Review: American Dad! Apocalypse Soon
American Dad! Apocalypse Soon is the fresh mobile game released on October 22nd, 2019. Developed by My.com, the multi-layered RPG is available now on iOS and Android. The game has many gameplay options from base development, a battle mode, and online modes. Free to play, Apocalypse Soon is based on the characters, settings, and specific episodes seen within the TBS animated sitcom, American Dad. With just over a week since the game’s release, it has built a significant community of players around the world.
The main plot of the game revolves around America being invaded by space aliens. Stan is at the centre of the primary attack and returns home to find his family missing. Thankfully, Roger has been preparing the Smith home for a long waged battle. Utilizing clone technology, Stan must create an army of Roger’s to help defend the Earth from its unwelcome visitors. Forging counterfeit money, collecting powerful weaponry, and harvesting food, lumber, and electricity, Stan and Roger first have to bring their family home.
The remainder of the characters has been captured by an assortment of American Dad villains. Stelio Kontos, Principal Lewis, Maniac, and The Summoner are just a few of the starting bad guys that need to be defeated before Francine, Steve, and Hayley can return home. Each enemy has crafted their own armies in the wake of the apocalypse. Stan and his warrior Rogers must work their way through each map to face bosses of settings such as Pearl Bailey High and Chimdale Prison.
Beyond the solo gameplay, there are multiple options for online action. Home bases are vulnerable to attacks from other players in an attempt for ranking supremacy. There is also a tournament-style game involving battling multiple players with the goal of ending with the most points. Once victories are amassed players can purchase specialized weapons and bonuses. And, as of writing this, seasons have begun with the promise of even more rare equipment. Players also have the option to join clans, where resources, and tips can be shared. Though, there is no penalty for choosing not to enter a clan.
With gameplay out of the way, we can get into some of the details of this game, including the great, and the not-so-great. There are lots of components to this game, so let’s try to tackle them one at a time.
First of all, the story is simple but challenging to follow at times. Aside from the initial introduction to the game, the story rarely develops until a significant character is defeated. Considering the number of things that players are trying to accomplish at times, these pop-ups are easily ignored. There is also a social media-like page, where in-game characters share jokes and add further depth to the ongoing story. However, the extra page offers no additional help to players, and looking at this screen is pointless beyond getting rid of the notification buttons. Essentially, it is simpler to avoid getting involved in the plot and play the game for the most basic understanding: aliens invaded, kill them all.
The characters involved are pretty much as you would expect them to be. Aside from Roger, none of them has seemed to of adapted to this new world order. At one point, I managed to gain an additional costume for Stan that is much more post-apocalyptic. However, I don’t know how it was unlocked, and there is yet to be any way to utilize any of the other family members that I had freed from their respective enemies.
The most enjoyable part of the game is cloning and developing Rogers into specified classes. Multiple Rogers are dispersed throughout your growing base. Each is required for completing different tasks. There are Rogers for crafting food, money, and other resources. Each one of them can be given specialized costumes or hold items that provide them power-ups to their respective positions. Rogers that are used for battle are divided into three classes, warriors, gunslingers, and engineers. Warriors being your hard-hitting melee attackers, gunslingers the long-range shooters, and engineers are used for specialized attacks and healing.
There is a lack of the types of equipment that can be found at this point. Though, with time and updates to the game that should change. For now, there seems to be only a couple of options for each assigned category. There’s only a couple of outfits and items for cooks, money counterfeiters, and the like. Attackers are given a few more options, but not many. The best way to bump up a character’s attributes is to find the same weapons at a higher level or rarity. So, the amount of unique Rogers that you collect is limited, and none of them are exceptionally clever or humorous. While the majority of the add-ons and hold items have no impact on the appearance of your character. Considering the multitude of character versions we have seen in games like Fallout Shelter and Pocket Mortys expecting more options for Rogers is a legitimate request.
