‘Free’ to play games? Not this one
The other day, I was browsing the App Store on my iPad as I was waiting for something else to download and came across Contract Killer which was a sniper simulator and was free.
Downloaded it and started playing the game for a bit, graphics were decent, controls had a few flaws, gameplay was a bit repetitive but it wasn’t a bad time waster considering that the game was free.
A few missions in, a pop up message came up while trying to start a mission stating that I didn’t have enough energy. It then dawned on my that each mission took a chunk out of an energy meter.
The only way to replenish it was to make an In App Purchase (IAP) which effectively stopped me from playing unless I spent some money. It had committed the cardinal sin of free to play games.
I could understand the game being a little harder unless I brought some items (a great example being the Mighty Eagle in Angry Birds that allows you to skip tough levels) but actually preventing the player from playing and forcing them to buy items is a stupid design decision as it doesn’t give any reason for the customer to keep the game on the system as they can no longer play let alone progress.
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alixgames posted this
