iBlast Moki - Review - Lee Welinigh

iBlast Moki lead

The delinquent success of Angry Birds is proof that physics-based puzzlers are a great match for mobile devices. Lots of short levels and cute characters are the key. iBlast Moki, an Xbox Live title from Godzilab Games is another high-quality game that uses physics for its puzzles. Its bright, endearing graphics and simple controls belie the game's surprising depth and challenge.

The starting time affair gamers will observe nigh iBlast Moki is the Mokis themselves. Seemingly inspired by the PSP game Loco Roco's character designs, Mokis are little balls with smiling faces. They brandish a lot of personality for body-less characters, peering effectually everywhere, taking naps, and looking rather surprised as they become tossed around each level.

Gyre by the spring for our total review.

Bombs away!

The goal of every level is to somehow get one or more Mokis into the level's exit. Initially, this just involves planting bombs to blast the little guys in the desired direction. There is no time limit during the setup process. When you're set to endeavor out the solution, just press the start button in the corner of the screen and run into if it works. Fail and you tin can instantly restart the stage and try again.

Every bit the level complexity increases, chain reactions and timing come up into play. Bombs take adjustable timers to facilitate such reactions. The game shows you which manner the kickoff flop in a level will knock a Moki, but to aim subsequent bombs you'll demand to use ascertainment and enough of trial-and-error. Stages ofttimes have a specific solution to discover, though there are sometimes faster and less obvious ways of reaching a goal. Better times (the time betwixt pressing start and all Mokis reaching the leave) equal higher scores on the friends Leaderboards, plus they tie into several Achievements.

If you build it...

Just when players think they're getting to main iBlast Moki'southward bombing and puzzle mechanics, the second half of the game throws several new items into the mix: balloons, ropes, atomic number 26 bars, wheels, and screws. Like bombs, each stage only grants a specific number of these items to piece of work with. Attach a balloon and rope to a Moki or another item and it will bladder. Iron bars and ropes make for great bridges. Wheels can be attached to bars or other objects in the level to make carts and bulldozers. It's a lot to deal with, only they're introduced gradually enough, and many stages display text hints to nudge the histrion along.

Lots to do

iBlast Moki has six distinct worlds containing several levels each, for a total of lxx stages. The final stages of well-nigh worlds terminate with a boss run across. These involve getting a giant Moki into the goal in add-on to i or more than standard Mokis. 70 stages may non seem like a lot compared to Angry Birds' approximately 17 bajillion levels, only iBlast's stages are considerably more than complicated and challenging. It took me a good while to reach the cease of this game.

Brain benders

Part of my aplenty playtime came from 8 or so stages that I just couldn't solve. There lays the trouble with this blazon of puzzle game: when you lot're stumped, you're stumped. There are then many possible things to try; it could take hours to terminate just one tough level. Sure, some (not all) stages accept help signs, only the tips are often too vague to be of much employ. I wish the game had a proper hint organization to testify players what to do, perhaps at the expense of score. As information technology stands, perplexed players must await to YouTube videos or forum threads for guidance.

A few more nitpicks

Difficulty issues aside, iBlast Moki has some more minor issues. Its controls are uncomplicated and ordinarily intuitive: drag a bomb from the carte du jour on the side of the screen to the playfield, and optionally rotate the bomb'southward cursor to adjust its timer. Sometimes, though, when I tried to movement a bomb I would accidentally adjust the timer and vice-versa. This could have been avoided by calculation a button to toggle between location and timer adjustment, though perhaps that would have complicated the interface besides much for the casual crowd. Adjusting the length of ropes and atomic number 26 bars was also pretty inconsistent – I oftentimes ended upwardly dragging the item when I meant to arrange its length.

As regular Windows Phone Primal readers probably know, 1 of my pet peeves in mobile games is the music. Phone games frequently merely don't have enough music tracks to match their length. iBlast Moki'due south songs practice come up up brusk – both tracks are fine for a bit, but past the cease of the game they had repeated mode too often. On the bright side, I hear iBlast Moki 2 will accept much better music. Allow'southward hope it shows up on Xbox Live equally well.

Achievements

iBlast Moki's Achievements primarily revolve around completing each world, chirapsia the boss stages, and earning Gold medals on every world. To get a gold medal on a stage, the thespian must complete it within a certain amount of time. Some levels also require the Mokis to collect floating flowers on their way to the goals in order to win the gold.

On the plus side, the game saves your exact particular placement and timing on every single phase. Thus it'south like shooting fish in a barrel to get dorsum and tweak your setup for a better fourth dimension and score. I also like that there are gilded medal Achievements for each globe instead of only one for getting golds in all worlds, which creates a better sense of progress. Rounding out the Achievements are three gimmes for causing Mokis to motility quickly – everyone should get those on the first few levels.

Overall impression

iBlast Moki is the get-go physics puzzler I played on Windows Telephone vii, and it's a good one. The colorful characters, uncomplicated interface, and interesting puzzles kept me both grinning and thinking throughout. Occasional frustrating levels threatened to derail the experience, just I'm not higher up searching for help when I need it. If y'all've played Angry Birds and are looking for something more challenging, iBlast Moki should fit the bill.