Million Onion Hotel (iOS) Review

Employing a five-by-five grid, onions are planted in each of the cream-coloured squares, and they pop out of the ground at random intervals. The aim is to tap on the onions as they appear, thus turning their tile red. Upon making a single line of red tiles, a clock appears on the grid to reward extra time to keep the game moving. With no lives, it ends when the countdown clock hits zero, so making lines and collecting clocks is the only way to stay afloat.

While Million Onion Hotel starts off slow in order to introduce the simple mechanics, it turns up the difficulty with each passing chapter sequence, as new elements are added onto the grid. While the onions only require one tap to collect, a robot invention, called the Ojamar, takes two taps to get rid of, while the Kurinkurin take three, and so on, and so forth. Umbrellas need to be held onto in order to deflect incoming missiles and falling objects, which threaten to bring a quick end.

While creating singular lines is key, it is bridging two lines simultaneously rewards high point-scoring foods and lots of extra time. Don't be fooled, though, because early on it is easy to build up a huge wealth of time from the 30-second starter. However, even sitting at five minutes can quickly be throttled down in the onion boss fights, while the aforementioned missiles are also unforgiving.

Levelling up is key to moving through the "story," which seems to be a bunch of cut-scenes that make no sense out of context. However, eventually the gist of the idea behind what is happening begins to kind of make sense, although figuring out what is going on is part of the magic of this whimsical title. In order to level up to view these scenes and reach the boss fights, crafting singular red lines is the goal. Then new events seem to take place every ten levels, whether it's a new scene or a boss fight that threatens to end the game. Speaking of the bosses, sometimes the battles don't even end with a "kill or be killed" method. Should the boss' health bar get whittled down a lot, they sometimes escape, which can be annoying for those trying to jump in for the kill. There's plenty of opportunity to try it again, though.

Part of the frustration with Million Onion Hotel is that while it can take many minutes of play-through to accumulate a high time, it can quickly reach zero in a matter of seconds due to ill-timed missiles that are hard to deflect all at once. For those seeking that challenge, however, there is plenty of game to salivate over, while collecting all the cards is a great distraction for the completionists out there. With many objectives to reach for, and new cut-scenes to view, this is an addictive release that is void of ads that many mobile games unfortunately fall victim to.