iPhone Friday - MOCHI-O - Defending The World With Your Hamster Monster In This Fun Rail Shooter

For this week's iPhone Friday i tried MOCHI-O from zxima on my iPhone 14 Pro. 

I had previously played Flat Machine, https://youtu.be/Hob5TyE_BWE, and really enjoyed it so i was looking forward to trying something new from these developers. the app store page did make it look like the game was going to be very busy so i was also curious how the game would handle things when it got chaotic.

The answer to that question came immediately as when you start the game you're thrown into the action. it took a second or two to understand what to do, i would've liked it to pause, highlight what was being said in the bottom left, then the top right, and then started the action. but ultimately, the game takes over fairly quickly as we're not as yet playing as our character. from this bit we're introduced to our monster Hamster weapon and that's it.

Our character comes in and things are slower and much more manageable. we're introduced to the characters better and what our goal is. the menus are mostly clear to understand and so is how the upgrade mechanics work. but i didn't realise that the upgrade menu was scrollable, so perhaps that needs to be made a bit clearer. but other than that, the game looks great and even among the chaos things are still legible, with things like health big and clear in the top left, and the danger zone clearly labeled.

the gameplay and what you have to do is simple, but the controls may take a bit to get used to. thankfully, you're able to replay levels if you make a mistake or go back to them when Mochi-o is leveled up and has more weapons and abilities. this is a rail shooter game. we can move left to right and our goal is to aim a reticle at the enemies and Mochi-o will attack that space. when you defeat an enemy, or use an enemy's explosion to take out other enemies, sunflower seeds will be dropped. you need to take time out of shooting to suck these seeds up. regular black and white ones give Mochi-o experience and when it has enough you're able to pick from 3 upgrades. picking up the pink ones help level up Mochi-o back at base. and there are other items dropped you can suck up like money, health, and blueprints. each run i did were different lengths of time and had variations of enemies to defeat.

I really enjoyed my time playing MOCHI-O. it doesn't take itself too serious and yet built an interesting world. it looks great, sounds good, and the English translation seems fine. i would recommend this game, it's one of the best free to play mobile games i've played this year so far!

Version 1.43 Played

Mobile Friday - Flat Machine - Try Things Differently Each Run. I've Beaten It, But Not Finished It.

For Mobile Friday this week is i tried out Flat Machine, from Zxima, on my iPhone 14 Pro. This game is also out on Android.

On the Store Page, Flat Machine is described as a Gatekeeper Adventure and that got me excited. i haven't played a "Gate Keeper" style game since Papers Please on the PlayStation Vita but i do enjoy that style so i was excited to try this game. 

The biggest disappointment whilst playing the game is the tutorial, but having played and beaten the game i will accept that having such a poor tutorial could be a deliberate choice. But i found it frustrating as it took at least two deaths to learn the basics before i felt i was actually playing the game. the game could use it's world and characters to create a good tutorial.  The village chief is a character, he found us, he put us there, so it feels like not having him with us before, during, and after the first battle as a tutorial, is a wasted opportunity.

There seem to be two goals, levelling up and beating the Flat Machine. Levelling up wasn't detailed until it happened, but it did happen it seemed like doing so is one way to make beating the Flat Machine easier. In this video, i beat the Flat Machine and it turns out it was 1 of 7 possible endings. what's great is that the game gave hints as how to get the other endings so there is replayability in not just levelling up but also in trying to find all the ways to beat the game. 

I would've liked a little more BGM, but the battle music and Flat Machine music was cool. i did enjoy the character art, it looked big, colorful, and detailed. but maybe a little more variety in enemies would be nice. What i did appreciate was how the game delt with in--game ads. the game made it our choice. if we wanted to, we could watch an ad and be revived. or we could watch an ad and have a bonus. it's respectful to us the player, our data plans, and gaming on mobile.

Flat Machine may not be the best game, but it is a satisfying one to play and one to keep on your phone as it's getting updates. so i do recommend Flat Machine, but the beginning is a little rough with it's poor tutorial.

(Version 1.07 Played)