''Minions Paradise'' was a

mobile game A mobile game, or smartphone game, is a video game that is typically played on a mobile phone. The term also refers to all games that are played on any portable device, including from mobile phone (feature phone or smartphone), tablet, PDA to ...

based on characters appearing in the computer-animated comedy film franchise '' Despicable Me''. The game was developed by

Electronic Arts Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry and promoted the d ...

in partnership with

Illumination Entertainment Illumination (formerly known as Illumination Entertainment) is an American computer animation studio, founded by Chris Meledandri in 2007. Illumination is owned by Meledandri and the Illumination brand is co-owned by Universal Pictures, a divisi ...

and Universal Partnerships & Licensing. It was given a

soft launch A soft launch, also known as a soft opening, is a preview release of a product or service to a limited audience prior to the general public. Soft-launching a product is sometimes used to gather data or customer feedback, prior to making it widely ...

on April 21, 2015 and was later given an official release on October 13 of the same year worldwide on Android and iOS. The game was retired on May 22, 2017 and removed from the store (for non-players); players could still play the game until the retiring date, but the in-app purchases in the game were disabled.

Synopsis

The game follows the Minions as they go on vacation on a

cruise ship Cruise ships are large passenger ships used mainly for vacationing. Unlike ocean liners, which are used for transport, cruise ships typically embark on round-trip voyages to various ports-of-call, where passengers may go on tours known as "s ...

. Things quickly go wrong after some of Phil's antics result in the ship sinking, leaving the Minions in the water and him on a deserted island. This causes them to get angry at him so he must try to make it up to them by turning the island into a perfect vacation spot.

Reception

Critical reception has been mixed. Gamezebo reviewed the game and wrote: "Much of ''Minions Paradise'' will seem familiar to anyone who’s played other free city/town/base/resort building games before. You stock up on money, resources, and premium currency in order to build fancier things and expand your territory so that you can stock up on even more money, resources, and premium currency. But beneath the simple setup is a game that’s honestly kind of refreshing in its approach to free-to-play." ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...

'' criticized ''Minions Paradise'' in a review about '' Star Wars: Battlefront'', where they called it a "familiar and formulaic phone and tablet game built around timers, tapped icons, and insidious invitations to skip forward in a build queue by buying fake currency in bundles that cost anywhere from $2.99 to $99.99" and wrote that "the imposed bottle necks on upgrades and item acquisition makes tapping both incessant and detached from any dramatic significance, something that feeds a recursive loop of player presence." Apple'N'Apps gave ''Minions Paradise'' a score of 3.5, praising it for its mini-games, theme and flow of quests and objectives while also criticizing it for being too similar to other

freemium Freemium, a portmanteau of the words "free" and "premium," is a pricing strategy by which a basic product or service is provided free of charge, but money (a premium) is charged for additional features, services, or virtual (online) or physical (o ...

simulation games.

References

External links

* {{Despicable Me 2015 video games Android (operating system) games Casual games City-building games Electronic Arts games IOS games Video games based on animated films Despicable Me Works about vacationing Video games developed in the United States EA Salt Lake games