More Thoughts About Animal Crossing Happy Home Designer

If you don't want to know anymore about Animal Crossing Happy Home Designer, you probably shouldn't read this post. I'll be talking about some of the recent Japanese version footage I've seen....



WOW! As you can see in the picture above, Happy Home Designer has a character creator! This is a first for the Animal Crossing franchise. I really hope that this carries over to the next full entry in the Animal Crossing series. The creator looks easy to use and has a lot of options. You can pick what eyes your character has, eye color, hair, hair color, and skin color! Gone are the days of looking up how to get what kind of character want!

I also love the furniture customization that I saw in a recent video that Jennifer Christensen did! Its pretty amazing. You don't need Cyrus anymore. You use play coins to learn how to customize furniture and then when you are decorating houses, you take items and change them!! Its very easy too, you just drag the items to a menu and then just scroll through the menu!! Looks so great.

Speaking of Jennifer, if you want to see a TON more of this game, you should watch her live streams here or here (archived). She is showing off a lot of footage of the game. Its all in Japanese, but she knows Japanese and translates a bit of the dialogue!

There are so many things I love about this new game. I like that you can put the houses anywhere and that you can (apparently) have as many animals as you want. There is no real town. So you are just putting the houses in areas and then you can warp back to visit the animals houses whenever you want. Also there is no real time aspect to this game, so you create one house per day, end the day, and then can go to the next day if you want. I will miss the real time aspect but its appropriate that this game doesn't have it. You'll be able to play the game at whatever pace you want. You can play as many "days" as you want or just play a little.

I think Happy Home Designer is going to be extremely addictive. I can't wait to start building houses and places like schools, hospitals, etc!

Is it September yet?!

Dragon Fantasy: The Volumes of Westeria (Wii U) Review

Final Fantasy has always been the most popular rpg series out there. But there was another series from Square that was pretty popular in Japan and somewhat popular here. I am, of course, talking about Dragon Quest. Originally, Square released Dragon Quest in the U.S. under the title Dragon Warrior. The first game appeared on the NES. I have to admit I wasn’t a fan of Dragon Warrior or any of the early Dragon Quest games. It wasn’t till later on when I played Dragon Quest 8 that I became a fan of the series. Dragon Quest 9, for DS, is my favorite of the series so far.

Why do I bring this up? I bring it up because of Dragon Fantasy: the Volumes of Westeria. This new game takes direct inspiration from Dragon Quest and some inspiration from Final Fantasy also. But the question is, how much inspiration and does the title stand on its own?

(note: this review is a review of the Wii U version of Dragon Fantasy. I did not get to play the 3DS one)



Dragon Fantasy: The Volumes of Westeria has four unique chapters that players can play at any time. You don’t have to play the story in order if you don’t want to. Of course, if you don’t play it in order, the story won’t make sense. Actually, the story won’t make complete sense even if you do play it in order. The first chapter seems very complete and satisfying but as you continue to play the game, the chapters become shorter and less satisfying. In the end, Dragon Fantasy’s story doesn’t feel complete at all. It feels like there is a chapter or two missing from the game. I was very unhappy with the final chapter’s “ending”. And despite each chapter saving after the credits, there doesn’t seem to be any New Game+ to any of the chapters. That said, I do like Dragon Fantasy’s characters, its humor, and I enjoyed the first chapter’s story a lot. I just wish that the other chapters were complete stories.



The best part of Dragon Fantasy is the gameplay. While you couldn’t call the gameplay completely original, it does have an addictive quality that I’ve been missing. The battle system harkens back to Dragon Quest and its all first person. You do not see your team fighting. The enemies are all very unique and interesting. I especially love how in the first chapter you can capture monsters and have them join your team. The final chapter has a capture option too but I never took advantage of it. Chapters two and three actually give you human partners that actually level up. I wish the monster partners in chapter one leveled up too, that would have been really cool. Dragon Fantasy’s gameplay is fun if you love classic role playing games. There are a lot of random battles but I love those (for the most part). Although, it was great how you actually saw the enemies roaming around in the dungeons and sometimes could avoid them. If you want a pure classic rpg experience, you can make the enemies invisible! It is a shame that not everything about Dragon Fantasy is perfect though.



