Playworld Superheroes is described as a game, that with the help of a child’s imagination it can take flight. It has unique features and gameplay elements that apparently will suit both children and adults alike. Furthermore, it has a one-time purchase of £2.99, so it isn’t a free to play app, which to be honest is a huge plus. Right off the bat, I can tell you that this is an experience made for kids, and an absolutely beautiful one at that. I am personally really impressed with this game, as it has done exactly what it said on the tin and so much more. Stuff that most kid games haven’t grasped.
You see, there are all these so called kid friendly games that post catchy and colourful descriptions, claiming that they are the game that children should be playing. Unfortunately though, most of the time they turn out to be nothing but a shell of false promises and some are even more despicable, as they are nothing but free to play micro-transaction traps. These games are designed so cleverly that any child could accidentally purchase in-game items with real life money. So, it is an absolute breath of fresh air to have a game which actually cares about the kids.
First of all, the game is really cheap at £2.99, but what is more impressive is that it features no in-app purchases whatsoever. This is a game with an actual one time fee, unlike most other games which even though charge you in the beginning, still make you pay quite a lot (I am looking at you RollerCoaster Tycoon). To really test this game out, I decided to enlist the help of my little cousin. I would let her play, and would help guide her if needs be. She was really excited by the description of the game; I mean which kid doesn’t want to be a superhero right?
We had noticed that when we started the game, was just how gorgeous the visuals looked and how amazing the music was. It really made me think how far we have come with mobile gaming. This is a game which shows you, that in a few years we may be rivalling console level graphics on small handheld tablets. Anyways, after our initial awe, we selected a character and followed the game’s instruction in order to build our own superhero costume. Now this was the point I was really paying attention to because you see, building superhero costumes out of trinkets and unused craft material is the most important bit of the superhero experience for a child, whether they use cardboard boxes, shawls as capes or mixing bowls as helmets. This is where most of the effort takes place. So, I was seeing if it actually freed a child’s imagination or restricted it to a few limited options.
The first thing you are required to do, is cut the cardboard box which would apparently become your mask or helmet. The initial cutting of lines did kind of put me off, but it turns out they were only there for reference. I’m sure this is true with most of the kids as well, but seeing how imaginative my little cousin is, she would never restrain herself to a few markings and so decided to go beyond and above. Impressively, the game allowed for that. You could cut any shape, in any direction that you wanted and it really showed not only the potential of the engine, but also how much thought they had put on this aspect of the game. As far as I am concerned, they have hit the nail on the head with the crafting.
Next up, was the colouring bit. It’s no extra effort whatsoever at all and you can seamlessly choose from a variety of colours to help you in designing your gear. It was a really fun experience. Amusingly, the game gave you objects such as discarded water bottles, pie trays and other items you may find lying around the house to use as decorative ornaments. Once we were done and happy with what we had made, it was time to take on our first superhero mission. However before I did that, I saw a strange bubble floating around on the left top corner of the screen. Upon further inspection, it turns out that it’s the imagination bubble for the child in which you are playing as. If you dragged that bubble and moved it over your screen, you will see a version of how the child is interpreting the world around him. For us adults, what is nothing but a tree house in a backyard, is so much more for kids.
For them, it is the hi-tech command base on a mighty flying battleship, fit for any hero. This is also where the game cleverly takes your logo and colour scheme to help create a cooler version of your superhero. You might be wearing those cardboard boxes in real life, but in the kids imagination they are deadly hi-tech equipment. Whenever I’ve used that bubble, it has been an absolutely nostalgic experience. It reminded me of the time when I used to think up of far-fetched scenarios, where my sofa was a bloodthirsty monster, my toy gun, a deadly laser weapon and the baking tray as my shield.
So anyways, we decided to kick some bad guy ass. The way these mini=games are designed is quite interesting and not at all hard to get used to. You basically have to tap on enemies to shoot them with your weapon, and swipe to dodge and take cover, and if you have unlocked the projectile blaster, you can hold and drag to throw them.
How the level design works, is that each level is basically split up into waves, in which the weaker enemies are followed by the stronger ones. Each level has a set number of enemies that you can see on the top left corner of the screen and each enemy type has a unique attack pattern and varied amount of health. Some are easier to destroy than the others. If some enemies get really close to you, you can start a brawl with them.
Unfortunately, this is pretty much the only thing that bugs me as the controls don’t make a lot of sense and because of that, the fighting is unresponsive. The shooting and dodging however, is fun. However, there are some enemies that actually throw projectiles at you, but you can catch and throw them back. My little cousin loved that part, as it is quite a badass thing for kids to do. By defeating enemies, you get gems that are used to unlock new equipment, granting you the ability to craft even more items.
However, the good thing is that the game doesn’t make it hard for you to get them, as they can also be acquired through playing the recycling mini-game. In this mode, plastic objects will start appearing around your backyard and if you interact with them, you can initiate a recycling mini-game where by using flicks, you have to throw the objects in the appropriate bins. The controls aren’t too bad to handle, but they could be much better and indicative. Still, it is not that much of an issue once you get used to it.
Moving on, the flight missions are quite similar in terms of controls to the ground combat. You swipe to dodge and tap on the enemies to shoot. To unlock these you have to have enough gems unlocked for both the left and right jet boot. Lastly, to talk about the technical side of the game. We played this game on an iPad Air and we didn’t experience any frame drops or crashes to be honest. However, I am not sure it scales to the older generation of Apple tablets.
Overall, the game is certainly designed with children and their play patterns in mind. Not once did it try to restrict or force the child’s imagination. In fact, there never came a point where the game wasn’t encouraging the player, as even if the players had failed a mission the game still told you that you did a good job. This is a fantastic thing for kids and encourages them to play on. In fact it even has an unlockable colouring book, which we spent a lot of time with.
If you have kids, I cannot recommend this game enough. This is a milestone game in my opinion, one which has innovated quite a bit. I really hope that more people will play this so it receives the response it deserves. This is a game changing experience, one that a lot of developers can learn from. If you aim to make a game for kids, let their imagination run free and don’t be cheap or greedy.