What's even worse is the implication that this is encouraging kids to gamble with real money for in-game items. Parents please make sure you have the feature to purchase things in-game turned off, or else your child might be accruing a terribly large bill at the end of the month. Some of the characters can also only be unlocked by playing a random chance minigame which costs 25 Gems per play (the equivalent of around $2.20. Some ponies cost the same amount as a full priced retail game and are merely just palette swaps. These gems aren't cheap either â€“ 20 of them cost $2 on the store (keep in mind that the price of ponies ranges from 10 to 950 gems), while 1500 of them costs $100. Of course players aren't forced to do this, but they are being given an extremely limited, unfinishable version of the game otherwise and the wait times are excruciating between simple tasks. In fact, in order to even finish the game the player will need to unlock two of the main six characters by purchasing gems. Gems are needed to play an insultingly simple game of popping balloons to have a very low chance of a unlocking pony or item, skip wait times (which can be up to 24 hours long otherwise), and buy ponies from the store (these ponies cannot be unlocked through other means).

There are three types of in-game currency: Bits and Hearts are earned by tapping the environment and for getting ponies to work in bakeries and shops but Gems can only be earned in worthwhile quantities by purchasing them with real money. While I have no qualms about the free-to-play models of games such as League of Legends and Battlefield Heroes, Ponyville's problems lie in that every facet of the game is built for one purpose only â€“ to force the player to spend real money to unlock content in the game. Sadly this is where my positive outlook on the game faltered, while the core mechanics of the game such as player progression through completing tasks to unlock more ponies, building homes, putting ponies to work, and playing minigames with your pony residents is fine, the problem with this game lies in Gameloft's business model.

My little pony magic princess