Dragon Fantasy does have a few glitches. The main ones that I ran into were enemies or towns people getting stuck and in the final chapter, the shop sometimes got stuck but if you press the touch screen, you could get out of it. I also think that the quest log had some kind of glitch because sometimes it would say I had done something that I hadn’t really done yet. I did hear there would be an update for this game, so hopefully the game will get even better. I don’t think any of these glitches ruin Dragon Fantasy but you can‘t help wishing that the game was perfect from the start. Thankfully, the game‘s controls work good for the most part.



Dragon Fantasy can be controlled via analog/d-pad/buttons or the touch screen. I liked using the analog and buttons but the d-pad + buttons may be bit more precise. The analog controls did have a tendency to slow the character down at times. The touch screen isn’t great for walking around, but the battle system and menu navigation is pretty great with the touch screen. Despite the game‘s problems, I like Dragon Fantasy a lot.

Dragon Fantasy might not be the most original rpg, but for someone who has been wanting a new turn-based rpg to play, I had a lot of fun. If you love this genre, you’ll probably love this game too.



There are two types of graphics in Dragon Fantasy: an 8-bit retro style and a more modern 16-bitish style. Both graphics look extremely nice, although I definitely preferred playing the game in the more modern style. Its great how you can easily switch between the two graphics at any time.



The game’s music is really good. It actually has two types of music: 8-bit chip tunes and a more modern style music. I liked the chip tunes better because they didn’t loop as much as the modern style. That said, both are well done and you can switch between them at any time just like the graphics!



Dragon Fantasy is a fun turn-based rpg. While I was disappointed with the stories lack of completion, I had a lot of fun with the gameplay, the humor, and really loved the sound and graphics. This is not a perfect rpg but it is a very good one. Plus when you buy it, you get two copies of the game: one for the Wii U and one for the 3DS. I only got to play the Wii U version because cross-buy was unavailable for my review copy. I have to admit I am a bit tempted to buy the 3DS one but that’ll have to wait awhile. In the meantime, I may go back and play more Dragon Fantasy soon. I looked at the game’s Miiverse and noticed people posting about some things I missed in the game. Plus, I think that Miiverse’s new Play Journal function will suit this game well. Dragon Fantasy could be better, but I still think its one of the best rpgs on the Wii U right now.

My Score: 8/10

The publisher, Totally Choice, provided a copy of the game for this review!

All of the above pictures come from the Totally Choice website.

The One-Hit Kill Should Be Retired

I've been playing platformers since I was just a little boy. I won't tell you how long ago that was. Longer than I want to think about ok? But I've always loved platformers. I think Mario is still the best, but there are plenty of other cool platformers out there too. There is one thing that really bothers me about more recent platformers though. This is a problem that some of the early platformers had and some Indies (especially) feel like they have to bring this old chestnut back.

I'm taking about the One-Hit and you're dead of course. Yes the traditional Mario game had this to an extent but there were mushrooms and other power ups you could get that would keep you from dying right away. These more recent platformers are not giving you those power ups. Instead, these Indies are calling on you to be Skilled or to take on the challenge. Don't get me wrong: I don't mind some challenge. I'm not saying that platformers should easy. But to have one hit kills and have to repeat a level over and over and over and over is just tiring. Maybe some people like doing that. Personally I think its boring and frustrating. I don't want my platformers to be boring or frustrating. I'd like some challenge, yes, but I don't want to feel like throwing my controller across the room.

