Bordering the graphical lines of games such as Journey, Dishonored, and Flower, Morphopolis seeks to appeal itself to the gamer through its simplistic and nontraditional takes on gameplay, and first and foremost through its visual style. With what could only be described as a living painting Morphopolis uses nature to its advantage in the hopes of creating an emotional resonance in cooperation alongside its music.

Littered with a variety of insects, plant life, and other microorganisms I wouldn’t attempt to try and name. A static background combined with minimal animations from creatures in the foreground, deliver a feeling of peacefulness and serenity that makes way for a peaceful session of gaming, rather than the time killing ideology that Android based games are known for.

"Using not only its peaceful and mellow music and sharp visual fidelity, Morphopolis carries an extensive array of bold and brightly lit colours to aid in its creation of ambiance and harmony. This is the game that's so well done in the mood it attempts to invoke that the beauty of it alone could send a baby to sleep."

Morphopolis is a game about insects, and more times than none they’re essentially portrayed as disgust and dislike. The general populous can agree that creepy crawlies are…well they’re gross, and they would rather be stepped on than seen with a shed of beauty. But that’s essentially what this game does, it succeeds at changing the perspective of something and shows you the beauty of what you would generally fail to notice. Using not only its peaceful and mellow music and sharp visual fidelity, Morphopolis carries an extensive array of bold and brightly lit colours to aid in its creation of ambiance and harmony. This is the game that’s so well done in the mood it attempts to invoke that the beauty of it alone could send a baby to sleep.

Giving the player nothing more than a title screen and a level selection option consisting of nothing but numbers, the approach to minimalism is obvious here. This is also seen within the main game as it gives no options for graphical tuning, audio sliders, or gameplay difficulty. You’re given three choices from here on out, play, quit to the main menu, or touch the hint icon. The gameplay approach is designed this way to keep you going in the hopes that you don’t actually stop playing.

While it may not be an addictive experience it’s certainly one worth experiencing which is an unexplainable one in itself. As beautiful as the game is it’s certainly an acquired taste, no bug puns intended. The game requires a lot of patience and a lot of hours, as each element of it will have you distracted by simply admiring it as you try to progress. Morphopolis is more of an interactive puzzle than it is a game, and this can be thought of in the sense that a game presents a challenge through feedback. While a puzzle creates a goal through the use of critical thinking.

This is where the design of being minimal in all of its aspects and only one action within its control scheme works. The goal of the game is simple, each level puts you in the life of a bug and like all human perspectives on bugs the focus of the subject is survival. Playing as a caterpillar, grasshopper, and various other creepy crawlies you must scavenge enough food to aid in your survival, as a requirement for completing the level.

At certain stages within the level you must overcome a major puzzle that uses interaction with other creatures in nature’s miniature world. Puzzle elements within the life of an insect would have never made sense of before this game came along. But the way in which it demonstrates these things really makes you think, as well as leaving you curious into the way an insect lives out its life. As said before the gameplay works on a requirement of scavenging supplies and survival. Using these sources of food and plant life as tools for puzzles, and bribes for other creatures in the world, most noticeably bigger ones.

"One other thing that degrades its attractiveness lies in the most unethical of systems, and that is the loading screen. Taking near forever to load up the next level is only rewarded by its pleasing visuals, and if you can sit through this infinite of a loading bar it's worth it."

Each stage introduces you to the life of a new creature along with an astonishingly raised difficultly level within its puzzle. Due to its emphasis on keeping things simplistic the game doesn’t provide any real hints or any tutorials for that matter in assisting the player. Hand-holding is non existent here and the hint system that is in place only points out your objective leaving you to figure out what to do, with what you have.

Touching and sliding your insect around the branches and leaves into the colourful and immersive world of nature, the screen opens up each section of the game’s environment when needed so by the player. The major puzzle sections of the game although wrapped in beauty can feel massively off putting at times, and the lack of visual cues and player assistance can become somewhat of an irritation.

Those who do become engaged in the game’s amazement will notice the odd turnaround in difficulty that runs through its levels. Whether you enjoy a good puzzle now and then or you’re an avid lover of puzzles, the need for a more detailed direction or assistance in certain stages is highly noticeable. Morphopolis uses two main components as its core attractions, visuals and puzzles.

