Yo-kai Watch: Wibble Wobble (iOS) Review

Of course, this isn't typical Yo-kai Watch gameplay; in Wibble Wobble, each Yo-kai is redesigned as a bean-like "Wib Wob", which pile up on the bottom half of the screen. The aim of the game is to connect as many adjacent Wib Wobs of the same type to form a much larger one, which can then be popped to inflict damage on the enemy Yo-kai.

If this sounds familiar to some players, that's because the idea isn't entirely original - in fact, it's very similar to Disney's mobile and arcade release Disney Tsum Tsum, which contained almost identical gameplay with similarly simplified Disney characters. Thankfully, Yo-kai Watch: Wibble Wobble is just different enough to get away with it; the charm of the original game is present and accounted for, and the Soultimate moves that fans will be accustomed to add an extra dimension to the base gameplay.

It's surprising how well the world of Yo-kai Watch fits into this formula - it essentially plays like the original game, streamlined to eliminate the story and with a completely revamped battle system, but all of the game's other facets still remain. This includes the ability to amass a team of up to six Yo-kai, the aforementioned Soultimate moves (accessible after filling up a meter with energy accrued by forming large chains of Wib Wobs), and even the befriending system, complete with its often frustrating fickleness - defeating a Yo-kai doesn't necessarily mean it'll join the team, and learning its favourite food (read: looking it up in a walkthrough) to throw to it during battle is key to ensuring a new recruit.

Visually, Wibble Wobble impresses, from the incredibly cute opening, which sees the Wib Wobs being produced en masse in a factory, to the clean menu visuals and the inclusion of the existing character models from the 3DS games. That each Yo-kai is still instantly recognisable in its Wib Wob form is a testament to the series' fantastic character design, and the incredibly catchy battle music returns (although the dearth of new tunes is somewhat disappointing).

Also notable are the game's social aspects - players can create their own profile, choosing from various unlockable icons, and add friends to check up on high scores, see their progress in the game, and even exchange "Friend Points" that unlock doors on the map. Like Candy Crush Saga before it, progress is often halted, and the player must either wait a certain amount of time or pay to access the next area. Thankfully, the game goes easy on the microtransactions, making it a rarity among many high-profile free-to-play games.

It would have been incredibly easy for Level-5 to release a half-baked cash-in to represent Yo-kai Watch on mobile devices, and it's satisfying to see a game with such a surprising amount of depth. Extra mechanics such as Yo-kai fusion and exchanging coins for exclusive Yo-kai from the Crank-o-kai gachapon machine may simply be remnants of the 3DS release, but they produce an experience that feels truly auxiliary to the franchise, rather than simply being Disney Tsum Tsum with a new lick of paint, and that is to be commended.