Incredibly fun app - might be one I’ve had the best time with since the “Golden Years” of the Angry Birds, Plants vs Zombies, and Cut the Rope kinda phone-gaming era.
Part Time UFO was made and published by HAL Laboratory (of Kirby fame) wanting to focus on games made specifically for smartphones in mind. This is why I think the game works so well, and why its reminiscent of the games that I remember most fondly in smartphone gaming. Part Time UFO is made with the phone in mind, and tried its best to focus on making a game that worked with a smartphone’s features (touch screen, portability, etc) rather than fight against them. Phone gaming at this point has a bit of a bad name for itself, having mostly devolved into however cheaply a person can make a game that can quickly take a player’s money, infamously cover the gameplay in ads, and force the player away with pop-up after pop-up of MTX requests.
Paying around $4 in exchange for a fun game experience is extremely worth it in my opinion, with Part Time UFO costing around that. Early smartphone games usually only offered a demo for free, but a very kind $5 or less price for the full game. A cheap price for hours of uninterrupted fun, and for good games, too! Games made with the intention for the player to work with the smartphone’s touch and lack of buttons, rather than fight against it.
That is where I had to dock points from Part Time UFO though, as while the game clearly is well-intentionally made to be a phone game, and is leaps and bounds ahead of many other current smartphone games, it still has to rely on covering parts of the screen with a joystick and button. People often say that this game is a better experience on Switch, and I can believe it. Even though the game was originally made just for phones, the way they put a touch control joystick and button right in front of you immediately has the player start to fight against the phone’s capability, rather than work with it. It results in the player desperately wishing they had a physical joystick and button, which the Switch can happily provide them.
Even with that as a bit of a glaring knock-back, I do really love Part Time UFO, and find myself quickly losing my time when I open it up. It has quite a bit to offer, and has great replayability in allowing players to retry levels to get a perfect score, very in tune to how early smartphone games work in eating up your time. I really do recommend this game to anyone looking for a good find for their phone! It’s $4 and I think I’ve already spent 3 hours on it, and I’m not even done! The Switch version probably controls better, but it’s also double the price. I’m guessing they add more stuff or something to reason the price, but also maybe not! It is Nintendo after all lmao.
Oh well, check Part Time UFO out, you’ll have a blast. It’s cute, charming, and fun - and will absolutely eat all my battery away when I take the train.
3.5/5
Part Time UFO was made and published by HAL Laboratory (of Kirby fame) wanting to focus on games made specifically for smartphones in mind. This is why I think the game works so well, and why its reminiscent of the games that I remember most fondly in smartphone gaming. Part Time UFO is made with the phone in mind, and tried its best to focus on making a game that worked with a smartphone’s features (touch screen, portability, etc) rather than fight against them. Phone gaming at this point has a bit of a bad name for itself, having mostly devolved into however cheaply a person can make a game that can quickly take a player’s money, infamously cover the gameplay in ads, and force the player away with pop-up after pop-up of MTX requests.
Paying around $4 in exchange for a fun game experience is extremely worth it in my opinion, with Part Time UFO costing around that. Early smartphone games usually only offered a demo for free, but a very kind $5 or less price for the full game. A cheap price for hours of uninterrupted fun, and for good games, too! Games made with the intention for the player to work with the smartphone’s touch and lack of buttons, rather than fight against it.
That is where I had to dock points from Part Time UFO though, as while the game clearly is well-intentionally made to be a phone game, and is leaps and bounds ahead of many other current smartphone games, it still has to rely on covering parts of the screen with a joystick and button. People often say that this game is a better experience on Switch, and I can believe it. Even though the game was originally made just for phones, the way they put a touch control joystick and button right in front of you immediately has the player start to fight against the phone’s capability, rather than work with it. It results in the player desperately wishing they had a physical joystick and button, which the Switch can happily provide them.
Even with that as a bit of a glaring knock-back, I do really love Part Time UFO, and find myself quickly losing my time when I open it up. It has quite a bit to offer, and has great replayability in allowing players to retry levels to get a perfect score, very in tune to how early smartphone games work in eating up your time. I really do recommend this game to anyone looking for a good find for their phone! It’s $4 and I think I’ve already spent 3 hours on it, and I’m not even done! The Switch version probably controls better, but it’s also double the price. I’m guessing they add more stuff or something to reason the price, but also maybe not! It is Nintendo after all lmao.
