Magic and Machines

I really loved this game. Brings back all the memories of early Nintendo games like Final Fantasy and Dragon Warrior. Sadly I made it to Reapers Castle in Act 5 and find myself stuck and without a clue as what to do. I would love to finish the game but after finding no help online, my journey has come to an end. I still give the game 5 stars and hope in the future other gamers will share clues about going forward.

This game would be good, but it has the most annoying movement mechanism of any mobile game I’ve played. Whether set to fixed or floating, the joystick is awkward and does not cooperate, distracting you from the game constantly. 2nd, the developer should not put dead ends with no reasonable resolution into the game. At the reaper castle, when I try to enter, the front door tells me “you may enter” but does not open. I have looked everywhere for secret openings, hidden clues, talked to npcs, etc. Cannot find any way to open the door, so I can’t continue the game. Waste of money. At least it was only a couple bucks.

Imagine that the year is 1995, your just got the new Earthbound rpg for your SNES, you open the box and you are overwhelmed by the crisp fresh smell of your new plastic cartridge. This game really takes you back to a time where you were excited to open a new game and see what it had in store for you. Magic and machines has buttery smooth controls where your hero glides aimlessly across terrain, like when you’ve just finished shoveling your tenth fistful of popcorn into your mouth and you attempt to continue to your next eppy on Netflix using your chrome cast remote but your fingers just slide across the buttons. The combat mechanics are fun and just the right amount of challenging. I highly recommend this game to anyone who is a fan of old school rpgs.

This was quite fun, perfect length for a mobile game, and was linear without being outright predictable. End game has a lot of fun mechanics, so there’s a bit of replay value too. At some point I would like to Buck the trend and try an all-melee run to go against the grain of “Magic and Machines” and try to make it “Melee and Machines”Instead. Game runtime is fast enough where it would be interesting to see a speed run community built around it too. Maybe one note: a bit more to highlight that there are underlying set bonuses to using two of the same classification of gear, e.g. two “steel” pieces, two “sorcerer” pieces, etc. Would love to see a story expansion at some point, and make it so that “Gamebreaker” weapons are not as powerful, or disappear and reduce the team power back to a normal level.

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then Little Bear Studios’ Magic And Machines is about as flattering as app games come. It certainly harkens back to the nostalgic days of the original Final Fantasy. Magic And Machines features familiar gameplay systems and charming story beats that summon forth fond memories from other genre titles. Truly, a simple yet compelling story, that you’ll fall in love with over and over again💞

I love magic, I love machines, and I really love RPGs. I just couldn’t get invested in this game despite trying for over an hour. Some pointed feedback: - Cost was right on the nose, seems like a lot of value for the price - The writing was totally fine, few grammatical errors here and there - Game appears blurry on an iPhone 11 Pro - Movement felt clunky as your character speed is based on how far you’re holding the joystick control away from the center - Characters and items all use varying types of sprites and styles they didn’t feel like they meshed well together - Menu and controls were really disjointed and the placement was confusing for a lot of the buttons There might be a great game underneath all of these issues so I’ll check back in a few months.

My whole family like this game! Hope a second game coming up soon!

Hours of nostalgic fun that doesn’t take itself too seriously

Bad controls Only for left handed people Item shop does not show item comparison