Moe Mekuri 2 (XBLIG): "Cute Anime Girls + Hardcore Puzzle Gaming"

KoheiGallery, the developer of the Moe Mekuri XBLIG series recently released their latest game titled 'Moe Mekuri 2'. For those of you who have no clue as to what 'Moe' is, it's basically a slang Japanese term that means "an attraction to characters such as in anime, manga, and video games. This unique puzzle game definitely displays the characteristics of a 'Moe' title. Within the game you'll get to unlock pictures of all the cute anime girls as you earn them by completing the various puzzles. I have never actually played a puzzle game like this, and I found that it actually takes a lot of thinking to solve. If you think you're going to get by with guessing your way through, you can expect to spend a lot of time doing so. It's like trying to figure out a locker combination that has multiple numbers. Just consider the possibilities of a combination with a 3 number code, and you'll get the picture.

Moe Mekuri 2 features 10 of the cutest anime girls that you'll ever lay eyes on. As you beat each mode in the game (Easy, Normal, Hard) the girls will lose a little more clothing. Each difficulty mode features 10 puzzles, one for each girl in the game. I'll be totally honest, I felt sort of pervy for playing the game. The anime girls were just a little too cute if you know what I mean? The good news though, is that nothing is really 'revealed' in the gallery, so that is cool. Aside from the uber cuteness, the game also features Japanese music tracks that sound like techno. The music actually repeats over, and over as you're trying to solve these somewhat mind bending puzzles. I ended up muting the music so I could concentrate. The music wasn't bad, but listening to it repeatedly got a bit mind numbing. The game also features a picture gallery of all the girls you have unlocked. The pictures can be changed (by pressing 'X') revealing further clothing removal in up to 3 stages, considering you have beaten all three difficulty settings.

This game is all about tiles, and chain reactions. Each puzzle in the game features a grid with a set number of tiles, and 3 different types of tiles. Your objective is to shoot a ball across the grid/tiles, and make all of the tiles flip/disappear. The way this is achieved is by rotating a given amount of tiles (Easy = 1, Normal = 2, Hard = 3) by pressing the back trigger buttons, then shooting the ball across the grid (using the 'X' button) creating a chain reaction. There are 3 types of tiles in the game. The orange tiles feature up to four dots that can be aligned to trigger different tiles. The orange tile's dots are located on the flat sides of the squares/tiles. The blue tiles are a little different. Their alignment dots are placed at the corners of the tiles. I also believe they flip twice if I remember correctly. Last, but certainly not least are the grey tiles. These tiles will cause the ball to stop in it's tracks. The ball will follow the path/direction of the red dots that are on each of the tile faces. Setting the tiles up to cancel each other out is the ultimate goal. I know my descritption of the tile setup probably won't do the game justice, but this is a game that is best experienced first hand. If you get this game you'll understand what I'm talking about.

In the end I found 'Moe Mekuri 2' to be quite a challenging puzzle game. If you can overlook the semi-sexual nature of the game, it does offer some solid gameplay. I've probably mentioned it before in another review, but I absolutely love challenging games like this. The extras in the game were pretty cool also. The anime style that was used was a little on the 'cute' side, but it was well drawn. As an anime fanatic I definitely like the art style KoheiGallery went with. The additional tracks that can be unlocked are nice to listen as well, just not as you're trying to solve the 'Hard' puzzles. I think the asking price which is 240 msp ($3) is an appropriate asking price. The replay value is quite low though. In the end it comes down to the gamer's preference. I like anime, and Japanese music so it definitely appealed to me.