Oh well, check Part Time UFO out, you’ll have a blast. It’s cute, charming, and fun - and will absolutely eat all my battery away when I take the train.
3.5/5
Ｉｆ ｙｏｕ’ｒｅ ｕｐ
ｔｈｉｓ Ｅａｒｌｙ
ｙｏｕ’ｒｅ ｐｒｏｂａｂｌｙ
ｇｅｔｔｉｎｇ Ｍｅｄａｌｓ…
Ｇｏｏｄ Ｍｏｒｎｉｎｇ
Ｐａｒｔ－Ｔｉｍｅ ＵＦＯｓ
Came to this just expecting a solid cutesy HAL micro-game, but was pleasantly surprised to find a (fairly sweet-toothed) exploration of gig economics and the trials + tribulations of working life. In a Nintendo game, no less! Wow!
Probably the closest a game has come to recreating the feelings I had while playing WarioWare, Inc. for the first time ever while sitting on the floor of a Spanish airport 20 years ago - it flies so delicately along that fine line of wackiness that a lot of games overstep, never allowing the preposterousness of its situations and characters and animations to become overbearing or insincere.
Co-op is a true delight, and I was so pleased to discover that many of the levels are re-designed to include at least one or two elements that require genuine co-operation - in the trickier levels, you have to lift heavy objects together, co-rotate pieces in mid-air and use each other as ballasts and counter-weights. It’s very well thought-out, and understands that co-op games should be about more than just two players playing at the same time.
It’s a small shame, then, that the single player missions don’t require quite as much foresight and planning. They’re still real fun, but most just require you to pick things up and drop them into another thing. I get that adding much more than that would undermine the beautiful simplicity of the premise (and also maybe undermine the game’s thinking on the repeated monotony of labour), but I want to keep playing this! Full-Time UFO please, HAL…
ｔｈｉｓ Ｅａｒｌｙ
ｙｏｕ’ｒｅ ｐｒｏｂａｂｌｙ
ｇｅｔｔｉｎｇ Ｍｅｄａｌｓ…
Ｇｏｏｄ Ｍｏｒｎｉｎｇ
Ｐａｒｔ－Ｔｉｍｅ ＵＦＯｓ
Came to this just expecting a solid cutesy HAL micro-game, but was pleasantly surprised to find a (fairly sweet-toothed) exploration of gig economics and the trials + tribulations of working life. In a Nintendo game, no less! Wow!
Probably the closest a game has come to recreating the feelings I had while playing WarioWare, Inc. for the first time ever while sitting on the floor of a Spanish airport 20 years ago - it flies so delicately along that fine line of wackiness that a lot of games overstep, never allowing the preposterousness of its situations and characters and animations to become overbearing or insincere.
Co-op is a true delight, and I was so pleased to discover that many of the levels are re-designed to include at least one or two elements that require genuine co-operation - in the trickier levels, you have to lift heavy objects together, co-rotate pieces in mid-air and use each other as ballasts and counter-weights. It’s very well thought-out, and understands that co-op games should be about more than just two players playing at the same time.
It’s a small shame, then, that the single player missions don’t require quite as much foresight and planning. They’re still real fun, but most just require you to pick things up and drop them into another thing. I get that adding much more than that would undermine the beautiful simplicity of the premise (and also maybe undermine the game’s thinking on the repeated monotony of labour), but I want to keep playing this! Full-Time UFO please, HAL…
Part Time UFO is a “puzzle game” about piling up things (not necessarily objects) where the challenge is not in the puzzle itself but in the character movement. In my head it’s like a “construction” flash game with the physics of the first Super Mario.
Why Super Mario? Because contrary to what one might think given the physics-based premise, the game isn’t really about finding the perfect balance when placing the pieces on top of each other, but about maintaining control of the UFO. Each piece you carry has an impact on the controls: its weight makes you loose speed and gain inertia, making it hard to carefully place the piece in the right spot. Basically, the piece is dragging you, not the other way around. The faster you go, the more you swing, which means there’s a chance that the piece will slip and fall, causing you to fly down to pick it up again or even worse, destroying the tower you had already built. You also have to be careful when dropping it in place since if it carries too much momentum, there’s a high chance the tower will lose its balance and fall.
