6180 the moon tells the story of how the sun has seemingly disappeared from Earth’s skies, as it has not risen to start a new day. Humanity’s plea for help reaches the moon, and so the moon decided to go searching to find the sun again. Along the way, the moon meets with Earth, Venus and Mercury, and must navigate hazardous obstacles.
The unique selling point of the game is that it connects both the top and bottom screens of the 3DS for the platformer-style game play, meaning that the player must use their spacial awareness capabilities and sense of timing well in order to advance. This can be quite tricky to master, since the majority of DS games only need the player’s focus on one screen at a time – but here, if the moon falls past the bottom of the touch screen it reappears at the top of the 3DS’s larger screen, and this can be slightly disorientating. However, I think that this particular feature adds a unique layer of challenge for the player, and the minimalistic abstract art style compliments the space theme of the game (although it does make you wonder why there are so many giant spikes suspended in space). The music for the game is quite soft and relaxing, and paired with the monochrome colour schemes of the levels, it creates quite a tranquil atmosphere which is perfect for taking the edge off dying repeatedly when stuck on a puzzle.
Although 6180 the moon is a rather charming game, I would have liked to play through more levels, as some of the levels can be breezed through on two or three tries. As such, the game can be completed in a few hours, which was a bit disappointing as I quite enjoyed the game overall. Being able to hear the other planets’ views on the moon’s journey would have been nice to hear, as only talking to three other planets (and eventually the sun) makes it seem like the others were left out. 6180 the moon could stand to have one or two more power-ups added for extra game play, other than being able to stop time for a split second using an orb of light (activated by pressing the B button on the 3DS). The physics of the game takes some getting used to – especially since I didn’t think that the moon could jump that high in the first place.
The game’s storyline also poses some important questions – the humans on Earth have burnt all the trees that Earth grows in an effort to stay warm, but the humans do nothing in return, causing Earth to wonder about why they care so much for them, and in turn the moon wonders why they are helping the humans at all by searching for the sun. Despite this more serious view posed by the game, there’s still an added dash of humour shown through the text, such as Mercury not believing that the moon is who they say they are, in spite the American flag sticking out of the moon’s surface. The game costs £3.59 and takes up 518 blocks of space on the 3DS system, so purchasing it won’t cost the Earth.
On the whole, 6180 the moon is a simplistic but enjoyable platform game, that introduces an innovative game mechanic that works pretty well on a system such as the 3DS, using both screens in a unique way to test the player. Therefore, I would give 6180 the moon a 6/10 for a creative and effective game.
REVIEW CODE: A complimentary Nintendo 3DS code was provided to Brash Games for this review. Please send all review code enquiries to editor@brashgames.co.uk.
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