An example of when the developers were able to make an interesting game that is perfectly adapted for smartphones is also free.
It is customary to scold the mobile games market: it was captured by the free-to-play format, when the game is given to the user for free, but constantly offers to buy some bonus for real money. Sometimes it becomes impossible to play without money. These games are called shareware.
Developers can be understood that the average user is not ready to pay more than $ 5 for a mobile game. Because games on a smartphone are needed mainly to pass the time on public transport or in queues. There are a lot of good timekiller games for this, and more serious and large-scale developments often do not pay off. Still, sometimes there are decent games that are ideally suited for mobile devices and do not shake money for no reason. Dan the Man turned out to be such a game for me.
The recipe for the perfect game
Dan the Man is an example of developers' understanding of the features of mobile gaming. They chose the arcade genre in 2D platforming format: the optimal middle between inconvenient shooters and too simple games like 'match three of the same balls in a row'.
Dan the Man has cute and uncomplicated pixel graphics so as not to overload your smartphone and waste your battery. The level design is also excellent: save points are scattered around them. This is important because you can enter the game for two minutes, close it and then not go through the entire level again, but continue from the last point.
But these nuances do not mean anything if the game is uninteresting. Dan the Man was obviously inspired by the games of the Dandy and Shoga era: Comix Zone, Contra, Street of Rage and other platformers with elements of fighting and shooting. The game has elementary control and six combo attacks, when combined, you can arrange funny tricks. Six types of throwing and firearms add variety to battles.
The passage of one level takes no more than 10 minutes, the game has only 24 levels. Your task is to reach the end of the level, you don't even have to kill everyone or collect all the coins and bonuses. Hordes of various enemies are scattered across the map, which attack you at the same time. At the end of some levels, a huge boss awaits you.
Coins are scattered across the levels, they still fall from killed enemies and broken objects. They can be spent in shops that come across during the game, on lives or weapons. Between levels for coins, you can improve hits and weapons.
Itut we have come to the first minus – each new level opens after a certain time. The first ones open after half an hour, then – longer. This is already the traditional scheme for free games. If you want to shorten the waiting time, you can watch a short commercial.
I rarely play in a row for more than 10-15 minutes, so waiting for a new level to open is not a problem for me. Moreover, at this time you can replay the previous tasks or play the 'arena' mode. They also show ads in the game, sometimes it seems that there are too many of them.
For 219 rubles, you can buy the full version of the game and forget about advertising and waiting for new levels.
I will not talk about the plot, it is practically absent. Some details can be found in the animation inserts that show between levels. They look funny:
In general, the game Dan the Man is a continuation of the Internet animated series, which consists of seven episodes. It is not necessary to watch it, but you can see a short retelling of the story of the protagonist:
Outcome
Dan the Man definitely deserves attention, it's not for nothing that she has a 4.8 rating on Google play – this is rare. The game does not require real money to buy useless crystals, it only offers to buy the full version once and forget about all the disadvantages of shareware games. Those who do not want to pay periodically watch ads and wait for new levels. I think this is a permissible monetization scheme for a game of this quality.
Try it, you won't regret it.