Acting like a god is one of my favorite private pastimes, so of course ngmoco's "Godfinger" was one of my first App Store downloads. Surprisingly, the harvest simulation is more of a thrill than declaring imaginary edicts in front of a closet mirror. Who would have thought?
The Basics
"Godfinger" is a god-game for the iPad that puts you in the ethereal shoes of a divine overseer. At its core, it's a harvest sim. You'll be tasked with ordering followers to erect structures that net gold. In turn you'll use that gold to create more and more gold until your radiant wizard robe is bursting with clink and workers' brow water. That's it, really.
The Highs
It's Hip to Be Circle (And 'Pinch-able')
One of the most compelling aspects of "Godfinger" is its touch design. The game is set on an interactive and rotatable 2D planet that can be spun, zoomed, and twisted with simple flicks, pinches, and swipes. Follower interaction is just as touch-based, as you'll have to dangle each follower from his station and launch him to another.
Navigation is a breeze and, well, it's oddly entertaining to spin the world as you go about your daily tasks of assigning followers to certain buildings, giving them respite from crippling fatigue, or creating weather to power generators and water wheels. No other sim I know of utterly crushes the monotony of setup as well as "Godfinger." Also, no other sim to my knowledge has a built-in leaderboard for the farthest follower throws.
I Hate Your Farm, Man
As a "Plus"-enabled experience, "Godfinger" benefits from the inclusion of social components. Your planet is set in a solar system surrounded by planets of your choosing. You'll be allowed to add "Plus" friends into that system and gain access to their stats, give them small gold gifts, interact with their followers, and even "visit" to see what they're building.
Being able to glimpse what your buds are doing is an interesting design that gives the solo-heavy game a competitive spark: you'll not fall behind or under-perform while under scrutiny or wrapped in a fit of jealousy, right?
The Lows
Oh, 'Freemium' Games
"Godfinger" is a new-fangled "freemium" game. As such, it's laced with goodies that only those willing to dispense real coin can access and it's full of purposeful and tedious design flaws created to encourage real spending. For example, higher-order buildings can literally take up to 24-72 real hours to build unless you purchase the instant "build-now" power.
These unique powers are purchasable through an exchange of "Awe," meaning you can technically grab these upgrades as you level up rather than using real coin. But as the game progresses, new levels take longer and longer to reach, slowly making it too hard to generate the Awe needed for cool tweaks and upgrades. And if you're buds are spending? Well, there's no competitive edge anymore unless you want to spend.
Where's my End Game?
As a harvest sim, "Godfinger" lacks substance. You'll start with farms, progress to barns, and then suddenly stop. The store front, which seems updateable on ngmoco's end, is a rather shallow place with nothing to offer after an initial seven or eight hours of consistent play.
The Verdict
"Godfinger" is an interesting game. The storefront leaves the possibility of enhanced, more thought-provoking play as the game ages. But that storefront also could bend and twist the game into a beast that only feeds its business model. As of now, the game is a cool cloud-based diversion. If you don't take it too seriously, you won't spot the issues for a long, long time. And, really, by then ngmoco will probably have added more to the title. Time will tell, though.