I love casual games.  They’re great.  But Daddy Was A Thief was honestly, a little disappointing.
The premise of the game is simple; Daddy gets fired, worries how he will provide for his family, decides to start robbing banks, you have to help him escape.
No back story to discover, no intro video to clue you in. Â Nothing. Â Just a very short (6 panes) comic on the loading screen.
Playing Daddy Was A Thief is simple, it’s just swiping. Â Swipe up the screen to make him jump and avoid being shot or caught, swipe down the screen to make him bash through the floor into the room below. Â Not that I have a problem with swiping my way through a game, I love the Cut The Rope series, but this just feels tedious and boring.
There are power ups, coins and bonuses to pick up along the way, as well as other characters to bump into; a cop that clubs you, another thief that shoots you, a grandma that kicks you back up 3 floors (woah grandma!), and a ray gun that shrinks you (random!!).
You progress through the game by bashing your way through flats and collecting as many coins as you can, found on certain floors at random intervals or by smashing furniture, and dodging the characters and the random rockets that try to target you and blast through the building in ways that should collapse the floors above (physics, what’s that?).  You occasionally bash through into a casino (because every apartment building has one or several of those) and have to attempt to collect all the green orbs in order to break the bank and win the cash prize.  For this to be achieved, your character gets inflated to sumo proportions and bounced around like a human pinball.
Daddy was a Thief is ad-supported, which can be solved by a £1.59 ($2.00) IAP.  Power ups, upgrades, costumes and in-game currency are available through the shop on the main screen.  Power-ups include 1, 3, and 5 extra lives, and trails.  Trails are either donuts or raindows that show you the path you took through the game (why?).
Upgrades include a coin magnet, a rocket, a rocket with a coin magnet, a strength potion, and a strength potion…. with a coin magnet. Â Not exactly imaginative.
In-game currency is available too through IAP, with $4.99 getting you 12,000 coins, and $19.99 for 50,000. Â Nothing in between, both seem a little too much. Â There is also the usual option to follow on Twitter, like on Facebook, and subscribe on YouTube for a mere 200 coins each.
All in all, I can safely say I am not a fan, it’s OK for a time waster, but not my first thought when I’m looking to kill 5 minutes. Â It seems like they couldn’t decide what kind of game they wanted to make, so they made one that’s a bit of everything.
Source: Play Store – Daddy Was A Thief
