An auto chess with metaverse gaming platform origins | Full Review - Mojo Melee

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Mojo Melee is a real-time auto chess battler that will challenge your intellect and tactical skills while you eliminate opponents. It is set on Planet Mojo, a web3 gaming metaverse platform set to feature other games as well.

🟩Pros

+Strategic depth

+Unique visual style

+Dynamic and unpredictable combat

+Is set to be available for browsers, Android, and iOS.

🟥Cons

-No players for matchmaking

-Long initial loading time

-Manual account registration

📝Notable points:

These pros and cons are based on Open Beta Test and does not accurately represent the quality of the finished product

Originally developed as a browser game, Mojo Melee is currently undergoing an open beta test for Android, with Season Zero currently underway. It plans to launch another beta test in August for iOS devices, ensuring that people have access to it regardless of whether they're using browsers or phones.

The game presents a charming and unique alien/nature-esque visual style, featuring chess figurine-looking character designs and colorful but dark tones. There is an intriguing contradiction within the graphics. While the characters themselves exude a joyful and cheerful atmosphere, the overall palette tends to lean towards darker tones.

Players choose a leader character known as a Mojo, each possessing a unique set of skills based on the chosen Mojo. Some are focused on defensive buffs, some are healers, and some focus on inflicting damage. Additionally, players must construct a deck lineup of champions to bring into battles.

The fundamental gameplay revolves around a straightforward mechanic: each round, players are granted 10 gold, and they can use this currency to purchase and deploy from a selection of three random champions or abilities. Following auto chess conventions, strategic placement of units becomes crucial, as it determines the outcome of battles. Proper resource management and clever utilization are also vital aspects of the game.

Mojo Melee features two distinct modes: Duel and Brawl. In Duel mode, two Mojos engage in a series of rounds, with the first player to win three rounds emerging as the victor. On the other hand, in Brawl mode, players face off against multiple opponents in a two-stage competition. The top two players from each group advance to the semifinals, and the winners of the subsequent matches progress to the finals.

Different units will possess distinct attack types, health levels, abilities, and AI. The combat in Mojo Melee is undeniably engaging and offers an intriguing tactical experience. The battles are highly strategic, and even when facing a 0-2 deficit, comebacks are always possible thanks to the dynamic nature of the battle rounds. Aside from units, there are two types of spells, one is a buff spell that is applied to champions, the other is a cast spell such as ‘Meteorites’ that is placed on a tile and activated upon the start of the round.

Currently, Mojo Melee offers in-game purchases that enable players to acquire Mojo, champion, or ability packs to further bolster their lineups. Additionally, players can obtain in-game currencies and resources to upgrade their champions, as well as seasonal battlepacks. It's important to note that these purchases are considered as contributions towards the ongoing development of the game. Even after progression resets, especially during the worldwide official launch, these purchases will persist.

While the game is indeed engaging, many of the other problems I’ve encountered come from the technical side of things. Firstly, the initial loading time for the tutorial was unacceptably long, taking approximately five minutes. It felt as if the game was completely unresponsive or frozen. Once the game loaded up however, the subsequent loadings were much faster.

Also, the game also suffers from lack of players and I could not for the life of me find anyone to play against. So I settled with playing against the AI, which was a formidable opponent for beginners anyway and allowed me to learn the basics of the game. I’ve also encountered some visual bugs and generally clunkiness like units teleporting around or the absence of visual effects that made the combat somewhat unappealing sometimes. I also disliked how there is no account linking to any of the big social platforms (TapTap, Google, Facebook, etc) in place for easy registration. Everyone will have to input their username, email, and password manually.

Conclusion:

Mojo Melee is definitely an interesting strategic auto chess battler experience, especially with its web3 and blockchain origins. Despite some matchmaking challenges and early build technical issues, It's engaging enough but be able to warrant a try for any auto chess players when it releases on their respective platforms.