I'm browsing through the app store in with the search "strategy games" in hopes of finding an app similar to iMobsters or Forces of War. After about a minute of scrolling I pass by
WW2 Army Of Warrior Nations - Military Strategy Battle Games For Kids Free. The first thing I noticed was the 5 Star rating with 852 reviews. Immediately I was able to tell that it was a bad Temple Run clone, but I decided to look at the reviews.
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A number of reviews talked about how they were told to rate the app with 5 stars to unlock a secret character. Curiosity struck, and I gave the app a download to discover everything wrong with it.
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I'll link to an
imgur album with a description of 3 different pictures to explain what is wrong with them. However, I'll briefly touch upon them here.
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1) The title of the game suggests that it is a Strategy Game.
Which it is clearly not. 2) The game pops up a dialog box asking "Do you like this game?" upon reaching the character select screen for the first time.
3) The two characters on the right are in-app purchases without a listed price, or description of what they are. Simply selecting them will prompt for purchase confirmation.
4) The game bribes it's users with a "Mystery Character" in return for 5 Star reviews on the app store page.
5) The game itself doesn't even work properly. The pause button during the "gameplay" part has no function, and there are numerous UI glitches.
6) I had full-screen ads pop up in the middle of the gameplay, that completely disturbed whatever experience there was. It resulted in my character's death each time.
7) The "developers" of the apps have released several different games that all have the same
Temple Run experience, and they all have an absurd amount of 5 Star reviews. It's clear that they are pulling the same malarkey with those apps too.
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I mean, there has to be something that they are violating. I understand that there are plenty of games and apps out there that are pulling similar stunts, but it just astonishes me that this "developer" is still up on the app store. I was searching for a way to report it, but had no success of finding such a feature.
Is there anything we can do about this?