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Preview: Double Fine leaks Middle Manager of Justice for iOS

Lewis Leong

Lewis Leong

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Middle-Manager-of-Justice-iconIndependent gaming developer, Double Fine Productions, accidentally leaked their new iOS game on Tuesday, which was quickly pulled. Luckily we had a chance to download Middle Manager of Justice before it was removed from the iTunes Store. There is a good amount of hype around this game as Double Fine is known for their funny writing and beautiful art style, as seen in their most famous game, Psychonauts.

While we did get our hands on the leaked game, we want to emphasize that this is only a preview of the game. Double Fine has come out and stated that this version shouldn’t be indicative about what is going to be released during the next few weeks. There is still plenty of time for Double Fine to polish and address any issues.

With that being said, let’s see what Middle Manager of Justice is all about.

Right from the beginning, Double Fine’s humor and writing shines through. The premise of Middle Manager of Jusitice revolves around an average Joe whose job is to manage “super heroes” to fight crime across the city. His job as the middle manager of justice is to make sure his staff of heroes is trained to fight crime.

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You start out by choosing your first hero. You will then be given a tutorial on how to increase his or her strength, defense, and knowledge. The middle manager will have different tasks, which include office work and boosting morale of his staff. Doing office work will increase your in-game currency, which can be used to buy items and weapons for your heroes.

Since Middle Manager of Justice is free-to-play, there are plenty of incentives for users to spend real money on in-game items like coins or “atoms” which can unlock more heroes and other items. This business model is very popular but tests the patience of those who aren’t willing to invest real money in digital, in-game goods and currency.

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While the writing is hilarious and the art style beautiful, Middle Manager of Justice can be extremely frustrating, more so than other free-to-play games as it makes you perform repeated actions more often. Every action within the game completes fairly quickly, which encourages action but also encourages repetitive tasks.

For example, doing “desk work” is the only way to gain more coins besides defeating criminals on the street. Desk work only requires 20 seconds and yields very few coins. You will find yourself tapping repeatedly on the middle manager to tell him to continue doing office work to gain more coins. If you find yourself too weak to defeat said criminals, you will require some items and upgrades, which can only be purchased with coins, which means you may be forced to grind until you have enough money to buy what you need to continue.

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Leveling up is difficult and I found myself having to grind quite a lot just to gain one level. I understand why developers want to place incentives to make people purchase in-game goods with real money but Double Fine has thrown the entire game’s balance off by making players repeat the same actions over and over again.

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I love the game’s humor, art style, and RPG elements but if gameplay is a grind, the game will fail to keep players entertained. I really hope Double Fine fixes the gameplay balance issues in Middle Manager of Justice before it officially launches it. We will revisit the game when it is officially launched.

Lewis Leong

Lewis Leong

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