Pureya Review | A nice pair of ... marbles
Mini-game collections, like Pureya, are a particular type of title.
They need to be able to balance action and a constant change of mechanics without being confusing, otherwise they would be frustratingly chaotic.
Aesthetics
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Eyes on the target |
The game uses pixel art graphics, but instead of using a style inspired by 8-bit titles, I would define the style used as "chill", it does not follow the rules that many make use of, it rather prefers to represent objects in a simple way.
All in all, it's pretty even if not spectacular.
I was impressed with the user interface, it only uses pictures and images, but they are clear enough to not need labels.
Great job and it can save on translations or their possible errors.
The music is composed of tracks of ten seconds each, in the chaos of the action, it is difficult to hear them.
They don't stick around, but they don't bother you either.
In short, Pureya aims for simplicity without sacrificing legibility or charm.
Game Mechanics
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The difficulties present from the easiest in cyan, to the most difficult in red |
The title is a collection of mini-games, with a total of more than 30 small games to play with, each mini-game has its own rules and mechanics.
The control system uses only two buttons and based on the mini-game, the actions performed will change.
For most of the games it works, for a couple not so much, sometimes the actions are not clear and even after hours of play I did not completely get used to it, ending up making some blunders.
In addition to the main mode where you will play 9 mini-games and then switch to a pachinko machine, you can play with extra modes or visit galleries with the unlocked items. You can play in an infinite mode, where you will go on without ever stopping, or challenge, where you continue until you die, or play a single mini-game until death, useful for practicing. Additionally, all marbles collected in these modes will be added to the main pile.
A good way to spice up the experience.
The game automatically saves when you leave or finish a series.
The difficulty of the title is influenced by the skill of the player: the better you are, the faster you go. Going fast makes you more likely to make mistakes, but it allows to collect more marbles.
Good system that rewards skilled players and at the same time allows lesser ones to have fun all the same.
As I mentioned, mini-games come in sets of 9, once a series is finished, the marbles collected will be used in a pachinko machine until exhaustion. In the pachinko section, prizes are won by centering the green circle with the marbles. Once you hit the bullseye enough times, you have a chance to win one or more prizes, depending on whether the numbers in the center reach the same value. Prizes include: costumes for game characters, new music pieces and mini-games. Depending on the type of prize, you will have to find different pieces to unlock the content. In particular, a music track is unlocked only after finding 2 pieces, while each mini-game needs 4 pieces. The star is used to indicate the probability of unlocking unique golden costumes, but only after the game is finished, so in the first session you can ignore it.
The system is fine, although the progression was a bit slow at the beginning and end of my session. In particular, towards the end there are several duplicates of the costumes already unlocked. Slightly annoying, but it didn't last too long
I think Pureya is best enjoyed in small doses, no more than ten minutes each, otherwise the experience would become a bit too repetitive.
Considering the mobile nature of the title, it makes sense that it was designed for small periods of activity.
Playing with the difficulty between red and yellow and unlocking 78% of the items, I finished the game in 6 hours.
Narrative
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One of the few cutscenes that will be seen during the game session |
The only piece of contextualizing is a video at the beginning where a little girl is seen playing a pacinko machine at home. When she runs out of marbles, she tries to get more from a bowl, but she ends up spilling them all over the place.
To retrieve them, she will have to play with her own toys.
Sometimes during the game, when one number tries to remove another, a cutscene will start where we will see the two numbers compete against each other.
They are funny.
Nothing more to say, the game is more interested in entertaining through mini-games than in telling a story.
Recommendation:
In my case, it succeeded.
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