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Black Moon Playpark
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Decent combat, but everything else has been a mixed bag | OBT Review - Black Moon Playpark

Decent combat, but everything else has been a mixed bag | OBT Review - Black Moon Playpark

1K View2024-01-30
✨Overview
Black Moon Playpark
is a mobile action role-playing game (RPG) developed by PlayPark, which has recently launched into open beta testing last January 25. Black Moon promises an immersive 2D anime aesthetic and dynamic side scrolling beat ‘em up gameplay.

🟩Pros
+Visually appealing anime 2D art style with stunning visual effects
+Refreshing beat ‘em up style of gameplay with an ARPG skin
+Unique skill combo customization system
+Diverse gameplay modes (PvEs and PvPs)
🟥Cons
-Performance was below my expectations (feels 30fps with heavy drops)
-Underwhelming storyline
-Poor english localization
-Frequent in-game pop-ups and a persistent playpark button overlay

⭐️Score: 6/10
📖Story and Premise
In the year 2179, a world enshrouded in darkness — a
Black Moon hovering above — becomes the backdrop for the game’s story. The Chosen Ones gather to combat the relentless waves of monsters emerging from the ominous Black Moon. Players will delve into the role of these elite defenders tasked to defend the world from these monsters and unravel the secret of the Black Moon.

While I typically try to immerse myself in the stories of the gacha games I play, this time, I found it hard to stay invested. Honestly, the story is not really compelling, it's confusing and laden with a lot of filler dialogue, further exacerbated by a poor translation. It started out strong — an epic fight between all the three playable characters, but then it turns out it was all just a dream.

🎨Visuals and Art
Black Moon Playpark
features an 2D anime aesthetic and dazzling special effects during combat. The character designs are well detailed, with an array of weapon, spirit, pet, and monster designs. The vibrant graphics really immerse players in a visually appealing anime world. While there are male characters, the game is predominantly filled with buxom female characters.

🎮Gameplay
The gameplay of
Black Moon Playpark is characterized by fast-paced side-scrolling beat 'em up combat across various game modes and three distinct playable characters. The main quest serves as the vehicle for story progression, guiding players through a series of levels and chapters, occasionally interrupted by cutscenes and dialogues. Players may also be required to interact with NPCs and take on quests back in their home base to advance the narrative and unlock new activities.

The core progression aligns with the typical structure of gacha games, which mostly boils down to the acquisition of better weapons, gear, and ultimates (the latter represented by a diverse array of buxom characters), all of which can be upgraded using materials gathered from in-game activities. The game employs a stamina system to limit sessions, which can also be instantly consumed through a convenient one-click grind mechanics. Fortunately, there are multiple ways to refill stamina aside from waiting in real-time.

There is clearly a game mode for everyone here; the PvE story missions can be progressed in either auto-combat or manually controlled, while certain modes like the PvE dungeon crawling are only accessible through manual control, and others like Arena — can only be resolved automatically. The game features two types of PvP: the asynchronous Arena mode where you can challenge other players’ setups and an actual real-time PvP, the duel mode. The duel mode seemed to be really in real-time, as I experienced noticeable latency during matches.

⚔️Combat
Black Moon Playpark
features a rather fun beam ‘em up side scrolling combat with devastating multi-hit attack combos and customization options. The game's combat effects fill the screen with tantalizing visual stimuli, creating an intense and engaging spectacle. However, as the setup mostly resembles a beat 'em up game just with an ARPG skin, many attacks are predominantly oriented in the horizontal direction, and it can be hard to target accurately especially in PvP where everyone is moving up and down vertically as well.

As mentioned earlier, the combat can either be automated or manually controlled, although certain game modes will necessitate one or the other. However, with the game's combat system, automation doesn’t necessarily provide the most optimal way of clearing levels; abilities can miss, and they may be used inefficiently by the automation AI. For example, AI will instantly activate the ultimate skill when there's only one enemy left instead of saving it for the next area or for groups of enemies. I would normally see this as a negative, but the way it adds value to manual control is actually empowering to the player and for those looking to actually control their characters.

The game also features a unique skill combo system allows players to customize their loadouts and ‘combos’ pre-battle from the skills you’ve unlocked, offering a personalized approach to your movesets. For me, the whole combat was a refreshing sight from all the usual ARPG or turn-based games out there, especially that there is an option for manually control that can actually be better than what the automation offers.

💵Monetization
Black Moon is free-to-play but there are in-app purchases ranging from additional stamina, materials, premium currency, weapons/character unlocks, or more gacha pulls. It’s technically a pay-to-win, but unless you are actively competing in PvP or are trying to progress in the story as fast as you can, there was little pressure to spend money from me. There’s lots of in-game self-promotion ads in this game and there is even a button Playpark overlay button that will display an in-game browser with ads when you accidentally click it.

📊Technical Performance
The game runs decently most of the time (Snapdragon 888 phone); however, there are occasional crashes, and the performance falls short of what I anticipated given the 2D visuals. The game consistently felt like it was running at 30FPS, with significant noticable drops during intense combat, and unfortunately, there were no settings available to adjust the visuals and performance.

⚖️Conclusion
Black Moon
brings something refreshing to the table with its beat ‘em up style combat, customizable skill combos, and a variety of game modes; however, everything else has been mediocre for me; The story, performance, ads, English localization, and probably much more for those ultra-competitive players looking to engage in PvP. Still, if the combat system sounds good to you, it’s worth checking out since its free-to-play anyway.
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