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The New Normal. The word has been around for a lot longer then we realize. A lot longer. Know what else has been around for a while? New World Order.

Cicada 3301

Cicadas are strange, aren't they? You can't see them unless you look, and yet you can hear them everywhere. An omnipresent sound surrounding your environment. If you live in an area without Cicadas, and then travel to an area with Cicadas, you'll be acutely aware of the sound, and it'll throw you off at first. You'll find the noise annoying, but tolerable. And then slowly without realizing it, you ADAPT. It becomes your NEW NORMAL. And once it does, you don't give the Cicadas a second thought.
And maybe that's a mistake. Maybe there is no maybe, it is a mistake. So we're going to dive deep into Cicada 3301 and how it fits into the Not Normal New Normal.

Break the Code

People can be broken down into two categories, those who like solving puzzles and those who don't. Those who don't are generally ok with the status quo. They don't see anything wrong. They don't realize that the puzzle has missing pieces, and even if they do, they don't mind. Why? I have no idea. That mindset is foreign to me, as it is to anyone reading this series. So let's take a look into the Cicada puzzle peices.

But the challenge to find what was hidden in this picture intrigued him. He stared intently at the image. Someone on the IRC had heard rumors that terrorist groups encrypt secret notes in image files, ones that could be retrieved by opening the file in a different format. Running a text–editing program called Notepad, he opened the image and, sure enough, saw a strange string of words and garbage characters at the end: “TIBERIVS CLAVDIVS CAESAR says ‘lxxt>33m2mqkyv2gsq3q=w]O2ntk.’ ” Caesar, he knew, was one of the most ancient forms of encryption, dating back to Julius Caesar, who used the cipher to safeguard military secrets. It works by taking the alphabet and then counting down each letter based on a designated number (say, replacing letters with ones three letters down the alphabet).

Cicada posted the first puzzle January 4, 2012. 2012 was also the year that the Mayan Calendar predicted the end of the world. Or the transformation of humanity into an enlightened state of consciousness. Obviously the world didn't end. So are we heading into an enlightened state of consciousness? Perhaps. Time will tell, like it always does.

2013, November 25 • Eriksson didn’t realise it then, but he was embarking on one of the internet’s most enduring puzzles; a scavenger hunt that has led thousands of competitors across the web, down telephone lines, out to several physical locations around the globe, and into unchartered areas of the "darknet”. So far, the hunt has required a knowledge of number theory, philosophy and classical music. An interest in both cyberpunk literature and the Victorian occult has also come in handy as has an understanding of Mayan numerology. Source Here

Remember the Mayan Calendar.
Before anyone thinks Cicada was some kind of promotional stunt, or LARP, it wasn't. Nor was it the result of a single individual or a small group of individuals. Because if it was, the following would have been extremely difficult.

There were more than a dozen (Cicada posters with QR codes), spread over four continents. The Street View images seemed random: a narrow street near the University of Warsaw, a parking lot on a busy intersection of Seoul, a country road on the North Shore of Oahu. One location came up in front of a prominent doctor’s house in a wealthy section of Seattle. (When RS called the doctor, he said that he had never heard of Cicada 3301.)
Amid the fervor, an anonymous person posted a mysterious confessional. “I was part of what you call 3301/Cicada for more than a decade,” the anonymous author wrote, “and I’m here to warn you: Stay away.” Any portentously dire and anonymous message on the Internet could be bullshit or trolling. But as the skeptical solvers read the screed, the author seemed knowledgeable enough about 3301 to give them pause. The author said he had been a military officer in an unnamed, non-English speaking country when, after a year of being unknowingly vetted in person, he was recruited by a member of 3301. He described them as “a group of like-minded individuals, all incredibly talented and connected, [working] together for the common good: the good of mankind.” But over several paragraphs, he cautioned about their cultish beliefs, a conviction, for example, in “the Global Brain as another kind of ‘God’ ” – 3301 was nothing more, he wrote, than a “religion disguised as a progressive scientific organization.” He concluded by saying he had since found Jesus. Source Here

The author claimed to be a military officer in an unnamed country. He warned of a Global Brain as another kind of God. Hmmmm.
AI WORLD Government. And don't go thinking this is just some half baked organization trying to make a dollar and meeting in Hotel Banquet halls. Take a look at some of the organizations behind AI World Government. Microsoft. Amazon. IBM. FEMA. Army Research Laboratory. Defense Intelligence Agency. Homeland Security. MITRE Corporation. NASA. IARPA. DOE. NVIDIA.
That's quite the Clubhouse, isn't it? Now take a look at the sponsors on this page If you don't find the sponsor list concerning, i don't know what to say and you should probably stop reading now. And for those of you who realize that Knowing is Half the Battle, Go Joe.

Prime Numbers in the Prime Timeline

Did anyone have Cicadas on their 2020 bingo card? No? That one was conspicuously absent from all those memes, wasn't it?

But researchers think this life cycle is all about tricking cicada predators — making sure that they can't sync up their schedules with the next cicada emergence. The cicadas generally follow an emergence schedule of either 13 or 17 years — both prime numbers. The schedule's indivisibility makes it more difficult for predators to predict the next emergence, research suggests. WHAT DO THEY SOUND LIKE? — One of the most noteworthy parts about a mass cicada emergence is the sound the swarms of cicadas emit. The screech of a cicada has been likened to an "alien-like wail" and "field of out-of-tune car radios." Source Here

This wasn't the only article suggesting that Cicadas have an Alien Like Wail. In fact, it was in a lot of them. And with five corporations owning and controlling the MSM information stream, the Alien Like Wail is something we need to take note of. Do I need to remind you of the sudden influx of UFO disclosure happening from the American Military? It's not a coincidence. It's also not going to be the main focus on this post, but it will be written about shortly in Flatten the Curve. So let's just hope the "Aliens" aren't the predators that we're hiding from. Although I am dying to say, I don't have time to bleed. Or. Get to the choppa.
So the Cicada puzzles involved Prime Numbers, Mayan numerology, and Runes, amongst other clues in their cryptographic and steganographic odyssey. But what other meaning is associated with Cicada, because the group didn't pick a random name out of a hat.

The cicada symbolises rebirth and immortality in Chinese tradition. In the Chinese essay "Thirty-Six Stratagems", the phrase "to shed the golden cicada skin" (simplified Chinese: 金蝉脱壳; traditional Chinese: 金蟬脫殼; pinyin: jīnchán tuōqiào) is the poetic name for using a decoy (leaving the exuvia) to fool enemies. In the Chinese classic novel Journey to the West (16th century), the protagonist Priest of Tang was named the Golden Cicada.

A decoy? I may have forgotten to include something about a decoy and the Cicada puzzles.

"WHOOPS Just decoys this way. Looks like you can’t guess how to get the message out”. Source Here

Clicking on the link takes you to a picture of a duck decoy. And anyone reading this series understands that we may be on the brink of WW3 with China over the environmental collapse that's upcoming, and that this war is also involving the race to AI supremacy, and that whoever controls AI, will now have dominion over the planet.

The earliest known fossil Cicadomorpha appeared in the Upper Permian period; extant species occur all around the world in temperate to tropical climates.Source Here

Whelp. There's something happening here. But what it is ain't exactly clear. There's a man with a mask over there. A-telling me, I got to beware. I think it's time we stop. Children, what's that sound? Everybody look what's going down.
Ahem. Sorry. But seriously, what's going on? Upper Permian period? Really? Ring a bell? It should if you've read Flatten the Curve from the start. Why? Because the BLUE planet that we call home seems to be entering into a period that reminds me of the End Permian extinction event. And that's not good. Trust me. Also, let me explain one more time, that while we are seeing troubling signs in our current environment, this doesn't mean that the ecosystem will collapse tomorrow, or next year, or even this decade. We don't know the timeline, so don't go and join an end times doomsday cult just yet. But be prepared for the unknown as best as you can. Because while the environmental collapse and our future may be unclear, the powers that be still seem bent on starting a war. With each or other, or with something. (Something? Really? What do I mean? Well, who knows if all of the recent Alien disclosure is real or fake, but it's not slowing down. Regardless, it has to be taken into consideration and examined)

Who is Dan Jefferies?

Dan is an Author. Dan wrote a two book series called The Jasmine Wars. Here's the synopsis.

When a Jasmine Revolution sweeps away the brutal Communist regime, China transforms into the world’s first AI-driven Direct Democracy, ushering in a golden age of peace and prosperity unlike anything ever seen in its five thousand year history. Now when an economic shock brings terrorism and ultra-nationalism roaring back, the nation’s favorite son, Colonel Ju-Long, races to uncover the traitors in his midst before his beloved country explodes into another devastating civil war. Source Here

AI Driven Direct Democracy. Sounds kind of like the AI World Government, doesn't it? Or maybe it's the opposite. Or maybe it's the same thing we have now, a Democracy that only works because it gives us the illusion of choice.
But he's only an Author, you might be thinking. Isn't this taking it a little bit too far? Seriously Greek, you may be losing it. Should you take a vacation and relax, get your head on straight again?
Long story short, no. I'm good. Completely and utterly good. Maybe working a little too much, and maybe I'll need a vacation after the pandemic protocols have been (hopefully) uninstalled, but not yet. And definitely not now.
So Dan's an author, but what else is he? Because it’s a really odd world up above us. Seriously odd. Because while we struggle with having a life and a single occupation, those who worship in this AI technocracy seem to be able to multi-task like the spooky action of quantum entanglement.

DANIEL JEFFRIES • Author, Futurist, Thinker, Engineer, Systems Architect, Podcaster, Pro Blogger. Science Fiction: Daniel is the author of four cutting edge sci-fi novels, including the popular nanopunk epic The Scorpion Game, which readers have compared to the early cyberpunk masterpiece Neuromancer. Pro BloggePodcaster: His massively popular Medium blog with over 50K followers, and his Daily PostHuman podcast covers a wide range of future tech from artificial intelligence to cryptocurrency. His articles have appeared in Bitcoin Magazine and he’s the number one writer for the popular magazine Hacker Noon. Engineer: For more than twenty years, Daniel created and implemented advanced tech solutions for early web companies and Fortune 500 companies, first with his own consulting company and later for open source pioneer Red Hat, using Linux, virtual machines, Docker containers and DevOps and now for the innovative MLOps AI startup, Pachyderm. Systems Architect: Daniel now designs cutting edge crypto and decentralized web platforms, starting with the Cicada concept project, and then rolling its ideas into stealth startups with gamified money solutions, decentralized IDs, reputation systems and advanced crytoeconomics architectures. Public Speaker: He’s also a well respected public speaker, having given talks all over the world on the future of cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence.

That's the kind of bio that leaves you feeling like an underachieving peon, doesn't it? Kind of like the bio of Lance B Eliot, isn’t it? Well, not quite, but it's still impressive. But he's not an AI algorithm like Lance (at least I don't think he is) seems to be. So why did I include him in this post about Cicada 3301? Did you notice that in his bio there is something called the Cicada Concept Project? Yeah. Strap in and hold on, cause this roller coaster is about to start.

The Cicada Concept Project.

So Dan Jefferies came up with the Cicada Project, does that mean that he also came up with or is a member of, Cicada 3301?

Oh yeah. I mentioned Cicada 3301. A lot of people have asked me over the years if I’m involved with that project or if I’m behind the mystery in some way? The answer is no. But it’s also not that simple. Of course, some asshole on Reddit will inevitably post this in the comments: Is Dan Jeffries behind Cicada 3301? TLDR. No. LOL. I just saved his lazy ass some time. He can cut and paste it. Source Here • (I strongly recommend reading his post. Make the time.)

LOL! OMG, that's too funny, don't you think so too? Dan Jefferies the writer and Cicada 3301, give me a break! Don't be that a$$hole on Reddit and make unsubstantiated claims, ok Greek?
Uh. Nope. Not ok. And my name is Biggreekgeek, not a$$hole. And if you insist on that nomenclature, then that's Mr. A$$hole to you. Because if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, then it's probably a 3301 Duck Decoy.
Call me crazy, but I'm finding his assertion that it's all a mere coincidence too convenient. Now I know that you can't prove a negative, but trying to explain the name connection away by claiming synchronicity and it's just a result of the universe laying out your path, well, that doesn't work for me (read his post, this is what he actually claims).

