Coal Mining Inc. Review: Offers a lot to admire while having excessive Ads
2021-10-27
Coal Mining Inc. is an idle typhoon strategy game from Lion Studios who are no stranger to the mobile platform after previously developing successful titles such as Slap Kings, Mr. Bullet, and Happy Glass. Mining Inc lets you take control of a coal mining pit and try to grow it into a mega-successful coal mining factory.
The game offers many cool features that players will love, and there's a lot to do. Also, since the game is still new, it is likely to receive more content in future updates. One of the game's most interesting concepts is that it'll give players an idea of managing a coal mining pit.
In reality, we have people working in coal mines; some are pickaxes, miners, and canaries. In this game, however, it's about the drills, the crushing, and filling up trains with lots of coal simultaneously. So after playing this game for days, here's our review of Lion Studios' Coal Mining Inc.
THE GOOD
Fast-paced tutorial
Unlike many idle typhoon games that take you through a tiring tutorial, this game is the other way around. The tutorial was very brief and understanding in such a short time. Even players who aren't familiar with such typhoon games will find the tutorial quite short and detailed.
However, as you play and rank higher, you'll unlock new features, in which case you'll be taught how to use them because ranking higher and upgrading your equipment will pave the way for new and improved features that you may not be familiar with. You'll simply be briefed on what they do and how they can be useful to your cause.
Unique Time Advance feature
In the shop, you can find a Time Advance feature which you can purchase with diamonds. This feature is interesting as not a lot of idle typhoon games offer something like it. What it does is that it speeds up the game's overall time and lets you collect 5-10 hours wait time rewards in 3 seconds.
It's a unique inclusion to the game and a nice pay-to-win element. Players who prefer to play claim rewards instantly will enjoy and appreciate the feature.
Graphics
The game's graphics are lovely and provide players with that coal mining feeling where you get to see the crushing machine, drilling machine, and the trucks that carry the coal up and about all at work. The factory setting was well crafted as well, giving it an advanced look for a typhoon game. Starting early, however, will make you realize you have a long way to go.
There's a railroad for the cute train that comes to haul away your coal and ship them to where they're needed. You can also find a cool red chopper just outside your office, and it flies! The vehicle movements are also impressive as you can see your forklift move around carrying coal that's been crushed by the crusher to the train.
As you upgrade vehicles, machines, and buildings, the graphics become even more lovely and will tempt you to upgrade more of your stuff in the game. Machines will multiply, and buildings will become bigger and taller.
Controls
Like most idle typhoon strategy games, they require more thinking and strategizing more than tapping or clicking. The game controls are fine, seeing how all you do is click to upgrade, open chests, watch ads, or collect generated revenues.
Hiring managers and purchasing side machines also help you automate most of the activities in this game, allowing you to do a lot less than you're supposed to do. But as you progress and rank higher, you'll have to tap a lot more than usual.
Music & Soundtrack
Mining Inc offers a soothing soundtrack that is enough to make you sleep if you're not playing the game. The soundtrack plays throughout the gameplay, and since this game doesn't exactly offer a menu screen, there aren't many soundtrack choices. You're pretty much stuck with one.
Tapping on items also creates a kind of 'Doink' sound which properly fits the purpose. You'll also hear the usual cash register sound whenever you receive lots of cash from Investors.
THE BAD
The Ads are excessive
With the number of ads in this game, the developers should've simply made it an online game rather than labeling it as an offline game in the store. There are ads placed everywhere in this game which makes it a bit tiring because there are times when you simply just want to enjoy an offline game without having notifications from social media, or work apps pop in every now and then.
And apart from that, there should've been more items to buy in the shop to reduce the number of ads found in this game. Of course, the ads are important, but in this game, they're just too much. They make playing offline feel like an online game. Rewards displayed to be free will require an internet connection to be claimed, which is simply exorbitant.
Long process of hiring managers
This game starts at a slow pace, and considering the amount of land you have to drill through to complete missions and rank; they ought to make the process of hiring managers a lot easier than opening free chests every 8 hours and having to wait another 8 hours for a chance to get enough manager cards to unlock one manager.
Compared to other idle typhoon games we've reviewed, this process is rather long, and most players won't keep up with the over-due process. Idle typhoon lovers might stock around longer, but new players most likely won't.
Conclusion
There's a lot to admire in Coal Mining Inc as, despite the game's slow pace at the start, it gets better when you start upgrading items and hiring managers. The game picks up after you have gained up to 1 star in ranking and slowly becomes addicting.
The above negative features of the game, such as its excessive ads and hiring process, do not take anything away if you play online. But if you want to play this game offline, these factors might deter your gameplay experience a lot.
With the emergence of new idle typhoon titles on the mobile platform in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, developers have had a lot of time to think and come up with brilliant ideas for strategy games. Lion Studios' Coal Mining Inc is amongst the few that are worth your time and attention.
