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

Demo Play Thursday - Rubato DEMO On Switch

For this week's Demo Play Thursday i played the Nintendo Switch version of Rubato, from developer dconn.

going into this demo, i wasn't sure what to expect. the eShop page seemed to make it out to be a platformer where we have to collect stuff to rebuild the solar system. turns out, that's what we actually have to do. perhaps the eShop page revealed a little too much about the game as i was expecting something to happen at the start and instead we're shown something weird and i don't what it's for. that unknown aspect of the story, like there's something deeper or even a second story happening, was felt throughout this demo and i could only guess where things were going to go.

It took some time to get used to how this game plays. the jumping especially is an aspect of this game where i don't think i fully adjusted to it in this demo. i always seem to go further than expected and have less control than expected. another aspect that i struggled to adapt to was the tongue mechanic. i had full control of the tongue but my brain kept thinking that it would automatically face in the direction of the character whereas it didn't move unless i moved it. the rocket launcher i got later also did this but it was as expected whereas the tongue wasn't.

so the controls take sometime to get used to and the story is a little weird, but playing it went quite well. the stages are vast and the story seems to explain why we're able to play the same level again but with a new ability. having a rocket launcher really opened up new areas for us to go, but as i showed during the mid point i was able to take a projectile and carry it to a section and blow it up and get in. i can see how there's a lot of replayability in a level and the with the game's collecting nature it could be fun to go and explore these locations.

But it wasn't until much later that i found where the map is. the game has a good tutorial that's incorporated fairly well into the game's story but it never told me to press +. other than that, i found the tutorial and first area i was in to be appropriate for newcomers. the boss at the end took a bit if time and i liked how it smartly didn't do the trope of 3 hits and it's down. there is a message from the developers after the boss battle but no where does it say whether the save file from the demo will carry over to the final game.

Overall, it's a decent demo taken from the start of the game. using it a practice before getting the main game might be a smart way to play it. there are options to customise the difficulty and this demo offers the perfect place to practice and find what works for you before you decide to spend money on the game.

Backlog Conquering - ToeJam & Earl On PS3 - Part 3

Welcome to Backlog Conquering. This is a series were i play a game from my backlog that i may or may not have played before. the goal isn't necessarily to finish the game, the goal is to play it. that way, i can have an opinion about it.

Our new game is the PS3 version of ToeJam & Earl. this version came out in 2012 as part of the Sega Vintage Collection and was developed by M2. Prior to this playthrough, i hadn't played ToeJam & Earl before but on Mega Drive i had played ToeJam & Earl in Panic on Funkotron. 

Part 3 was tougher than i thought it would be. i just couldn't get past the 8th stage! i'd get there and end up getting knocked down, over and over again! i was having some bad luck with the enemies as well, especially with the bees, they'd chase me down and even knocked me off a stage. so in this part, not much progress was made but i did get another piece of my ship!

Check out the previous parts:

Part 1 - https://youtu.be/AA7N46YYLbQ

Part 2 - https://youtu.be/CdzaIAn3lfs

Stories on Tuesday - Fatal Twelve - Week 6

The new Stories on Tuesday game is the PlayStation 4 Disc version of Fatal Twelve from Sekai Project and aiueoKompany.

Week 5 was the longest part so far, but what happened in this week's video might be the most surprising and most significant so far. the week focuses on the school's culture festival, Yu, and at the end we had the IX talk for the first time. But it's what happened at the festival that completely caught me off guard. i'm not going to spoil it, but the next week is going to be very interesting.

Part 1 - https://youtu.be/U-1z9NQScOI

Part 2 - https://youtu.be/4to_h0qQNJk

Part 3 - https://youtu.be/DABu5Oz2hJY

Part 4 - https://youtu.be/-OUI3w1-jag

Part 5 - https://youtu.be/T_FASp7VQzQ

Demo Play Thursday - Bubblegum Galaxy DEMO On Switch

For this week's Demo Play Thursday i played the Nintendo Switch version of Bubblegum Galaxy, from developer Smarto Club and publisher Astrolabe Games.

At the time of playing this demo, it looks like it might've been removed from the eShop, or at the very least it wasn't easy to find. the game itself is also out now. But i did find that the eShop page for this game to be quite revealing as to what the game is. to me, it came across something like a Katamari game, and with the unique art style i was genuinely looking forward to trying this demo.

