iBlast Moki is a physics puzzler that has you planting bombs under the very cute Moki’s blasting them towards a goal that looks something like an inter dimensional wormhole. But fear not, the Moki’s are a resilient bunch, and are not harmed one bit while being blasted by strong explosives.
The game starts out easy enough, with simple goals that will take the average puzzle fan less than a minute to solve. As you progress further however, puzzles begin to present quite a challenge, requireing multiple charged set in different areas, each timed just right to the fraction of a second. Add in additional tools such as planks, balloons, and rope, and now levels may require a dozen or more replays before you find the correct solution. While this may sound like it could be an annoyance, iBlast Moki seems to really encourage experimentation.
After a failed attempt, a quick button press will rewind the action back to just before you . This feature really comes in handy as puzzles eventually require the placement of several tools at once. Rather than having to re-place every single bomb, balloon, and rope all over again, you simply make some adjustments to your last attempt and try again. I really enjoyed this feature, as I found it really removed the stress usually accompanied with multiple failed attempts. This allowed me to relax, and really enjoy playing around with the physics in the game.
The graphics in this game are nice, and the animations are very well done. Watching the facial expressions of the Moki as I blast them sky high put a smile on my face. The music is relaxing and adds nicely to the overall ambiance of the game. Most importantly the physics work very well, and everything acts as you would expect. The overall mechanics of the game work well, so you never feel like you are fighting with the controls. Bombs and other items are placed easily with the touch screen. Minute adjustments on the detonation timing on each charge are made easily with a timing wheel that appears around a selected bomb.
The level variety in iBlast Moki is very well done. Levels are separated into multiple stages, and each stage has its own theme. Some themes are especially charming, like an underwater stage that completely changes how the physics work. (Moki’s float!)
In addition to the levels that come packaged with the game, you will also find a level editor, that enables you to make your own levels. The level editor is very basic, but will allow for the aspiring level designer to make some very nice creations. Ngmoco’s Plus+ Network is integrated in to iBlast Moki and makes level sharing very easy. Finding a user created level to play is extremely easy as well as levels are divided into recent, most viewed, and top rated. There are plenty of user created levels to choose from already, so this feature adds additional replayability to an already great title. The Plus+ network also tracks achievements and includes global leaderboards.
Overall, iBlast Moki is an excellent title ,and is easy to recommend. The gameplay is very entertaining. With a nice selection of levels, a level editor and integrated online level sharing, and the Plus+ network integration, this game provides a quite hefty package. iBlast Moki is the best quality physics puzzler I have played on the iPhone, and is very easy to recommend.
Score: 5/out of 5
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