Well then, play slowly and that’s it, right? Fortunately it’s not that easy because there is a timer.
I wish the progress didn’t depend on getting extra badges from each level’s additional challenges, and I’m also not a fan of the cosmetics (though purely visual and paid only with in-game money) but other than that, I’ve got to say it’s pretty brilliant.
Why Super Mario? Because contrary to what one might think given the physics-based premise, the game isn’t really about finding the perfect balance when placing the pieces on top of each other, but about maintaining control of the UFO. Each piece you carry has an impact on the controls: its weight makes you loose speed and gain inertia, making it hard to carefully place the piece in the right spot. Basically, the piece is dragging you, not the other way around. The faster you go, the more you swing, which means there’s a chance that the piece will slip and fall, causing you to fly down to pick it up again or even worse, destroying the tower you had already built. You also have to be careful when dropping it in place since if it carries too much momentum, there’s a high chance the tower will lose its balance and fall.
Well then, play slowly and that’s it, right? Fortunately it’s not that easy because there is a timer.
I wish the progress didn’t depend on getting extra badges from each level’s additional challenges, and I’m also not a fan of the cosmetics (though purely visual and paid only with in-game money) but other than that, I’ve got to say it’s pretty brilliant.
Once upon a time, a wee man got jobs so he could buy hats.
Just extremely cute shit. The kinda thing that has you smiling throughout.
Just extremely cute shit. The kinda thing that has you smiling throughout.
haaa-taraku u-u-fo-o-o...
Definitely a great little puzzle game I love deeply, with a lot of heart and charm. I love all the little dudes you help and, of course, play as, and I was kind of surprised by the direction the game's story took... it's truly wild how much mileage they get out of a fairly simple concept.
Of course, simple doesn't mean easy. I'll admit I didn't feel particularly compelled to 100% this bad boy or complete the final challenge, even if I did think the final challenge was extremely neat in concept. I would have preferred a health bar for that particular thing instead of a timer because I only grudgingly accept time limits. I did knock out a bunch of medals, but there were some I just didn't want to deal with, you know?
With that said, even if I kind of petered out in terms of actual completion, I'd love to see this get a sequel or something! Or at the very least show up as an Easter egg in another fun little HAL puzzle game. The Easter eggs and cameos in this one delighted me, truly.
Definitely a great little puzzle game I love deeply, with a lot of heart and charm. I love all the little dudes you help and, of course, play as, and I was kind of surprised by the direction the game's story took... it's truly wild how much mileage they get out of a fairly simple concept.
Of course, simple doesn't mean easy. I'll admit I didn't feel particularly compelled to 100% this bad boy or complete the final challenge, even if I did think the final challenge was extremely neat in concept. I would have preferred a health bar for that particular thing instead of a timer because I only grudgingly accept time limits. I did knock out a bunch of medals, but there were some I just didn't want to deal with, you know?
With that said, even if I kind of petered out in terms of actual completion, I'd love to see this get a sequel or something! Or at the very least show up as an Easter egg in another fun little HAL puzzle game. The Easter eggs and cameos in this one delighted me, truly.
Lovely pixel art and presentation in general, but these sorts of physics based balance games were never really my thing, so I'm not in love with it the way I saw some people were. Will probably be playing this on and off whenever I have nothing else to play on my Switch instead of making time to play it. Also I don't know if this is a problem other people had, but I wish the medals for each stage had a text description for what they are, because I often found myself staring at the small pixel art representation of the medal and going "well what the hell is that supposed to be".
hataraku ufoooo~~~
its a chill fun time bein a lil scrimblo ufo guy stacking things for people. It's short and sweet, doesn't overstay its welcome, has those feel-good comfy vibes that HAL Labs know how to do so well, and there are enough optional challenges to keep invested players busy and encourage learning how to get good at stacking shit. The multiplayer seems like it would be a lot of fun, especially if you are in an environment where you have frequent downtime with the homies, but I am but a lone samurai so I couldn't try the multiplayer for myself. It's only like 9 bucks, it's absolutely worth a play if you got some switch funds lying around.
