Contract Killer: Snipping your information and $$

I’ve been looking for a good first person shooter that is free on the market and I think I will just have to purchase one. Contract Killer looked like it could be an FPS, and in the tradition of the old “Time Crisis” arcade game it does fit into the genre. But it left me wanting more game. I know it’s free but still I don’t think I’ll be spending much time playing it.

Lets start with the Pros. The graphics are quality. If there’s one thing I’ve come to expect from game developers it’s good graphics. Hats off to Glu Mobile for time spent on graphics! The controls are also a plus. I found it very easy to control and maneuver not much learning curve to the first few levels. (I’m sure it’ll get harder.) The story line seems okay, it doesn’t hurt the game which is good. Some games flop from the get go from really poor stories. It also has a good tutorial at the beginning which makes it easy for players to jump right in and know what they are doing. There’s in game money that you earn on missions to purchase better weapons and you can also buy credits with real money to get the best weapons. A la cart seems all the rage these days for free game makers.

Moving on to the Cons. (Yes the pro list seems short to me too.) It’s basically an advertising tool for Glu Mobile. It wants to integrate with yourÂ FacebookÂ (not required) so you can share with your friends. I like to call this legal fishing. Plus I don’t really want all my friends to know how many hours I’ve spent playing a game on my phone. (That could beÂ embarrassing!) It depends on the user for this one. Some might consider it a pro, but for me it’s a con. If you don’t sync with Facebook it also reminds you at almost every opportunity. I think they were trying to compete with the worlds most nagging mother or something. This brings me to my personal pet peeve. It needs the “Phone Calls” permission. If you’re wondering what exactly that is…

READ PHONE STATE AND IDENTITY:Â Allows the application to access the phone features of the device. An application with this permission can determine the phone number and serial number of this phone, whether a call is active, the number that call is connected to and the like.

There are lots and lots of games on the market that require this permission. I’m working on another post about this permission. I personally just think it’s uncalled for.

As if the Facebook syncing wasn’t enough they’ve put an energy meter game mechanic in so that you have to spend energy to do missions. I haven’t run out of energy yet but I’m assuming the only reason it’s there is so that you’ll want to purchase more to keep playing (purchased with credits that are purchased with real money.) Â You can wait for your energy to recharge. But I can imagine 14-16 year olds spending their allowance on this. I know this seems like a contradiction since I put the a la cart aspect as a pro. A la cart is a pro because it cuts down on ads, but Glu seems to have their hand out with “Pay up sucker” tatooed to their palm at every chance they get and I just find that annoying.

I don’t want to rant and rave against Glu Mobile. They’re just going with the flow. Yes I know it costs money to develop a good game. The problem is the good games are few and far between and most are over $5. Honestly I’d rather pay for a decent game than be enticed into a “free” game that is just going to nag me into buying things as well as document my phone number and serial number.

Bottom line, game devs should be honest and charge for their game up front or make the game so good that paying for things A la cart makes sense. EA games has hit the ball out of the park with their Play 4 Free games and I would love to see some Android games that are just as good if not better come out.

My opinion set aside Contract Killer does have good reviews in the Android market so you might not agree with me. I do recommend that you give it a try since the game play is fun.