ReelShort review: Wish it weren't such an aggressively shameless cash-grab: (

I thought a story in an ad looked interesting, so I bit. It was actually pretty enjoyable, but it was so obvious what they were doing. The show is constant drama and emotionally-charged twists to keep you hooked. The idea is that you'll be primed to dive into microtransaction hell. Specifically, you buy coins. These coins must be spent to unlock each chapter (which is only a minute or two long) and also, coins can be spent to unlock the more interesting option whenever an interactive portion pops up e.g. one choice will be a more boring free one, while the more enticing choice will require coins. Even though it was painfully transparent, I still went with it. After paying for coins several times, I decided to just get the 1-week VIP subscription since it seemed like I'd end up paying more than that in coins just to watch the whole show. Unfortunately, even though that subscription lets you watch any chapter without paying, it does NOT unlock the interactive choices, so you'd STILL have to buy coins on top of the subscription if you're interested in those. Fortunately, I figured out pretty quickly that those interactive choices aren't that worth it... they only replace a brief section with a slightly less brief section that does not affect the plotline at all... the options converge about 30s later. They're still tempting enough though! At the end of the day, I spend around $45 just to watch one show, including some but not all of the "exciting" choices. Entertaining? Sure. Corny? As hell. $45? Insane. My time was fun, but I can't in good conscience open that app again unless there are MAJOR changes to the business model.