I’m usually not much to hang out with mobile video games And when this is the case, it’s because someone has hooked me enough not to uninstall it after five minutes, as has happened to me with titles like Pokémon GO or League of Legends: Wild Rift. Along with these I must add another one that has become my biggest addiction in recent days: Ultimate Sackboy.
The game based on the LittleBigPlanet universe was published this week and it didn’t take me long to melt the battery of the mobile based on playing one game after another. It is undoubtedly something that is ironic, because in reality in his proposal there are sufficient reasons to uninstall it and never hear from him again, but he has something that makes me want to play “one more game” for now.
Go all out to be the best runner
First of all, we must start from the basis that ultimate sackboy He has not invented the wheel and as far as its gameplay is concerned, you will not find anything in it that is not present in other mobile games of the type runner. The main difference is that this is not a endless runnergiven that each game has the same duration, that is, 45 seconds.
The game places you on a level that is always randomly generated, hence each game is different from the previous one, and places you on a track divided into three different lanes through which the adorable little Sackboy will begin to run non-stop until he Either time runs out or you crash into a trap that is placed nearby.
Among them there are holes through which you can fall, walls, trains that move at full speed, enemies walking and many other obstacles whose sole purpose is to hinder us from everything. For his part, our character has the ability to jump and slide on the floornothing more, apart from being able to pass from one lane to another.
The controls are very simple and intuitive, so as soon as you play a couple of times you will already know exactly how to play. All you have to do is slide your finger in one direction or another to execute the different actions and, of course, we must recognize that the controls respond perfectly to each of our movements, with a fast response speed so that we don’t feel like the game is playing. he has cheated us if we end up failing by not making the right move.
Surviving 45 seconds is no nonsense. It may seem like it’s not too long, but the stages are so full of traps and enemies that you can’t stop going from one lane to another, forcing you not to lose sight of everything in front of you at any time because any jump prematurely or slide too soon can end up having a fateful result. At least over time you end up getting enough practice so that these situations don’t occur.
Even so, staying alive is not the only purpose, because throughout all the levels there are scattered dozens of spheres of different colors that are awarded a series of determined points for each one you catch. In this sense, the green ones are the least valuable and the purple ones are the ones that you have to do everything possible to not let them pass. Therefore, it is useless to inflate to points if you end up hitting something, in the same way that you do not gain anything by staying alive for 45 seconds if you pass by the balls.
To lend a hand in this task, sometimes they may appear two types of powers that are helpful: the magnet to attract all the spheres that are nearby, even if we are not in their corresponding lane, and the shield to destroy any obstacle and enemy that we come across and obtain a few points in return. However, its duration is very limited and the problem is that sometimes the shield has not been of any use to me due to the design of the phase itself, which is a failure of that randomness factor.
In the same way, it is also impossible to seize all the spheres that are there for the phases, so sometimes you have to opt for advancing in one lane or another, which means that sometimes the play works out for you and in others not so much for opting for a path that there are not so many colored balls compared to the others. Despite this, there are certain patterns in the level designs that generally end up repeating themselves so that you end up learning them when making these decisions.
The way in which he manipulates the games to make you go through the box
So far it seems that everything is going well. We have a fast, fun game with a simple gameplay that engages. However, all that glitters is not gold and the biggest problem of ultimate sackboy It’s how they do their best to find a way for you to end up checking out with their damn micropayments. The point is that before starting each level will appear on the screen a leaderboard with fictional playerssince it does not have online functions, with the points that each one has achieved.
Our duty is to beat the score of those who occupy the first three positions to enter the podium. That will grant us a series of rewards depending on the position we reach, but we must always do everything possible to be the first, although most of the time it will not depend so much on our ability, but rather on the game itself that allows us to reach this goal. Yes, as you read it, the title will always have the upper hand.
And it is that when participating in a race two details will be reflected: the score and the rank of our opponents. This last point is the one that ends up being more decisive in the long run because it corresponds to our level of power and it will be by the amount that the points that each colored ball will give us will be multiplied, so that a green ball gives us 100 points for general and with the rank 80 it would become 180 points. For this reason, the higher the rank, the more points.