One of the biggest problems with the one-hit kill is that developers are not including checkpoints in their levels. So if you get pretty far in a level or if you get almost to the end and die and then you have to go ALL THE WAY BACK TO THE BEGINNING. If developers are going to include One-Hit kills, then they should include checkpoints too. Or an easier mode.

I believe that the One-Hit Kill should be retired. Its just not fun to get die from one little mistake. Heart systems, life bars or power ups should be added to these platformers. Maybe its easier to program the one-hit kill than it would be to program any of the things I mention? I have no idea. I'm not a programmer. I am a gamer though and I do not find one-hit kills fun. I want challenge, but above all, I want fun. Give me a FUN platformer over a challenging one any day. I play video games for fun first and foremost.

Thats why when I get my hands on Super Mario Maker I won't be creating extremely hard levels like a lot of people will be doing. I'll be trying to make extremely fun levels!

What do you guys think? Should be one-hit kills be retired? Oh and if you have any cool, fun platformer suggestions for me on Wii U or 3DS throw them at me!

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I should have a review up of Dragon Fantasy sometime this week. Might not be on a normal blog day. Not sure what else I have coming this week! See you soon though.

I Wouldn't Want to Walk For A Year In That Neighborhood!

Its very rare to see a horror game on the Wii U. There been a couple, most notably Lone Survivor: the Director's Cut. But its a genre that definitely has untapped potential on the Wii U. I have admit I'm not a huge horror game fan but its kind of cool to play these type of games once and awhile. Especially if they can freak me out and maybe give me a scare or two. I can do without the blood and guts horror games. A good creepy/freaky horror game once and while though? Yes please!

And so we get to the point: another creepy/freaky horror game is on its way to the Wii U. This game is called Year Walk. And man was I freaked out by the first trailer for this game. Its just so creepy! I'll include the trailer at the end of this post but first lets talk about the game a bit.



According to the official website, Year Walk takes place in the "dark woods of 19th century Sweden". The game is putting the player on a "vision quest to foresee the future" and the Wii U gamepad will be your tool in this quest. See that screenshot up above? Most likely its taken from the folklore encyclopedia that is included on the pad! And you'll be able to use the gamepad to "decipher hints and take notes" too. I love the idea of having a folklore encyclopedia at my figure tips. Never Alone, a game set in Alaska and based around a different folklore, had some cool videos about its folklore but you had to pause the game to access them. I wished that you could watch the videos (or at least listen to them) as you journeyed in the game. Hopefully you'll be to access this encyclopedia in Year Walk without pausing. I also like that the pad will be a tool to "decipher hints" and for note taking. Very nice uses of the gamepad!



But thats not all that the gamepad will be used for! You'll also be using the pad's motion controls to solve puzzles and the speaker on the gamepad will give audio clues in the game too! Wow. I'm just so excited by how Year Walk is using the Wii U gamepad. Not many games on the Wii U use the pad much. Its such a shame to because the Wii U offers an opportunity to create cool two screen experiences! Year Walk will definitely be a unique experience once it hits the Wii U this Fall!

Check out this first Wii U trailer for the game:

You can be sure I'll be keeping an eye on this game! If you want to keep an eye on it too, follow these twitter accounts: Simogo and Dakko Dakko

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All of the above pictures were taken from the official Year Walk website. The trailer is from there too!

Epic Word Search Collection (3DS) Review

Back in April, I reviewed Word Search by POWGI for Shigeru Reviews. I enjoyed the game quite a bit! I've always loved words and writing, so a game like Word Search really spoke to me. Now, the same developer as that game has created a new game called the Epic Word Search Collection. It comes out on July 23 and this game is strictly for the 3DS. It should be another winner right?



