Sometimes I feel that Japanese indie game studios are masters at keeping press releases really short and sweet. So much so I’ve actually download the game to get an idea on what it is about since the press release is something like “Hi, I’m so and so, here’s the link to my game, thank you very much”. No screenshots, no description, nothing. Normally I would consign such emails to the bin but today I decided to check out one such email, this time from the folks from STUDIO ms32, for their new game HAMARU and boy, am I glad that I did that.
Back in secondary school, I had the opportunity to play a rudimentary typing game that was a rip off of Galaga. Basically you need to punch in the right alphabets to destroy the corresponding alien ship. HAMARU works similarly on that premise, requiring players to be good at math and borrowing liberally from games such as Tetris and the flashy graphics of shmups like Ikaruga.
The game is simple, there are red orbs dropping down from the top of the screen, each with a math equation. Players tap on the number on the keypad at the bottom of the screen that represents the solution for a particular red orb before tapping on the red orb itself to destroy it. Should the red orb hit the key pad, time will basically run out faster. Each level lasts 60 seconds, perfect for bite-size gameplay on a train (which is probably why the game was created in such a way in the first place….after all it’s Japan we are talking about).
Like I’ve mentioned earlier, the graphics are really flashy but I like the fact that the developers gave the option to tone it down in the settings page. The only major grip that I’ve got with the game is that it is free-t0-play with a bunch of unsightly ads. I do know that the developers do not have much say over what ads get shown in the game but if you already have one means of generating revenue by making the player buy lives to quickly continue playing, I don’t see the need for an ad overkill.
In any case, HAMARU is a blast. The gameplay mechanics work really well and it plays well during a commute. Nine Over Ten 9/10 rates HAMARU a 4 out of 5. The game is available for FREE (with in-app purchases), check out the iOS version over here, and the Android version over here.
The iOS version of the game was used for this review.