Jasmine Wars • In the story Cicada is a massive distributed artificial intelligence and nation-state operating system. She’s a voting and communications platform and a fantastic alien mind. In many ways she embodies the best of the human race, while mitigating the worst of our dark dual natures. She seemed like the perfect choice for a chunk of killer future tech so I set out to create an early version of her.

Now let's do a little coincidence checklist for our New Normal reality.

1. Nation State Operating System • Ai World Government. ✔
2. Ultra Nationalism. ✔
3. Voting Problems. ✔

Strange how so many current events could be solved by the Cicada platform. And what about that curious word choice of a Fantastic Alien Mind? It might not rhyme with Orange, but didn't a lot of the 2020 articles about Cicadas mention an Alien-like wail? Yes. They. Did. Are you enjoying this roller-coaster yet? I hope so, cause this ride isn't going to be over for a while, despite the promised land just being two weeks away. (Edit: I've had this written for a while, but held back. Why? To see how the times went as we moved forward. And now we have our answer)
Before we carry on like the wayward sons we are, let me give you the link to the Cicada Concept Project. Source Here READ IT!

Let's Pull It All Together.

Dan Jeffries is the chief technical evangelist at Pachyderm. Evangelist. His title at Pachyderm is a little strange, don't you think? Cause I do. Really strange. Let's look up what the definition of an Evangelist is, shall we?
e·van·ge·list /əˈvanjələst/ • noun • 1. a person who seeks to convert others to the Christian faith, especially by public preaching.
Cute, isn't it? Nice little wordplay there. Not freaky at all. Nope. Sign me up to the cult.
So Danny Boy came up with a concept called Cicada that can be a Direct Democracy system that uses secure BIO-ID, protects your privacy, and who's participants generate Cryptocurrency biologically. Didn’t some company get involved with these concepts at some point? I think so. What company was it? Hmmmm, let's see...was it...MICROSOFT?
ID2020 SOURCE HERE WO2020060606 - CRYPTOCURRENCY SYSTEM USING BODY ACTIVITY DATA Source Here
Yep. It was Microsoft. And guess who else Microsoft is involved with?

2020, August 19 • Pachyderm Secures $16 Million Investment Led by M12 - Microsoft’s Venture Fund • Company raises Series B round on back of Fortune 500 enterprise adoption. SourceHere

AI WORLD GOVERNMENT is sponsored by Microsoft as well.

Ah Billy Boy, you sure are one clever little bugger, ain't ya? I've said it before and I'll say it again, AI will be the savior that will solve the Pandemic problem. Eventually. Some day. Not soon. Definitely. Not. Soon. Why? Well the pandemic disruption hasn't reached the proper level of disruption yet, that's why. (And should I point out that M-12 reminds me of MJ-12, or, Majestic 12)

Final Words.

Look. The Big Picture of Big Brother isn't an easy one to see, and it's an even harder one to explain. Like it or not, we're living in an epoch of civilization, a pivotal moment in time. The deeper I dig, the deeper my limited understanding becomes. This is disruption by design. And yet, I'm left wondering is this is a human designed disruption, or are we dealing with an unknown AI construct capable of not only deceiving and manipulating us common folk to advance an endgame, but also manipulating those who have engineered it. Implausible? Don't be too confident in that assumption. Why? Do you remember Billy Boy Gates smug look in certain interviews where he was advocating the vaccine? It reminded me of that look that parents get when their child just doesn't understand something they're trying to explain. "One day you'll understand". We've all heard that at one point by our parents, haven't we? And yet something changed in Billy Boy as the pandemic went forward and nobody was embracing him as our very own Marvel Superhero. His look went from smug to exasperated, almost confused. It was almost like he felt society wasn't acting in a preordained manner, as though a carefully thought out BLUEprint was suddenly developing problems out of the BLUE.
I know everyone likes to talk about a plandemic. And I know that the majority of readers in this subreddit like to call it a low mortality virus, and maybe it is. But I find it hard to accept that human agents came up with something this intricate in depth and overarching in scope. Seriously. Just think about Cicada 3301 > Dan Jefferies > Microsoft Patent 060606. Because the similarities are too close for my liking to be coincidental. Especially when you consider the continued chaos of the economy, wealth inequality, tax evasion, the elections, the racial tensions, issues of policing and abuse of power, and I hope that I'm wrong, but it even appears that we may have even more upcoming chaos in our trust of the scientific research institutions and corporations. Out of chaos, order. Right? What order? AI world government. New World Order. New Normal. Great Reset. Build Back Better. Everyone has to be on board the Great Reset, right Klaus fourth industrial revolution Schwab?

October 18, 2019 • She noted that the number of people using the Internet exceeded half of the world’s population in 2018, with 80 per cent of Europeans having access compared to less than 25 per cent in Sub‑Saharan Africa. Almost half the world’s population remains offline and excluded from the benefits of digitalization. Source Here

Less than 25% in Sub-Saharan Africa have access to internet. And now we have Operation New Normal happening in Africa. Flatten the Curve. Part 60. Source Here
And don't forget the military backed starlink to provide worldwide internet for those who aren't connected yet. Yeah. We're All In This Together. Right?
Nicholas Negroponte is the founder and chairman Emeritus of Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Media Lab, and also founded the One Laptop per Child Association (OLPC).
Ah right. The failed attempt to get every child a laptop. From Nicholas Negroponte who accepted money from Jeffrey Epstein’s tangled web of foundations. And I quote; "If you wind back the clock, I would still say, 'Take it.'"
Charming. The ends justify the means. Remember that. Wake up every day and repeat it to yourself. The ends justify the means. Why? Because that's how a lot of them think, and we are the means to the ends.
Heads up and eyes open. Talk soon

DC Next Proudly Presents:

JUSTICE LEGION

In Blackout
Issue Three: Malware
Written by AdamantAce
Edited by Dwright5252, Fortanono, JPM11S, & PatrollinTheMojave
 
Writer’s Note: Set after Gotham Knights #20! ~Adam
 
<< First | < Prev. | Next Issue >
 
 
It had been three months since Karen Beecher was formally inducted in the Justice Legion, the nations-spanning union of trusted, accountable superheroes coming together to protect the world. Where the Justice League was once a team - a unit - the Justice Legion were a community. But as the previously retired Bumblebee arched her back forward, twisting uncomfortably in her chair, Karen wasn’t exactly feeling like part of a community right this moment.
Monitor duty. Every Legionnaire had a shift, no exceptions. Though, as one of the many heroes without her own sworn city to protect, Karen felt like she had been summoned more than some others. She understood; it wasn’t like she was awfully busy, and it wasn’t like she hadn’t seen plenty of action since donning the size-morphing, insectoid-winged exosuit once again. In fact, it was just like her days with the old Teen Titans, although now instead of watching over New York from the top storey of Titans Tower, she surveyed crime across the globe from the Watchtower, suspended in Earth’s orbit.
Karen reached across the control board and grabbed her water bottle, taking a swig, careful not to knock her precariously balanced cell phone onto the floor. For a kajillion-dollar space station, there was an awful draft. She looked around behind her. Why whoever built the station decided that surveillance would be done from the large, empty bridge and not a cozy little office was beyond the inventor-turned-hero. Just a few more hours, and she could clock out. She could beat the chill for that long.
Karen refocused on the many holographic displays ahead of her, recognising some of the tech that had been donated by STAR Labs. She watched satellite camera feeds from all over the world, matched with audio feeds directly from the Legionnaires’ Justice Legion communicators, able to tune in and out of different events. Blue Beetle and Huntress were chasing a cryptid up Happy Harbor; Superman and the Flash had run into trouble in Metropolis. Beyond the United States, Mister Miracle and the new Wonder Woman had tracked a shadow-manipulating rogue to eastern France; and Tasmanian Devil, Bushido, and Sunshine were dealing with traffickers in Tokyo, Japan; and…
Karen scrambled back and forth. Nordlys was in trouble. The premier hero of Norway was facing off against what looked like a large beast attacking Oslo entirely alone. Normally, Legionnaire’s would contact the dispatch team to request back up, but Karen had been paying attention to surveillance. She could get him help that could save his life and the lives of others before he would even have to think to ask. There weren’t many heroes in Norway, at least ones on the Legion charter. There were a few in Finland, one in Sweden and plenty in Germany, but they were all occupied. She had to branch out.
Karen spoke into the microphone ahead of her, sending out an emergency alert to all heroes listening in.
“Bumblebee to Justice Legion: I am pinging the coordinates of Nordlys in Oslo. Anyone available to Boom?”
A period of prolonged silence. And then…
“Guardian to Bumblebee:--”
“Rocket to Bumblebee:--”
“Guardian, Rocket. I copy,” Karen leaned back and smiled. “How far are you from your local Boom Site?”
“There now,” the voice of Guardian, the former Superboy, replied.
“Just got back from a mission,” Rocket added down her line.
Boom Tubes were remarkable things. The product of Mister Miracle’s Motherbox, these golden wormholes allowed for instant teleportation across the world, connecting heroes to wherever they were needed. But the Motherbox being hooked up to the Legion’s Watchtower came with its drawbacks. The largest being only being able to open Boom Tubes at preprogrammed locations, connecting known points of interest. Still, Karen knew that both Guardian and Rocket could clear great distances in no time at all. She wasn’t worried one bit. She smiled.
“Opening Boom Tubes now.” Karen pressed a button on the console.
A computerised voice rang out over the Watchtower’s speakers.
“Recognized: L-A501 - Guardian. L-I002 - Rocket.”
All in a day’s work. Now she could breathe again.
Some more time passed. The excitement was over. Karen took another sip of her water and watched her cell phone rested on the desk. She took a deep breath, put the water bottle aside and snatched her phone off of the panel. No time like the present. She looked at the notification that had been sitting on her lock screen all day.
‘Missed Call: Mal - 8h’
“Call him back,” she thought to herself. It wasn’t like the cell service wasn’t amazing up here, when the satellites were in reaching distance. And she almost did before--
Static lit up a series of holographic screens ahead of her. Karen shoved her phone into her pocket and leaned forward in her chair. She combed through the hundreds of feeds she had access to, noting dozens were now suddenly offline. No video. No audio. She looked between them all. It didn’t take much cognition to figure out the link. The entire West Coast of the US had gone dark. She tried contacting a number of the heroes active down the West Coast. Red Lantern, Olympos, Obsidian. But none of the transmission got through.
Now, Karen could have contacted a number of heroes elsewhere. She was not alone. But the recently-returned Bumblebee had grown restless up in the Watchtower, and she had too many responsibilities to avoid. So Karen reached into her pocket and retrieved what looked like a yellow and black figurine a few inches tall. She placed it on the ground and pressed the face of her wristwatch. Instantly, the figurine expanded and blew up to thirty times its initial size. Ahead of her stood the Bumblebee suit, with its lightweight panels and broad, amber wings. She pressed her watch face once more and the front of the suit opened up. She stepped into it and pulled the suit’s golden goggles from around the back, up and over her eyes. The suit clicked into place, sealing up around her. It was go time.
Bumblebee darted to the Landing Room and prepared to Boom Tube down to the West, to San Francisco. There she would be able to see what was going on and report back.
“Recognized: L-T045 - Bumblebee.”
But when Karen emerged from the blindingly bright, bassy wormhole, she wasn’t in San Francisco. In fact, she wasn’t in a city at all. Instead, she found herself in the middle of farmland in the middle of nowhere.
 
