Moe Waifu H-Blockblast is another low-cost, simple Arkanoid clone published by EastAsiaSoft. Other than the easy Platinum, there isn’t much staying power coming from this single player Pong arcade-style game.
Controlling the movement of the paddle at the bottom, the goal is to reflect a bouncing ball to destroy all the bricks from a single screen before time expires. Oddly, there is a focus on the “waifus,” unanimated anime girls that literally do nothing. If these anime drawings were removed, it would be the exact same game without any changes whatsoever. There are just there so the word “Waifu” can be added to the game’s title, assumingly as a marketing ploy. They progressively dress more risqué with each of their three stages but never reaches anything beyond a mild PG-13 rating.
If it wasn’t for the occasional power-up, gameplay would be stagnant, boring, and actually unwinnable in certain situations. Out of the fifteen stages, a few of them would nearly impossible without collecting the fireball which causes the ball to plow through all bricks, even the unbreakable ones, instead of bounding of each individual block. However, power-ups seem to be randomly placed with each attempt. Since the player has about three minutes to complete each stage before needing to fully restart, finding these extra abilities is critical to success and can almost make the game unfair at times. For the record, the other expected power-ups are also here such as multiball, guns that can shoot the bricks, and collectables that can shrink or enlarge the paddle.
It is hard to knock a passable game that only costs five bucks but can’t help but call out some odd design choices that hold back the experience. For example, the paddle can only move at one speed; holding a face button doesn’t increase acceleration. Coins can be collected but they do nothing; there are no unlockables, bonuses, or even a leaderboard feature. The UI also annoyingly covers the gameboard, preventing the player from seeing the ball as it hides behind the icons at the top of the screen. There are zero options, no co-op mode, and the sound effects are laughably bad. The soundtrack is also generic at best but the default volume level is set so loudly without an option to adjust. This game doesn’t do anything to fix the last pesky brick problem either.
There are only 15 stages and doesn’t take longer than an hour to complete. Clearing each stage also unlocks one trophy until the Platinum pops. Without replay value and a below average Brickels-clone gameplay, there isn’t much here even for a simple downloadable title that only costs a few bucks.
Not As Good As: your favorite Arkanoid game
Better Than: the Taito DS Paddle controller
Wait For It: a super serious 4-player Arkanoid game with fast gameplay, constant multi-ball, and crazy power-ups
By: Zachary Gasiorowski, Editor in Chief myGamer.com
X/Twitter: @ZackGaz
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RATING
SCORE - 4
4
SCORE
A basic Arkanoid clone that lacks substance but has an easy Platinum. The anime drawings, which are highlighted in the title, literally do nothing too.