MonoDi

MonoDi a great example of what it means to create a platformer that’s pure fun to play, it challenges your mind to think things through and it also tests your reflexes and skill. It’s basically everything you want from a platformer, delivered in a lightweight package.

MonoDi won’t drop jaws to the floor when it comes to visuals. It’s pretty simple, clean, colorful and really nice to look at. Your main character is a square headed...dude, who intercepts an unusual signal while cruising in his spaceship on a casual recon mission. Eager to check it out, he discovers a space station of unknown origins that seems to be infested by some hostile alien race.

Things start up simple enough, you discover alien eggs and start shooting them to pieces. Although, when you pick up the first weapon, MonoDi’s mechanics start to kick in and set the fun in motion.

Your gun can only shoot in one direction and that direction is changeable only if you pass through a trace of solar wind. Apart from the eggs you will encounter other strange creatures, the station’s defensive turrets are now out to get you and each level requires that you solve a puzzle before you can continue exploring the ship.

I’m not really sure why this game got to me so much. But I bet it has something to do with the fact that this one, after a long while, seems to look and play exactly like the kind of game that is built to be fun.

Its controls are simple, responsive and the mechanics change at the exact time you need a bit of a twist, and often enough so you don’t feel that gameplay becomes repetitive. It’s a neat blend of flavours that work very well together.

Those who enjoy old’school platformers will definitely have loads of fun with it. As for the newer generation, think of MonoDi as a crash course in puzzle platformers that are made the right way.