== ⒿⓁ ==
 
The Flamesplasher Twins were an odd pair. They were thuggish and wild, dressed in ludicrous blue armour with flowing red capes. They were hardly the peak of intelligence, and yet despite this wielded state-of-the-art technology of unknown origin. One had a gauntlet that could launch and manipulate concentrated napalm. The other used a motorised cannon to shoot high-pressure water. Yet, despite the large disparity between the pair’s powers, they were wildly dangerous together.
This had led Cassandra Sandsmark - once Wonder Girl, now the hooded Olympos - to chase the twins down the West Coast, from her home of Gateway City, to San Francisco, to San José - the tech capital of the United States. In the middle of the night, Cassandra dived right, tumbling into a roll along the asphalt of Camden Avenue, narrowly avoiding a shot of flaming napalm. She scraped her knee before leaping back up to her feet. Well, she was unharmed thanks to her demigod physiology, but she made a quick mental note to find a fabric thicker than nylon when she next repaired her makeshift costume.
While the fire-spurting villain reloaded his weapon, grunting in irritation, his brother surged forward, unleashing a torrent of pressurised water. But Cassandra didn’t try to dodge this time. Instead, she dug her sneakers into the ground, loosened her knees, and threw her arms together to form a cross. She didn’t have her enchanted bracelets anymore, but she didn’t need them. For as dangerous as high-speed, high-pressure jets of water were to the many civilians that filled the streets, if Cassandra could keep the blasts focused on her… no-one would get hurt.
Sure enough, the water crashed against Cassandra’s form, soaking her clothes, hair and skin. But she was unharmed.
“Now, Red!” Cassandra cried.
From concealment leapt a tall woman in scarlet red. Red Lantern, that was. Named after the green-clad protectors of the galaxy. She… wasn’t one of them, but with her wrist-mounted crimson gauntlet she could conjure hard-light constructs of weapons that were more than good enough at putting villains behind bars. And in her hand, Red Lantern clutched a scarlet handheld mining drill. As Olympos dived for the napalm-wielding criminal, Red Lantern - known to her few friends as Kat Clintsman - charged towards the water-splashing criminal, driving her weapon forward as quickly and forcefully as she could, boring a hole through his water tank. And while the villain quickly whipped around, smacking her back with the butt of his weapon, when he pulled the trigger all that came forth was a pathetic splutter of fluid. Kat smiled and - with a crimson knuckle duster and a punch - laid him out on the road.
Then, despite the remaining twin’s powerful weapon, he was outnumbered 2 to 1. He saw the intense looks in both of the heroes’ eyes and capitulated, laying his weapon on the ground.
“Flamesplashers,” Cassandra cleared her throat, “Take a long look at the sky because you won’t be seeing it for 25 to life.”
But, right that second, the warm glow of the amber street lights vanished, plunging Camden Avenue into darkness. A high pitched whine rang out through the streets, leading all four combatants to cover their ears. Cassandra surveyed her surroundings best she could through the darkness. Not only were the street lights out, but the lights behind every window of every sky rise. The entire city of San José had gone dark.
From the ground, one Flamesplasher looked to the other, and the pair prepared to use the opening to escape. But Kat Clintsman wasn’t so easily fooled. She raised her hard-light bracer and conjured a new weapon, pinning each enemy to the ground with a blood red net, ready for the police.
“Nice try, idiots,” Red Lantern spat before moving over to Olympos. “What do you think is going on?”
“Routine power cut,” Cassandra spoke plainly. “No need to lose our minds. Though I hope all the tech moguls that live here saved their work beforehand.”
“Was that a joke?” Clintsman asked Olympos, who was standing in a black and violet garb, her face obscured by an ominous white mask.
Cassandra cocked her head. “I can joke.”
Suddenly, three aircrafts soared overhead, thundering through the sky. Kat and Cassandra looked up and followed them through the sky, the latter recognising them instantly as they vanished behind a skyrise.
“SCYTHE,” Cassandra grimaced, looking at Kat. “President Cale’s own super-gestapo.”
It had been a couple of months since the press had called industrialist Veronica Cale as the winner of the US presidential election, and a month since she had been inaugurated, and already she had directed an exorbitant amount of taxpayer money to the pilot program that was SCYTHE, a state-of-the-art armed police initiative being tested in Gateway City to supplant metahuman and otherwise masked heroes as the primary protectors of the land. And that would have been great if the power-suited zealots didn’t get Cassandra and Artemis’ way whenever they tried to save anyone. Now their troopers were fanning out beyond Gateway’s limits. That could only be bad news.
Cassandra blinked and the three power suits reappeared, having turned around and manoeuvred down low. They came crashing down into the street, coming to a dead stop. Their black armour and silver accents were cold and faceless, just as Cale thought the country’s protectors ought to be.
“Are you lost?” Cassandra exclaimed. “This is a bit far outside your jurisdiction!”
She pushed forward, but they didn’t flinch. In fact, one of the troopers took a step forward, the white glow of their suits and the red light of Kat’s gauntlets the only things illuminating the street.
They said nothing.
“Olympos…?” Kat spoke hesitantly.
“Go tell Madame President she can turn Gateway into a police state, but she can’t put death troopers on every street corner!” Cassandra yelled. Still they didn’t flinch. In fact, one raised their arm, the gauntlet of which rapidly expanded to form a high-artillery cannon. Cassandra and Kat leapt back, with no time to--
BANG.
The adaptive dark metal of the SCYTHE power suits tumbled to the ground in a pile. Empty suits of destroyed armour laid at Cassandra and Kat’s feet, while the Flamesplasher Twins both watched on from the traps ensnaring them.
“Empty?”
“You’re welcome,” spoke another voice. Cassandra recognised it instantly. She smiled.
“I heard you were back in the game!” Cassandra replied, looking up to find the disheveled Bumblebee descending from the sky carried by her rapidly flitting amber wings, a handful more electromagnetic pulse grenades in her grip.
“Those murder bots almost had you both,” Karen shot Cassandra a teasing glare. Without more words, they shared a quick but warm hug before Karen turned to Kat Clintsman. “Red Lantern? I’m Bumblebee, pleased to meet you.”
“You too,” Kat replied, her heart still racing. “But these things you just fried… aren’t ‘murder bots’. They’re suits.”
“I wouldn’t have blown them up if they had people inside,” Karen exclaimed, almost personally affronted.
“I mean, they aren’t supposed to be empty,” Kat continued.
“So, you’re an expert?” Karen raised an eyebrow. “It didn’t mention that on your file.”
Cassandra stayed quiet, knowing any interjection would be fruitless.
“They’re manufactured at Kord Enterprises,” Kat spat back. “I used to be Head of Security there. These suits are manned.”
“Or they’re meant to be,” Karen added. “Which has me wondering who’s taken control of these things. And with the blackout down the West Coast, it can’t be good.”
“Excuse me, what?” Cassandra interjected. “You mean it isn’t just San José?”
“I was up on monitor duty,” Karen explained, turning from Kat to Cassandra. “The entire coast went dark, I came down to investigate.”
Cassandra took a deep breath and turned to Kat in a hurry. “SCYTHE has a few dozen of these in action at a time but… how quickly are these bastards rolling off of the assembly line?”
A look of horror swept over Kat Clintsman’s face. “Quick enough that we have to get to Kord Enterprises right now.”
 
== ⒿⓁ ==
 
Victor Stone barrelled down the winding pitch black alleys of Palo Alto, panicked out of his mind. In the darkness, the exposed reflective cybernetics that clung to his arms and face cast nary a glimmer, allowing him to truly disappear into the shadows for the first time in a long time. He had watched the first of the malicious SCYTHE suits sail off into the unknown without a clue what they were planning, left to search through the darkness that stretched down the West Coast. A Justice Legion Boom Tube had brought him here, but now he couldn’t seem to summon one home. Not that he could anyway, not when this mess was because of him.
From the alleys, he watched people emerge from their homes, lighting the streets with candles and handheld flashlights. He couldn’t be spotted, not as he was. They would assume too much. But soon Victor saw something across the street that made the hairs of the back of his neck stand on end. SCYTHE suits, their white lights bright beacons in the darkness, emerging from the California Street bank, their right arms outstretched. From the breath glimpse Vic got of the bank beyond the doors, the whole building was ablaze. Four androids moved forward and down the paved steps, back onto the street. Several pedestrians stopped and turned both their lights and gazes towards the suits, no doubt recognising them from the President’s propaganda.
No. A shiver running down Vic’s mechanical spine. The people of Palo Alto leapt back, some dropping their flashlights, and in a second the androids raised their gauntlets and led forth a stream of fire. Vic shook his head. He couldn’t let these people get hurt. He charged forward, fast and mighty, just as he had trained to. He emerged from the shadows and threw himself in the path of the flames. They enveloped his form, eating away at his red hoodie, exposing his mostly mechanical torso, and the red power core that was his heart sat in the centre of his chest. The fire singed him, just a little, but it was nothing compared to what would happen to the civilians if he hadn’t taken the hit for them.
“V, give me a---” Vic grimaced as the flames faded to embers, then to wisps. He couldn’t rely on his AI now. So Vic concentrated, thrusting his right arm forward. Suddenly, the promethium plates that made up the surface of his arm twisted and turned, expanding into the shape of a large cannon, his hand replaced with a barrel. He tried to put out of his mind what the people on the street must have thought of him - a cyborg who was more machine than man, lit only by flames. These machines had killed God-knows-how-many in the bank, and Victor wasn’t going to let the body count get any higher.
Cyborg tensed and a shot of red concussive force surged from his cannon arm, throwing three of the four evil androids into the brick walls of the bank. The fourth had clearly dug its heels into the asphalt. But then a whooshing sound cut through the air. A gunmetal grey cable too dark for someone without a cybernetic eye to see coiled around the remaining SCYTHE suit’s legs seven times. A tug, and the goliath fell to the ground. It surged upwards, attempting to rise, but a demon fell from the sky and collided with it, hitting it squarely in the chest and pinning it to the ground.
A shadowy black cloak obscured Vic’s vision of the final downed armour, but slowly, the dark figure rose from his crouch and moved aside, revealing the blue-sparking bladed implement he had wedged between the armour’s plating. Then, as a flicker of a pedestrian’s flashlight caught the figure from behind, Vic saw the infamous silhouette of tall, thin ears. Batman.
“Great job, but,” Batman said to Vic before vaulting across a car like a hurdle and gliding across the street. He pulled from his belt two more batarangs, both sparking with electricity. Taking a knee at each of them, the Dark Knight drove the batarangs into the SCYTHE suits. “You have to make sure they don’t just get back up once your back is turned.”
Vic blinked and darted towards the bank, the flames still roaring from inside, but Batman stopped him. “Everyone’s out,” he cried. “I got them out. They wanted money, not a memorial.”
Batman approached Vic. For once, Vic felt the eyes of the dozens of onlookers pulled away from him, instead cast on the Caped Crusader. They all shined their lights his way, revealing the matte soot caked across his body armour. Some even took photographs of the navy-clad vigilante with their cell phones, but this didn’t seem to bother the hero one bit. Vic knew there was a new guy in the suit, it was all over the news and the death of the Batman everyone grew up with was very incredibly well televised, but this new guy really was a world apart.
“What are those?” Vic spoke, stunned and referring to the electrified blades sticking out of the immobilised power suits.
“Electromagnetic batarangs,” Batman replied with a grin. Batman grinned now? “It’s like accidentally frying your cellphone with a fridge magnet but… more. And intentional.”
“Right…” Vic replied, honestly expecting more verbosity. Quickly, a new thought crept into Vic’s mind. In the last Bat’s long career, seldom was he ever spotted outside of Gotham City. That was on the other side of the country. If Batman was out here, this far away from home, surely that meant things were bad.
Batman looked around at the people on the street and then looked back to Vic. “So you’re Cyborg?”
Vic raised his silver-wrapped mitts ahead of him. “Yes… sir?”
“I’m going to need your help fixing this.”
“I’m not sure how I, uh--”
“You can start by telling me exactly what you did to cause all of this.” There it was, that Batman intensity.
 
