The Wrapp - Horse girls, Snap happy heroes, and merging emojis

In last week's edition of The Wrapp, we saw a few members of the team hitting the road for various events while Catherine considered the possibility of switching from barbecue popcorn. We only tackle the serious issues here, you see. This week is a little more gaming-focused, with horse girls, comedic point-and-clicks, and Marvel Snap all on the cards.

Iwan Morris

Staff Writer

After giving it careful consideration, I’ve decided to take the plunge and jump into Umamusume: Pretty Derby. With the plan to give my thoughts and produce a total beginner’s guide for someone who’s barely played a gacha game, let alone raced horses. So watch this space, true believers!

Will Quick

Freelance Writer

Considering all the retro talk we had in the most recent podcast episode, I've got retro on the brain. That itch can be scratched by a lot of the games we talked about: Metal Slug Tactics, Yu Yu Hakusho: Slugfest, and Goddess Order down the line. With the release of The Biggleboss Incident, a dive into the point-and-click genre is like going back into the original style of adventure games. There's almost too much to try, especially with all the ongoing K-pop activity.

Additionally, I will continue to weigh the pros and cons of subscribing to Crunchyroll.

Dann Sullivan

Editor in Chief

It actually turned out to be an incredibly busy week for me, with most of my plans turned on their head… including those of last weekend. As such, I’m likely not going to spend long in the realm of mobile games — Except for the obligatory Pokémon Go weekend events and continued exploration of After Inc. 

That said, I’ve got ambitions for some PC gaming time; I’ve been chipping away at the Rimworld DLC (Space travel!), questing for canonisation in Becoming Saint, and have been playing also-on-mobile Ultimate Chicken Horse, and hopefully-soon-to-be-on-mobile For The King, with some of my buddies.

Catherine Dellosa

Reviews Editor

Will pretty much summed up everything I’m looking forward to this weekend, but with a particular focus on Metal Slug Tactics and Yu Yu Hakusho: Slugfest. Oh, but then there’s Biggleboss too, and I do love me a good point-and-click conspiracy that’s inspired by Monkey Island (like all point-and-clicks are, as Iwan pointed out).

I do have to say that Crunchyroll is on a roll, though - perhaps mobile subscriptions truly are the future, and I have a strong suspicion that this is where all my money will soon go.

Shaun Walton

Staff Writer

I spent last weekend in Canada attending TennoCon (where I interviewed many cool people like Amelia Tyler and Alpha Takahashi), and wouldn’t you know it, I am in the mood for some Warframe! My new laptop arrived today, so I will be setting that up and then seeing just how much I can break it with the highest available graphics and bouncing off every possible surface.

Toni Oisin H.C.

Freelance Writer

This weekend is looking a little different for me as we’re celebrating my partner’s birthday. So, any gaming I get up to will probably be some combination of Jackbox Party Games with friends, as well as some board or card games. I’m hoping to break out Kezao, a colourful speed-based card and dice game, alongside Goliath Games’ The Real Truth, which looks to be some kind of cryptid extravaganza. I’ll also probably end up watching them try out some new stuff that they may-or-may-not be gifted on the big day, but I’ll leave no hints about that in case they read this…

Dave Bradley

COO at Steel Media

It's back to Marvel Snap for me. You know I'm still addicted (yeah, I bought the Fantastic Four season pass). But they've just launched the new Grand Arena mode, so that's my Saturday taken care of.

Grand Arena is one of their time-limited modes - a pop-up special event. High Voltage has been my favourite so far because of its pace and the oomph you get from the extra energy, and they've also staged activities like Deadpool’s Diner, which I wasn’t mad about. With this week’s Grand Arena, you select one of eight champions (like the Human Torch), and it comes with a pre-built deck. You also start with your energy at two instead of one, and your champion’s skill is active in your hand from the start.

You can see why this is a good idea for the developers. Long-term players like me tend to find a strategy that works for them and stick with it. But there are so many cards to try that giving people pre-built decks to experiment with – that don’t take away a slot from your custom decks – means you're much more likely to play with new strategies. Meanwhile, newcomers can start battling with their favourite heroes straight away without having to fiddle around configuring a deck. Flame on! I’ll let you know how this goes for me… I might be back to my Silver Surfer three-point rush tactic before Monday anyway, who knows? 

Meanwhile, on Sunday, I'm flying to China for the first-ever Pocket Gamer Connects Summit Shanghai, so I hope to be seeing some new games out there too.

Stephen Gregson-Wood

Deputy & Special Projects Editor

I stuck to my plan of playing Merge Maestro, albeit briefly, and I was impressed. While it might seem simple on the surface, there's a lot of surprising depth here. Where you place your various tokens matters, as some might receive bonuses from being placed in certain spots, while others won't work at all. Then there's the 'when to merge' conundrum. Some tokens boast powerful passive abilities, such as damaging every enemy each turn, that you want to stick around for as long as possible. So, I'll spend some more time with it this weekend and delve deeper into these nuances.