Saturday, November 26, 2016

Attack of the Friday Monsters! for the 3DS

In the 1970's, Japanese TV was ruled by the "kaiju(monster)" television shows. Godzilla is probably one that is most identifiable worldwide. These shows captured children's' imaginations and hearts. The developers at Millennium Kitchen Co and Level-5 seek to restore that feeling of nostalgia and wonder with Attack of the Friday Monsters!

Source: Nintendo UK(link below)

In Attack of the Friday Monsters!--which shall be henceforth referred to as AFM! to save myself some typing--you begin with an opening song lovely sounding song, like something right out of a Studio Ghibli film. The music overall in this game is charming and well composed. The gentle flute tunes will relax you as you stroll about, admiring the scenery...

The scenery, by the way, is G-O-R-G-E-O-U-S. It's pre-rendered and looks almost like watercolors were used to paint the details in. The colors are vibrant and eye catching, and they fit the child-like aesthetic of the game perfectly. The 3D sprites aren't exactly amazing, but they aren't terrible either. Ps1 quality. Little blocky, a little vague, but it does have it's own charm to it.  

Source: Level-5 IA(link below)

Perhaps we should talk characters and plot. We get to play as Sohta, a transfer student to the town of Fuji no Hana. Every Friday in Fuji no Hana, a monster appears! But why? Where does the monster go? What does it want? Sohta and his new friends--Ramen, Akebi and A Plus--want to know. There are monster tracks, we just need to follow them and we can get to the bottom of this mess!

Aside from the main "find out the mystery of the monster" story line, there are a few other "side quests." I completed all but 4 when I completed the game and epilogue episode. There are also "glims" you pick up around town. They look like small sparkly dots, and if you collect 7 of them, you get a monster card. Once you have 5 cards, you can challenge your friends to battle! Card battles are work like rock, paper, scissors. If, for example, both cards are ROCK, then a secondary stat(power) is used to determine the winner. I rather enjoyed the card game myself. It's simple and easy to understand. 

What wasn't so easy to understand was the plot beyond "find the monster." When we first "see" the monster, there is some debate as to whether the monster is real or not. Then we learn about some aliens? How do they play in? Are the aliens controlling the monsters? WHO. IS. FRANK? It looks like a Captain America reject is fighting Mecha Godzilla right now. Someone, pinch me. I have to be dreaming....

Source: Polygon(link below)


Despite my confusion with the story line at times, I still have fun playing with this game. It was shorter than I expected, it took me less than a day to complete it, which is why I am posting so soon after my last post. It was cute, quirky fun that kept me interested from the moment I picked the game up until I put it down. I wish there had been more closure in the ending, though. After the credits started to roll I still had to idea what the heck just happened. After the credits is a little extra episode where you can finish some quests, get new cards and challenge new people to monster cards.... but I still felt there was a lot left wide open. 

I don't think this is a game I would replay. It has it's charm, but there just isn't enough substance there to warrant me to pick it up again. You can pick up Attack of the Friday Monsters! for 2.99 (ON SALE!) in the Nintendo store today! It's worth 2.99, I think. :)

Happy Gaming, Friends!
Bell

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