However, the more advanced upgrades predictably cost more Warcash - which can put more pressure on the player to buy them with hard currency instead. After all, for the most part a sufficient level of upgrading can be achieved by using the game's soft currency, Warcash, which is handed out pretty liberally to reward completion of missions. With a plethora of one-time offers on weapons, each promising some degree of astonishing exclusivity and value - “THIS IS YOUR ONLY CHANCE!” blares the on-screen message - then 480 gold really won't stretch very far.īut then, perhaps I'm just needlessly susceptible to these sort of tactics. However, as it turned out, 480 units of gold didn't last me very long either. I opted to buy 480 gold at a price of £9.99 - more than I usually pay for games in this column - as I just didn't see 100 stretching far enough to make decent progress. Prices range from $4.99 for 100 to £99.99 for 6,500, with bulk-buyers getting far better value as you'd expect. When many developers are embracing reciprocity, this can be hard to get used to.Ī problem symptomatic of this is that the incentivised video ads don't feel like they're providing enough incentive by any stretch - 30 seconds may not be a long time, but many will feel like it's wasted time regardless as they collect their paltry 1 gold reward. The game's hard currency - gold, predictably - is a perfect example of this approach, making itself almost inaccessible through any method other than actually spending money. With three currencies - one hard, one soft and one gained via progress - an energy system, incentivised video ads and an offer wall, one thing nobody could accuse it of is obfuscating its thirst for revenue. The first thing to note is that Frontline Commando: WW2 features just about every established form of freemium monetisation.įrontline Commando: WW2 features just about every established form of freemium monetisation. “Make wars unprofitable and you make them impossible” With this, Glu Mobile immediately establishes a pace of progress to which the player must adhere - not the other way around. One mission may require your flamethrower to be of a certain standard, while another may necessitate the upgrade of a sniper rifle. MIssons are gated by the power of your weapons More importantly, it also affords Glu Mobile the opportunity to sell new weapons as well as giving the option to upgrade your existing arsenal, which is the first prong of its strong monetisation push. Machine guns, snipers, bazookas and flamethrowers are all well-represented here, giving the stages some semblance of variety. What it is, then, is an efficient set-up for framing short bursts of gun-toting action that come in various flavours. It's more 1940s Time Crisis than Call of Duty, one might say. Thus, with your character automatically moving between cover, what you're left with is a series of shooting galleries featuring targets of a Nazi persuasion. This time, we're taking a look at Glu Mobile's Frontline Commando: WW2, the latest in the thirdperson shooting series.įrontline Commando: WW2, like so many others on mobile, sensibly takes more design cues from the arcade than it does from PC and console. The end goal is to see whether the game makes a good enough case for us to part with our cash, or whether players are content - or engaged enough - to freeload. In each installment, we consider the incentives or pressure applied to make in-app purchases, their perceived value, the expansion offered by IAPs and the overall value of the experience. Welcome back to the In-App Purchase Inspector- our regular look at free-to-play games from the consumer's perspective.
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