its a chill fun time bein a lil scrimblo ufo guy stacking things for people. It's short and sweet, doesn't overstay its welcome, has those feel-good comfy vibes that HAL Labs know how to do so well, and there are enough optional challenges to keep invested players busy and encourage learning how to get good at stacking shit. The multiplayer seems like it would be a lot of fun, especially if you are in an environment where you have frequent downtime with the homies, but I am but a lone samurai so I couldn't try the multiplayer for myself. It's only like 9 bucks, it's absolutely worth a play if you got some switch funds lying around.
Puzzle games don’t get much better than this.
GOTY 2018 - NUMBER TEN
Video version
It’s my great pleasure to welcome the first mobile game to make it onto one of my GOTY lists. Part-Time UFO’s a wee belter.
Coming from a new subdivision of Kirby developers, HAL Laboratory, and being the first game the company has self-published in 25 years, HAL Egg’s first title is a game that matches the scale and charm of some of their earliest titles. Part-Time UFO focuses on UFO Catcher/claw machine mechanics and tells a story about a cute wee UFO finding itself stranded on earth and taking up odd jobs to earn money. Throughout the game, you’ll be tasked with loading a farmer’s pick-up truck, reassembling a pile of scattered dinosaur bones and arranging a pyramid of cheerleaders. This is HAL at their best.
I still like the new Kirbies fine, but you won’t see the bloated, repetitive Star Allies on this list. Part-Time UFO feels like what the first Kirby games were- Daft wee games that took simple mechanics and explored them through a series of cute, funny little levels. At a time when home gaming was at risk of becoming a dry, drawn-out alternative to snappy sparky arcade games, HAL were putting out stuff like Dream Land 1 and Pinball Land to expand on what could be done with shallow, attention-grabbing coin-ops and give us something to feel genuine affection for. Part-Time UFO’s one of those games, and it snuck out on App Stores.
Part of what makes the game so funny and endearing is the deliberate clumsiness of its controls. Your slidey wee spaceship isn’t the best thing for pinpoint accuracy, and the big dangly claw is even clumsier. It’s really good fun to see desperate people task this cute wee flying saucer with intricate jobs. HAL pair this concept with great big pixels and thick lines on everything. These are people who know how to make daft wee classics, and they’re firing on all cylinders here.
I don’t know how much more there is to say about Part-Time UFO, but I’ve got some time to spare, so let’s talk about what works about this kind of design, and why I’m so glad HAL have found an avenue to make more of them.
See, when you have freedom to do whatever, you’re likely to stick to typical logic. Just make a fucking Star Wars game. That’ll sell. When you’re limited by arbitrary rules, like pixel count, a handful of visual techniques, a couple button inputs, that’s what leads to satisfying, innovative, endearing results. The worst Game Boy games were the ones that attempted to bring over home console design to a monochrome screen and fuck all buttons. HAL knew how to make stuff that shone within those narrow walls. They made a wee ball fight a penguin in a boxing ring. They know how to work with fuck all. Part-Time UFO is a Lego cat among 200kb JPEGs of Michelangelo sculptures.
HAL doing stuff like this makes me feel okay about the idea of hardware becoming more standarised and the threat of traditional handhelds fading away into the mist. These are the people who made our games – Our Kirbies, our Super Smash Bros. Melee, our Pokémon Snap – and they’re still hanging around to make sure things don’t get shit or boring. They’re showing the generation of designers who grew up playing Croc and fucking Disruptor that their passions were built on foundations of shit. This is what a great game looks like, and this is the way you make one in 2018. Aye, it’s a fucking mobile game. You think that’s a reason not to play it? You make me fucking sick. You’ve got a phone and a couple quid in your pocket. It’s time to balance animals on an elephant’s head.
If you’re upset nobody makes games like Mr Domino or Ribbit King anymore, you should be shouting from the rooftops about Part-Time UFO. I don’t care how many pixel art games are on the eShop. This kind of design is a rare thing, and we ought to cherish it, incubate it and watch it grow up into a great big chicken. And if you don’t, I’ll fucking hate you.
