Paradisa Cove: Holiday Adventure ReviewFormat: iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch

Developer: Pocket Gems Inc

US iTunes, App Store, iBookstore, and Mac App Store

The original Paradise Cove from Pocket Gems Inc. was a pretty big hit when it landed on the iOS. It was one of those games where you needed to build a nice little population on an island and keep things thriving. Well my friends Pocket Gems Inc. is back with a sequel and this time sees you needing to rebuild the North Pole and save Christmas.

Lets start off by talking about how this game looks. To be honest it has that same exact art style from the other Paradise Cove game. I am not saying that this is a bad thing at all as personally it is a nice art style that suits the game very well. If you look at this game and are not full of Christmas joy then if I were you I would count on a lump of coal in your stocking this year! As well as the graphics being full to the brim of Christmas joy the music is wonderful. The music in this game is the kind of thing that you would expect to hear in department stores across the country at this time of year.

From a game play point of view I think its fair to say that if you have played one of these town builder style of video games that you have pretty much played them all. The developers here really just slapped a festive coat of paint over their already existing game. Now that makes it sound like a bad thing, but it is actually not. You see while you have all seen this style of game play before, at the end of the day Paradise Cove: Holiday Adventure does what it does very well.

Of course as this is themed around rebuilding the North Pole, everything you will need to buy and do in this game is Christmas related. For example the buildings that you will need to buy and build are great. Of course no North Pole would be complete without Santa’s Workshop, but in addition to this some of the other festive places you will need to make sure your town has are places such as a Turkey Farm and even Santa’s house.

Of course buying and building these types of buildings is only a part of this game. You will need to put in all the bells and whistles as well. Things like Christmas trees and Christmas themed fences and other things like street lights will do wonders for your little Christmas town.

They really have crafted a wonderful little Christmas game here, but for me there are two major flaws with this game. You are either going to have to spend a whole lot of time not playing this while buildings and missions are being completed or you are going to have to spend some serious money to get the most out of the game.

I know that this kind of thing is the norm in these kind of games, but it is so frustrating. I get that the game is free to start off with, but this nickel and dime gaming to me is one of the plagues of iOS gaming. Why not offer a version of the game for say 5-10 bucks that just lets you have it with everything and no need to spend anymore money?

In all Paradise Cove: Holiday Adventure will fill you with Christmas joy when you start playing it, but after a short while you will realise that unless you start to spend some real money that the fun dries up quite quick. Which is such a shame as the game does have such a nice festive feel to it that it really should be the perfect game to play over the holidays.

US iTunes, App Store, iBookstore, and Mac App Store

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