Giant owls have been the bane of squirrel-existence since the dawn of time, so it’s no surprise that Momonga’s hometown just got pwned. Lucky for little ‘ol Momonga, he missed all the action… Now he’s back for some strigiformian revenge!
Don’t be fooled by his cuddly appearance: Momonga the flying squirrel can roll with the best of ‘em. Beginning in a land far from home, this little guy will curl up in a ball and allow you to paddle him through 9 stages of head-splitting pain on his way to the big bad owl. Along the brief and relatively (not) difficult journey, Momonga will take advice from a gibberish-speaking panda, a hard-headed mole rat, and a spunky firefly. Life’s complicated when you’re a living pinball.
Squirrel Friction
There’s not a whole lot to this game, so I’m going to fill your screen with unnecessary and distinctively colorful verbiage. Momonga is deemed a “pinball adventure” game, and rightly so, as it contains both pinball elements as well as a smattering of adventure. After a brief cut-scene chalk full of Japanese-sounding nonsense, Momonga will curl up and position himself in front of the plunger. Like any decent pinball game, you shoot him out on to the table and begin fipping the flippers to bounce him about. Unlike most pinball games however, your goal isn’t to constantly rebound off of score-bumpers to try and achieve a boatload of points before funneling down the chute. Instead, you’ll try and scoot Momonga forward – out the other end of the table and on to the next adventure!
The pinball tables in this game are sparse, and the physics behind the rolled-up squirrel aren’t so fluid. Perhaps this is why most pinballs are made of highly polished metal and not fur. Momonga has quite a bit of gravity behind him, so don’t expect a fast and reactive pinball game. Instead, you’ll be shoving the little guy along somewhat forcefully in a constant attempt to nudge Momonga into a specific target-area.
A Brief Adventure
Every third stage, just to mix it up a little bit, you’ll hit a bonus round. In these stages, Momonga takes to the air (he’s a flying squirrel, after all) to catch coins! Moving him side to side in floaty, dessert-like landscapes nets you bonus points until you either slam into an obstacle or make it to the other side. Since there’s only 9 storyline stages, you’ll only encounter 2 of these bonus rounds – so sorry.
It’s entirely possible to beat this entire game in a single sitting, which isn’t so rewarding for a whopping $0.99. If you’re into repeating the same stage over and over again, however, you can attempt to complete each stage’s 4 unique achievements! Collect all the coins, finish under x minutes, you get the idea. Honestly, I was a bit too underwhelmed to muster the desire to be underwhelmed four more times over.
The Verdict
Momonga’s Pinball Adventure is distinctively, and without a doubt, a kid’s game. Don’t expect a whole lot of “adventure” or difficulty, and certainly don’t expect a complex, reactive pinball game. The graphics are cute – apparently so cute that my Nexus 7 stuttered several times as Momonga bashed his head against stacks of blocks – but this game is nothing to write home about.
