‘ARCHER: DANGER PHONE’ APP STRIKES UP HUMOR

If you’ve ever watched the FX animated series “Archer,” you likely know it’s chock full of a mix of both adult and sophomoric humor. The idle clicker-style game for iOS and Android mobile devices, “Archer: Danger Phone,” follows the cheeky style of the television show in the most delightfully reprehensible way possible. The premise of “Danger Phone” is that the world’s economy has collapsed and Algernop Krieger, the mad scientist member of the Archer crew, has created a cryptocurrency called the “Kriegerand.” Attempting to find out how best to grow the Kriegerand’s viability, he creates virtual operations in which holographic simulations are run.

Gameplay revolves around increasing the number of influencers in each simulation. As influencers increase, so does the income of each simulation. This base income is an undefined form of cash that is, in turn, used to unlock additional simulations and increase these additional influencers. As each operation progresses, you, the player, achieve goals. Upon hitting certain landmarks within the operations regarding number of goals completed, you get a short, animated cutscene. Additionally, goals will reward you with either a leather, silver, or gold briefcase. Each briefcase contains a variety of random cards, as well as cocktails or Kriegerands sometimes.

Kriegerands, sometimes. Kriegerands and cocktails can be spent in a variety of ways. Kriegerands – which also may be purchased directly through the game’s cash shop or earned during special shootout events between operations – can be used to purchase additional cocktails at a set rate (50 for 250, 180 for 1,000, or 500 Kriegerands for 3,000 cocktails). They also can be used to purchase the ambiguous “cash” currency by speeding up your gameplay clock for a number of hours, if you have automated simulations. Cocktails are spent upgrading your agents and the simulations in which they reside. They can be considered a sort of “premium currency” within the game, as many mobile titles have. Cocktails are earned from briefcases, as shootout rewards, as rewards from special events, or from watching advertisements.

Just for a moment, I will stop and say that the heavy ads are absolutely one of the most frustrating parts of the game. You can likely play without having to experience them, but it would be very challenging, or very costly to your wallet. While they are frustrating, they’re tolerable enough that I continue playing. But, if heavy ad video participation is a deal-breaker for you in your mobile game enjoyment, you’ll likely want to skip this one. The special events, on the other hand, are a good deal of fun. There seems to be an event that runs daily, except when a long event (fourdays) is running. Either way, the events are a separate bit of gameplay in which cocktails are replaced. Sometimes they’re replaced by cocoa, other times by wine, depending on the specifics of the event. For example, in the event in which Krieger simultaneously causes the sprinklers to explode and the air conditioner to go on overdrive, cocoa is the substitute “premium currency.”

Unlike the main gameplay, the events do have a time limit. They also have semi-unique rewards that you might not be able to obtain during normal gameplay, as they require placing high on a score list. Doing so requires either investing Kriegerands, or spending real cash. This gives a slight element of “pay- to-win” that I don’t necessarily appreciate, but since the rewards don’t seem to be game-breaking to the main gameplay, I don’t let it bother me that they’re mostly out of reach.

Archer: Danger Phone isn’t a game that requires my constant attention. I look at it a few times a day, when I’m not occupied with anything else or need a momentary distraction.

I also have not spent any money on the game, and don’t really feel entirely compelled to in order to enjoy the simple, silly humor of the main operations. I think if you enjoy the Archer TV show, you’ll have an appreciation for the game, but otherwise, a lot of the jokes are not likely to make sense. If you’d like to give the game a try, you can find the links to both the App Store for Apple devices and Play Store for Android at https://www.archerdangerphone.com/.