My Little Pony: This one's for the kiddies, but when did that stop you?

It's time to face the facts: The core audience for Gameloft and Hasbro's brand new My Little Pony game for iOS and Android probably isn't likely to read reviews before downloading. For all we know, kids were already foaming at the mouth the moment they heard word of a My Little Pony game. This critique is for the bronies and pegasisters out there. (You're welcome.)

Given that the average age (arrived at by 100 percent guesswork) of a brony is around 25, it's safe to assume that most folks in this community either are gamers or at least know their way around a controller. That said, My Little Pony is not a game for you. But considering a cartoon designed for kids 10 and under hasn't deterred you, this fact likely won't either.
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My Little Pony is, for all intents and purposes, a city-builder game. Players arrive in PonyVille with just Twilight Sparkle, the lead protagonist in the series. It's up to them to rebuild the town and welcome an exhaustive cast of ponies as refugees from the reign of Nightmare Moon. To that end, players spend coins to purchase and place new buildings on their game board, which must expand to fit all of the ponies. (Seriously, there are pages upon pages of ponies.)

Players can earn coins most reliably in two ways. One is to assign ponies to work at a production building, like the bakery or lemonade stand, and assign jobs to them that, after a time, will automatically create coins. The other method is through what will be most interesting to players: the mini games. As buildings are unlocked and ponies are welcomed, they'll bring with them new games to play.

And they're terribly, mind-numbingly simple. Take the ball bouncing game, for instance: Players bounce a ball back and forth with a pony for some 30 seconds, swiping at the ball to bounce it. Based on your performance (and which multiplier you chose), you're given a score that translates into progress along a star meter. If you manage to collect an entire star, you'll have to fight for it.

Enter what may be the most exciting/interesting element of My Little Pony: a Jetpack Joyride-like flying game that sees players ascending and descending based on touch. It's up to you to collect as many coins and white clouds as possible while avoiding black storm clouds and Storm Bolts. Collect five clouds, and your character will gain a massive boost in speed. Should you survive the 30-some second run, you'll get to keep the star you earned.

That seems to be the core loop to My Little Pony on mobile, with not much more than the numbers increasing as ponies level up after the mini games and the buildings hiking up in price. (Of course, those numbers can be avoided or met even faster with real money purchases.) At any rate, this simulator has more fan service than any 20-something fan of a modern kids' cartoon could want, with a presentation and polish that's rare in this sub genre of mobile social games. And for a free download, can you really ask for more? I mean, you already got ponies ... like, lots of them.

Click here to download My Little Pony on iOS and here on Android Now >

Are you already playing My Little Pony? (Of course you are.) If so, what do you think? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment.