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| Introduction to New York Broadway goals |
This is a very rare case of a goal set and a box being released within the same update. I stand to be corrected, but I think this may be only the fourth such occasion where we've been graced with both, with the last being in January 2014 when the Winter Wonderland box was added in conjunction with a Chinese New Year themed quest.
I suppose we should get to the traditional list of new stuff then. Here it comes:
Tables:
- Stage Tables - 9,000 coins
- Amplifier Seat - 8,000 coins
- Broadway Sign - 14,000 coins
- Taxi Cab - 25,000 coins
- Minature Empire State - locked by goal
- Miniature Brookly Bridge - locked by goal
- Times Square Taxi - 2 gems
- Times Square - 4,000 coins
- Lit Walkway - 3,000 coins
- Manhattan Oven - locked by goal
- Food Cart Grill - locked by goal
- Skyline Counter - 7,000 coins
- Musical Crate - 12 gems (sale price)
This update is something of a throwback to another New York theme released in September 2015. No doubt one or two will complain that a theme has been revisited, but for me it's a good choice. New York is a diverse and cultured city with so many different angles from which Storm8 can conjure up content.
Of the additions which can be purchased right off the bat, the wallpapers are perhaps the most interesting, not least because there are two. The Times Square Taxi and Times Square differ only because the former has a taxi on the road in the foreground. I'm not willing to act the guinea pig by parting with gems to test out how well the two versions merge together when placed alongside one another, but the coin one certainly works in a row. The concept of allowing us to choose where to include taxis and how many is clever and certainly deserves some kudos for the originality.
Talking of taxis you can own one thanks to the Taxi Cab floor decoration. It's a 2x2 item whose key feature is it's driver who is hanging out of the side window, no doubt agitated at being caught in a traffic jam. I really like this piece and suspect it will have plenty of uses. We don't have many choices at present when it comes to vehicles so a well crafted one like this is very much welcomed.
Next up for analysis is the Skyline Counter. At 7,000 coins it's one of the cheaper counters of recent times, but then again I personally think it's a cheap looking counter. It's got a school classroom feel about it with the range of solid colours, and the yellow background to the skyline in particular is garish beyond measure. Sorry but this counter scores low with me.
And from here on in there's a tinge of music with us focusing in on Broadway, the Theater District in Manhattan, New York. The Broadway Sign demonstrates this better than anything, with the vertical red letters lit up with little yellow lights. It's just what you want from a Broadway style decoration - glitz and glamour.
Previous New York themed update
The Stage Tables (note the plural - has to be a typo by Storm8!) is an interesting addition as it is obviously based upon the theatre curtains. In theory it doesn't sound too promising, but in reality the gamemakers have done a decent job of keeping the connection subtle. At the end of the day it is a fairly generic red table and there aren't all that many of those in the market so I'm happy.
Where the Stage Tables are subtle the Amplifier Seat is most certainly not. It doesn't even look like a seat! It's just a black box with some dials and doesn't even do a good job of resembling an amplifier. Maybe it could be handy as a decoration alongside any musicians you have in your restaurant, but I wouldn't advise allowing the punters to park their rears on it.
The last of the regular buys which can be accessed from the outset is the Lit Walkway floor tile. This flooring involves a dark pattern with a strip of dim lighting along one edge. At first it may seem a useless floor tile, but it may prove a winner if you intend to cobble together a theatre scene - I nudge you in the direction of the already available Theater Seat from a previous update.
For some thoughts on the remaining content which is hidden behind padlocks you'll have to wait for my goals content report. With two floor decorations, two appliances and six recipes awaiting discovery we certainly have plenty to play for! It's a 15 day goal set so hopefully there's a little more time to work with than many players have found with the eight day editions. For details of the quest head over to my dedicated post here.
At this point I would normally bid you farewell, but of course we still have a box to break down. Opening the Musical Crate will result in one of eight possible prizes being presented to you at random. The bigger and better ones are rarer gets, but if you don't buy the ticket you don't win the lottery.
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| Notification for Musical Crate |
And if you're ever going to buy a ticket now is the time. The Musical Crate is available at 50% off for now, meaning that it is 12 gems a pop. I haven't seen anything to confirm how long this sale is going to last, but you can probably assume it will be six or seven days if past form is anything to go on.
And just to make it all the more attractive, the above notification states that there are 'increased chances to receive rare and epic items'. I don't think this is a first but it is certainly not all that common either. Presumably this increased odds runs alongside the 50% deal, and combining the two special features leaves me tempted to give it a go.
Before I do though I should really have a look at the distribution list:
First Prize
- Good Witch, Wicked Witch
- Hamilton Statue
- Cat Dancers
- Phantom
- Little Redhead
- Autographed Headshot
- Pride Lion Cub
- Chicagoan Dancer
But where did I find all this information? Well, it's all thanks to pixiegamer and Meowmeowbeans over on the Storm8 Forum who have kindly provided all the details for this box, including an image containing all eight prizes:
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| Items from Musical Crate as shown on Storm8 Forum |
On closer inspection I'm not keen to give this crate a go. My issue is that it's not all that clear that the prizes are theatre related. Of course matched with the appropriate surroundings it can be done, but there are a few which are inevitably going to give the impression that Halloween has arrived six months early. The Good Witch, Wicked Witch, Cat Dancers and Phantom in particular scream of Halloween - I suppose they'd be useful once October rolls round.
Overall it's not my favourite of boxes, and I'm slightly perplexed at its timing, Why add it in with the goal stuff? For a start this essentially means we've had the feast of a double update compared with the famine of no update at all two weeks ago. Storm8 had an opportunity here to avoid the blank week by spreading this double hit over two updates in separate weeks.
There's also potential ramifications from a money-making perspective. Are players as likely to open the box when there's a range of other content has been added in the same release, with almost all of it for coins? I think not, and funds for box openings are almost certainly a key revenue stream The game's developers are doing themselves out of business, which given developments over the last couple of months is not a good idea. They really should hire me!
Well that does it for now. I'm pretty satisfied with the range of decor introduced and certainly feel that the New York theme was worth revisiting for a second time. The Broadway sub-theme is a smart choice, although the Musical Crate isn't quite as successful at conveying the feel of the theatre as it could have been. Overall though this update gets a positive review!
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