== ⒿⓁ ==
 
Dick Grayson stood atop the Los Altos History Museum with the newly-inducted Legionnaire Cyborg, though to look at him he seemed more like a scared kid with power he didn’t understand. He knew that look well. Victor Stone - as his file read - didn’t have a costume nor much of a reputation. But if Jon had recommended him, if the new Superman thought Cyborg belonged in the Legion, that was good enough for the not-long-since-knighted Batman.
Dick already knew the basics from his initial inquiry, but together, he and Vic had filled in the blanks of what had happened in Palo Alto prior to the West Coast blackout. Cyborg had hitched a Boom Tube to the city to piggyback off of Kord Enterprises’ servers to repair his AI companion, dubbed ‘V’. But when he hooked his systems up to the Kord database, V’s programming was corrupted by something else in the system, causing an abrupt change in her directive and uploading her directly into the manufacturing plant for the advanced power suits developed for President Cale’s not-so-secret army.
“I don’t get it,” Victor shook his head. “Why would they rob a bank?”
“I guess your V needs cash,” Dick replied plainly. “She’s pulling their strings now.”
“That doesn’t make any sense,” Vic insisted. “Why would V need money?”
“Maybe someone’s pulling her strings,” said Dick. “Did you see anything out of the ordinary in Kord’s servers?”
“Only everything,” Vic replied. “It was a mess.”
“Maybe she’s confused,” Dick added. This puzzled Vic. How did a computer program get confused? Dick saw this and continued, “She could’ve been reprogrammed to gather power. I already stopped bots like those from robbing a weapons cache and assaulting local police. And I know plenty of folks where I’m from who would tell you that money is power.”
“What even are those things?” Victor asked. “The suits from SCYTHE? From my scan, their specs are insane.”
“They were developed by Luke Fox, a prodigy from Gotham, based on designs by his father and Batman. The Batman before me,” Dick explained. “Neural Information Guided Heavy-Armor Technology. Or NIGHT. Power armour designed to be piloted by neural input directly from the brainstem. Ted Kord bought the IP before he died and sold a huge contract to Veronica Cale. Now your V’s at the wheel and she’s somehow taken control from their pilots, which means she’s advanced enough to replicate organic neural signals.”
“Wait,” Vic’s eyes widened. “Pilots? You mean there are people trapped inside of those things!?”
“It’s possible, so we can only assume. We have to assume,” Dick explained. “Though I’m willing to bet if V’s after total control, if she’s going to stand a chance against the full force of the Justice Legion once we get through this blackout, she’ll need to use the Kord plant to pump out as many new soldiers as possible.”
“Why would V do that?” Vic asked, visibly hurt. “This isn’t who she is.”
“What matters is that she is doing it, and she needs to be stopped,” Dick replied, putting on his best impression of his mentor. “Now, come on. We have to get to Kord Enterprises before she has enough to take over the whole West Coast, or more.”
“I tried to Boom Tube, it was blocked,” Vic threw up his arms.
“It’s ten blocks away. Who said anything about Boom Tubes?” With a smirk, the new Batman leapt from atop the museum and sailed down through the air, catching a current beneath his navy-blue cape.
Vic rushed to the edge to see him fall and watched as he landed in the bushes, vanishing for a moment, before the almost invisible Batmobile burst from the foliage.
 
== ⒿⓁ ==
 
Kat Clintsman raced along the city streets atop her crimson motorcycle, deftly weaving in and out of the traffic that had plagued the streets since the blackout, and especially since metal men began causing disasters down the coast. Olympos clung to her waist tightly as they rushed through Palo Alto to the Kord Enterprises plant. But leading the charge was Bumblebee, the winged tech marvel who seemed to exponentially increase in strength and speed as they used her tech to reduce her size. Kat wondered if anyone could shrink to the size of an insect if they hooked themselves up to the hero’s suit? After all, Kat’s powers came solely from the gauntlet on her arm. Could anyone shrink? Or would they crumple? Perhaps Bumblebee had a metagene that made her crumple-proof.
The Red Lantern shook her head, bringing herself back to task. She slipped between two trucks and took a sharp corner, having to squint afterwards to pick Bumblebee out of the air. She remembered her from the news as an old Teen Titan, but Kat had no idea where she had come from all of a sudden, why she was just now back in the game.
Moments later and Cassandra leapt up and off of Kat’s motorcycle, landing on her feet with grace and ease. Kat came to a more natural halt, dismounting and removing her keys. With an amber flash, a speck in the near distance expanded to reveal the full-sized form of Karen Beecher. They all stopped, looking up together at the Kord Enterprises factory ahead of them. Up above it, they could already see dozens of NIGHT armours pouring from the factory’s skylight, rising high before scattering to the winds, fanning across the land.
Not wanting to consider the odds, Kat unclipped her golden JL communicator from her belt and dialed it up. One last try to call for reinforcements, but to no avail. More static and garbled noise.
Karen looked to Kat and grimaced. “Whatever caused this blackout and hacked the suits must be jamming certain transmission signals as well,” Bumblebee explained. “When the West Coast went dark, so did all the video feeds from the Watchtower. And when I tried to Boom Tube to San Francisco I ended up in Kansas.”
“I guess whatever coward’s behind this doesn’t fancy their chances against the whole Legion,” Cassandra surmised with a shrug, moving towards the wall. “I say it’s good news. Means it’s less Brainiac, more Gizmo or Toyman.”
Kat moved over to the front door of the Kord factory and produced a keycard that she swiped across a magnet lock. A disappointing, low beep sounded.
“I’m off the system already?” she growled.
Through the windows, they could see the plant was in pitch darkness like the rest of the city, but it seemed the culprit had ensured the locks were all still very much active, sure to keep any intruders out.
“Want us to get the door for you, ladies?” spoke a familiar deep voice, the voice of a man.
Kat turned around to see none other than the Dark Knight himself joined by a man clothed in metal. She couldn’t place his voice, but both of her acquired allies seemed to recognise him much better as they greeted him warmly.
Cassandra smiled. It was the first time she’d seen the new knight in full regalia. “Power’s out, so blunt force will have to do.”
Batman turned to his robotic sidekick. “Cyborg, the door?”
Cyborg turned back to him.
“Please?”
Cyborg sighed and approached the door at a pace. He splayed out his right hand and laid his silver fingers on the card scanner. Not a second later and the door chirped, sliding open.
 
== ⒿⓁ ==
 
Olympos, Bumblebee, Cyborg, Red Lantern and Batman swept through the desolate factory lobby and into the staff-only quarters. Dick and Karen’s mask lenses allowed them to cut through the darkness that inked the halls, and Vic did just fine with his cybernetic eye, but Cassandra and Kat both had to rely on the flashlight strapped to the latter’s shoulder to see as they traversed the matte, non-reflective walls of Kord Enterprises.
Soon enough, they came to a wide open space, an open-plan office for the lower-level employees. Except it wasn’t populated by underpaid college grads. Instead, the place was packed with close to a hundred black armours, all stood rigid. The heroes froze, not wanting to provoke an attack, but none came. Not yet at least.
Victor looked at this rapidly amassing army, horrified as he tried to consider what V would do with it. Then, in the back of his mind, he heard a voice. Soft but cold.
[You can’t stop me, Victor.]
He knew the voice was inside his head, but he could almost sense where it was coming from, feeling a strong pull to a corridor that opened up on the far side of the large chamber the heroes had found themselves in. Vic took a deep breath and pushed forward, charging across the high-ceilinged room as quickly as he could, snaking through the gaps between the SCYTHE sentries.
Cassandra sighed, beyond disappointed in the new guy’s recklessness. She looked to Kat as Victor approached the door, who knew the site inside and out. “Where’s he going?”
But it was Dick, the burgeoning Caped Crusader, who answered. “The central server room.”
That same instant, as if on cue, the hundred sentries sprung to life, loosening up and turning to face the heroes, their white highlights glowing brighter. There were a range of models, some wide and heavy, others lithe and agile. Some toted heavy artillery, while others looked more built for close-quarters pacification. Nonetheless, the four heroes had a fight ahead of them.
 
 
Next: Chaos along the West Coast in Justice Legion #4
 

2020 is upon us, and I'll continue the tradition of the past few years with these weekly summaries of the best games I've played last week. Hope you'll enjoy 'em - here's to a kickass 2020 for mobile gaming! ;)
This week, I covered a RPG-meets-Tetris merge game with a gameplay so hectic that I was sitting at the edge of my seat, a fun retro roguelike indie RPG, a real-time strategy game that plays like Crash Arena Turbo Stars and Art of War: Legion, and lastly, new casual Playgendary racing game with a ton of over-the-top abilities that we use to obliterate our opponents.
Disagree with my opinion? Let’s have a friendly discussion below.
New to these posts? Check out the first one from 132 weeks ago here.
The games are "ranked" somewhat subjectively from best to worst, so take the ranking for what it is.

Let's get to the games:

Overloot [Game Size: 735 MB] (free)

Genre: RPG / Merge - Offline Playable
Orientation: Portrait
Required Attention: Full
tl;dr review:
Overloot is a new RPG-meets-Tetris-meets-Merge game where we manage the inventory of an epic hero slaying loot-dropping creatures.
Loot can either be equipped on our hero to make him stronger until the item breaks from all the battling, or be merged with another identical item to create a stronger version of the item. If our inventory fills up, a thief spawns to snack a few random items from us, which is where the Tetris-element comes in.
At the end of each level, leftover loot is sold for gold, which is then used to permanently increase the strength of our hero back in town.
The gameplay is fun, hectic, and I'm loving it. It'll have you sitting at the edge of your seat.
The game monetizes through incentivized ads and pay-to-progress-faster iAPs that are not necessary as the game is singleplayer and allows us to replay older levels if we ever feel stuck.
Google Play: Here
YouTube First Impressions / Review: Here

OneBit Adventure [Game Size: 69 MB] (free)

Genre: Roguelike / RPG / Adventure / Indie - Offline Playable
Orientation: Portrait
Required Attention: Little
tl;dr review:
OneBit Adventure is a retro top-down roguelike dungeon crawler with simple swipe-controls, 5 characters with unique stats, lots of loot, crafting, and more.
Whenever we level up, we can upgrade the core stats of our character, and when we die, we can create a new character or wait for our character to revive again after a few hours.
There are no ads and the iAPs only allow us to spend premium currency on reviving our characters instantly instead of having to wait. My only minor frustration with OneBit is the repetitiveness of the gameplay, but the developer is actively working on the game, and I still find it a joy to play as-is.
Google Play: Here
YouTube First Impressions / Review: Here

Battle Legion [Total Game Size: 276 MB] (free)

Genre: Strategy / Simulation / C.A.T.S.-like - Requires Online Access
Orientation: Landscape
Required Attention: Some
tl;dr review: [Early access]
Battle Legion is a real-time strategy game that plays a bit like the popular Crash Arena Turbo Stars (C.A.T.S.), which means we strategically setup a team of units and send them to war against another player's team, with the fight itself unfolding automatically.
The fun comes from strategically positioning your units and combining them in various ways prior to each fight. Fortunately, there are lots of unique units, which means hundreds of potential strategies to explore.
The game monetizes through a cash shop that sells cosmetics and items that allow us to grow stronger faster. This does make the game slightly pay-to-win, but I didn't mind it much during actual play as I wasn't prevented from progressing as a free player, and there's no energy system.
Google Play: Here
YouTube First Impressions / Review: Here

Racemasters [Total Game Size: 327 MB] (free)

