Free - to - play game often look likable , but it ’s hard to know at a glance whether the patronage manakin is insidious and play ruining , or sane and deserving pump a few bucks into . With Freemium Field Test , we ’ll take a recent loose - to - play iOS game , put it through its paces , and allow you know if it ’s really deserving your time ( and money ) .
Kim Kardashian : Hollywood made Glu Games ( and Kim Kardashian , of line ) a shipload of money , so it ’s little surprise to see the developer turn that celebrity - centrical templet towards another huge star . And this time around , inKaty Perry Pop , it ’s a dissimilar sort of entertainment industry that you ’ll attempt to infiltrate and overshadow .
Katy Perry ’s title to fame has come from smash dad hit after smash daddy hit , which are in turns empowering , eccentric , and suggestive in nature , but almost always irresistibly catchy — and her vivacious personality serves as a nice backdrop to Katy Perry Pop . But is this ride to the top of the chart really worth taking ?
The pitch
Like Kim ’s secret plan before it , Katy Perry Pop is all about tapping your direction to stardom by following a twisting path through the music diligence . You begin as a barista in Santa Barbara , stepping up to the loose mic for a burnt umber shop jam session just as — incredibly enough — Katy Perry herself comes in for a loving cup of joe . She speedily takes a liking to your sonic stylings and signal boosts you on Twitter , turn you into a star - in - the - making .
Is … is this real life ? No , patently not .
From there , the game throws a unbendable regalia of task your way : Record a new vocal in your mammy ’s basement , shoot anartisticvideo , pass out flyer at clubs and concert , do live for adoring lover on the beach , get into the good graces of a manager , and so on and so forward . You ’ll pop between cartoonish renditions of Californian hot spot , and eventually vaporize out to the ilk of Tokyo and Rio de Janeiro , too .
unluckily , every big mission make for out almost incisively the same path : Once you go memorialize a song or video , or performing in a club , you ’ll just rap the icons on the screen until you lam out of vim . The buttons lay claim to be for unlike tasks — like a guitar solo or networking — but the effect is the same : minuscule currency icons spill out onto the floor for you to tip , and you ’ll iterate until you ’ve fill a meter of musical notes … or clip runs out .
Tap the green buttons , use some zip , tap the small up-to-dateness icon , and then repeat . That ’s the whole game .
While there ’s zero depth to the fundamental interaction here , at least the world of Katy Perry Pop is decently infused with her spirit . Perry herself appear in television interlude early on , and more oftentimes as an embodiment offering advice and management . You ’ll also meet notable characters from her pop life , such as Kitty Purry andLeft Shark , plus you ’re grant wizardly glass that sour each environment into a trippy wonderland full of odd stack . Kudos to Katy for keeping things slightly weird — it makes the stale , freemium - grueling gameplay a number easier to stomach .
Toss on the eldritch glasses and you may confabulate with Kitty Purry and other odd creatures .
The catch
For a while , at least . Katy Perry Pop is not only staggeringly superficial in design , but also very limiting in how much you ’re allowed to experience in any given reach due to its stringent energy system . Case in point : If you start a charge , whether it ’s recording a Sung or play a show , you ’ll in all probability breeze through your entire energy beat in two minute , crown . And then it could be a couple hours before it in full regenerates .
You ’ll expend the Energy Department meter in a hurry , which leave behind you with little to do but wait — or drop .
Each action — like pass out flyers or adding an unrehearsed press to a show — typically requires several energy gunpoint , which you ’ll quickly dish out like a stack of cash at the club . And then what ? Well , you either wait for the meter to slow rejuvenate , spend money to purchase premium up-to-dateness to fill it back up , or look on picture ads or agree to special offers to quash pass real money .
Both the gems and coins come in pack ranging up to $ 100 a pop . You know these do n’t actually take any favour with Perry , right ?
Elsewhere , video ads pop up during gameplay at times with no warning , highjack your equipment in the middle of a delegacy . And what ’s especially unsatisfying is that Katy Perry Pop does n’t offer much in the manner of freebee — where you could consider on picking up currentness from exploit on icons in the neighborhoods in Kim Kardashian : Hollywood , there ’s slight of the sort here . The energy restriction are just too tight to lease you have much fun without spend a short ton .
Katy Perry Pop has a inclination to clump - bomb you with notice . At the very least , turn the sounds off .
If you still plan to push through , a word of advice : Turn off notifications . They are unremitting and get along in wave , with three or four come within 15 minutes in some illustration . Unless you ’re trying to thirstily push through mission in a hurriedness — especially if you ’re not spend money — it ’s not worth the frequent intrusions .
The verdict
colourful and take as Katy Perry Pop ’s cartoonish aesthetic may be , Glu did n’t trouble building much of a game here — nor are you allowed to experience much of what is on offer when you try . Gameplay is limited to tap your way through busywork missions , but the energy restrictions are so blind drunk that you ’ll have to come back every duet hours just to prod the progression along a tiny bit .
At least Kim Kardashian : Hollywood budged enough on the freemium limitations to let you enjoy a small more of the game with persistent gaming and exploration . No such luck here . Who knew the pop hotshot life could be such a drag ?
