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| Notification for Pop Art Soup Crate |
The Pop Art Soup Crate is the solitary addition, with the box costing 24 gems. Each time you purchase it one of eight possible decorations will be headed your way, with only luck to decide how good a result you get.
Let's not mess around here - this is a dreadful box. There's absolutely nothing wrong with the concept. A pop art theme is something different and maybe even a little radical, but could work for a restaurant. It's the execution that's appalling.
Before I elaborate on that, here's the teaser which was posted on the Storm8 Blog yesterday:
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| Items from update as shown on Storm8 Blog |
First of all, the size of the prizes is such a let down. The standard formula for crates is for the first prize to be 4x4 and the second prizes 3x3, with the rest varying case by case. Deviations from this set-up do sometimes happen, but not like this. The Pop Art Soup Crate has just one item which is not 1x1 in size. This is like a throwback to some of the very early boxes such as the Woodland Box and Take Out Box.
Before I storm off in a huff, let's have the distribution list, which does an excellent job of summing up just how rubbish this crate is:
First Prize
- Pop Art Couch
- ?
- ?
- ?
- ?
- ?
- ?
- ?
- ?
Sometimes it can be tricky to decide where exactly to place some of the content in this list, but with a little logic a decent job can be done. This time I'm not going to bother as the 1x1 items are much of a muchness. Whichever they are, the second prizes are going to be of the same quality as the third and fourth prizes, which is shocking.
If you happen to have opened the box then do please leave a comment at the bottom of this post with your findings - we're going to need a lot of help to get this list filled up!
The one positive in all of this is the inclusion of two wall decorations. The Pop Art Curtains and 'Pop Art Frame' are the first ever wall decorations to appear in a box. The former look pretty good too, with the pink curtains attached to a rail and drawn across a window. This is a significant step up from the curtains available freely in the market. The framed artwork is less enticing from what we can see of it in the teaser, especially when you consider the 24 gem asking price.
And in my opinion that's a fact which can be applied to all the other content too. There's nothing here which pulls me in, and that includes the Pop Art Couch whose edginess doesn't suit me. I prefer a homely and comfy sofa!
The 'Pop Art Lamp' suffers for its use of only one colour, while the 'Pop Art Lips' suffers for its randomness. I realise that there is an element of randomness when it comes to pop art, but none of this captures my imagination whatsoever. I am quite sceptical with regards to a lot of art (for example you'll never find me visiting an art gallery for the hell of it!) and that's probably playing into my views.
The 'Pop Art Plant' and 'Pop Art Box' both make liberal use of colour, with bright outlooks at least making them fun objects. The Pop Art Divider also has lots of colour, but loses credibility for the simple fact that it is a divider! These have no place in a box - to make them effective you need a good few, and that would require an astronomical expenditure. All very deliberate on the gamemakers' part of course.
It's fair to say I'm pretty down on this update. But my disappointment has dissipated a little after reading a couple of hilarious comments by neighbours of mine over on the Storm8 Forum. Firstly Ali Cat Cafe has an excellent solution for those of us who have the misfortune of getting the divider from the box:
"Block our doors and give up on life."And how about this inspirational line from Danis Cafe that summarises the whole thing:
"Art is what you can get away with."A truer word never spoken!
This isn't the only crate under the spotlight this evening, with the Beach Resort Box on sale for a limited time.
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| Notification for Beach Resort Box sale |
The deal is 50% off, which means you can open this box for just 12 gems. In contrast to the pop art debacle, this is a quality crate, with some really excellent decorations within. The first and second prizes are definitely worth the gamble, although there are a good few duds in there too.
At first I was tempted to give this box a go or two, but on reflection will pass. If this is the start of a string of Summer themed sales then I'll hold out for something more, with the Carnival Box (which featured on my wishlist published last month) among those I'd most like to see get the treatment.
And with that, we're done. For the second straight week there was no Value Pack which indicates that either the game's developers have decided to take a break from releasing them (they did for a long while once before) or have retired them altogether. Either way it's a shame for iOS users that the option is no longer there. I can't fathom why Storm8 would wish to shut down an additional source of revenue, but it's not the first time I've struggled to comprehend their actions!
So a really poor box, which won't be living long in the memory. The only positive to come out of all this is that a brief search on the reasoning for the soup can in the crate's name led to me discovering Andy Warhol's Soup Cans. Every week I become a little more cultured!
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