Game: Moai VI Unexpected Guests Collectors Edition
System: Nintendo Switch
Developer/ Publisher: Joindots GmbH
Price: EU €16,99| UK £14.59 (not available in the USA shop)
Age Rating: EU 3+
Release Date: 28th March
Also Available On: Steam
No review code was used, I bought the game myself.
Guide Hika-Ri and Kao-Ri on the adventure of their lives and enjoy countless hours of fun on the enchanted island of Tapa-Tui! In this Time management/Strategy game you’ll race to complete 80 thrilling levels that challenge you to strategically figure out the best use of your resources.
Getting you started
When you start Moai VI: Unexpected Guests for the first time, you’ll be introduced to the gameplay with a few tutorial levels that have been designed to teach players the basics of the game.
Each level in the game starts off by assigning players a series of objectives that they have to complete. In order to complete these objectives you’ll efficiently have to manage the workers and resources at your disposal. The goal of each level is to complete what you’ve got assigned in the least amount of time possible so that you can get a high score.
Objectives for each level are shown at the bottom right of the screen and along the top of the screen is the list of items you have in stock, food, gold and stone being some of those items. You can purchase additional items from a merchant if and when needed in some of the levels.
Power-ups and Artifacts make for more interesting gameplay
Moai, VI Unexpected Guests has all the usual gameplay you would expect from a time management game: clear the roads and build various buildings. Send your workers to build extra fields or goldmines, whatever the requirements are to complete the level. Along the way you pick up power-ups like Faster shoes for your workers to wear so they speed up their movements. The Horn or Plenty power-up is a good one too, as it doubles the amount of resources your workers can collect.
As well as these power-ups you can also collect Artifacts in your backpack. Equip these artefacts to your character, like the Luck Amulet which increases your goldmines production by five percent. Or the Agronomist Book which increases food production by five percent.
Add a dollop of magic to the game
Along with Artifacts to collect there are also Runes. You can equip your character with four additional magic spells in each level of the game. But first, you have collected the Runes of course.
The addition of Artifacts and Runes in this genre of game is unusual but that’s not to say its unwelcome. It adds extras to look out for on the levels. You don’t always need a boost from the power ups and Runes to complete a level. But as you progress the levels do become more challenging to complete within the time limit so the extra power ups come in very handy to beat that timer.
Off course there is also an Easy mode in the options menu if you wish to play without a timer.
The colourful screens are a joy to watch
Moai VI: Unexpected Guests Collectors Edition can be played on the Nintendo Switch using either the control or touchscreen. Sometimes the touchscreen controls can be a bit of a hit and miss, it’s not always responsive. I mostly played using the controls which work absolutely fine as it’s just point and click the A button.
As for how the game looks, all the levels and environments of the game are packed with detail, the colors are vibrant, the animations and special effects are lovely and overall the game is a treat to look at.
Conclusion
There is great variety in this game. With its price point it’s not much more expensive than the Steam version. In my opinion it’s well worth a buy if you’re looking for an engaging time management game to have on your Nintendo Switch.