Video version
It’s my great pleasure to welcome the first mobile game to make it onto one of my GOTY lists. Part-Time UFO’s a wee belter.
Coming from a new subdivision of Kirby developers, HAL Laboratory, and being the first game the company has self-published in 25 years, HAL Egg’s first title is a game that matches the scale and charm of some of their earliest titles. Part-Time UFO focuses on UFO Catcher/claw machine mechanics and tells a story about a cute wee UFO finding itself stranded on earth and taking up odd jobs to earn money. Throughout the game, you’ll be tasked with loading a farmer’s pick-up truck, reassembling a pile of scattered dinosaur bones and arranging a pyramid of cheerleaders. This is HAL at their best.
I still like the new Kirbies fine, but you won’t see the bloated, repetitive Star Allies on this list. Part-Time UFO feels like what the first Kirby games were- Daft wee games that took simple mechanics and explored them through a series of cute, funny little levels. At a time when home gaming was at risk of becoming a dry, drawn-out alternative to snappy sparky arcade games, HAL were putting out stuff like Dream Land 1 and Pinball Land to expand on what could be done with shallow, attention-grabbing coin-ops and give us something to feel genuine affection for. Part-Time UFO’s one of those games, and it snuck out on App Stores.
Part of what makes the game so funny and endearing is the deliberate clumsiness of its controls. Your slidey wee spaceship isn’t the best thing for pinpoint accuracy, and the big dangly claw is even clumsier. It’s really good fun to see desperate people task this cute wee flying saucer with intricate jobs. HAL pair this concept with great big pixels and thick lines on everything. These are people who know how to make daft wee classics, and they’re firing on all cylinders here.
I don’t know how much more there is to say about Part-Time UFO, but I’ve got some time to spare, so let’s talk about what works about this kind of design, and why I’m so glad HAL have found an avenue to make more of them.
See, when you have freedom to do whatever, you’re likely to stick to typical logic. Just make a fucking Star Wars game. That’ll sell. When you’re limited by arbitrary rules, like pixel count, a handful of visual techniques, a couple button inputs, that’s what leads to satisfying, innovative, endearing results. The worst Game Boy games were the ones that attempted to bring over home console design to a monochrome screen and fuck all buttons. HAL knew how to make stuff that shone within those narrow walls. They made a wee ball fight a penguin in a boxing ring. They know how to work with fuck all. Part-Time UFO is a Lego cat among 200kb JPEGs of Michelangelo sculptures.
HAL doing stuff like this makes me feel okay about the idea of hardware becoming more standarised and the threat of traditional handhelds fading away into the mist. These are the people who made our games – Our Kirbies, our Super Smash Bros. Melee, our Pokémon Snap – and they’re still hanging around to make sure things don’t get shit or boring. They’re showing the generation of designers who grew up playing Croc and fucking Disruptor that their passions were built on foundations of shit. This is what a great game looks like, and this is the way you make one in 2018. Aye, it’s a fucking mobile game. You think that’s a reason not to play it? You make me fucking sick. You’ve got a phone and a couple quid in your pocket. It’s time to balance animals on an elephant’s head.
If you’re upset nobody makes games like Mr Domino or Ribbit King anymore, you should be shouting from the rooftops about Part-Time UFO. I don’t care how many pixel art games are on the eShop. This kind of design is a rare thing, and we ought to cherish it, incubate it and watch it grow up into a great big chicken. And if you don’t, I’ll fucking hate you.
ha~taraku u~fo~
A cutesy, engaging, and challenging puzzle title.
Un jueguecito de puzles de equilibrio super majo con un OVNI muy gracioso y una estética pixel art cuquísima. Está bien perrón.
Greatest Game Of All Time.
It's hard not to smile while playing Part Time UFO. While the concept and gameplay are simple, the developers get the most out of their idea and the game doesn't overstay its welcome, though there are plenty of optional challenges if you are inclined.
HAL Laboratory (best known for Kirby) is the team behind Part Time UFO. I wish Nintendo and other big developers would take a lesson from this game and create more of these small but original experiences.
