) . As a loose game , Rogue Nation give a little — but it frequently asks for much more .
