It’s “Free-to-Play” week here at GamerDad.com, where we’ll look at three games that won’t cost you anything to play (well, sort of).  Anyway, Moshi Monsters is a popular online virtual pet simulator where players take care of various cute monsters and their Moshling pets, as well as play games and have adventures.  And now the Moshlings are starring in their own match-three puzzle game, which plays similar to other titles like Bejeweled and Candy Crush.  It’s free to play and available on Facebook and iOS devices (reviewed on iPad here).

While the game plays like any other match-three puzzler, it’s the different modes that set it apart.  You travel across various islands, which each spot on the map representing a level.  In some stages you simply must remove goo tiles from the playfield in a given amount of moves, which is something you do in other match-three puzzle games as well.

But in other modes you’ll have to rescue a little Moshling critter.  In some stages, there will be a path on the playfield that leads to a door, and you must match certain colors with a given amount of moves to help the Moshling reach the door to its home.  But watch out, sometimes enemy Grumples will appear, and will hop one space toward your Moshling after each move.  If they reach your Moshling, it’s Game Over.  So you must match the same color in a row or column that includes the bad guy in order to clear it away.

In other modes, you’ll have to dig down through dirt to reach a buried Moshling, and you’ll do this by matching colors around nearby squares of dirt.  At the end of each world you’ll have to do battle with Big Bad Bill, who you must defeat by matching certain colors.  But be careful as he’ll fill the screen with garbage blocks if you don’t hurry!

When you rescue a Moshling, it’ll be sent to a house, and when you fill up that house with certain kinds of Moshlings, you’ll earn jellybeans which can be used to buy special boosts you can activate in levels to give you an edge.  You can also purchase diamonds with real money that let you buy stronger power-ups, refill your stamina, or let you continue if you lose a level.

The main problem I have with this game is the same problem I have with all free-to-play ones.  It starts out simple, but increases in difficulty very quickly.  You have a stamina meter that goes down each time you play a level, but it won’t be long before you run out and must wait a while for it to refill.  You can buy power-ups and continues to keep you in the game, but there is no way you’ll earn enough in-game currency on your own to be able to use any of these features.  So you’ll have to spend real money in order to do that.  Plus, you’d think that a game connected with Moshi Monsters would let you unlock codes to use in the web game like the other Moshi Monsters games I’ve reviewed in the past did.  But if you can’t get enough of match-three puzzle games and don’t mind the nuances of free-to-play titles, then downloading this one won’t hurt you.

Kid Factor:

Violence is very minimal.  If a bad guy reaches your Moshling, they’ll just get squished with a splat sound.  Reading skill is helpful for the instructions, and younger gamers may get frustrated at the high difficulty level.  Parental supervision is recommended for the in-game purchases.

Tags: Game Reviews