Maroc - 3RD-STRIKE.COM - A La Une - 25/Jan 03:35

MOCHI-O – Review

Only recently, we featured another tower defense title, Notice Me Leena-Senpai!, which felt like an original spin on the genre, and we already have another tower defense title that offers an original experience. This time, we’ll be talking about MOCHI-O, a tower defense game with a cybernetically enhanced hamster in the lead, gunning down all enemies in sight. When we saw the original trailer, we were quite interested to see how this one would turn out, as we weren’t fully convinced about how things would play out. When we finally got to experience what MOCHI-O had to offer, we actually didn’t put it down until we played through all the stages in the story mode, which is often a good sign. Story In MOCHI-O, you’ll play as the handler of MOCHI-O, a cybernetically enhanced hamster that is Earth’s last bastion of hope. It seems that the planet is constantly under attack, and the gun-wielding hamster is so powerful that an actual army is not needed anymore. As the game progresses, you’ll bond with the small weapon of mass destruction and learn more about what is actually going on. The story itself is presented similarly to a small visual novel, and while the overall plot never really goes that deep, we quite enjoyed the storyline. Graphics MOCHI-O utilizes 2D pixel art for both its story and gameplay segments. The sprite art is fairly detailed, and MOCHI-O is also rather cute and likable as a result. The enemy variety is not too bad, but you’ll often see the same enemies spawn in huge groups on your screen. This is not uncommon for a tower defense title, however, as a developer cannot come up with different variations for every single enemy type. We particularly liked the attack animations, and seeing big vehicles being blown to pieces was rather satisfying. While everything was still basic, MOCHI-O did look polished. Sound All in all, the sound design of MOCHI-O isn’t bad. The music is upbeat, captivating, and gets you in the mood to blow things up (digitally, of course). The SFX also provide great audio feedback for the onscreen carnage, where you are constantly gunning down enemies and blowing stuff up. There is no voice acting present, which is a bit of a shame, as it would have added some charm to the voiced dialogues. Gameplay MOCHI-O is an original spin on the tower defense formula, where you will play through short levels, upgrading a cybernetically enhanced hamster that is the only force capable of saving the world. It’s an interesting concept, and it’s also very straightforward. Instead of building structures, you’ll actually just point your cursor in the general direction of the oncoming enemies and then fire your weapons automatically. After killing enemies, they will drop gems, which you can pick up to gain experience to level up. Upon leveling up, you’ll get three options to choose from, which is very similar to a lot of roguelike titles. In these options, you’ll find passive upgrades but also new weapons, which will wreak even more havoc on screen. As mentioned above, there are no real structures to build here, but you do have unlockable upgrades that you can purchase in between stages. These can include new weapons that are offered to you during a run, special weapons that require certain conditions to be activated during a stage, and quite a few passive upgrades. The game will always reward you with money after playing levels, but you’ll also find blueprints, which can unlock the aforementioned special weapons. That being said, MOCHI-O is a bite-sized tower defense title, as you’ll probably play through most of what the game has to offer in two to three hours, with an endless mode and different difficulty options to play through afterwards. Conclusion MOCHI-O is a fun, bite-sized tower defense title that doesn’t recycle the same old content we have seen in countless other titles before. While the gameplay itself was perhaps a bit basic, as you basically just point your mouse in the general direction of your enemies, we still quite enjoyed the general gameplay loop. The audiovisual presentation was also spot on for this Kodansha-published title, making it into one coherent and interesting whole. If you’re looking for a small tower defense title to play in between bigger games, then this one might be ideal for that.