HAL Laboratory (best known for Kirby) is the team behind Part Time UFO. I wish Nintendo and other big developers would take a lesson from this game and create more of these small but original experiences.
Life changing
(7-year-old's review, typed by her dad)
Well at first it was easy, and then that like ninja thing where they say "try to dodge this and you'll get some more things", like there's ninja stars and it's so hard, and the ninja stars stick to the building, and it's hard to build it, cuz you can't like extend, like make it bigger, like your attachment. So you can pick it up so easily. 2 stars for the easy bit and 1 and a half for the ninja bit. And I haven't gotten past it!
Well at first it was easy, and then that like ninja thing where they say "try to dodge this and you'll get some more things", like there's ninja stars and it's so hard, and the ninja stars stick to the building, and it's hard to build it, cuz you can't like extend, like make it bigger, like your attachment. So you can pick it up so easily. 2 stars for the easy bit and 1 and a half for the ninja bit. And I haven't gotten past it!
"AAAAAAAAUGH!!!"
"What happened?"
"Teddy bear fell over. :("
"Awww. :)"
-me and my partner while I was playing Part Time UFO
"What happened?"
"Teddy bear fell over. :("
"Awww. :)"
-me and my partner while I was playing Part Time UFO
elated to see this small ufo get the bag...
Part Time UFO makes me wish HAL would make some non-Kirby games more often. While I love the series as much as the next guy, games like this show they're more than capable of making charming and original games that can stand on their own. That being said this game can occasionally lean a little too much into frustrating territory. I would not recommend trying going for 100% unless you feel like going insane, but playing the game casually not worrying about getting all the medals or feats is a real good time.
cost of living so high even ufos gotta work
Reverse Angry Birds
tiny ufo packs best oranges ever
asked to join earth
this game is SO CUTE I love it!!!!!
asked to join earth
this game is SO CUTE I love it!!!!!
This was a cute little game! I wish Nintendo's studios were allowed to branch out from their usual output more often.
Was both surprised and not surprised to find out halfway through my playthrough that this was made by HAL because man this game has that fantastic polish, quality, and attention to detail that we used to see all the time with Nintendo games. It felt so good to play a Nintendo game that was filled with such creativity again. I really like this game. Had no expectations going in and ended up having a blast. 100% fun inside and out. Great GBA style with perfect gameplay, physics, and controls. This game is so fun to play because the physics and control are so on point. I’m still playing it because it’s so fun but I basically have done everything other than the treasure hunt vacation thing. Very good game, I highly recommend.
An unabashed ride of pure joy, pioneered by a team of smart devs who know how to squeeze the most out of a concept, making each level uniquely clever (even if the themes in said levels get reused a bit). The GBA-DS era spritework style is adorable, and the music more or less lives in my head rent free now. If you're looking for a cheap, fun little puzzle game that still has a wealth of well-made content, that's easy to pick up but tough to master, Part-Time UFO may be the diversion for you.
Cute and comfy. HAL has yet to ever miss
It's cute but I didn't get much out of it. It didn't feel relaxing as a casual game or fun as a challenging game.
It has satisfying controls for a one handed phone game if anything, and it's definitely healthier than many mobile games.
It has satisfying controls for a one handed phone game if anything, and it's definitely healthier than many mobile games.
I won a plush of this in the crane game and loved the irony of it being a ping pong ball setup. The character seemed so cute to me and reminded me of kirby UFOs. My friend told me it was actually from a HAL phone game so I had to check it out. One of the few phone games I actually bought. Cute game and music, final boss theme goes hard. The switch version looks better since it has more stuff.
Part time UFO. Full time classic with fun uses of the UFO’s claw machine mechanics.
Very cute physics-based puzzle game where you play as an alien doing various odd jobs for people. I love the artstyle and the silly characters and scenarios. You can use money you earn to buy hats for your character - some have different abilities, but I didn't bother trying them all and instead wore the cute little stuffed dog the whole time. Some levels towards the end of the game are frustrating. You can earn medals for completing bonus objectives in stages - the hints for the objectives are very small pictures, and I found some of them to be vague and cryptic. The soundtrack eventually became grating for me because almost all of it is different versions of the same song.