But the balancing between the two seems to work on a basis of a lackluster hint system coupled by its odd difficulty spikes, being weighed out by its pretty aesthetics. One other thing that degrades its attractiveness lies in the most unethical of systems, and that is the loading screen. Taking near forever to load up the next level is only rewarded by its pleasing visuals, and if you can sit through this infinite of a loading bar it’s worth it.

 This game was reviewed on the iPad.

Morphopolis is a point and click adventure game with some puzzle elements thrown in. Think Professor Layton, except the divide here is not as explicit as it is in those games. The game is, however, structured like an RPG, or like Zelda, where you have to find specific items to progress through the world (although unlike an RPG, or Zelda, it’s not exactly open world). The premise is you as an insect in a garden living through the various stages of your life (so the closest thing in terms of aesthetics and tone would be Pikmin).

It is also a beautiful game. Really, it is. The graphics are lovely to look out, more due to the game’s stunning art style than anything else, and there’s a certain therapeutic, soothing, almost introspectively meditative quality about them. Really, you can just sit there looking at the screen for a while, just calm, relaxing, soothed.

" The graphics are lovely to look out, more due to the game's stunning art style than anything else, and there's a certain therapeutic, soothing, almost introspectively meditative quality about them."

The actual gameplay, as expected in a game of the genre, involves you clicking on the screen to interact with the game world, be it movement, or engaging something in conversation, or examining something, or picking it up, or dropping it off. It’s a simple enough control scheme- obviously- although the plethora of bugs in this version of the game often make it much harder than it should be.

The bugs. Morphopolis is currently in alpha on the PC (at least the version we had was alpha) (I’m told it will also be on iOS and Android, incidentally. And on Windows Phone. And on Blackberry. Seriously, it’s going to be on everything. You have no excuses not to get it), and the build we have is riddled with bugs, a lot of them game breaking. Of course, given enough time, you just bypass them, and they will all almost certainly be gone in the final version, but it’s a bit sad that they mar what otherwise seems to be such a serene experience.

Another problem with the build that we had was that it had literally no sound. Again, of course, that’s an occupational hazard of being at an alpha stage in your build (anyone who has played Game Dev Story knows the sound isn’t programmed in till beta anyway… right? RIGHT?), but it was a bit disappointing that we couldn’t have a low, soothing melody set against the background of chirping insects to go along with the gorgeous visuals and scenery on our screens. Although this is just an assumption, if the developers pay as much attention to the sound of the game as they did to the graphics, then this will be one gorgeous game by the time it is completed.

"The bugs. Morphopolis is currently in alpha on the PC, and the build we have is riddled with bugs, a lot of them game breaking. "

It’s a game I hope to return to when it is finished, so that not only can I enjoy the soundtrack that it so direly lacks, but so that I can enjoy its excellent gameplay and story without being interrupted by bugs again. It is a game I hope to enjoy as it is meant to be enjoyed so that I may be able to recommend it to everyone without any hangups, reservations, or caveats.

In the meantime, I’ll just keep trying to play this build and hope to goodness it doesn’t break this time.

Micro Macro Games is a two-man team comprised of two architecture students, Ceri Williams, and Dan Walters. They have officially launched the public Alpha-testing phase of their upcoming game, which will coincide with their Steam Green-Light campaign, Morphoplis.

Morphopolis looks, by everything we’ve seen so far, to be a beautiful achievement in the world of point and click gaming. With stunning visuals and smooth game play, this bug-based adventure should be a uniquely Zen experience.

Dan Walters, the game’s co author was quoted, “The game is about a journey; taking narrative from the environment, creating places through the division of space, and evolving this world as your awareness of scale, mechanics and inhabitants change. These are concepts we discovered in architecture school, but they can be handled so much more playfully in an illustrated world.”

The art style of the game draws from pop posters of the 1960’s and 1970’s with vibrant colors in unique, interlocking patterns. “The tone of the game aims to strike a balance between the beauty of the close up natural world, “ said game artist Ceri Williams, “with the captivating visceral qualities of the insect kingdom. Familiar, but increasingly alien as you peer closer; we want Morphopolis to appeal to the inquisitive.”

You can sign up to be an alpha tester on the company website, which will also net you a pre-ordered copy of the finished game.