=== Mobile Game Review -- Car Merger - Idle Clicker - 2 / 10 ===

Games where you progress while you are offline are some of the easiest games to play on a phone. Car merger is one such game where you perform activities online to then make more money while you are offline.

The gameplay of car merger is quite simple really: starting from the beginning you would purchase one car of level 1 and set it to work racing around a track which earns money over time both while you are playing the game and while you have the game closed. Once enough money has been earned, you will then be able to purchase a second car of level 1. At this point you have two choices: the first would be to put both cars to work racing around the track earning money over time. The second would be to move one of these cars on top of the other of these cars which would create one car of level 2.

As the levels of the cars racing around the track increase, they earn more money. A big component of a game with an idle progression element is making more money... Which means anytime you can make more money that's usually the correct choice. Really, the only time you would want to not level up your car might be if you want to have the maximum number of cars on the track at one time. In most cases you straight up make more money by merging cars together to make a higher level car... But occasionally if you don't have enough money to purchase the car you need and are about to go offline, having the maximum number of cars on the track earns you an additional 10% income.

Someone may at first think this is a great bit of strategy to the game! Unfortunately, the payoff is just wasn't big enough to really care whether or not I bothered filling out my race track. Despite this, I still tried to have a good time... which was a little difficult... because half of the game was spent watching advertisements. At some point in the game an option unlocks which allows you to purchase cars of a higher starting level than level 1; but the bad part about this option is that nearly every time you open up the tab... You also open up an advertisement. Oh, and of course there's an option to WILLINGLY watch ANOTHER advertisement to get a car (which already doesn't cost very much compared to what you're making) FOR FREE! Most of these advertisements are pretty easy to skip, but I really don't want to be spending most of my game time closing advertisements. I may as well just be browsing the internet or watching television.

My final gripe about this game is quite simply... this:

I mean... hey, I get it, you have to show advertisements to make money otherwise you'll only lose money by providing a free game without anything worth purchasing inside the game. The problem with this I have is WHY give me the option to download the game and NOT consent to the terms... if you're then not going to let me close the window after changing the option? I'd much rather receive a notification that says "Look, this is how it works and you using the app means you consent to the terms." Don't give me the OPTION then tell me it's the wrong choice.

Verdict

Gameplay: Simple concept, easy to figure out. Controls are sometimes a little unresponsive while merging cars. Nice to make progress while not playing the game, but not really much to do once you've merged a bunch of cars. You just keep... merging more cars and waiting for longer and longer periods of time as the costs get higher.

Sound: Lots of cute fun sounds. Doesn't get annoying. Nothing special to talk about.

Replayability: Easy concept to jump in and out of. Nothing to work towards other than more money. Constantly getting interrupted by advertisements is no fun. Once you've merged one car, you've merged them all. Nothing changes other than how fast you make money as you merge more and more cars to race around the track.

SCORE: Unfortunately I just don't have all that much to say about this game. It works, that's about it. There isn't very far to go into this game before you run out of new content, there are way too many ads, and it feels like the game is teasing you when it gives the option of not consenting to the use of data and advertisements.

+ It's a working game
+ Easy to get into
+ Sounds are nice and don't get annoying

- Seriously NOT a deep game
- Once you've merged one car, there's nothing new besides changing advertisements
- There's way too many forced advertisements followed by options to watch MORE advertisements for "rewards"
- There is an option to not have to watch advertisements... but it's just a huge tease which doesn't let you play the game if you turn it off

Car Merger gets a score of 2 / 10 from me; after a short time into the game, it becomes very dry and repetitive with no new content to look forward to. AND STOP WITH THE ADVERTISEMENTS ALREADY!!!


~ Kyle Welykholowa

=== Snuggly Dogs ===

     Anybody who knows me well would know that I absolutely love dogs; especially my own snuggly dogs. I know they love each other care for one another because they whine when they're separated and they happily go everywhere together. They wrestle in the house and they will spend hours outside together. Back when we only had Furgle, he was a bit of a terror with way too much energy and always destroying things. Then we got Autumn to give him some company (which worked out amazing) and started worrying about her destroying things because of HER being bored. She still chews on things every once in a while, but most of the time they run around so much that they don't have any energy left at the end of the day.

     I recently saw this happening in the kitchen which absolutely melted my heart. As much as I know they love each other I almost never see them laying together so this was a treat for me (I just HAD to take a picture of this right away.)

     Now for a little story about them. I took them for a car ride this evening as I usually do when getting fast food at night. I started out by taking Furgle with me for these trips, but recently I started taking Autumn as well. Furgle is amazing in the car; he stands in my lap and puts his head out the window and loves every moment of the ride. Autumn.... I'm not so sure about her. She awkwardly stands with part of her in the cup holders and not feeling comfortable enough to sit in the seat. She pushes herself into either the back of the chair, or into me if she's close enough to me. The way she rides is like she's super terrified of being in the car, but she doesn't want to go anywhere that would take her away from me in the slightest. I honestly can't wait to bring her up to Lake Diefenbaker if we get the chance to do so this Summer.

~ Kyle Welykholowa

Moving To A New Home

   So my Carley and I have decided to make the leap together into having a place of our own in Moose Jaw. We figured it would be nicer for me to live close to school, her to live somewhere that they're actually offering her jobs, and for us both to live together to avoid the driving back and forth from each other's houses.

   Now last time I was living here was also for school, but it was on my own. And I certainly don't remember it being so difficult and tiring. We rented a large Uhaul truck to carry all of our stuff together... and maybe that's why I remember it being easier. I'm pretty sure last time I only had enough stuff to pack up my old car, maybe a little bit more. This time, we had a whole 20 foot truck to load and unload... lots of heavy things.

   I had plans to do so much more today, but I was actually exhausted and didn't get it all done.  I had to take a nap today instead of going in to Regina for my dentist appointment. Carley is pretty tired from working full time the past few days, she's not used to it after not doing so for quite some time. So while she's sleeping, I'm working on unpacking some boxes and moving other ones to the rooms they're supposed to be in to make it easier to work through. It sure is dark in the living room without a light on... just gotta move a few more things until I get to the lamp...

~ Kyle