Rope Around 12+

What is it with these great games that have an amazing concept and addictive gameplay but are always ruined by over saturated advertising. I completely understand that companies need to make money but having an ad after every 2 - 3 levels is overly frustrating. This is a horrible trend and I hate the direction that mobile game creators are heading in. I find myself seeing a really good advert for a game and later on deleting it after a couple of minutes of gameplay. I’m giving the app a 3 star only for the potential it has for people who can push through all the terrible ads.

The idea is simple, the concept, easy to pick up and the gameplay straightforward. However after 50 “levels” and 45 adverts this game is incredibly repetitive. Even at this number of completed stages I have noticed the layouts repeating themselves in what could otherwise be a good game. There is a lot of potential for a game which requires creative solutions to difficult problems by introducing new mechanics or smart layouts that require you to think. I’ve encountered probably 2 at best puzzles that have been more than just loop around all the pegs, with the rest taking no more than a few seconds.

Couple this with the fact that a “level” is two puzzles long, between which you have a chance to win a present (for watching an ad) and at the end you have the chance to win a skin (for also watching an ad) after which you must watch an ad anyway to progress.

It’s abundantly clear to me that this game is the victim of over-advertising just to fit in as many ads as possible. The easy levels mean players will have to sit through even more ads which just becomes tiresome. There is no function to return and replay levels but I needn’t worry about that when the same levels pop up 30 puzzles later anyway.

To summarise, the potential is wasted on a boring and lazy experience. Might as well go google adverts for Homescapes instead.

The developer seems to have some delusion that no matter how many ads he crams between games, us players are going to sit there and watch them without hesitation. I am only on maybe level 15, and see an ad more or less every other game. When I do, I usually close the game immediately, because they are long, boring and frequent. Sure, I could pay to remove these ads, but the game really isn’t that good. Every level is exceptionally easy. You’ll only rage quit because of ad pop ups, not because the game actually challenges you in any way. Yes, sure, ads help the dev make money while I play for free. But if I spend a third of my game time purely watching ads, is this really fair? I will likely uninstall the game soon, if I can even be bothered for that.