Epic Word Search Collection is a huge game; its much bigger than Word Search by POWGI. There are multiple categories in the game and within each category are subcategories. There are basically puzzles for everyone here. The topics range from TV, Movies, Sports, Food, and Rock Music. I love TV, Movies, and Music, so those were my favorite categories. But I imagine there will be plenty of fans of food and sports too. You could definitely play this game for a long time. Thankfully, unlike its predecessor, the game saves where you are at in the game and you come back and find more words later. This is very handy. Epic Word Search is a hard game and you'll want to take breaks from it. POWGI was an easier game that I'd recommend to novices or casual fans, while Epic Word is more for hardcore word search fans. I wish, though, that I could say that the experience was perfect; its not.

My least favorite part of Epic Word Search is the way scrolling is handled in the game. The word search areas are gigantic and you'll have to scroll left, right, up, and down to find words. This makes it more challenging, but the challenge isn't the problem here. No, the problem with scrolling is that the analog stick and D-Pad have inverted controls. So up is down, down is up, left is right, and right is left. This makes scrolling a bit confusing and its easy to get lost while trying to solve a puzzle. There is no way to change the inverted controls and there is no option to scroll using the stylus. The scrolling doesn't destroy the Epic Word Search experience, but its definitely something I wish was better. The best solution to going to a another category or going back to the one you were at is to push A for the overview mode. Overview mode is pretty easy to use. In fact, the menus overall in the game are really good. I also thought that the touch screen word searching worked just as well as POWGI. Aside from the scrolling, Epic Word Search Collection is a well designed game.



This game has more musical variety than POWGI, but I don't like the songs as much. All of the songs in this game are piano based and on an infinite loop. Thats ok at first but can become annoying. Thankfully, there is an option to turn the music off and leave the sound effects on. The sounds are fine. They sound a lot like POWGI's.



Epic Word Search Collection is a good game. Yes, the scrolling and music in the game could have been better, but everything else is pretty good. As I said earlier, I only recommend this game to people that are hardcore word search fans. If you're a more casual word search fan, you should check out Word Search by POWGI. In any case, both games are good and I look forward to what the developer does next!

My Score: 7.8/10
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Thank you to the developer, Lightwood Games, for providing me with a review copy of the game! You can check the game out for yourself tomorrow (July 23) on the 3DS eshop!

All of the above pictures were taken from google here.

What I'm Playing and A Glimpse At the the Blog's (Immediate) Future

Hey everybody! Sorry this blog entry is so late! I did promise you a blog entry this weekend though, so I decided I'd just update you on what I'm playing and what you should expect out of this blog soon.

Currently I'm playing:

Animal Crossing: New Leaf: As always, I check my TWO New Leaf towns everyday. I'm still obsessed with Animal Crossing!

Tomodachi Life: I just got this game back and I've started to populate my island with Mii's. My two favorite Mii's so far: Fox Mulder and Dana Scully! I'm ready for the X-Files to be back!

Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (Wii U Virtual Console): Just downloaded this recently. Haven't got into it a lot yet but definitely want to do another playthrough of this game. Maybe I'll beat it this time! lol

So I'm not playing a lot right now but that'll change soon.

I'm planning to play & review an upcoming Wii U game for this blog! Just waiting on the review code for it. Also hoping that I'll be able to review an upcoming 3DS eshop game for this blog too. We'll see.

And as always, you can expect more previews for Indie games from this blog. Oh and I wouldn't doubt that I'll write about Animal Crossing Happy Home Designer next month too. The game is coming out in Japan soon and I'll be watching video footage of it. So I'm sure I'll have more thoughts to share about that game. I plan to get the game in September, so I may do some special blog entries about it once I get my hands on it!

In any case, if any of you have any Wii U or 3DS Indie games you'd like me to preview on this blog, please share those suggestions with me in the comments!

Btw, if you are an indie developer who wants me to review your Wii U or 3DS game or preview it, please e-mail me about df2506@yahoo.com or Direct message me on twitter. I'm @df2506 there!

I'll be back tomorrow with an indie game preview most likely!

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I'd also like to mention that I'm still writing lots of news and reviews over at Shigeru Reviews too! Check it out here: https://shigerureviews.wordpress.com/

Time to Blast and Hack Some Robots!

