Idle Stickman Heroes: Monster Age Review

Idle Games Are Not Meant for Idle Players

Some people who enjoy idle games are hardcore gamers looking to burn their down time. This is not new information to anyone, nor are the mechanics of Idle Stickman Heroes: Monster Age. The mechanics are simple: open the game, press a few buttons, put your phone back down and return to what you were doing. Rinse and repeat. Spoiler for this review: Idle Stickman Heroes: Monster Age is entertaining, but easily bogged by its own advertising.

The developer of Idle Stickman Heroes: Monster Age, OneSoft, is no stranger to idle games and have supported a whole franchise of Stickman games, as well as a series of match-3 games and various idle shooter games for mobile. Most of their games on mobile app stores possess an overall review rating of 4 stars or higher, which is a testament to what they provide to customers. Clean, simple idle games. It is what their followers want.

No Time for Idle Talk

Before getting too far into the weeds, the point of Idle Stickman Heroes: Monster Age is to use collected stickman heroes to fight monsters. It’s a twist that players never saw coming. Heroes can progress through in-game currency and items earned through ad watching. So, to play Idle Stickman Heroes: Monster Age, players just have to let the game do its thing. Items and improvements are gathered as you go. Monster difficulty increases with you and, as the cost of leveling goes up, so do the rewards of victorious battle.

The game allows for multiple levels of player interaction. For those players who pick their favorite heroes and do not deviate, once you get to a certain level you can fill up your five-member team and just pour all your resources into their stats. For people who like to keep all their options open, you can spread out your resources with relative ease. And for players who like to complete activities and tasks, the daily achievements and quests are enough to slowly build up every hero you collect, if you are patient.

Idle Stickman’s gameplay is nothing but pleasant. The short and sweet tutorial, the fast accumulation of levels and currency, and the ease of “play and walk away” all lend weight to the game’s draw. There are mini tasks a player can do while waiting for combat to finish, and rewards (however minor) are easily obtained. The graphics are structured, colorful and not at all a detriment to gameplay.

Monster Ads

The question is if the amusement Idle Stickman Heroes: Monster Age provides makes up for the game’s downsides. Well, the game really has just the one. Keeping it short: Ads that break the flow are sometimes the only way to make in-game progress or earn enough currency. Like many idle games, the going is good in the beginning and then things begin to slow. In-game costs, in-game store pop-ups and in-game ads glut up the time spent playing, and walking away becomes easier and easier to do. Not because the game gets boring, but because the time waiting to do anything increases as you level up.

Idle Stickman Heroes: Monster Age is the type of game that a player might pull up while watching TV shows with friends, working around the house or stuck on a commute. Players do not have to think hard about their next move. But, while the ads are a burden all players carry, the ease of play makes returning to the game diverting. Maybe that’s what the developers were hoping to achieve. If so, full marks to them.