10000000 review (iOS / Universal)

♫ “Time, got the time tick tick tickin’ in my head”

10 word description: Dungeon crawling RPG matching game. Match, kill, loot, upgrade. Retro.

10 word review: Proves beyond doubt that great games do not need IAPs.

Match by sliding whole rows or columns, not moving individual blocks

You will like this if you enjoy: Match-3 RPGs. Examples would be Dungeon Raid, The Dungeon Saga and Puzzle Quest. However, ignoring the minor sub-genre pigeon-holing, this game should appeal to pretty much anyone.

The good news: This game is a lot of fun to play. That’s important, don’t overlook it! Graphics are decent and retro-looking, music and sounds are good and rather entertaining. Upgrades and evolving objectives contribute to the intense “one more go” hook of the game. No IAPs, none at all. I imagine if this game had originated from Korea or Gameloft or any one of 10 million other iOS developers it would be a massively different story. Well done to the developer, you are to be applauded and thanked. A lot.

Complete objectives to level up. Levelling up increases the score multiplier, among other things

The bad news: It’s a time-sink. While this is arguably not “bad”, it’s the core of the game and the only way to improve your performance, much as in many standard (and highly acclaimed) role playing games. If someone has a higher score than you (and you probably won’t know or care as there’s currently no Game Center integration) it’s only because they’ve played it for longer.

Arcadelife verdict: It doesn’t take long while playing 10000000 to notice that it’s a lot of fun and incredibly addictive. It takes slightly longer to realise that it isn’t your elite Match-3 skills or rattlesnake reactions that are improving your scores, it’s the time that you are putting into the game. This isn’t a bad thing, it’s almost the total opposite of the appalling In-App-Purchase “buy to win” bollocks that is so successfully spoiling a lot of current iOS games, and I like it even more because of that. Hell, it’s worth buying this game just to show that a pure, fun and immensely playable game can turn a decent profit even without being bogged down with IAPs.

There’s an intensity to the game that is very close to perfect. I have occasionally hit some kind of stress wall while playing, where I lose the ability to function, paralysed by a grid where I can see no useful matches, while my stick figure avatar is being pushed relentlessly off the left side of the screen and all I can do is stare, twitching a bit. That doesn’t happen by accident – this a very well devised and executed game.

However, the despair of each defeat is tempered by the fact that each attempt earns you something, whether it’s materials to improve your castle or gold to buy upgrades. If IAPs were involved, it would feel cheap and pointless. As it is, it feels like something that you not only MUST DO but that you absolutely WANT TO DO, because it’s that much fun.

Keys unlock things. I bet you didn’t know that…

Some closing thoughts: There’s nothing wrong with the name 10000000. Try typing it into iTunes… I did and I saw this game and Galaxy on Fire 2 in the search results. Now that is good company to be in, although I haven’t got a clue why GoF2 comes up. 10000000 isn’t the best game ever, but it’s the closest you’re going to get this week.

Arcadelife rating

Visuals – 7/10
Audio – 9/10
Controls – 10/10
Content – 9/10
Fun – 10/10
Final rating – 90/100

Rating categories explained here.

Version reviewed by Arcadelife is 1.0.0

EightyEight Games website link

Arcadelife played and reviewed this game on:
4th gen iPod Touch (iOS 5.1.1)
iPad (iOS 5.1.1)