Mojo!
Score: 92% ESRB: Everyone Publisher: Crave Developer: FarSight Studios Media: CD/1 Players: 1 - 4 Genre: Puzzle
Graphics & Sound: Think of Marble Madness completely redone in true 3D, and you've got a pretty good picture of what Mojo! is all about. The world of Mojo! is full of colorful, primitive shapes, accompanied by a good variety in level types. Different stages range from outer-space themes to native island surroundings. Each is full of various obstacles and power-ups, giving plenty of life to the game no matter how many times you play it. The sound effects are solid, and give a nice ambiance to the scene when you are guiding your ball of mojo around and smashing into things. The music is also done quite well, and varies dramatically from stage to stage, rounding out a great audio offering.
Gameplay: Mojo! is a puzzle game at heart, and makes no qualms with letting people know this from the start. It's fast, levels are generally small, and there are a few very basic key gameplay elements that will keep you coming back for more. The premise goes as such: all the mojo of the world has been trapped in square, icy blocks, rendering the universe in chaos. As the last bastion of hope for all life in this fantastical realm, your job is to roll your way from stage to stage, freeing as much mojo as you can along the way. A well-rounded Single Player mode offers 8 worlds to play through, with about 10 levels per world. Aside from attaining your overall goal in each level, there is little redundancy. The designs are well done, and many different strategies can be adopted to defeat each one. Apart from the single player experience, there are a few other good modes of play that are offered. Up to 4 players can go at it simultaneously in a death-match style mode of play. There is also a Golf Mode (strange, but fun) that can be unlocked if you defeat the entire Single Player mode. The icing on the cake, though, is the level editor. You can take almost any level that is included in the game and alter the items and blocks to your heart's content. This bumps up the replay value greatly, which wasn't too low to begin with.
Difficulty: There are no ways to alter the difficulty of the game, but you can make things hard on yourself by the various methods you try use to finish a level. Levels can be beaten in a variety of ways, most of which aren't too difficult to complete. The challenge comes in discovering the fastest way, which will in turn allow you to take a shot at some cool bonus levels.
Game Mechanics: Your mojo ball is your main arsenal in the fight to free all the mojo of the world. The way you do that is by clearing all the colored cubes on the map, and then going straight for the frozen cubes of mojo. However, there are four different colored cubes, and in order to clear a certain color, you have to charge your ball in that color at specific locations on the map. There are also many hazards on each map, including pitfalls, death cubes, various obstacles that will send your ball flying, and enemy balls that would like nothing more than to see you go up in a puff of mojo. All the while you are on a timer, as the mojo in your ball is being depleted throughout each level. Once it hits empty, it's game over. While Mojo! doesn't quite reach the group satisfaction level of party games, it does offer plenty of variety for a single player. It delivers gameplay only seen in old titles like Marble Madness, and the price is more than reasonable for a title of this genre. Whether you're looking for a good game to play in your spare time, or you'd like something with plenty of depth that you can dive into for hours, Mojo! is your ticket.
-Snow Chainz, GameVortex Communications AKA Andrew Horwitz
Midway Arcade Treasures Muppets Party Cruise