This is where the inconveniences of ultimate sackboy, because the random opponents you compete with will have ranks that will almost always be much higher than yours. This means that sometimes, no matter how many spheres you catch, even if you collect each and every one that is possible in the same game, not be enough to be first and sometimes not even to get on the podium of the first three positions.
There have been no shortage of occasions in which I have finished fourth or fifth because the game itself has wanted me not to slip into the top three. So what to do about it? Well, that’s when you start to investigate further and realize that either you pay or you’re going to play many, many games, to get something. This is because we can customize our Sackboy with an infinite number of items to change his eyes, his hat, his jacket, his shoes, etc.
As in an RPG, the clothes are of different quality and range from common to rare, which in turn influences the rank each one grants. The good news is that once one is unlocked, their respective rank points are placed on a generated markerl, so you can wear whatever item you want. What is not so positive is that to improve the clothes you have to pay a huge amount of coins that varies according to their rarity, although you can also choose to spend gems, that is, the game’s payment currency, to speed up the process.
This brings us back to the topic of ranking positions, because in the end, no matter how many clothes you have and a very high level of rank, it may not be enough to make it to the top three. Another drawback is that you need to be first to win item bags that contain upgrades for Sackboy customization or gold coins, although to do this, as a good mobile game, the bags take a certain number of hours to open, which again it can be speeded up if you spend gems.
Additionally, there are Daily Duels to challenge a fictional opponent in a demanding race for a special item. However, for this you have to be on the podium three times in a row, and if you fail in the attempt, you have to start over. So, there it is time to emphasize the fact that sometimes it is play dozens of games until you manage to get three victories of this type. As if that were not enough, if you fail in the confrontation against the rival, you have to get three victories again, and I do not deny that sometimes it is impossible.
But it doesn’t end there, because the game has a reward system that you get if you manage to enter the ranking of the first three positions, and if you don’t, it penalizes you by taking away points. Since sometimes the levels are so unfair and it is impossible to accumulate enough points with the colored balls, you begin to see how the reward bar begins to decrease without being able to do anything to remedy it, because many times the points you lose are higher in compared to what you earn.
For the rest, the game too has daily challenges and its own battle pass to win even more prizes, giving you even more reason to motivate you to play non-stop. And it is that in the long run the levels and these small details manage to motivate you enough so that you play one game after another, especially due to its short duration and its gameplay adapted to all types of users.
VidaExtra’s opinion
As I say, I am fully aware that ultimate sackboy Look for a way to make players end up paying so they don’t have to play dozens or hundreds of games like damned to get some small rewards. On the other hand, the fact that a single phase only lasts 45 seconds is what makes you want to play one after the other or want to try it one more time to get the Daily Duel pass or the daily quest rewards. .
I don’t know how long my patience will last, because the title has enough reasons to get me hooked easily and to spend entertaining moments and many other reasons for me to say it’s over. It’s a real shame that an experience that at first seems so fun is punctuated by these controversial decisions, because I understand that being free and having no ads You have to find a way to make it profitable, but not everything is worth it And even less if it doesn’t matter if you’re a crack because certain levels are consciously designed so that you don’t win or come first.
Ultimate Sackboy Price
ultimate sackboy it’s a video game free to playso you don’t need to pay anything to download it on iOS or Android, although it does have micropayments for its season passes or for the purchase of gems that have different functions.
Ultimate Sackboy Duration
each game of ultimate sackboy it has a duration of 45 secondsso from there it depends on how many you want to play in each session.
ultimate sackboy
| platforms | iOS and Android (tested version) |
|---|---|
| multiplayer | No |
| developer | Exient |
| Company | playstation studios |
| Launch | February 20, 2023 |
The best
- The speed with which the games start.
- Lots of pieces of equipment to choose from.
- The games last just long enough to get you hooked.
Worst
- Having to spend too many hours to be able to improve the character.
- There are times when winning does not depend on your ability.
- Too many micropayments.