Firmly cementing Japan as the land of WTF.
http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/impressions/32819
It's been 14 years since Mitchell Corp first introduced the game Puzz Loop. In the intervening years, the game has been cloned many times, including PopCap's Zuma and Mitchell's own Magnetica. However, perhaps in an attempt to differentiate the experience in a way nobody else would ever think of (or perhaps with the aid of psychoactive substances), Mitchell has reinvented the game, replacing marbles with people waiting in long lines in Tokyo.
Tokyo Crash Mobs delivers layer after layer of the non-sensical, attempting to add a story to a game where no story should have ever appeared. And it is glorious. The game follows the hijinks of Grace and Savannah, two young women on a rampage through Tokyo where they try to beat the lines to various establishments such as stores and restaurants -- by tossing people to disperse the crowd.
There are two main styles of gameplay in Tokyo Crash Mobs. The main version follows close to the Puzz Loop style, featuring an overhead view of the action on the top screen. The goal of the game is to clear the line of people by throwing or rolling other people into the herd. When three individuals wearing matching colors are lined up together, they disappear. Players drag the stylus on the bottom screen to position a target on the top screen where the next person will be thrown.
The game divides levels into days of the week, with the difficulty and complexity increasing as the days go by. By the end of the week, you'll have to manage multiple encroaching lines simultaneously. Accuracy is important, as a missed throw can make the lines even longer. If you target one place for too long, the targeted will notice and jump over the human missile, though you can also use this to your advantage to target double-stacked lines.
Team Battle, the other style of gameplay, puts players in a first-person view and the 3DS gyroscope is used. In this mode, the game rules are the same, but you must physically turn around in a circle to target the mob and meet your opponents -- ninjas. You're graded for each successfully finished level, and a poor performance will result in a hilariously dejected Grace or Savannah.
A variety of cut scenes are shown before and after each level, each more absurd than the last with the girls doing random stuff. Even the loading screen makes no sense, showing Grace circling her hand around with the text "Delusion Now."
Tokyo Crash Mobs is the zaniest game I've played in a while. Even though the underlying game is nothing new, the unconventional presentation results in an undeniably unique experience. There is simply no reasonable explanation for the game, and the Nintendo rep imparted that it just is -- enjoy it.
Topic: Tokyo Crash Mobs Impressions (Read 1092 times)
