Game of Dice Review

  Game of Dice has been on my Facebook and mobile ad feed for some time now.  It looked heavy on the pay to win side so I did avoid it.  Now, most mobile games are like that anyways, I popped Game of Dice by JoyCity Corporation into my phone and tried it out.

The Game:   

  Game of Dice carries a lot of standard mobile game minutia.  For this game, the important parts are cards and the die you use.  You also have hero cards that have their own abilities.  Each of these work off of the five-star system in which you can level them up to gain more stars.  Gaining more stars increases their power or abilities.  For example leveling a hero can give you more starting money or get a discount on a spot, ability cards will increase in effectiveness, and dice will give you a better roll chance.   

  You gain gold coins through games and can buy premium currency as well.   There is even another super premium currency you can gain through card crafting or premium purchases.  You have an in-game ranking system that is based on your win rate and how much cash you have.  

  Each round plays like a miniature monopoly board.  You will be pitted against other players whos order of play will be randomly picked.  This is the point where you gain the amount of cash for the round.  You start out with three ability cards and can play one per turn.  After so many turns you will get another one.  You will roll the die and move around the board.  If you land on a city that has not been purchased you can buy it.  If the other players land on one you have purchased they have to pay you a penalty based off of the levels value and multiplier.  Once you run out of money you are disqualified.

  The board has a go and a jail like Monopoly and act the same way. When you pass go the level of your building increase costing your opponents more when they land on it.  It also has two alternative paths, one called Fortune Road and the other Misery road.  These will either have tiles you want to land on or tiles you want to avoid, respectably.  

  You will have the choice to play solo against two players or 2v2.  There are also special daily boards with bonus awards for playing.

My Thoughts:

  Most of the time I am severely annoyed by the standards mobile game mechanics but Game of Dice offers enough of a game that it doesn't fully steal from the enjoyment.  Without, a doubt there is a play to win aspect but their ranking system will keep your mostly protected from that.  Even still there is quite a bit of luck in this game.  No matter how well you play your cards you can really get fucked by some bad roles.  This is not a terrible thing though because it works both ways.

  While a lot of it is luck there is a quite a bit of strategy.  There are a lot of different ability cards and you can only cary so many.  You must also pick which ones you start with so you will have to reason which cards will help you the best at certain times.  You will also need to be smart about when you use the cards.  There is a card that lets you steal money based of the cost of the cities you pass by.  I found that if I was patient with it, it was really good way of having a real good turn.  The game also offers an ingame card ranking system so you can see how other players have rated a certain card.

  The animation is chibi anime but it's not bad.  The game seduces you with a random opening video but there isnt too much story in here beyond that.  There is a cast of characters but not a lot of emphasis is put on learning who they are.  They are just distinguishable by their skins and what abilities they have.

  A little money can go a long way with premium currency so if you feel like dominating up the rank you can buy some early success.  The games take a little bit longer than most mobile games so its not one you can set down.  I didn't find waiting on opponents to be too excruciating but it can take a while.  The funny thing is I just browsed Reddit waiting for my turn.  Its kind of weird using your PC while waiting on your phone.

  The game isn't bad but it still relies on chance.  It's entertaining enough that the mobile minutia doesn't bring it down.  If you are looking for some novelty this one might be worth trying out.  Just don't expect anything to wow you.

TL;DR:

  Game of Dice is like monopoly light.  It has a lot of the standard mobile game star rating stuff but it isn't so bogged down it takes away from the game.  It has an aspect of pay to win and chance but manages to stay entertaining.