Even though the eShop page spoils a little of the story, it was still told well. i enjoyed how they used the game's tutorial to tell the start of the story. playing through the demo, i got the feeling that there maybe more of a serious story behind the nice art. you'll have to let me know in the comments if there was or not.

I didn't find the tutorial to be as comprehensive as i wanted it to be. it explained the basics well, telling us about them, letting us use them, then having a video highlighting it, but there were other aspects of the gameplay that i didn't fully understand and had to guess. even now, after i've finished the demo, i'm still not sure how the game's score multiplier works or how i think i managed to turn the color of one plate into another.

the social aspect of the game seemed fine. each of the characters we met were very different and each had their own customised booth. though the way one of them talked to us did seem to be a little racist. it would be interesting to see a little bit more of this social aspect of the game as in the demo, the focus seemed to be more on the tutorial. but what was there was interesting.

as a demo, i think Bubblegum Galaxy is one of the better one's i've tried. it was clear when we started that the save file doesn't carry over into the retail game. this simple message is soo rare and yet soo important. i would say that the demo was also clear what was in it by calling the section of planets we made the demo section. we got a good bit of story, characters, tutorials, as well as a story hook at the end with the introduction of the managers. 

Demo Play Thursday - Planet of Lana II: Children of the Leaf DEMO On PS4

For this week's Demo Play Thursday i played the PlayStation 4 version of Planet of Lana II: Children of the Leaf, from developers Wishfully Studios.

I hadn't heard of this series before so i hadn't played it. with it being a sequel, there's always the concern that you need to have played the first game to fully understand what's going on. but with this demo, that's not important as the developers have given us somewhat of a unique demo, or at the very least a style of demo i have rarely come across.

In the Planet of Lana II: Children of the Leaf DEMO, instead of spending a lot of time at a specific point in the game, we're treated to 5 segments from the game. the first four focus more on the game's puzzle platforming mechanics and are set outside but the final one has us using that knowledge and more in an indoor setting.

i thought it looked great and the music was nice too. the puzzle platforming wasn't too hard to work out either. often, things of interest are slightly highlighted by light. what also helps is that the section you're in is often small so there aren't too many factors to worry about. but as this demo isn't from the start of the game, there were a couple of times where it took a bit of time to work out what to do. i have to imagine those who played the first game and those who start this game from the beginning will have a greater understanding as to what both characters can do. as i didn't, there was a fair bit of trial and error and process of elimination. for me, it wasn't troublesome as the game has a very quick restart and very generous check pointing. but i wonder if an easy difficulty could be introduced that would offer more hints as to how to interact with the world. for example, i didn't realise my companion could use their powers and become/take over other animals but a prompt, perhaps shown as a memory, would've helped a lot.

I did enjoy my time playing Planet of Lana II: Children of the Leaf. the difficulty felt right and the characters and world were interesting. the demo ended with a trailer showing much more of the game. but i do come away with little to no idea what the game's story is all about but i don't think that detracts from the experience. i'd recommend trying this demo if you're interested in the game.

Backlog Conquering - ToeJam & Earl On PS3 - Part 2

Welcome to Backlog Conquering. This is a series were i play a game from my backlog that i may or may not have played before. the goal isn't necessarily to finish the game, the goal is to play it. that way, i can have an opinion about it.

Our new game is the PS3 version of ToeJam & Earl. this version came out in 2012 as part of the Sega Vintage Collection and was developed by M2. Prior to this playthrough, i hadn't played ToeJam & Earl before but on Mega Drive i had played ToeJam & Earl in Panic on Funkotron. 

Part 1 was mostly me learning what the game is. i knew that it was different to ToeJam & Earl in Panic on Funkotron, i just didn't know how. after that video, i understand better what it is i need to do and how to play it. So in Part 2 i set out to find all my spaceship parts. i made quicker progress this time and still found new power-ups. I'm also saving more during this playthrough. i haven't edited that out of this video so let me know in the comments if you'd prefer that i cut when i save in future parts.

Check out the previous parts:

Part 1 - https://youtu.be/AA7N46YYLbQ