Game Review: Moe Waifu H - BlockBlast

By Al

Players: 1
Platforms: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5

About a month ago I reviewed a game called Moe Waifu H Genius. (A review you can find HERE!) It was a simple memory game that had a few lewd anime pictures attached to its gameplay, and I mentioned at the end of the review that there were other games in the series coming soon. That time is now, and I now introduce you to Enter Moe Waifu H - BlockBlast, a game out now on the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and Nintendo Switch, by way of publisher EastAsiaSoft. We're going to be looking at it on the Nintendo Switch, and I should mention now that it is actually only available on the Switch via the Japanese eShop. Switch owners probably know how to get around such restrictions, though potential players might want to check it out on the PlayStation consoles instead if you don't want any headaches. Anyhow, let's get into it!

It probably comes as no surprise that Moe Waifu H - BlockBlast has no story at all to speak of. It features five anime girls, but they have no bios at all. Not only that, they don't even have names. I complained about this thing in the last game, and I'm shocked that they didn't fix it here. I say "fix", but all they had to do was give each girl a name to make it seem like these aren't just quick cash grab titles. Instead of that, we get five blank slates, ready to be ogled at by players everywhere. Let's move on. Each girl has three outfits, and you have to beat a game of BlockBlast in order to see each one. You start out with their basic costume, move on to a swimsuit, and then finish up with them in their underwear. There are 15 levels in total here, with the game of BlockBlast resembling Breakout with some tweaks. You're only allowed to play each level you've cleared, so that means you'll have to tackle each stage in order. There is something resembling an increase in difficulty on each subsequent stage, but you'll quickly learn that this isn't always the case. You'll often find yourself bottlenecked in a single stage for up to 30 minutes, only to clear the next one on your first try. It leads to some uneven gameplay, and I guess that's as good a segue as any to move on to discussing exactly that.

As I said earlier, BlockBlast plays a lot like Breakout, but doesn't have nearly that level of polish. Your goal in each level is to clear all of the bricks on-screen, and you have three lives to do that in. Not only are there limited lives, but you also have a time limit as well. Letting the clock hit zero is the same as losing all your lives, so it's best to move as quickly as you can. Moving quickly is often easier said than done though, as your ball moves very slowly by default. If you've never played Breakout before, it's basically a ball-launching game. The balls you launch are what actually breaks the brick, and you have a Pong-like paddle that you use to keep the ball in play. Certain bricks will drop random power-ups, and these include extra lives, extra balls, extra time, a shield, and items that either extend or shrink your paddle. Most interesting of all the power-ups are the ones that change up your ball, or grant an attack of sorts to your paddle. The latter power-up gives your paddle guns that attach to both ends, and you can take out bricks by shooting them twice. Ball power-ups come in the form of lightning, which causes the ball to move very fast after hitting something, and fire, which burns all bricks in your ball's path. Power-ups are the key to winning the game, and it's unfortunate that they drop completely at random.

Each of the five girls sort of act as "worlds" within the game, and these groups of levels all introduce new gameplay elements that build upon the basic formula. Later stages can include bombs that take out all bricks in a particular area, steel bricks that can only be destroyed with the use of power-ups, and so on. I ultimately found that RNG is the way to go if you plan on actually beating the game, and the best strategy is to try to get a fire power-up as early as possible. Not only does this item allow you to clear most of the screen in mere seconds, it'll also reveal plenty of other power-ups as well. The fire power-up is so broken that I simply would restart levels until I got it within the first few bricks I hit. Once it's loaded in, victory is all but assured. On the flip side, if you play for over a minute and don't get any interesting power-ups, or even worse get the one that shrinks your paddle, you might as well quit and restart before you lose. Part of me feels that playing this way is akin to cheating, but the game is anything but balanced, and I couldn't be bothered to play it any other way. All that said, I do have to admit that the gameplay in Moe Waifu H - BlockBlast is far more involved than what was found in Moe Waifu H Genius.

Not only is the gameplay a bit better, but I think the overall presentation is too. This is of course a matter of preference, but I found the character designs to be of better quality than those found in the first game. Not only are they just better art in general, but they're more consistent across the board too. They even slightly improved the gallery, and you can now view the unlocked art without any of those pesky borders. You still can't adjust it in any way, but it's a move in the right direction. Even the title screen looks better this time around, and it probably goes without saying that the gameplay has a much fuller aesthetic due to the more involved gameplay found here. The music is still a bit on the repetitive side, but there are extra tracks to unlock this time around. None of them were any better than the others, but at the very least you don't have to hear the same piece of music and over and over the entire time you're playing. Don't get me wrong, I don't want to seem like I'm praising the game too much. It's still a silly game that is sure to offend a lot of people, but I have to give credit where credit is due as far as the improvements made over the first game.

It ultimately took me about an hour to completely beat Moe Waifu H - BlockBlast, and I'm positive that I won't ever pick it up again outside of the occasional lol or two. With that in mind, I have to say that I walked away from it not feeling like I had completely wasted my time. Part of me still wonders why I bothered playing it in the first place, but I have to admit that I had fun with it. It's not the worst take on Breakout that I've ever played, and the anime girls are decently cute. The game is pretty cheap. I've played enough of these ecchi-styled games to know when one is absolute garbage, and I don't think that's the case here at all. Sometimes, that's all you can ask for.

In the end, I don't think I can give Moe Waifu H - BlockBlast any sort of direct recommendation. If you're the type of person who simply must own every game with "ecchi", "waifu", or "hentai" in their titles, then you're probably already grabbing this no matter what I say. If you're not that person, go play Stardew Valley instead, the new update is coming to consoles very soon and you don't want to be here when it drops. Seeing as this game seemed to improve upon the formula set in Moe Waifu H Genius, I can't help but wonder if that trend will continue. Maybe I'll return to review the next title in the series whenever it comes out. Or maybe I'll finally come to my senses and get the idea of reviewing this type of game out of my head. Either way, see you in the next one!

For More Information on Moe Waifu H - BlockBlast:
https://www.eastasiasoft.com/games/Moe-Waifu-H--BlockBlast

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Story: N/A
Gameplay: B-
Graphics: B
Music/Sound: B-
Value: B-

Overall: B-

Pros:
+ A fun take on the Breakout formula.
+ Some of the twists on gameplay, like the power-ups and stage hazards, are actually interesting.
+ There are five girls, with three outfits each, and they're pretty cute to boot. That might be enough for some.
+ Though it can be seen as the gameplay being broken, you can very easily cheese your way through the stages.
+ Is just an all-around better game than the one that came before.

Cons:
- Once again, there isn't a whole lot of game here, and not a lot of reason to play it once you've completed its 15 stages.
- The difficulty seems all over the place, with the level timer just feeling cruel at times.
- There is more music this time around, but none of it is all that good.
- Would it kill them to at least give the characters names?

A copy of this game was provided to us free-of-charge by the publisher for the purpose of this review. This did not affect our review in any way.

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