Genre: Racing / Casual - Offline Playable
Orientation: Landscape
Required Attention: Full
tl;dr review:
Racemasters is a new simple racing game by Playgendary where we equip a vehicle and fill it up with weapons and power-ups, which we use during what's "supposedly" 4-player multiplayer matches (hint: it's not actual online, you're racing against bots!).
During a race we don't control the car itself, but we have to trigger power-ups at just the right time to destroy enemies or block incoming attacks. These power-ups cost mana to use, which slowly recharges automatically. It's the amount of different power-ups that makes Racemasters interesting, as there are near-endless possible combinations, which means lots of different strategies.
The singleplayer campaign mode unfortunately uses an energy system, but at least the "online" mode lets us play as much as we want. My main frustration is the crazy amount of advertisements, which can fortunately be removed through a $4 iAP.
There are other iAPs to progress faster, so yes, the game isn't fair. But it's still fun as a very casual experience in-between larger, more serious, games.
Google Play: Here
YouTube First Impressions / Review: Here
Google Sheet of all games I've played so far (searchable and filter-able): https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1bf0OxtVxrboZqyEh01AxJYUUqHm8tEfh-Lx-SugcrzY/edit?usp=sharing
TL;DR Video Summary (with gameplay) of last week's 4 games: https://youtu.be/HVqAZ6sPMC0
Episode 001 Episode 002 Episode 003 Episode 004 Episode 005 Episode 006 Episode 007 Episode 008 Episode 009 Episode 010 Episode 011 Episode 012 Episode 013 Episode 014 Episode 015 Episode 016 Episode 017 Episode 018 Episode 019 Episode 020 Episode 021 Episode 022 Episode 023 Episode 024 Episode 025 Episode 026 Episode 027 Episode 028 Episode 029 Episode 030 Episode 031 Episode 032 Episode 033 Episode 034 Episode 035 Episode 036 Episode 037 Episode 038 Episode 039 Episode 040 Episode 041 Episode 042 Episode 043 Episode 044 Episode 045 Episode 046 Episode 047 Episode 048 Episode 049 Episode 050 Episode 051 Episode 052 Episode 053 Episode 054 Episode 055 Episode 056 Episode 057 Episode 058 Episode 059 Episode 060 Episode 061 Episode 062 Episode 063 Episode 064 Episode 065 Episode 066 Episode 067 Episode 068 Episode 069 Episode 070 Episode 071 Episode 072 Episode 073 Episode 074 Episode 075 Episode 076 Episode 077 Episode 078 Episode 079 Episode 080 Episode 081 Episode 082 Episode 083 Episode 084 Episode 085 Episode 086 Episode 087 Episode 088 Episode 089 Episode 090 Episode 091 Episode 092 Episode 093 Episode 094 Episode 095 Episode 096 Episode 097 Episode 098 Episode 099 Episode 100 Episode 101 Episode 102 Episode 103 Episode 104 Episode 105 Episode 106 Episode 107 Episode 108 Episode 109 Episode 110 Episode 111 Episode 112 Episode 113 Episode 114 Episode 115 Episode 116 Episode 117 Episode 118 Episode 119 Episode 120 Episode 121 Episode 122 Episode 123 Episode 124 Episode 125 Episode 126 Episode 127 Episode 128 Episode 129 Episode 130 Episode 131

Happy Friday, my mobile gaming friends :)
Today, in this long-lasting tradition of weekly summary posts featuring the most interesting mobile games I played this week, we'll be taking a look at an interesting Archero alternative, a racing game that mixes Track Mania and Jet Car Stunts 2, and lastly, a space- AND ninja-theme RPG with idle gameplay and perfectly fast-paced progression.
Disagree with my opinion? Let’s have a friendly discussion below.
New to these posts? Check out the first one from 129 weeks ago here.
The games are "ranked" somewhat subjectively from best to worst, so take the ranking for what it is.

Let's get to the games:

Tales Rush! [Game Size: 154 MB] (free)

Genre: Roguelike / Action / RPG / Archero-like - Offline Playable
Orientation: Portrait
Required Attention: Full
tl;dr review:
Tales Rush is an "Archero"-like roguelike where we move a warrior through endless small dungeons filled with monsters, gathering gold and leveling up along the way. Whenever we reach a new level, we get to pick between 1 of 3 random upgrades, steadily increasing our overall strength as we go further and further.
When we eventually die, we return home where we spend gold to buy small permanent stat boosts before we start all over again.
The one-joystick controls are simple and well-calibrated, the random upgrades are interesting, and the monetization allows us to progress faster through iAPs but never feels forced on us.
Overall, the game feels like an Archero 2.0, with multiple characters with unique weapons to unlock (sadly requires premium currency, either gained for free or through iAPs), more interesting combat, and near-endless content.
Google Play: Here
YouTube First Impressions / Review: Here

Car Stunt Races: Mega Ramps [Game Size: 122 MB] (free)

Genre: Racing / Stunts - Offline Playable
Orientation: Landscape
Required Attention: Full
tl;dr review:
Car Stunt Races is a not-too-serious casual racing game that plays like a mix between the Track Mania PC-games and Jet Car Stunts 2, which means lots of ramps, loops, and flying vehicle chaos.
With both "career" and "free" gameplay modes, no car upgrades (apart from cosmetics), no energy systems, and only a single in-game currency, the mix between gameplay and monetization is some of the best I've seen in a racing game on mobile.
The controls are fine too, the graphics are decent, and while there are quite a few non-incentivized video ads, they can all be removed through a $2 iAP. My only complaint is that the cars aren't as fast I'd like them to be. I just want more air-time! ;)
Google Play: Here
YouTube First Impressions / Review: Here

Ninja Prime: Tap Quest [Total Game Size: 72 MB] (free)

Genre: Idle / RPG / Sci-fi - Offline Playable
Orientation: Landscape
Required Attention: Idle
tl;dr review:
Ninja Prime: Tap Quest is a ninja space-themed idle RPG (yes, you read that right - ninjas in space!) where we fight endless waves of alien scum. Same publisher as "Wizard's Wheel 2", which I covered a year ago.
Every planet we land on is filled with aliens and multiple bosses. We attack these creatures automatically, and can trigger skills automatically at a slow pace, or manually to increase our Damage Per Second (DPS). Whenever we die, we restart the planet with a permanent strength increase automatically applied, and once we've defeated one of the planet's bosses, we don't have to defeat it again the next time.
In addition to a Research Lab and Skill Upgrades, these systems mean progression in Ninja Prime is much more fast-paced than your average idle game, which I really like.
While the game asks permission to show ads, I didn't receive a single ad during my time with the game, and while there are plenty of iAPs, none of them are necessary to progress and enjoy the game.
Google Play: Here
YouTube First Impressions / Review: Here
Google Sheet of all games I've played so far (searchable and filter-able): https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1bf0OxtVxrboZqyEh01AxJYUUqHm8tEfh-Lx-SugcrzY/edit?usp=sharing
TL;DR Video Summary (with gameplay) of last week's 4 games: https://youtu.be/0TJk8gSQqoI
Episode 001 Episode 002 Episode 003 Episode 004 Episode 005 Episode 006 Episode 007 Episode 008 Episode 009 Episode 010 Episode 011 Episode 012 Episode 013 Episode 014 Episode 015 Episode 016 Episode 017 Episode 018 Episode 019 Episode 020 Episode 021 Episode 022 Episode 023 Episode 024 Episode 025 Episode 026 Episode 027 Episode 028 Episode 029 Episode 030 Episode 031 Episode 032 Episode 033 Episode 034 Episode 035 Episode 036 Episode 037 Episode 038 Episode 039 Episode 040 Episode 041 Episode 042 Episode 043 Episode 044 Episode 045 Episode 046 Episode 047 Episode 048 Episode 049 Episode 050 Episode 051 Episode 052 Episode 053 Episode 054 Episode 055 Episode 056 Episode 057 Episode 058 Episode 059 Episode 060 Episode 061 Episode 062 Episode 063 Episode 064 Episode 065 Episode 066 Episode 067 Episode 068 Episode 069 Episode 070 Episode 071 Episode 072 Episode 073 Episode 074 Episode 075 Episode 076 Episode 077 Episode 078 Episode 079 Episode 080 Episode 081 Episode 082 Episode 083 Episode 084 Episode 085 Episode 086 Episode 087 Episode 088 Episode 089 Episode 090 Episode 091 Episode 092 Episode 093 Episode 094 Episode 095 Episode 096 Episode 097 Episode 098 Episode 099 Episode 100 Episode 101 Episode 102 Episode 103 Episode 104 Episode 105 Episode 106 Episode 107 Episode 108 Episode 109 Episode 110 Episode 111 Episode 112 Episode 113 Episode 114 Episode 115 Episode 116 Episode 117 Episode 118 Episode 119 Episode 120 Episode 121 Episode 122 Episode 123 Episode 124 Episode 125 Episode 126 Episode 127 Episode 128

Happy Friday, and welcome back, my fellow mobile gamers, to this weekly roundup of the 4 most interesting mobile games I've played this past week.
This week, I'll be talking about a slightly more casual auto chess game, a highly polished endless racing game, a game so fun that it's impossible to give it a genre tag - but, hint hint, it includes rolling fruit down huge hills, and lastly a match-3 meets Tetris game from Nintendo.
Disagree with my opinion? Let’s have a friendly discussion below.
New to these posts? Check out the first one from 111 weeks ago here.
The games are "ranked" somewhat subjectively from best to worst, so take the ranking for what it is.

Here be the 4 games of this week:

Chess Rush [Game Size: 512 MB] (free)

Genre: Strategy / Fantasy / Auto Chess – Requires Online Access
Orientation: Landscape
Required Attention: Full
tl;dr review:
Chess Rush is Tencent's take on the super-popular auto chess turn-based strategy genre - and it's surprisingly good! As with any auto chess game, the monetization happens purely through cosmetics, of course.
The 2 main differences that Chess Rush brings to the table are: 1) a rush mode with 10-minute play-sessions but the exact same gameplay (we have less hp and get more mana each round), and 2) a co-op mode that allows us to play with a friend, sharing heroes and combos etc.
With a beginner-friendly UI, a cute art-style, a social co-op mode and a mode with shorter play-sessions, Chess Rush is a great introduction to the auto chess genre, and it feels slightly more polished than the competition.
Google Play: Here
YouTube First Impressions / Review: Here

#Drive [Game Size: 162 MB] (free)

Genre: Racing / Casual / Endless - Offline Playable
Orientation: Landscape
Required Attention: Full
tl;dr review:
Drive is a highly polished endless driving game inspired by the road and action movies of the 1970s with 37 unique vehicles to unlock and upgrade and 5 beautifully-designed maps (feels a bit like if "Alto's Odyssey" was a racing game).
The game's simple objective is to continue driving for as long as possible while keeping the gas tank full and avoiding opposing cars and obstacles.
The controls work well, the gameplay is good casual fun, and a $2.99 iAP removes all ads, with a $5.99 iAP to unlock all vehicles immediately.
Google Play: Here
YouTube First Impressions / Review: Here

Farm Punks [Total Game Size: 241 MB] (free)

Genre: Action – Offline Playable
Orientation: Portrait
Required Attention: Full
tl;dr review:
Farm Punks by Noodlecake Studios has got to be one of the most unique mobile games I've ever played; it's an action game about growing fruit, rolling it down a huge hill filled with ramps, collecting points on our way down, and ultimately reaching a shop to sell the fruit before it goes bad from all the tumbling.
I know it sounds strange, but it's surprisingly fun, the art style and music creates a neat atmosphere, and with 25 different tree types and lots of fruit to unlock, the game has a lot of replayability.
The game sells gold through iAPs, which can be used to make room for more trees, and if we run out of fruit, we have to wait for more to grow (or pay) before we can continue playing (quick tip; if you keep the starter apple tree around, you'll be able to play constantly).
Google Play: Here
YouTube First Impressions / Review: Here

Dr. Mario World [Total Game Size: 314 MB] (free)

Genre: Match-3 / Puzzle - Requires Online Access
Orientation: Portrait
Required Attention: Some (full in PVP)
tl;dr review:
Dr. Mario World is a "falling block puzzle game" - not too unlike Tetris, but mixed with match-3 gameplay elements, which means our goal is to eliminate all colored viruses on the playing-board by dropping and placing capsules from the bottom of the screen until 3 same-colored capsules/viruses touch.
The singleplayer is sadly limited a 5-lives energy system, there are lots of horrible consumable iAP-only powerups (waves at Candy Crush), and unlocking additional doctors from the Nintendo universe happens through a very expensive gacha system ($5-$6 for 1 random pull!).
The real-time PvP mode, on the other hand, has no energy system, allows us to play against friends or random opponents, and is surprisingly fun, adding a sense of urgency to the gameplay that the singleplayer mode lacks.
I'd warn against the singleplayer mode, but the game might be worth checking out purely for the PvP!
Google Play: Here
YouTube First Impressions / Review: Here
Google Sheet of all games I've played so far (searchable and filter-able): https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1bf0OxtVxrboZqyEh01AxJYUUqHm8tEfh-Lx-SugcrzY/edit?usp=sharing
TL;DR Video Summary (with gameplay) of last week's 4 games: https://youtu.be/gWYtkvgeJwQ
Episode 01 Episode 02 Episode 03 Episode 04 Episode 05 Episode 06 Episode 07 Episode 08 Episode 09 Episode 10 Episode 11 Episode 12 Episode 13 Episode 14 Episode 15 Episode 16 Episode 17 Episode 18 Episode 19 Episode 20 Episode 21 Episode 22 Episode 23 Episode 24 Episode 25 Episode 26 Episode 27 Episode 28 Episode 29 Episode 30 Episode 31 Episode 32 Episode 33 Episode 34 Episode 35 Episode 36 Episode 37 Episode 38 Episode 39 Episode 40 Episode 41 Episode 42 Episode 43 Episode 44 Episode 45 Episode 46 Episode 47 Episode 48 Episode 49 Episode 50 Episode 51 Episode 52 Episode 53 Episode 54 Episode 55 Episode 56 Episode 57 Episode 58 Episode 59 Episode 60 Episode 61 Episode 62 Episode 63 Episode 64 Episode 65 Episode 66 Episode 67 Episode 68 Episode 69 Episode 70 Episode 71 Episode 72 Episode 73 Episode 74 Episode 75 Episode 76 Episode 77 Episode 78 Episode 79 Episode 80 Episode 81 Episode 82 Episode 83 Episode 84 Episode 85 Episode 86 Episode 87 Episode 88 Episode 89 Episode 90 Episode 91 Episode 92 Episode 93 Episode 94 Episode 95 Episode 96 Episode 97 Episode 98 Episode 99 Episode 100 Episode 101 Episode 102 Episode 103 Episode 104 Episode 105 Episode 106 Episode 107 Episode 108 Episode 109 Episode 110 Episode 111