The final nindies@home demo I want to talk about is RIVE. Two Tribes, the developer, previously did the Toki Tori games. Those were pretty good games but vastly different from Rive. Can Two Tribes pull off a frantic shoot 'em up/hack 'em space shooter/platformer.....

If the demo is any indication then YES. Yes, they can.



The Rive demo starts you off in space and you'll think the game is just another outer space shooter at first. And then you go into a spaceship and the ship lands on the ground. You have to push the right Wii U gamepad trigger to jump and the left trigger to shoot. It works really well once you get use to it. You're still shooting stuff, so it just seems like a shooting/platformer at this point right? Nothing different there....wait...what?! You hack stuff?! Yes, you get the ability in the demo to hack control panels to open doors at first and then you get the ability to hack robots later on. Its really fun to hack stuff and there's a healing robot later on that is super helpful! This game is so much fun.

The Rive demo isn't huge but its not short either. It gives you a good look at the various things you'll be doing in the game, including a couple of boss fights!



As you can see from the screenshots, Rive is a beautiful game. The outer space stuff at the beginning is amazing look and the spaceship is incredible. There are many different types of environments in the ship and they all look great. I especially dug the underwater stuff and how bullets and missiles realistically slowed down as they hit the water. Two Tribes put a lot of attention to detail in this game.



It looks like Rive will be Two Tribes best game yet. The gameplay is solid and the graphics are very impressive. I had a lot of fun with this demo.

That said, the experience wasn't completely perfect. There were some framerate issues in the demo, especially when things got a bit frantic and that slowed things down a little. I hope that the developer fixes this for the full game.

Otherwise, I have nothing else to complain about. The Rive demo is fantastic. This game was barely on my radar before the demo and now I'm looking forward to seeing what the finished product looks like! You should keep your eye on Rive too!

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 All of the above pictures were taken from the official Two Tribes website.

I'll be taking Friday off. I'm going to see Antman! I'll try to have a game blog entry up on the weekend.

Run For it!

Do Or Do Not...

No, today's blog entry isn't about Star Wars. As you can see above, its about RUNBOW. I put that Star Wars quote there because it is one of many, many, many things you will see when you die in this game. And you'll probably die. Runbow is a fast paced and very tricky game. Or at least I should say its demo is fast paced and tricky cause thats all I've played of the game so far. As I said last week, Runbow was one of many games that saw a demo release for Nindies@Home. I got to the play the demo and....

I loved it!



Runbow is full of sarcasm whether you win or lose. There's always a snarky comment waiting for you. The game is full of humor, action, adventure, and lots of running. I also really dig the art style.



Runbow looks like the opening of a movie like Pink Panther, Catch Me If You Can or Honey I Shrunk the Kids. It has a very 50s/60s retro vibe. The characters are all cool looking, the backgrounds are simplistic and very fun to look at it. Though you won't have much time to stare at the background. You'll be running whether you play Run Mode or Adventure or any of the modes that weren't in the demo. The game seems to have a lot of modes. And as you can see in the picture above, you can play the game with multiple people! I did not get a chance to play the demo with somebody else. That said, the game is really fun by yourself.

 

Runbow has a really good soundtrack too. Even though it was the same song through the demo, I just couldn't help singing along with it and tapping my feet. The music, the gameplay, and the sarcasm all come together to create an excellent demo!

Although, it should be noted that the demo does have some framerate issues. Hopefully these will be ironed out in the full game.

You can tell that the Runbow demo isn't the complete game. This is just a small taste of whats in store for us! I mean, come on, Shovel Knight AND Rusty from Steamworld Dig are in the full game!! You gotta play it. I gotta play it too. Is it Runbow time yet?!

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All of the above pictures were taken from google here.

I'll be back on Monday. I'll talk about Two Tribes RIVE demo then!