Over the past few years, Tsuburaya Productions has begun pushing Ultraman hard outside of Japan. For all intents and purposes, it has been a resounding success. With these pushes, it always seems that if your property (especially a Japan IP) becomes increasingly more popular in the ‘States, it’s almost a mandate you must release a free-to-play mobile game. And what is the sure fire formula for a free-to-play mobile game? You guessed it, a puzzle game.
Puzzle Shuwatch!! was released in early October and I’ve been glued to it for the past few days. It’s a puzzle game in the vein of Bejeweled or Candy Crush Saga, but wrapped in the world of Ultraman. The gameplay is extremely simple and very easy to pick up and play: Match a row or column of at least three of the same color blocks, and that’s the gist! Okay, so there’s a little more to it than that. Rather than playing for points, you’re playing to vanquish Kaiju! Form a band of Ultras or Kaiju and deplete the enemy Kaiju’s health bar and withstand their attacks, and you win!
The game mixes it up with various items you can acquire during a level, and you gain those items by forming different eligible formations. For example: If you match four of the same color blocks in a square shape (meaning two columns of two blocks) you will gain a Slugger item. The Slugger allows you to destroy obstacle blocks you will encounter on your journey. The gameplay is very fast paced, and I found myself playing for far longer than I intended to. It also wonderfully incorporates Ultra universe lore in interesting ways.
Complete enough of the base levels, and you’ll eventually encounter a Boss. The boss battles plays out nearly identical to the main levels, but they have far more health and deal far more damage, particularly with their super attack that builds up over time. You can stave off this super attack by breaking enough of the required blocks. These battles CAN be tough if you’re under leveled (more on that in a bit) and you can only retry these encounters once per try. This can lead to a lot of frustration, but also a lot of satisfaction when you finally conquer a beast.
The game has a few other game modes, including MGT Missions. These are levels that don’t involve fighting kaiju and much more chill. You’ll be destroying crates, mining ore, or “researching” throughout these. Bonus levels and special raids pop up every now and then, but they’re far less common. But I think it’s time to address the elephant in the room, the thing every free-to-play mobile game is plagued by…microtransactions.
The game has a large cast of characters, almost countless types of in-game currency, and equally as many consumables. This, of course, causes the specter of microtransactions to rear its ugly head. But thankfully, I never felt like the game was pay to win. Sure, you’re encouraged to buy things with real money so you can juice up your Ultra warriors or progress the game, but it’s never required. The alternative is grinding, which opens up a separate can of worms. Some gamers hate grinding, some love it. It really comes down to preference. I usually detest grinding, but I never found it overbearing here. It does have other mobile game annoyances like a Gacha game (this uses in-game currency and not real funds). The gacha is how you unlock new characters and strengthen your party. It’s cumbersome, but the game provides you with several avenues to acquire the in-game crystals needed for it.
I’ve had fun playing Ultraman: Puzzle Shuwatch!! It’s scratching that casual game itch that you need sometimes. The game can be tedious at times, but I never felt I couldn’t progress unless I used real money. It’s an addicting glimpse into the world of Ultraman, and I hope it leads to more games released in the US in the future.
