BattleStick

Simple multiplayer games can be a hit with the casual crowds, especially if they feature enough content and a strong set of gameplay mechanics. However, too much simplicity is not a good thing either, because there’s always the risk of boredom. Hence, it’s quite the gamble to develop something both simple and entertaining at the same time.

BattleStick is a 2D shooter/MMO/platformer mashup in which you play the role of a stick man trying to defeat the other players. You have multiple skins and weapons at your disposal, and you can level up to gain more hit points and unlock better skins. However, everything about the game is incredibly badly designed, which means that fun is the last thing on the menu, unfortunately.

To begin with, there seems to be only one arena, and it’s incredibly small and badly designed. You can theoretically jump from platform to platform in order to chase enemies, but the controls are horribly implemented, which means that any acrobatics are out of the picture. Not only that, but the mechanics are way too simple to be fun for longer than a few minutes.

You can level up and increase your character’s hit points, but it takes a pretty long time, not to mention the fact that you can run into other powerful characters and get destroyed without even a chance to fight back. Although it would appear that the purchasable items do not grant you additional power, it's still tough to fight against high-level players, and the matchmaking seems to be pretty random.

As mentioned before, the controls are horrendous, especially if you decide to jump. This shouldn’t be a problem nowadays, not with all the great and free game engines available out there. It may be just someone’s first attempt at video game design, but maybe it’s not such a good idea to publish such things, not to mention asking money for in-app purchases as well.

In the end, there’s virtually no reason to play BattleStick, given the fact that there are many other free-to-play games you can try before this one. Moreover, you’ll get frustrated in a rush after high-level players kill you a few dozen times.