Momonga Pinball Adventures (Wii U) Review

A pinball adventure? Sounds interesting, doesn't it? This is premise is so embedded that even its title, Momonga Pinball Adventures, flat out throws it in the faces of gamers. Many might inspect this title because of the fresh premise, hoping to find an adventure game of massive and well-developed pinball tables and high-scores to hunt... Resist the temptation, if that sounds enticing!

Momonga Pinball Adventures is exactly what it says on the tin, but is also the worst possible implementation of the premise. Instead of being a pinball game with an adventure atmosphere, it is an adventure game with pinball mechanics forced into the game. There is no real pinball action found here, not in the sense of an infinite pinball table that has the player competing to stay alive, and racking up the most massive score. The lack of such classic pinball elements are certainly a setback, particularly for pinball fans.

Once past that disappointment, several other issues come to light. Foremost is that even as an adventure title, Momonga Pinball Adventures is very half-done. A sense of exploring and combating enemies are important aspects of adventure games, and these aren't introduced until extremely close to the end, where some enemies finally appear. However, fighting could not be more unsatisfactory. The combat is based around a firefly who is a "Fire Fu" user, and who distracts enemies while the brave momonga (the ball) hits them. To do this, though, the momonga must first hit a gong-gong. It is definitely a way to implement pinball mechanics into the combat, but also the laziest way possible.

The biggest redeeming quality is that there are very few technical issues and direct "flaws" like those found in many titles that do something new, but this doesn't exactly make it a good title—just one that is not bad. Ultimately, pinball fans will be disappointed by the lack of deeper pinball elements, and fans of adventure games disappointed by the lack of deeper adventure elements. It simply aims to be something it isn't: a pinball adventure.