So, off the bat - buying “remove ads” doesn’t actually remove the ads. You have to watch a 30 second ad to “start bigger,” which is the only way to win. You also have to watch a 30 second ad to double your winnings, which is the only way to advance quickly. You only don’t _have_ to watch a 5 to 30 second ad after every game, if you don’t want to. So the 2:00 game takes about 3:20 after ads.
You play against (this goes without saying, but other reviews don’t seem to agree) an AI to grow your little crowd to the biggest mob by absorbing white neutral people and your AI enemies. The problem with the game, that costs it a star, is the AI doesn’t play to win, it plays to keep you from winning. It is very easy, you should win at least 8/10 games. But it is very very difficult to win by eliminating all the enemies. They do not go to the center or to each other, but run to the opposite corners and edges of the game board. They often just hover in the corners, not moving or growing, but making it impossible to catch them all. It is not possible to cover the whole board in two minutes, so you will often leave at least one, sometimes two or three enemies alive. Otherwise it is a satisfying, quick game. There’s just something about running your crowd through an enemies crowd, watch your people split and absorb the enemy people.