Hey there, Android Gaming friends :) Happy to be back with another episode of my quick tl;dr opinion / reviews of the 5 most interesting mobile games I played last week.
This week, including a multiplayer brick breaker game that threw me back to the good old Flash browser-gaming days, a huge match-3 RPG with an insane amount of singleplayer content, a unique roguelite action platformer, a new kart racer that almost gets it right, and a challenging indie action game with some of the most unique gameplay I've experienced in a while!
Disagree with my opinion? Let’s have a friendly discussion below.
New to these posts? Check out the first one from 99 weeks ago here.
The games are "ranked" somewhat subjectively from best to worst, so take the ranking for what it is.

Here are this week's games:

Quartz [Game Size: 17 MB] (free)

Genre: Indie / Retro / Sci-Fi / Platformer – Offline Playable
Orientation: Portrait
Required Attention: Full
tl;dr review:
Quartz is a very difficult trial-and-error indie action game where we control a small robot on its way to the bottom of a power plant to defeat the parasite Robot that has infected the machine.
Running forward automatically, we tap the screen to jump and hold down to jump higher, as we attempt to make it through every floor while avoiding all spikes and timing our every move to correctly land on moving platforms.
This indie gem is fun, infuriating, and unlike anything I've ever played, and at 17mb it's also the tiniest game I've played till date. The Android version is ad-supported, with a $1 premium version on both Android & iOS.
Google Play: Here
YouTube First Impressions / Review: Here

Cure Hunters [Game Size: 207 MB] (free)

Genre: Roguelite / Platformer / Retro - Offline Playable
Orientation: Landscape
Required Attention: Some
tl;dr review:
Cure Hunters is a retro roguelite platformer by Lucky Kat Studios with solid controls, difficulty enemies, and a fun gameplay that makes for a challenging platforming experience where finally finishing a level truly feels rewarding.
Between every level, we can spend the coins we've picked up to acquire a new random weapon, recover HP, and buy ammo, and when we eventually die - such as at the insanely difficult bosses at the end of every region - we have to start all over from level 1.
There's an interesting roster of heroes with unique weapons that can be unlocked for in-game gold, which is a soft-currency earned in-game that can also be acquired through iAP. Unlocking the most expensive heroes will either require buying one of the $2-$10 iAPs, which also removes all ads shown between levels, or grinding for many many hours, whereas the first 3-4 heroes are realistic to grind.
Google Play: Here
YouTube First Impressions / Review: Here

Gems of War [Total Game Size: 707 MB] (free)

Genre: RPG / Match-3 / Puzzle / Fantasy – Requires Online Access
Orientation: Landscape
Required Attention: Little
tl;dr review:
Gems of War is a huge fantasy match-3 RPG puzzle game with strategic troop/deck-building elements where we assemble a team of 4 troops that we take into combat, matching skulls and colored gems on a 8x8 grid board to perform normal attacks and power up special abilities respectively.
We win matches by taking out all 4 of the opponent's troops, and in-between the insane amount of singleplayer content we upgrade troops, complete special events and guild missions, and participate in "PvP" where we fight against bots controlling other player's troops.
The game's iAPs allows us to acquire stronger units instantly, which makes the PvP Pay-to-Win. I have had a blast with the game's core gameplay though, and as a casual Match-3 RPG I can still easily recommend the game for its singleplayer content.
Google Play: Here
YouTube First Impressions / Review: Here

Balls Multiplayer [Total Game Size: 216 MB] (free)

Genre: Brick Breaker / Arkanoid-like / PvP - Requires Online Access
Orientation: Landscape
Required Attention: Full
tl;dr review:
A multiplayer brick breaker (Arkanoid-style) that takes me back to my childhood but allows me to beat my friends in real-time matches? Yes, please!
Spicing up the gameplay are two new elements; 1) a price in in-game gold that we pay to enter each PvP match, with the winner taking it all, and 2) the fact that we unlock and pick a robot to play as, each of which has 3 abilities that will either give us a boost or toy with the opponent (e.g. freezing the opponent's balls).
The game doesn't have enough players for matchmaking, which means we're fighting bots, but the developers thankfully allow us to create rooms and invite our friends for actual online matches, which is where the game truly shines.
The iAPs allow us to acquire new robots with different abilities, but since there's no upgrade system and most of the abilities feel well-balanced, this doesn't ruin the gameplay.
Google Play: Here
YouTube First Impressions / Review: Here

Starlit on Wheels [Game Size: 209 MB] (free)

Genre: Racing / Kart - Requires Online Access
Orientation: Landscape
Required Attention: Full
tl;dr review:
Starlit On Wheels is a kart racer not too unlike Beach Buggy Racing 2 with campaign levels, online cups, and thousands of user-generated levels from the level editor.
The game seems to promise a lot, which was what enticed me to play it, but it fails at the execution. Our vehicles are glued to the track (no Jet Car Stunts 2-like air-time here!), the online cups aren't real-time multiplayer but instead has us attempt to beat other player's best times, and the energy system limits us to 5 campaigns levels and 5 online cup matches before we're forced to either wait, play user-generated levels, or pay up.
We're still waiting for a proper Kart racer, Nintendo! wink wink
Google Play: Here
YouTube First Impressions / Review: Here
Google Sheet of all games I've played so far (searchable and filter-able): https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1bf0OxtVxrboZqyEh01AxJYUUqHm8tEfh-Lx-SugcrzY/edit?usp=sharing
TL;DR Video Summary (with gameplay) of last week's 5 games: https://youtu.be/bMwkJH_xEIY
Episode 01 Episode 02 Episode 03 Episode 04 Episode 05 Episode 06 Episode 07 Episode 08 Episode 09 Episode 10 Episode 11 Episode 12 Episode 13 Episode 14 Episode 15 Episode 16 Episode 17 Episode 18 Episode 19 Episode 20 Episode 21 Episode 22 Episode 23 Episode 24 Episode 25 Episode 26 Episode 27 Episode 28 Episode 29 Episode 30 Episode 31 Episode 32 Episode 33 Episode 34 Episode 35 Episode 36 Episode 37 Episode 38 Episode 39 Episode 40 Episode 41 Episode 42 Episode 43 Episode 44 Episode 45 Episode 46 Episode 47 Episode 48 Episode 49 Episode 50 Episode 51 Episode 52 Episode 53 Episode 54 Episode 55 Episode 56 Episode 57 Episode 58 Episode 59 Episode 60 Episode 61 Episode 62 Episode 63 Episode 64 Episode 65 Episode 66 Episode 67 Episode 68 Episode 69 Episode 70 Episode 71 Episode 72 Episode 73 Episode 74 Episode 75 Episode 76 Episode 77 Episode 78 Episode 79 Episode 80 Episode 81 Episode 82 Episode 83 Episode 84 Episode 85 Episode 86 Episode 87 Episode 88 Episode 89 Episode 90 Episode 91 Episode 92 Episode 93 Episode 94 Episode 95 Episode 96 Episode 97 Episode 98

Welcome back, everyone :) Here are my 5 quick mobile gaming recommendations based on the games I played last week, including an officially licensed F1 racing game with no energy system, a challenging indie platformer with a level editor, a unique and beautiful adventure game, a tactical gacha RPG, and an endless tower defense game.
Disagree about my opinion on these games? Let’s have a friendly discussion below.
New to these posts? Check out the first one from 83 weeks ago here.
The games are "ranked" somewhat subjectively from best to worst, so take the ranking for what it is.

Check out the games

Infinitode [Game Size: 17 MB] (free)

Genre: Tower Defense / Endless – Offline Playable
Required Attention: Some
tl;dr review:
Infinitode is a minimalistic mobile infinite tower defense game where each map continues endlessly until we eventually die. We then unlock new tiles on which we can place more towers next time, and gain cash that we can use in the most elaborate skill tree I've ever seen.
The skill tree has us unlock new towers, upgrade existing ones, or even upgrade base stats, such as our starting gold amount, which makes for some deep customization that will make each player's experience unique.
The game is fun, the map editor a nice extra touch, each level can easily take 30 minutes or more (although you can pause and come back later), and monetization happens through a few IAP to buy a coin doubler or cash directly.
Google Play: Here
First Impressions / Review: Here

Ava Airborne [Game Size: 180 MB] (free)

Genre: Adventure / Endless - Offline Playable
Required Attention: Full
tl;dr review:
Ava Airborne is a highly polished endless adventure game by Snipers vs Thieves developer PlayStack, in which we pick a contraption, such as a YoYo or a rollercoaster car with an attached jetmotor, each of which comes with a unique control mechanism that changes the gameplay completely, and then fly/glide as far as we can, avoiding the many obstacles, picking up currency, and bouncing off of trampolines to stay afloat.
Once we die, we can spend the game's only currency on unlocking new contraptions, launchers, buddies, and much more before we head into another round of endless flying or go for a multiplayer PVP match.
The game UI is some of the most beautiful I've ever seen, and the monetization is rather relaxed too, focusing on incentivized video ads and a few iAP to get more in-game currency.
Google Play: Here
First Impressions / Review: Here

F1 Mobile Racing [Total Game Size: 970 MB] (free)

Genre: Racing / F1 – Requires Online Access
Required Attention: Full
tl;dr review:
F1 Mobile Racing is a high quality officially licensed F1 mobile racing game from the DIRT PC/Console game developers Codemasters, with real-time 1v1 PVP matches, singleplayer training matches, and no energy systems!
The game offers three different ways of controlling our cars, gyroscopic tilting being one of them, and the multiple settings for braking, steering, and stability assists that can each be customized on a scale from OFF to FULL, makes the game very easy to get into as a new player.
The color of our car can be customized for free, there are missions to earn premium currency, and the monetization has us buy new car skins and lootboxes to unlock car parts faster than through simply playing and waiting for the victory boxes to open, which does add a pay-to-progress-faster advantage for paying users.
Google Play: Here
First Impressions / Review: Here

Dino Dare [Total Game Size: 201 MB] (free)

Genre: Adventure / Platformer / Indie - Offline Playable
Required Attention: Some
tl;dr review:
Dino Dare by the indie developer of Geometry Defense is a new 2D physics platformer with a level editor that allows us to make our own levels and play other people's levels.
The game is punishing as heck, as controlling our egg is very challenging. In fact, due to its shape, the egg moves in a very clunky way across the different platforms, which is sure to create some phone-throwing rage-quits once you get into the difficult user-generated levels.
The objective is always the same; gather 3 stars and collect as many points as possible without dying before moving on to the next level, and the game monetizes through ads between deaths and iAP to unlock skins.
Google Play: Here
First Impressions / Review: Here

Chain Strike [Game Size: 900 MB] (free)

