Mii Force
I prefer the Streetpass games that are laid back, letting me take them at my own pace throughout the day. I'm not so much a fan of the ones that demand focus and quick reactions. As a shoot-em-up, Mii Force definitely falls into the latter category. I find that I want to play these games while consuming other media, like an audiobook, and the focus demanded by reaction-based games like this just isn't conducive to that approach. It's still a fine game on its own, but when playing through the suite of Mii Plaza games, this is one that I dread coming around to.
Mii Force, like other shoot'em'ups, requires quick thinking as you try to take out your enemies while dodging their attacks. However, being built to harness Streetpass allows it to stand out from other games in the genre in a pretty unique way. Taking the helm of a captain in the Mii Force, a space-defense organization, you're tasked with preventing the pirate Gold Bone and his gang from taking over different locations and robbing them of their resources. Your squad in each encounter is made up of the Miis you tagged via Streetpass, and that ends up being the foundation for my favorite part of this game.
At the start of each stage, most of your squad splits away from you to try and take down Gold Bone's gang in different areas, with only one sticking around. Most of them get captured or trapped right away, so you'll need to rescue them as you progress. This is especially important to your success as your squad makes up both your ship's defenses and its weapons system. When you rescue a teammate, you can place them in an open spot on your ship's weapons array. You have three forward facing rows and one in the back, with the teammate at the front of each row determining its weapon while any additional members provide power to amplify its strength. The weapon each Mii brings with them is determined by the color of shirt they are wearing in the plaza, with my favorite being the homing missiles from teammates in dark blue shirts. Your team isn't invincible though, and it's likely that you'll need to change your weapon strategy around every now and then, because you'll lose a squad member every time your ship takes a hit.
I think this implementation of the Streetpass Miis is Mii Force's greatest strength. Having randomly changing loadouts makes finding your favorite weapon such a rush, and the way you approach a stage can be drastically different depending on what your arsenal looks like going into it. The game is also relatively short, although there are enough challenges to keep you playing after the credits roll if you really want to, so I'm not terribly annoyed by its divergence from my own Streetpass preferences. I would say that it's nice to remove it from my Mii Plaza cycle though. I'm glad I had a chance to appreciate Mii Force and its strengths, but I'm ready to put even more focus into collecting puzzle pieces and growing flowers now.
