Mini Me Mobile App Review

I was asked to review this game called Mini Me by Cocone.
The English version was released earlier this month almost about a week ago.

I use a Samsung Galaxy S2 so I am aware there might be hiccups since my phone is an older model. This is a pretty long review and I hope I can cover most of it. I'm sure the game will continue to be updated and things will change down the line. Anyways.....

MINI ME

The Skinny:

I played this game for about a week now.
It has a similar feel to other games like Pico Ameba, Pet Society, and Line Play. You have an avatar you can extensively customize, followed by an interior room, and then your own home planet. There's leveling, missions, energy count, cooking, planting, and slapping. (Yes, slapping!) There are a lot of things to do and the energy replenishes relatively quick. It is a social game where you can interact with other players.


How to Play:

You simply register your email or sign in with Facebook, add your birth date and you are good to go.  You then choose  your character amongst several preset avatars. I picked the girl on the right because she was the cutest to me. This is just a template and you can change your customize your character pretty extensively later for free. That is something I really like!

After picking out your character, a tutorial begins (which you can skip) to give you a quick play through of how things work. It then eases you into missions which upon completion you can obtain Donuts. Donuts are the main currency for buying clothing, furniture and supplies.

 The tutorial might have been more effective if the arrows were bigger.

Earning Donuts is pretty simple. You get them by completing missions or just doing activities such as watering your tree, watering another player's tree, take a nap, or just slap someone (haha.) The tutorial pretty much covers the basic features such as shopping and decorating. Do keep in mind that any action you do will take away 10 energy points. Your energy bar increases the more friends you have. You earn 1 - 3 donuts doing activities, but at some point you stop earning donuts.

The tutorial also shows you how to visit other player's planets and you can go into their homes. On their planet you can water tree and inside their house you can slap them. You character literally slaps a part of the players wall. I guess it's like a high five.

Like LinePlay you can feed, wash and put your character to sleep, but in this game they use the toilet too. Every activity you perform earns you medals.

This is something I am a bit unsure about. I am not sure what medals are for. I clicked the > button, but it just shows how many medals I have earned. I think they contribute to my experience bar. There are 12 missions that require 200 people of each constellations to visit your home.

Changing the clothes and changing the face of your character are 2 different options. These options are located inside the "Mini Me" button located at the center of the main screen. Your character is HIGHLY HIGHLY customizable. There are just so many combinations I cannot cover them all. You can change your whole face and you can change the colors of blush, eye color, lips and so on. It's kind of hard to click the lower buttons. They also look kinda of static and not click-able. Hairstyles are something you have to buy though.

The shop looks pretty much like the clothing changing page. There are a lot of different clothes and accessories. The prices can get kind of high. The amount of donuts I earn from missions can't pay for my expensive lifestyle.

What is a customizable game without blind items. This is pretty self explanatory. Each set is different. One for your room, your planet, or your character. You can and will get duplicates. The price is kind of high for me at the rate I'm earning donuts.

You can customize the inside of your home and the exterior! You cannot move all your furniture around. Certain items I believe are locked in place. I need more donuts.

You can cook and plant. You can use the crops you grow for cooking. You get points for cooking but I do not know what that contributes to? There's a variety of seeds you can plant that becoming fully grown  after a certain amount of time has passed. Some seeds take 5 minutes and some maybe several hours. Here you see my character in the process of cooking. You buy ingredients at the shop as well. The food you make are for energy replenishing. I have to use donuts to buy seeds in the first place. This part of the game I do not find very enticing because it does not contribute to my house or how it looks. It's a nice feature, but not for me. The cooking animation is really cute though.

Aside from missions you can also earn donuts by inviting your friends to play. If your friends use your code you get 500 additional donuts. I have yet to try this yet. I will in the near future.  My invite code is 2311196. My character's name is Ebbilin. Feel free to add me!

Places to Improve:

• I am not sure why my character has aliasing. It would be nicer if she was crisp and smooth. Maybe it's my phone?

•  The interface such as the buttons do not look consistent and the colors are not as vibrant as the Japanese version. I think the Japanese version looks aesthetically better than the English one. 

Example!

• The English font/text could look nicer? (That could be a localization issue though.)
• Rotating the game would be nice since your room is in a horizontal view. If I can turn my device to the side and play this game it would be much more pleasant.
• It's difficult click certain buttons because they are so small.
• Certain things that are click-able should look more click-able such as the selections at the bottom of  the screen for shopping.
• No clear indication that my plant is ready to be harvested.

Overall:

This game is super cute and very customizable. The animations are very nice almost like mini cut scenes. I enjoy the music very much.There's so much to do which is a good and a bad thing. There are a lot of things such as cooking and planting it kind of loses it's value? I can carry on with this game with or without cooking and planting crops. Unless it's in a mission I will probably not do it. I do like the slapping. It's funny. I plan on continuing with this game because I want to see how it will grow :D

Check it out for yourselves!
Here's a link to their Facebook Page

Eggling!

 What do we have today!?

DING!

What is Eggling?
"The precious, little eggling looks and feels like an extra large egg, but crack its top and discover a garden ready to grow! Cultivation is easy — seeds are already sown into eggling’s fortified peat mixture, just crack it’s top (by tapping on it with a spoon), water and place in bright spot. Plants grow for up to five months in the eggling, after which it can be planted directly in soil.
Extremely popular in Japan where it is hand made of white porous ceramic, the eggling (54mm x 47.5mm) comes with a terra cotta tray and an extra seed pack to insure success. Ten egglings are available: three herbs (basil, mint and thyme), three flowers (chrysanthemum, phlox, petunia), and four special edition varieties (lavender, cactus, red pepper, and wild strawberry). In its handsome gift box, the eggling makes a clever and delightful gift for the chef, gardener or anyone who loves the cute and curious." (source: Eggling )

 TDLR: It's a egged shaped pot with soil and seeds inside. You crack it and water it and watch it grow (ideally).

Picture Instructions on the outside of the box.

Contents inside.

Inside the box is an extra pack of lavender seeds (you can use now or save for later), paper instructions (in several different languages), the egg and a ceramic tray.

It really does look like an egg!

Next step was to set it up and get cracking. I made a gif just for the occasion.

SMACK

 

 I think I might have cracked it too much. ("Continue tapping until you have an opening about 1 to 1 1/2 inches in diameter.")

Opps smashed it too hard. Inside is a paper wrap with seeds inside. I did not unearth it so I do not know what it looks like. I just doused it with water till the water reached the tray.

Yeah totally over cracked.

That paper started to get gooey and melty. I suppose it eventually melts away! It's been a week and so far nothing has sprouted yet! The website says it takes about 3 - 4 weeks.

Always keep your plant watered since this is the time for germination. You are also suppose to keep it in 60 degree weather and with a lot of light.

Hope this works out!