Depending on your viewpoint, AdVenture Capitalist! is a scathing critique on capitalism, another entry in the somewhat baffling click/idle game genre, an addictive compulsion for obsessives, or a pointless waste of time.
In terms of the actual game, you start off with a lemonade stand and the kind of glint in your eye reserved only for entrepreneurs who smugly demolish people's dreams on Dragons' Den.
Tap and a little progress bar inches right, awarding you with cash in the bank once it's done.
Loadsamoney
As your coffers swell, you spend virtual money on further virtual businesses. Cheaper ones are simple fare involving newspaper delivery and car washes. Banks and oil companies lurk at the high end.
The bigger the business, the more it costs, and the longer its progress bar takes to clear. Your lemonade stand will get you a small return in seconds. An oil company nets millions per tap, but that might take ten hours.
Like other clicker/idle games, AdVenture Capitalist! adds a modicum of strategy to the mix.
Businesses can be upgraded, each bump costing more than the last. You must therefore figure out the best balance of investment/return before heading on to a more expensive option.
You can also buy upgrades to increase your profits, hire managers to tap on your behalf (including when you're away - the app then tells you how much you earned while sleeping), and rolls in the concept of angel investors if you reset and start from scratch.
Money can't buy appinessThe problem is, it all seems so inconsequential. AdVenture Capitalist! has, to be fair, lost nothing in its translation to iOS, but then it didn't have much in the first place.
There's little reward for progress, and zero imagination regarding achievements - not so much as a speed-run target to your first trillion.
Furthermore, it lacks the satirical sharpness and beauty of Little Inferno and the knowing zaniness of online 'idle' star Cookie Clicker.
The result is you feel like part of the joke, rather than being in on it - especially when you stumble upon the IAPs.
AdVenture Capitalist!
An absolutely run-of-the-mill click / idle experience, ideal for anyone who's decided to give up games for incessant tapping
Craig Grannell
Craig gets all confused with modern games systems with a million buttons, hence preferring the glass-surfaced delights of mobile devices. He spends much of his time swiping and tilting (sometimes actually with a device), and also mulling why no-one’s converted Cannon Fodder to iPad.