A few weeks back, I wrote about a contest that was taking place across multiple games. This is a look at one of those games, Min-Mins Cloudy Combat released by Enigma Games in 2019. Min-Mins Cloudy Combat, hereafter just Min-Mins, is a free-to-play mobile strategy game that can best be described as a variation on the classic board game Battleship.
When you first start up the game, you need to create an account. You will then receive two chests that, if you go to the Shop page, can each be opened to get 3 min-mins, the creatures you use in the game. I want to note that the game has no tutorial or in-game instructions on how to play. I was initially very confused as to the mechanics, and ended up having to make a new account at a certain point.
The main screen of the game. The big E in the upper right corner only appears if you have linked an Enjin wallet in order to use tokens from their system.
The way the game plays is that you build a team of 5 min-mins and then place them in the "sky" while your opponent does the same. Each player then alternates, getting a chance to use one of their unit's abilities. The units go in order, so whatever unit is first in your roster will be the first to get an action on your team. The goal is to destroy the enemy team, or to have a higher remaining min-min life total at the end of three rounds.
Random monsters just hanging out in the sky.
Each min-min has a class, a star rank, and a level. They also seem to have a type based on their border coloring, but I have no idea if that has any impact on the game. Class defines what ability the min-min has inside the game. Scouts let you reveal a portion of the enemy map, Bombers do damage in a small circle, Destroyers shoot out damaging bolts from a central spot, Tanks let you put up a shield around your units, and Healers allow you to heal your units.
The number of stars ranges from 1-3 and indicates how many times they can use their specific ability on their turn. As you win matches, your min-mins gain experience and can level up. When they level up, their health total increases. There does not seem to be any mechanic to increase the star rank of a min-min, and the level limit also appears to be 5.
A screenshot of the units should help clarify things a bit.
One important thing to know, is that each unit only has one ability. Scouts, Tanks, and Healers have no capability of attacking the enemy team. You need Bombers and/or Destroyers to have a chance of winning a match.
Also extremely important information, if your min-min dies in a match you lose it completely. Not knowing this is what caused me to have to create a second account, since my first one became unplayable without spending money to purchase additional units in the store.
When $1,000 of in-app purchases are made, apparently everyone receives a bonus two star chest.
Being a free-to-play game, it tries to monetize by selling min-min chests. On the bright side, there do not appear to be any advertisements. Also, once I figured out the mechanics for the game, I found that there was no need to purchase additional units.
There are two game modes, Training and PvP. In training matches, you play against computer controlled teams. In each match, you can also find a one star chest. These mostly contain one star min-mins, but rarely contain two or three star min-mins as well. You can repeat the training encounters to build up a good collection of min-mins and level them up.
When starting a match, you see the list of enemy min-mins.
There are numerous training matches, which increase in difficulty as you go along. I cleared up to training mission 17, at which point you are facing level 5 teams of three star min-mins. The first training match is easily winnable with whatever starting min-mins you receive.
PvP matches are against other players, which are likely to be more difficult than against the computer. I personally did not do any PvP in the game, as I was trying to do a temporary challenge against computer controlled opponents for a contest, so I can't speak in-depth about them. The app does not currently have a large number of downloads, so finding an opponent may be a matter of luck as well.
An in-progress match, where I am beating up on the first training mission enemies.
The art for the game is fairly minimalist, with simple static monster images. The music track is fairly fast paced, but also doesn't seem to be long enough for a full three-round match. I had it run out on me and fail to loop when listening to the sound for this article. The small selection of sound effects do work fairly well for the game.
I give the developers credit for a fairly unique concept, though it does seem to require a lot of repetitive farming to build up a competitive team. The fact that you can then lose that entire team in a match certainly amps up the stakes, though not in a fashion that I personally find endearing. The lack of directions also makes the game feel rushed, rather than indie. I originally thought it might be in early access, but it appears to be a fully released game.
Overall, I would give Min-Mins Cloudy Combat a "C" rating, or 5.25/10 stars. With a little more work I think it could be a good game, but in its current state it just feels a bit too unpolished for me to really recommend it. The inclusion of Enjin backed min-mins is an interesting feature, but also seems like it's just another way for them to try to sell you more units.
It is free, so if it sounds like something you might enjoy you can check out Min-Mins on the Google Play store here, where it has a 4.5/5 rating. It is also available on the Apple App store here with a 3/5 rating.