For shame, game developers! BE BETTER!

Ok people. It's time to talk about this. This is the new game in the Pokemon series. It will be for iPhone and you can purchase attacks and lives for $99 a piece.

Now think about this. Everything I said in that last paragraph was true except that it's not a Pokemon game. And this game did actually exist! This is a prime example of exploitation to the max. Super Monster Bros. was a free iPhone game in the app store. Now if you've ever gotten an app from the app store, you'll know there are these things called "in-app purchases". Basically DLC. A lot of apps make use of these micro-transactions to sell additional content. How easy would it be to exploit that? It's pretty easy to miss that Purchase button and accidentally buy one hundred dollars isn't it? iPhone screens are pretty small compared to my fat thumbs. This brings me to the culprit.

EXHIBIT A!

This comes up on the first screen. If you try to pick any of the other characters (which look suspiciously like Pokemon) or if you try to pick any stage other than level 1-1, you will be prompted to buy the "Unlock All" package for over $100! I could spend days saying how outrageously expensive this is for an iPhone game. Especially one of this quality. Seriously. It's a Charmander. THEY DIDN'T EVEN TRYYYYYYY. HEUUNNGGGGGHH. THE GERSHDERN LEVELS LOOK LIKE MARIO!!! DYUUUEEEEEHHH!!... Okay so if you press any button on this screen other than Charmander or Level 1, you might accidentally buy $109.99 worth of DLC garbage. There's more to this but I'll get to that with...

EXHIBIT B!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I found a picture of the Top In App Purchases from iTunes for this game before it was removed. It's pretty clear from the bright colours and cartoony...ness and the fact that the characters look like Pokemon that this game was targeted at children. Having "Adventure Time" in the title would make it come up in a search for someone who was maybe looking for a legitimate "Adventure Time" game. Combine this with a child who doesn't understand the concept of money and their parent's iPhone linked with a credit card, and you're looking at a big fat cash-grab. Seriously most of those in-app purchases are over $50 each. I can't even... why would someone... whyyyy.....


The game has been removed from the app store, so don't worry. Not because of the exploitation factor, but because of copyright infringement... yeah. So now they have another game out. Pretty much the same thing, but with somewhat original characters. Great. I think this sort of speaks to the state of mobile gaming today. I'll stick with my 3DS thank you.

I give this garbage negative 1,000,000 out of (if you would like to see the rest of this rating, please purchase the "Review Package" for $49.99. Insert Credit Card number here __________________)

If you want to see the game in action, check out this video by IGN:
iPhone Garbage: Super Monster Bros by Adventure Time Pocket Free Games

I'm not sourcing those money-stealing jerks. But I did learn more about them from here:
http://www.cnet.com.au/super-monster-bros-is-the-worst-mobile-game-cash-grab-weve-seen-339344090.htm

-Muca