I would totally rate this game 5 stars if these issues were fixed – Idle Shopping Mall Review

Ok so I do really like this game but there are some major issues, especially after the update, that really need to be fixed. Here are some of my issues: The fires- I don’t have an issue with the fact that the fires were added into the game, I have an issue with how they work. The game is free which means the company is probably using the ads to make money off it, so adding in more opportunities for ads makes perfect sense; however, using the fires as a way to put in more ad opportunities wasn’t the best way to do it since the players get absolutely no benefit from it. It wouldn’t be as bad if the alternative wasn’t to spend 45 gems to extinguish the fire. An epic upgrade for store maintenance that reduces the chance of a fire happening, even if it’s only by a max of 20-25%, and more opportunities to get gems would pretty much eliminate the problem, which kinda brings me to my next point. Gems- Before the update, it felt like the gems were in a pretty good spot, but now I feel like they definitely need to be improved. There are many things that I think would improve them as well as present more opportunities for ads. For example, adding an option to upgrade the diamond fountains to generate more gems, even if you have to upgrade each one individually like the stores, would make the game feel significantly less unbalanced, and players would be more likely to watch the ad that speeds up the wait time for the gems since they’d be getting a bigger reward. The upgrade could have like 10 levels (if bought using the towns currency) that increase the total number of gems received by like 2 per level, or it could have 5 levels (if bought using gems) that increase the total number of gems received by like 4 per level. Increasing the demand for gems even more by adding more epic upgrades would make players even more likely to buy the fountain upgrades and balance out the inconvenience of the fires and bathroom malfunctions, which brings me to my last and maybe most important point. Offline revenue/Ad campaign- I’m not exactly sure how the offline revenue works, but I know that I don’t like it. If it works the way I think it does, then it currently gives you a percentage, which can be increased by the offline subsidy upgrade, of your total revenue based on how long you were offline. The issue is that it doesn’t seem to give you more than 2 hours worth of your revenue, no matter how long you were offline. I usually like to do the ad campaign then go off to do whatever work it is that I need to do or go to sleep. It always seems to give me the same amount of money whether I come back 2 hours later or 4 hours later. It would be so much less frustrating if there was an epic upgrade that increased the amount of time you can be offline while still getting money to at least 5 or 6 hours. It would also help if there was an epic upgrade that increased the maximum amount of time the ad campaign bonus can be active, even if it only allows 2 or 3 extra hours to be added to the original 2. It would make the game feel so much better and players would end up watching more ads to maximize the amount of time the bonus is active. I think this is one of the best idle games out there because of how easy it is to understand and the fact that it isn’t a pay to win game, but it does feel like it needs some more development. While I do wish there were more maps, I would still give the game 5 stars if it weren’t for all the little issues that have made playing it less enjoyable.
Review by Molly_95 on Idle Shopping Mall.