The main currency of the game is “golden turds” – real crafty. Playing the part of the in-game purchasable money, they are used to purchase speed-ups, additional resources, and bonuses. Much like any game, these jewels can go quickly if not utilized strategically. Though they can continuously be collected by watching multiple advertisements or reaching milestones. As tempting as it is to use your turds to help develop your home base as quickly as possible, the best use of them would be to purchase one of the in-game pets. Reginald Koala, Man’s Best Friend, Simon, or Larry and Floyd are helpful additions as they help to collect resources while you are away from the game. Without one of them, it takes constant check-ins, or suffer from continually being limited and characters level up much more slowly.
I briefly touched on advertisements, but with a game like this, it is essential to warn you. If you are a fan of your phone is locked into 30-second videos over and over, this game is for you. If you enjoy watching the same ad for a game that you will never play, this game is for you. If you hate getting through more than 3-minutes of gameplay without being interrupted, then this game is for you. Honestly, if you find your other mobile games to be lacking in a significant amount of advertisements, then this is the game for you. American Dad! Apocalypse Soon is potentially one of the worst games I have ever played when it comes to advertisements. Though it is true, you can play without watching an ad, don’t expect to make it very far, and anticipate ignoring a plethora of in-game notifications.
Advertising may be a necessary evil in today’s world of mobile gaming, but this game has some added frustrations. A couple of nitpicky things would include the inexplicable range on resource costs between battle options. One attack may cost you 5000 food, while another can be as much as 19,000. By utilizing the same amount of characters and powers regardless of cost, it doesn’t make much sense, and food can disappear quickly if you’re not paying close attention. Another frustration comes with resource sharing within your clan. For some reason, each clan member is limited to sharing a set number of resources per day. You would expect that helping out other players would be an essential factor; however, then how are they going to sell more advertisements?
By far, the most frustrating and painful part of the game is the significant increase in enemy power throughout random points. At the start of the game, it is easy to fly through the first few stages without difficulty. Then, randomly, you will face a pack of dogs, an alien, or The (goddamn) Summoner, and the whole game comes to a halt. The only way to defeat these extra difficult enemies is by leveling up your characters and gaining more powerful weapons. However, you cannot level up or find more powerful equipment without continuing on with the main story. This causes a complete jam in the game where you cannot even collect enough resources anymore to move forward. The best thing you can do is try different combinations of soldier characters while trying to find the right mix of weapons and power-ups. Even then, some of the enemies seem nearly impossible. Not one of my full 50-member clan has been able to get past the overpowered, extra frustrating (goddamn) Summoner.
With all of the frustrations aside, maybe I should share some helpful tips to make this game more enjoyable. I already mentioned the best possible use of your turds ( I hate saying that). But, there are a couple of other things that you can do to maximize your gameplay. First, clans are extremely helpful. In most games like this, I prefer to be a lone wolf and struggle my way through. However, with difficult enemies like these, it is helpful to share strategies and discuss the multiple combinations of attackers that others have tried. Also, as easy as it is to ignore because it adds little to your development, the online tournaments are a crucial component to finding weapons and add-ons. Rotating every couple of days, the Morning Mimosa Market has some of the best weapons and hold items that you can find in the game.
American Dad! Apocalypse Soon is a fun and addictive game… until it’s not. There is so much to do and things to collect that you can spend hours playing and developing your army… until you can’t anymore. The first few hours of gameplay go by extremely fast, and things happen so quickly that you can’t help but keep going. But, the more you get done, the longer it takes to move forward. These casual games have carved out a good part of the mobile market, but even The Simpsons: Tapped Out doesn’t come to such abrupt stops as severely as this game does. Honestly, if you enjoy this style of play, then Fallout Shelter is a much more enjoyable option.
Though, if you are a dedicated American Dad! fan and you are interested in seeing how this game develops, I wouldn’t blame you. There is something to be said about the strategy and collecting that makes these games fun. There is a good injection of humour, and all of the characters are written exceptionally well. Games like this develop regularly, and there is a lot of potential for where things could go, and new costume designs. And, as tricky as it is, it helps to assure that completing the game would take dedication and hundreds of hours of attention. For me, this game just isn’t enjoyable enough to stay on my phone much longer. As much as I love adult animated sitcoms, Tapped Out and Pocket Mortys are much better options. Credit is due for developing an immersive game with tonnes to do, Apocalypse Soon just doesn’t hold up in today’s market of disposable mobile games.