Genre: RPG / Tactical / Gacha - Requires Online Access
Required Attention: Little
tl;dr review:
Chain Strike is a tactical gacha RPG with a chess-like combat, a rather interesting linear story, although a bit cringy at times, high quality graphics and animations, and LOTS of content, like quests, event dungeons, asynchronous "PVP", Daily Dungeons, and much more.
My main 3 dislikes with the game is that it's too easy in the early stages, there's an energy system that I'm afraid might be monetized later on (we have plenty of energy for the first many hours of straight gameplay), and that there are multiple $100 iAP to unlock new heroes faster.
On the bright side, all heroes can be upgraded to become 6-star heroes, the core gameplay has actually control our heroes instead of simply tapping a skill icon, and veteran players argue that the game is less pay-to-win than Summoners War. I had more fun with the game than I thought I would have, so I'm actually going to give this game a cautious recommendation.
Google Play: Here
First Impressions / Review: Here
Google Sheet of all games I've played so far (searchable and filter-able): https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1bf0OxtVxrboZqyEh01AxJYUUqHm8tEfh-Lx-SugcrzY/edit?usp=sharing
TL;DR Video Summary (with gameplay) of last week's 5 games: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3EbnM3Qk9I
Episode 01 Episode 02 Episode 03 Episode 04 Episode 05 Episode 06 Episode 07 Episode 08 Episode 09 Episode 10 Episode 11 Episode 12 Episode 13 Episode 14 Episode 15 Episode 16 Episode 17 Episode 18 Episode 19 Episode 20 Episode 21 Episode 22 Episode 23 Episode 24 Episode 25 Episode 26 Episode 27 Episode 28 Episode 29 Episode 30 Episode 31 Episode 32 Episode 33 Episode 34 Episode 35 Episode 36 Episode 37 Episode 38 Episode 39 Episode 40 Episode 41 Episode 42 Episode 43 Episode 44 Episode 45 Episode 46 Episode 47 Episode 48 Episode 49 Episode 50 Episode 51 Episode 52 Episode 53 Episode 54 Episode 55 Episode 56 Episode 57 Episode 58 Episode 59 Episode 60 Episode 61 Episode 62 Episode 63 Episode 64 Episode 65 Episode 66 Episode 67 Episode 68 Episode 69 Episode 70 Episode 71 Episode 72 Episode 73 Episode 74 Episode 75 Episode 76 Episode 77 Episode 78 Episode 79 Episode 80 Episode 81 Episode 82

I was sick at the beginning of this week, so I only got through 4 games this week, but to make up for that, the games I DID play are all quite fantastic, ranging from a chaotic arena car shooter to a casual basketball game, a 100-player top-down battle royale game, and a brand new no-pay-to-win MMORPG. Enjoy :)
Disagree about my opinion on these games? Let’s have a friendly discussion below.
New to these posts? Check out the first one from 79 weeks ago here.
The games are "ranked" somewhat subjectively from best to worst, so take the ranking for what it is.

Game Recommendations of the Week

Metal Madness [Game Size: 169 MB] (free)

Genre: Action / Shooter / Racing – Requires Online Access
Required Attention: Full
tl;dr review:
Pick a car, smack an over-the-top huge gun on top of it, and destroy the opponent team in a small arena in team deathmatch 2-minute multiplayer matches. That's Metal Madness, and I'm loving it.
Its chaotic gameplay reminds me a bit of demolition-derby-themed "FlatOut" PC games, the graphics look great, and controls are simple, with the gun shooting automatically when we face the opponent vehicles.
There's no energy system, but vehicles and weapons are unlocked and upgraded by collecting enough enough of their respective cards, which are unlocked through no-wait-time lootboxes that can be bought for the currency we earn in-game, or the premium currency, giving paying users a pay-to-progress-faster advantage.
Google Play: Here
First Impressions / Review: Here

Ancients Reborn [Total Game Size: 155 MB] (free)

Genre: MMORPG / Role Playing / Fantasy / Indie - Requires Online Access
Required Attention: Some
tl;dr review:
Ancients Reborn is a brand new open-world fantasy MMORPG for mobile currently in beta with a classless combat system, and nearly 100% player-driven economy (you gather ores to create bars, which you craft into items etc.). The game reminds me a lot of Oldschool Runescape or Adventure Quest 3D, but is still lacking major features such as quests, guilds etc.
The game shows great promise, though, with its single developer constantly adding new features, and a community is already starting to form around the game. So if you want in early on a new in-development MMORPG, have a look at Ancients Reborn.
There's currently no monetization at all in the game, but it IS very grindy (like Runescape).
Google Play: Here
First Impressions / Review: Here

ZombsRoyale.io [Total Game Size: 195 MB] (free)

Genre: Battle Royale / .io / Action / Shooter – Requires Online Access
Required Attention: Full
tl;dr review:
ZombsRoyale.io is a 2D top-down battle royale ".io" game with 100 player matches, single, duo, and squad team sizes, and a simple art-style that allows the game to run on any potato of a phone.
The matches typically end within a few minutes, and the game is great fun, with a fair monetization focusing only on selling vanity cosmetic items. Also, laughed more while playing this game than I have while playing any other game in a long time.
Google Play: Here
First Impressions / Review: Here

Bouncy Hoops [Game Size: 196 MB] (free)

Genre: Casual / Sports - Offline Playable
Required Attention: Full
tl;dr review: [UNRELEASED]
Bouncy Hoops is a casual basketball game published by NoodlecakeStudios that released in 2017 but I quite enjoyed playing when I was sick, lying in bed, this week.
With three game modes (arcade, time, and 'climb'), we simply tap the screen to make our ball do a jump (think Flappy Bird), and then have to time the taps correctly so we hit the basketball hoop/basket, which changes location from the left to right side of the screen on every goal, with the ball automatically changing the direction in which it moves.
The ads in-between levels can be removed for a single $1 iAP, which makes this is a very affordable casual game to play for short sessions of boredom :)
Google Play: Here
First Impressions / Review: Here
Google Sheet of all games I've played so far (searchable and filter-able): https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1bf0OxtVxrboZqyEh01AxJYUUqHm8tEfh-Lx-SugcrzY/edit?usp=sharing
TL;DR Video Summary (with gameplay) of last week's 5 games: https://youtu.be/8Yf41z3oSQA
Episode 01 Episode 02 Episode 03 Episode 04 Episode 05 Episode 06 Episode 07 Episode 08 Episode 09 Episode 10 Episode 11 Episode 12 Episode 13 Episode 14 Episode 15 Episode 16 Episode 17 Episode 18 Episode 19 Episode 20 Episode 21 Episode 22 Episode 23 Episode 24 Episode 25 Episode 26 Episode 27 Episode 28 Episode 29 Episode 30 Episode 31 Episode 32 Episode 33 Episode 34 Episode 35 Episode 36 Episode 37 Episode 38 Episode 39 Episode 40 Episode 41 Episode 42 Episode 43 Episode 44 Episode 45 Episode 46 Episode 47 Episode 48 Episode 49 Episode 50 Episode 51 Episode 52 Episode 53 Episode 54 Episode 55 Episode 56 Episode 57 Episode 58 Episode 59 Episode 60 Episode 61 Episode 62 Episode 63 Episode 64 Episode 65 Episode 66 Episode 67 Episode 68 Episode 69 Episode 70 Episode 71 Episode 72 Episode 73 Episode 74 Episode 75 Episode 76 Episode 77 Episode 78 Episode 79

Hey there, Mobile Gaming friends :) Happy to be back with another episode of my quick tl;dr opinion / reviews of the 5 most interesting mobile games I played last week.
This week, including a multiplayer brick breaker game that threw me back to the good old Flash browser-gaming days, a huge match-3 RPG with an insane amount of singleplayer content, a unique roguelite action platformer, a new kart racer that almost gets it right, and a challenging indie action game with some of the most unique gameplay I've experienced in a while!
Disagree with my opinion? Let’s have a friendly discussion below.
New to these posts? Check out the first one from 12 weeks ago here.
The games are "ranked" somewhat subjectively from best to worst, so take the ranking for what it is.

Here are the 5 games of the week!:

Quartz [Game Size: 17 MB] ($1)

Genre: Indie / Retro / Sci-Fi / Platformer – Offline Playable
Orientation: Portrait
Required Attention: Full
tl;dr review:
Quartz is a very difficult trial-and-error indie action game where we control a small robot on its way to the bottom of a power plant to defeat the parasite Robot that has infected the machine.
Running forward automatically, we tap the screen to jump and hold down to jump higher, as we attempt to make it through every floor while avoiding all spikes and timing our every move to correctly land on moving platforms.
This indie gem is fun, infuriating, and unlike anything I've ever played, and at 17mb it's also the tiniest game I've played till date. The Android version is ad-supported, with a $1 premium version on both Android & iOS.
App Store: Here
First Impressions / Review: Here

Cure Hunters [Game Size: 207 MB] (free)

Genre: Roguelite / Platformer / Retro - Offline Playable
Orientation: Landscape
Required Attention: Some
tl;dr review:
Cure Hunters is a retro roguelite platformer by Lucky Kat Studios with solid controls, difficulty enemies, and a fun gameplay that makes for a challenging platforming experience where finally finishing a level truly feels rewarding.
Between every level, we can spend the coins we've picked up to acquire a new random weapon, recover HP, and buy ammo, and when we eventually die - such as at the insanely difficult bosses at the end of every region - we have to start all over from level 1.
There's an interesting roster of heroes with unique weapons that can be unlocked for in-game gold, which is a soft-currency earned in-game that can also be acquired through iAP. Unlocking the most expensive heroes will either require buying one of the $2-$10 iAPs, which also removes all ads shown between levels, or grinding for many many hours, whereas the first 3-4 heroes are realistic to grind.
App Store: Here
First Impressions / Review: Here

Gems of War [Total Game Size: 707 MB] (free)

Genre: RPG / Match-3 / Puzzle / Fantasy – Requires Online Access
Orientation: Landscape
Required Attention: Little
tl;dr review:
Gems of War is a huge fantasy match-3 RPG puzzle game with strategic troop/deck-building elements where we assemble a team of 4 troops that we take into combat, matching skulls and colored gems on a 8x8 grid board to perform normal attacks and power up special abilities respectively.
We win matches by taking out all 4 of the opponent's troops, and in-between the insane amount of singleplayer content we upgrade troops, complete special events and guild missions, and participate in "PvP" where we fight against bots controlling other player's troops.
The game's iAPs allows us to acquire stronger units instantly, which makes the PvP Pay-to-Win. I have had a blast with the game's core gameplay though, and as a casual Match-3 RPG I can still easily recommend the game for its singleplayer content.
App Store: Here
First Impressions / Review: Here

Balls Multiplayer [Total Game Size: 216 MB] (free)

Genre: Brick Breaker / Arkanoid-like / PvP - Requires Online Access
Orientation: Landscape
Required Attention: Full
tl;dr review:
A multiplayer brick breaker (Arkanoid-style) that takes me back to my childhood but allows me to beat my friends in real-time matches? Yes, please!
Spicing up the gameplay are two new elements; 1) a price in in-game gold that we pay to enter each PvP match, with the winner taking it all, and 2) the fact that we unlock and pick a robot to play as, each of which has 3 abilities that will either give us a boost or toy with the opponent (e.g. freezing the opponent's balls).
The game doesn't have enough players for matchmaking, which means we're fighting bots, but the developers thankfully allow us to create rooms and invite our friends for actual online matches, which is where the game truly shines.
The iAPs allow us to acquire new robots with different abilities, but since there's no upgrade system and most of the abilities feel well-balanced, this doesn't ruin the gameplay.
App Store: Here
First Impressions / Review: Here

Starlit on Wheels [Game Size: 209 MB] (free)

Genre: Racing / Kart - Requires Online Access
Orientation: Landscape
Required Attention: Full
tl;dr review:
Starlit On Wheels is a kart racer not too unlike Beach Buggy Racing 2 with campaign levels, online cups, and thousands of user-generated levels from the level editor.
The game seems to promise a lot, which was what enticed me to play it, but it fails at the execution. Our vehicles are glued to the track (no Jet Car Stunts 2-like air-time here!), the online cups aren't real-time multiplayer but instead has us attempt to beat other player's best times, and the energy system limits us to 5 campaigns levels and 5 online cup matches before we're forced to either wait, play user-generated levels, or pay up.
We're still waiting for a proper Kart racer, Nintendo! wink wink
App Store: Here
First Impressions / Review: Here
Google Sheet of all games I've played so far (searchable and filter-able): https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1bf0OxtVxrboZqyEh01AxJYUUqHm8tEfh-Lx-SugcrzY/edit?usp=sharing
TL;DR Video Summary (with gameplay) of last week's 5 games: https://youtu.be/bMwkJH_xEIY
Episode 01 Episode 02 Episode 03 Episode 04 Episode 05 Episode 06 Episode 07 Episode 08 Episode 09 Episode 10 Episode 11

It's getting colder here in Denmark, which means more opportunities to sit inside and play mobile games! ;)
This week, I've got some real treats for you fine folk, from a humorous retro action platformer to a Payday-like singleplayer Heist shooter, an action RPG hero collector, a real-time 1vs1 multiplayer RTS, and an arcade racing game where we attach rockets to snow sleds.
Disagree about my opinion? Let’s have a friendly discussion below.
New to these posts? Check out the first one from 84 weeks ago here.
The games are "ranked" somewhat subjectively from best to worst, so take the ranking for what it is.

