Attack of the Friday monsters review

[Lebowski]

This popped up on my radar today thanks to kotaku. The game revolves around a ten year old boy and his life in a small town where monsters appear every friday and battle. it's by the guy that did Boku no Natsuyasumi (my summer holiday). its very similar in style but plays a bit differently and seems to be more story focused, the game is just about exploring the town and solving tasks, so far its just been about finding someone and talking to them to advance the story, along side this there are glyphs to find which when you get 8 of the same one gives you a monster card which can be used to play a card battle game against other children.

The game has a really nice chilled lazy summer exploration feel to it and the few hours I've played have been fun so far. great sound and music, word of warning all the voice acting is in Japanese and some of the subtitled translation is a little fruity! overall though its a really unique experience and the game world looks fantastic and is great fun to explore.

Its on the 3ds Eshop and its only 7 quid too.

[J0e Musashi]

Is it a real-time clock?

[Lebowski]

Is it a real-time clock?

Nope it's more a traditional adventure game really it advances as you complete tasks.

[hush]

Sweet didn't think this was out yet. Will have to grab this from the eshop

[chopemon]

Thanks for doing a first play, had totally missed this. Looks fantastic, off to buy!

[speedlolita]

Definitely going to buy this after I beat Pok?mon White 2.

[GluedOnBeard]

Thanks for the first impressions, yeah will definitely pick this up after I get through more Fire Emblem!

[Dogg Thang]

I have been playing this and loving it. It really beautifully captures the world of a child and makes me want to be a kid again. I love that we play it as an adult and see that and yet the character exists as a child and that childlike motivation drives the game. The world is beautiful and full of charm and atmosphere.

For me, the real negative is that the play mechanics are so clunky and antique that they get in the way of the atmosphere at times. I think games can be a much smoother experience these days but the mechanics here are very stop/start.

But that's a pretty small thing in the overall experience of the game and I'm really loving it. There's a real beauty and soul to this game.

[Dogg Thang]

Finished this and loved it. It's very short with a somewhat ambiguous ending but a lovely experience with a beautiful atmosphere. It's just so childlike, full of fun and innocence.

[importaku]

If you enjoyed that you should try the boku no natsuyasumi series, basically just like this game in feel but with way more to do in them, it's the reason my psp will never be sold.

About halfway through this atm, I find glim hunting rather satisfying & the artwork is gorgeous as ever definitely worth the yen.

[Dogg Thang]

They're all in Japanese though, right? Unfortunately I don't speak the language.

[Johnny]

Just reminded me of this game, really need to give it a go. Hoping for more of the Giuld series from Level 5 too, some great releases that suit the eShop.

[Decider-VT]

Really liked this but the way that you can randomly start new episodes and lose your progress in another was quite frustrating. Usually I like to complete one task before moving on to another but I went for the duration of the whole game just wanting to deliver that bloody laundry and get it out of the way. Sohta and I have wildly divergent work ethics, it seems!

Loved the Japanese language voiceovers too. It's worth reading the current issue of Scroll if you enjoyed this game.

[Decider-VT]

Finished the post-credits content last night and boy, does this game fall apart when the main story finishes. The last day is a weird mess of tying loose ends up that is dependent entirely on a confusing system of conversational topics that can change without warning, depending on the NPC that you are talking to at the time.

The card game that can be safely ignored for most of the game is suddenly foregrounded, placing a new emphasis on collecting Glims to complete your deck of cards and finish the final episode. Unfortunately collecting rare Glims is tied to whatever the active topic of conversation is with the town NPCs, so trying to find the last Space Monster Glim becomes an exercise in which you try to battle each kid while each topic of conversation is active, before changing it and repeating the process until you happen upon the right combination of topic and opponent purely by chance. The card system becomes hopelessly broken by the special Dual cards, which changes what was previously a correct deduction of your opponent's hand into educated guesswork at best. You'll also find yourself grinding for Glims to produce duplicate cards that you can combine with your existing set, to match the sudden spike in difficulty that you'll find in opponents like S-chan.

It's still a good game for as long as the main narrative lasts, but I have to question how or why some of the huge design flaws that it has weren't identified and rectified before release. It's enough to make me wonder why Millennium Kitchen didn't try to integrate some of the episodes into story a bit more smoothly, or drop them altogether if they didn't fit. Tacking the card battling on to the very end of the game also makes it feel like an afterthought that has been awkwardly spliced into the main game to prolong the playtime.