➤ Monomals, the review 🎮

La Monomals review is but the further demonstration of how the catalog of Apple Arcade continue to be enriched with noteworthy productions, in this case a particularly original project developed by Picomy, team that recently participated in the making of Sonic Mania.

The beginning of the game is simple, with three different ones characters (Retro Rabbit, Funky Frog and Techno Tiger) who try their hand at a very particular type of fishing: their hook is an audio jack and the line appears inexhaustible, allowing the rig to move for large stretches underwater, avoiding traps and eliminating enemies until you reach your goal, a cute little animal.

The player controls the hook, which looks like the real protagonist of the adventure and must move within twenty-one scenery different, gradually more complex and rich in variations on the theme; until you reach the boss on duty, the pet above, which must be defeated in an always different way.

Succeeding in the enterprise allows you to get one of these funny little creatures as a reward, each of which represents a specific musical instrument. To do what? Here comes the beauty: the game includes a real one MIDI sequencer which allows you to create songs in a very simple way, initially working only on the kick, bass and keyboards and then adding further sounds, which change in terms of style depending on the character we use to mix them. We will be able to save our creations, share them with the community and vote on the works of other users, creating a nice ranking.

Gameplay and technical realization

In short, Monomals presents itself as a different game than usual, with two very interesting faces: on the one hand a gameplay action that closely resembles the inertial systems of titles like PixelJunk Shooter 2, colorful and full of variations on the theme that make each level different; on the other handmusic editor, which in combination with an in-game shop allows you to use various sounds for song creation. An experience, the latter, preparatory to music production in all its forms: the most famous software use a similar interface, albeit more detailed, which means that with the title of Picomy you can take your first steps in scope of editing.

If this aspect does not interest you, of course, you can concentrate on the rest and enjoy an impeccably made level design, which is not surprisingly reminiscent of the classic episodes of Sonic the Hedgehog and focuses strongly on exploration, the secrets to discover and the hidden corners of scenarios in which nothing is left to chance and every little detail appears well taken care of, whether it is blocks to destroy or enemies to hit with our shot, unique maneuver available to the protagonist. As mentioned, however, there are some interesting variations on the theme, for example the device that allows us to get out of the water using a vertical jet to gain altitude and at the same time destroy walls; or the fan that transforms us into small drills, capable of breaking through any wall.

The Monomals touch control system uses a virtual analog stick on the left side of the screen and a big button on the right side: everything works fine, but clearly with a controller Bluetooth the situation changes and facing the various stages becomes a less complex challenge, although never trivial.

The technical realization, as mentioned, makes an excellent use of colors and effects, involving us in a very pleasant atmosphere also thanks to the excellent design of the characters. The soundtrack is no exception, and accompanies the action with music perfectly suited to the context.

Comment

Tested version iPad (1.0) Digital Delivery App Store Price Free Resources4Gaming.com

8.3

Readers

Your vote

Monomals is a very valid and original title, which brings together a quality inertial action gameplay, fun and stimulating due to the never banal degree of challenge, and a real MIDI sequencer with which to use the unlocked instruments for the creation of music tracks. . Playable at best with a Bluetooth controller, the Picomy mobile game can count on an excellent technical realization, in which nothing is left to chance and the colors, the cleanliness and the elegance of the solutions are the masters, giving us atmospheres in many ways. similar to those of the classic chapters of Sonic the Hedgehog.