Mojo!
Does Crave's budget puzzler relive Marble Madness or Consumer Madness? Find out inside.
Jeremy Dunham Avatar
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One such example comes from the down but not out folks at Crave Entertainment. Developed by Big Bear, California's favorite skeleton crew via FarSight Studios, the conceptually interesting puzzler Mojo! has literally come out of nowhere to take its place among July's list of budget software. Not unlike other classic action-based conundrums such as Marble Madness and Marble Blast, Mojo replaces the main character with a small rolling ball and pits them against time, physics, and some brain-bending riddles. And while it's final execution may not put it in the same company as the aforementioned videogames, it isn't half bad either.
Gameplay
The idea that powers Mojo! is not unlike that which has influenced other three-dimensional puzzlers for years. Given a single, solitary ball, the player's main goal is simple: Destroy all the colored blocks in a given stage. Admittedly it sounds pretty simple in the beginning, as there are only four colors to go after (Red, Green, Blue, and Gold) and a few specialized blocks like Ice Bricks and other obstacles. The only way to destroy cubes of a given color, however, is to make sure that your marble is the same color as your targets (you need red to break red, green to break green, etc, etc), and once all obstructions are cleared, you can move onto the next stage.
After the first few levels, though, it becomes rather apparent that it's not going to be a walk in the park. As the only way to transform your marble into the color you need is to use what's called a "Color Infuser". Represented by glowing balls of energy, these color infusers can be in the open or covered behind other colored blocks. Making the first real challenge of the game finding a way to discover a smart path to the infusers and eventually all the obstacles.
Another important element is that fact that each stage is equipped with a timer. Given to the player as a set goal along with an explanation of what needs to be done before every level, these timers are critical to your success. If you're told to clear a stage in two minutes, for instance, and continue past the deadline, your Mojo! meter in the lower left corner will slowly begin to deplete. Once the Mojo! is completely gone it's game over and you'll have to begin that stage all over again. But if you can manage to beat the stage before the timer runs out, you'll get a stock Infuser that you can use in tight situations -- nice.
The depletion of your Mojo! meter won't be problematic at first, but the more each stage requires you to press the X button for a boost (useful for going uphill or avoiding attractors that draw your marble towards them), your Mojo! begins to deplete even faster. Every stage is a different shape as well, and the majority of them undulate in all manner of directions; which will cause your marble to fall off the sides pretty often. For every death, that drains Mojo! too and before you know it, every puzzle is a race against the clock and a struggle with the stage's obstacles. For a simple game, there's a lot more strategy here than it first lets on.
Puzzle fans are probably salivating at the prospective challenge that this one has to offer by now. Which is perfectly justifiable, as Mojo is both extremely difficult and almost as addicting. We're not sure how many times we fell victim to the "Just one more time" syndrome associated with all the best titles in the genre, but it definitely happened to us more than once. Sadly, Mojo! is held back from becoming something greater because of two extremely important factors: The physics and the camera.
Because of the crazy designs of each stage and the up/down/sideways nature of the levels, there always seems to be something pushing or pulling your marble in a direction it doesn't want to go. In fact, gravity seems to be a lot more powerful force in Mojo! than it's supposed to be. As a result, navigating through narrow pathways, across the edges of platforms, and moving between the segmented dividers becomes more of a chore than needed. Even in the areas without influencing attractors, the marble at your disposal feels far too weighty and gives trouble to even basic steering maneuvers.
The camera itself is the biggest detractor though. Moving at a much quicker pace than that of your marble, it isn't surprising to find a multitude of sections where you fall off a platform or bump into an infuser you didn't want too. Several of the game's mid and latter stages are twice as difficult as expected simply because of poor camera placement. And because there is no way to reset the view to a default mode (one that settled in the direction of your momentum would have been very helpful), it's a problem that players will struggle with in nearly every world. After five or six consecutive areas that force you into certain death because of this fact, the addictive puzzle elements that were so entertaining earlier quickly turns to frustration.
Graphics
Mojo's! visuals are both simplistic and colorful. Never more complicated than a few basic shapes (re: orbs, blocks, and twisting pathways), the most elaborate features of any given map are usually the backgrounds used to fill the void between platforms. Ranging from locales such as outer space, the ocean, and other such areas, the environments aren't exactly overwhelming, but the accomplish their mission regardless.
Other visceral treats such as the trees, sand, and other design elements turn out to be just as basic as the game's rectangles and spheres. There's also a great deal of seaming with larger polygonal objects and collision problems when falling off of ledges (you'll magically fall through your platforms). There are a number of other graphical quandaries as well -- like the lack the complete absence of shadows and the aforementioned camera issues. Mojo! isn't necessarily ugly, mind you, just a few generations behind today's current crop of PS2 games.
Sound
Audibly, Mojo! is about on par with the visuals. Sporting only a few selected musical tracks (which are reminiscent of, but not as good as the old Super Nintendo title Equinox), Mojo's drumbeats and synthesizer sounds accomplish the task of filling an empty void with some kind of melody. But none of the tunes are particularly catchy and the clink/clank effects that accompany your marble as it bangs its way through a level are just as uninspired.
At least everything sounds crystal clear, despite the fact that it doesn't use any high-tech decoding technology. And that, dear readers, has got to count for something!
Crave Entertainment Though it's faded a but from the spotlight in recent years, Crave Entertainment has been a popular third party publisher for years. In fact, some of its biggest titles in past years include the early UFC games, Jade Cocoon, and Freedom Force. If you would like to learn about Crave Entertainment and its videogames, click on the picture or link above to go to its IGN info page, or you can visit Crave's Official Website.
Verdict
At a suggested retail price of only 10ドル from the moment it debuts, Mojo! is already an appealing proposition. With the added bonus of being able to play with up to four people at one time, the ability to edit existing stages to a design of your liking, and several hidden modes and power-ups, the overall consumer value only gets better. Even if you're the lonely type with no desire to change anything, there are still eight different worlds and 100 stages to explore. Easily enough for fans of the game to stay interested for quite some time.
Of course the real issue is whether or not players will be able to accept the outdated visuals, discernable camera problems, and heavy-set control scheme. For those of you that can handle it then Mojo! is one heck of a little puzzle game. If your taste runs towards the more polished, modern-day brain-busters like Super Monkey Ball or Bombastic, however, then you may want to rent it first and see if your heart is forgiving.
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Mojo! FarSight Studios
Initial Release: Jul 31, 2003
ESRB: Everyone Xbox PlayStation 2 Mojo!
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Jeremy Dunham
Official IGN Review
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