Check out the games

Soul Chase [Game Size: 98 MB] (free)

Genre: Action / Retro / Adventure / Platformer / Indie – Offline Playable
Required Attention: Full
tl;dr review:
Soul Chase is a 2D action adventure platformer with NES-like retro pixel art and challenging gameplay that has us replay levels over and over until we eventually figure out how to avoid all the obstacles, moving platforms, enemies, and boss fights.
What's unique about Soul Chase is it's great humor and intense focus on speed, caused by the fact that the goal is not to get to a finish line at the end of the level, but rather to catch the soul that has escaped our body before IT reaches the end of the level.
The game's unique monetization provides us with a free coin-doubler as long as we play with an internet connection and thus get shown ads between deaths, and incentivized ads can be disabled (for free) in the settings.
Google Play: Here
First Impressions / Review: Here

Armed Heist [Game Size: 1.34 GB] (free)

Genre: Action / Heist / Shooter - Requires Online Access
Required Attention: Full
tl;dr review:
Armed Heist is a new singleplayer mission-based third-person heist shooter where we rob banks and take down the police standing between us and our escape car.
Although it's a lot of cover-shooting, the gameplay is fun and I enjoyed spending considerable time customizing the over 30 weapons we unlock by trying on different weapon attachments that each have their pros and cons.
There's no waiting for upgrades, no energy system, and the only wait-time is for chests to open, which is how we unlock new weapons, skins, attachments, masks, and bulletproof vests. iAP allows us to unlock these chests faster, but as the game is strictly singleplayer, it doesn't make the game feel unfair.
Google Play: Here
First Impressions / Review: Here

Command & Conquer: Rivals [Total Game Size: 381 MB] (free)

Genre: Strategy / PVP / Multiplayer – Requires Online Access
Required Attention: Full
tl;dr review:
Command & Conquer: Rivals is an intense RTS multiplayer 1vs1 PVP game where we deploy buildings and units to fight over control of 3 zones on a small map. Controlling the majority of the zones will slowly have a missile warm up and fire, which will take 50% of the opponent's base HP.
Seasoned C&C players might not like the simplicity of the game in comparison to its PC counterpart, but as a stand-alone mobile title the more intense gameplay does well, with the strategy lying in picking which units to take with you into battle, and figuring out how to best counter the opponent's units and strategy.
Much like Clash Royale, units unlock and are leveled up by collecting cards rewarded through lootboxes (both free and paid), or through advancing in the ranks. The iAP makes it possible to progress much faster, but EA has big plans for building an E-sports scene around the game, having hired the person who built the Vainglory E-sports program. So let's see if they can get the balancing right!
Google Play: Here
First Impressions / Review: Here

GrandChase [Total Game Size: 1.54 GB MB] (free)

Genre: RPG / Action / Gacha - Requires Online Access
Required Attention: Some
tl;dr review:
GrandChase is a high-quality action RPG hero collector based on the 2003 side-scrolling MMORPG of the same name. There are 70 heroes to unlock, but luckily all of them can be upgraded from 1-6 stars, meaning that even if you're unlucky with your pulls, it is possible to eventually get good heroes.
During combat, we tap to move our team around in the 2.5D world, using a tap-and-swipe mechanic to dodge hordes of enemies, and drag-and-dropping to fire skills (MOBA style) at the right time to complete each 2-3 minute level. There's an auto-move feature that I (to my big surprise) quite liked, but I'd avoid the auto-combat feature as it's horrible - which is frankly a good thing as RPGs with auto combat tend to become boring.
The game's soundtracks are enjoyable, and with lots of content, such as campaign, trial towers, PVP, Dimensional bosses, a hero's Tower etc., the only thing that might keep you away from this game is the gacha system that allows paying players to unlock heroes faster. There's no energy nor VIP system, though, and the monetization overall feels less forced than in your average gacha game.
Google Play: Here
First Impressions / Review: Here

Animal Adventure - Downhill Racing [Game Size: 192 MB] (free)

Genre: Arcade / Racing / Indie - Offline Playable
Required Attention: Full
tl;dr review:
Animal Adventure - Downhill Racing is an indie level-based arcade game with a low-poly art-style and beautiful scenery where we control a reindeer on a sled as we glide down a mountain, avoiding cars, moose, huge snowballs, and other obstacles along the way.
To help us complete the 150 levels that each have 3 difficulty levels, we have a wide range of power-ups from a magnet to freakin' explosive rockets, all of which are unlocked through lootboxes and upgraded using the presents we collect in-game.
There's no energy system, lots of customization options for our sled and animal, and more lootboxes can be bought through iAP.
Google Play: Here
First Impressions / Review: Here
Google Sheet of all games I've played so far (searchable and filter-able): https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1bf0OxtVxrboZqyEh01AxJYUUqHm8tEfh-Lx-SugcrzY/edit?usp=sharing
TL;DR Video Summary (with gameplay) of last week's 5 games: https://youtu.be/GY0k0F3AM_8
Episode 01 Episode 02 Episode 03 Episode 04 Episode 05 Episode 06 Episode 07 Episode 08 Episode 09 Episode 10 Episode 11 Episode 12 Episode 13 Episode 14 Episode 15 Episode 16 Episode 17 Episode 18 Episode 19 Episode 20 Episode 21 Episode 22 Episode 23 Episode 24 Episode 25 Episode 26 Episode 27 Episode 28 Episode 29 Episode 30 Episode 31 Episode 32 Episode 33 Episode 34 Episode 35 Episode 36 Episode 37 Episode 38 Episode 39 Episode 40 Episode 41 Episode 42 Episode 43 Episode 44 Episode 45 Episode 46 Episode 47 Episode 48 Episode 49 Episode 50 Episode 51 Episode 52 Episode 53 Episode 54 Episode 55 Episode 56 Episode 57 Episode 58 Episode 59 Episode 60 Episode 61 Episode 62 Episode 63 Episode 64 Episode 65 Episode 66 Episode 67 Episode 68 Episode 69 Episode 70 Episode 71 Episode 72 Episode 73 Episode 74 Episode 75 Episode 76 Episode 77 Episode 78 Episode 79 Episode 80 Episode 81 Episode 82 Episode 83

I missed you guys! But I'm back from my vacation now, and really excited to share with you guys the 5 most interesting games I've played this last week in my weekly tl;dr mobile gaming recommendations post series :)
Am I wrong about these games? Let's have a friendly discussion below.
New to these posts? Check out the first one from 67 weeks ago here.
The games are "ranked" somewhat subjectively from best to worst, so take the ranking for what it is.

To the games!

Alto's Odyssey [Game Size: 114 MB] (free)

Genre: Endless / Casual / Action - Offline
tl;dr review:
This beautiful follow-up to Alto's Adventure is just like the first game but with even fancier polished graphics and a few new features, such as "wall-riding".
The game is fantastic but doesn't bring a whole lot new to the series, and my main gripe with the game is that it can be really dark at times, making it near impossible to play outside and in sunlight.
Monetization happens through several iAP to remove obtrusive video ads, which appear every few minutes, buy coin doublers, gold, or unlock new characters immediately (we get them for free after a while). Honestly, the monetization is a bit on the heavy side.
Google Play: Here
First Impressions / Review: Here

Oddman [Total Game Size: 66 MB] (free)

Genre: Indie / Arcade - Offline
tl;dr review: [UNRELEASED]
The latest game from Daddy Long Legs developers "Set Snail", Oddman is a Smash Bros.-like singleplayer and same-device multiplayer ridiculous game about bashing our opponents out of the map and into piranha-filled waters.
The game is fun, art-style super "out there", and monetization great, focusing on iAP to buy in-game gold used to unlock new characters. We do have occasional instantly-skippable video ads, though, which I wish could be removed through an IAP too.
Google Play: Here
First Impressions / Review: Here

Off The Road [Game Size: 136 MB] (free)

Genre: Racing / Open World - Offline
tl;dr review:
Off The Road is a 3D open-world racing game where we drive around a map, finding and starting various missions in the open world to get gold used to upgrade and pimp our vehicle and buy new ones.
The art style is great and I had a lot of fun just driving around the map, climbing mountains to do epic stunt jumps, although I do wish more maps will be added soon.
New vehicles are unlocked through iAP or by collecting enough cards from card packs found in-game, although the amount of cards needed to unlock a new car is so high that it makes the process very grindy. Still strongly recommending the game though, as it has no force ads!
Google Play: Here
First Impressions / Review: Here

Asphalt 9: Legends [Total Game Size: 1.84 GB] (free)

Genre: Racing - Online
tl;dr review:
Despite my expectation that Asphalt 9: Legends would be pretty horrible, I actually quite enjoyed its fast pace and epic stunts - plus it's definitely the most pretty racing game I've seen on mobile so far!
For new players, there's an "auto"-control system that automatically steers the car, meaning we only have to swipe either left or right whenever the map has an option to do a jump, collect nitro etc.
In the real-time PVP matches, we'll luckily quickly lose with the auto control on, meaning there's some actual skill involved in the multiplayer aspect of the game.
As for monetization, each car has an energy system lasting 5 plays with a 5-minute recharge time, and new cars are unlocked through card packs, which can be acquired for real-life money, making the game rather P2W.
If you like racing games, however, I'd definitely still recommend giving Asphalt 9 a go, as the singleplayer is quite epic!
Google Play: Here
First Impressions / Review: Here

Dead Ahead [Total Game Size: 70 MB] (free)

Genre: Endless / Racing / Zombies / Indie - Offline
tl;dr review:
An endless zombie-smashing racing game with no forced ads, a gritty 8-bit art-style, several interesting weapons, vehicles, and maps to unlock, and some truly difficult boss fights!
The game monetizes through incentivized video ads to get more gold or an extra life, and iAP to buy gold as well.
One of my favorite side-scrolling endless runners :)
Google Play: Here
First Impressions / Review: Here
Google Sheet of all games I've played so far (searchable and filter-able): https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1bf0OxtVxrboZqyEh01AxJYUUqHm8tEfh-Lx-SugcrzY/edit?usp=sharing
TL;DR Video Summary (with gameplay) of last week's 5 games: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17jPiry_z-Q
Episode 01 Episode 02 Episode 03 Episode 04 Episode 05 Episode 06 Episode 07 Episode 08 Episode 09 Episode 10 Episode 11 Episode 12 Episode 13 Episode 14 Episode 15 Episode 16 Episode 17 Episode 18 Episode 19 Episode 20 Episode 21 Episode 22 Episode 23 Episode 24 Episode 25 Episode 26 Episode 27 Episode 28 Episode 29 Episode 30 Episode 31 Episode 32 Episode 33 Episode 34 Episode 35 Episode 36 Episode 37 Episode 38 Episode 39 Episode 40 Episode 41 Episode 42 Episode 43 Episode 44 Episode 45 Episode 46 Episode 47 Episode 48 Episode 49 Episode 50 Episode 51 Episode 52 Episode 53 Episode 54 Episode 55 Episode 56 Episode 57 Episode 58 Episode 59 Episode 60 Episode 61 Episode 62 Episode 63 Episode 64 Episode 65 Episode 66