Myrah Kale, a woman who grew up on board a space station, decides one day to travel to discover the universe and its secrets; in particular, what concerns the morphite, a mysterious energetic substance that is in some way linked to the history of his family.
Accompanied by a little robot with the appearance of a cat, Myrah then climbs aboard her ship and begins to follow the traces that will bring her closer to the truth , exploring new planets and scanning the flora and fauna to collect the necessary credits for the ‘purchase of fuel and the inevitable upgrades.
In this way, the idea behind Morphite seems to recall clearly the No Man’s Sky gameplay, although in reality it takes only a few minutes to catch all the differences between the title produced by Crescent Moon Games and the one produced by Hello Games. In this case there are in fact infinite spaces to be probed nor whole randomly generated ecosystems,
but a simple (though vast) spatial map to visit without the ability to control the ship (except for the turrets, but only in case of clash with hostile units).
The presence of puzzles and platforms, as well as even of boss fight, makes the game actually closer to the Metroid Prime formula; and it is probably no coincidence that even in the adventure of We’re Five Games and Blowfish Studios the protagonist is a woman.
WHERE NO MAN HAS EVER COME BEFORE
Do not be fooled: Morphite is available in the App Store at a price of 8.99 euros, but it is the same game that simultaneously landed on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and – soon – Nintendo Switch. In short, we are talking about a premium, wide-ranging production, far from the general concept of mobile games , especially those that use the freemium format.
The start proceeds by force of things a bit ‘slow, since you have to assimilate certain mechanisms, but after a few planet the gameplay reveals all its facets and the appeal of upgrades pushes to make frequent changes of course to carry out extra scans and get the money necessary to upgrade the various components of the spacecraft or the armor of Myrah.
Once you have selected a destination, you go down on the surface aboard a capsule and then you are free to explore the scenario, interacting with electronic devices, bridges and rocks to blow with some grenade, naturally paying attention to hostile creatures and possible traps along the I walk.
The fifteen planets that fall within the narrative path obviously reserve more surprises and details , while in many cases the worlds that we decide to explore for the pure taste of it appear poor and lifeless, but in principle the developers have been able to give the experience a discreet variety and a stylistic coherence that, together with the evocative soundtrack, is able to create a great atmosphere.
SPACE OPERA
There is no doubt that Morphite is, at the end of the day, a simple and in some ways linear product, but the way in which all the elements of the gameplay have been put together makes one imagine a larger and more detailed structure than it is in reality, involves and excites.
Which is obviously not a problem, on the contrary. Despite the scenarios that are becoming wider, it is difficult to get lost and there is always the possibility to recall the capsule to return to the spacecraft, although sometimes the checkpoint system appears hazy and can even make bad jokes. Speaking of defects, unfortunately the touch control system is not always accurate and you have to take some measures before facing a platform section , even more so if the fall can be fatal.
