Nexon and Electronic Arts to Bring PC Online Titanfall™ Experience to Asia
TOKYO – July 29, 2015 – NEXON Co., Ltd. (“Nexon”) (3659.TO), a worldwide leader in online games, today announced its Korean subsidiary, NEXON Korea Corporation, has entered into a game development and publishing agreement with Electronic Arts Inc. (“EA”) to bring a PC online version of the critically-acclaimed, first-person shooter game, Titanfall™, originally developed by Respawn Entertainment and published by EA, to players in Asia.
Respawn Entertainment – which was co-founded by Vince Zampella, one of the co-creators of the multi-billion dollar franchise CALL OF DUTY™ and co-founders of its development studio, Infinity Ward – is an independent video game development studio located in Los Angeles, California.
“With its pilot vs. titan gameplay, among other innovations, Titanfall is a uniquely intense game experience. We look forward to working with the talented teams at Respawn and EA and leveraging Nexon’s free-to-play expertise to deliver a new and engaging online game based on Titanfall to the Asian market,” said Owen Mahoney, President and Chief Executive Officer of Nexon.
Today’s announcement marks the third collaboration between Nexon and EA, building on the continued success of EA SPORTS™ FIFA Online 3, currently the #1 online sports game in Korea. With this agreement, Nexon, EA and Respawn will bring an exciting new online experience to players in Asia.
Nexon is committed to providing players with high-quality, deeply creative and entertaining games. The Company develops and services its broad portfolio of titles around the world through a combination of in-house development and strategic partnerships.
EA is a global leader in digital interactive entertainment. The company delivers games, content and online services for consoles, PC and mobile devices, including blockbuster titles like EA SPORTS FIFATM, The SimsTM and BattlefieldTM.
NEXON Co., Ltd. (“Nexon”) (3659.TO) is a worldwide leader in free-to-play online games. Founded in Korea in 1994, Nexon developed one of the world’s first graphics-based massively multiplayer online games. Nexon also pioneered the concept of microtransactions and the free-to-play business model, setting a new standard in which play is free, and users have the option to purchase in-game items to enhance their experience. Nexon currently services nearly 150 titles in more than 150 countries. The Company is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan and its shares are listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
NINDIES@HOME LETS PLAYERS TEST-DRIVE 9 INDIE GAMES FOR Wii U
Nintendo eShop for Wii U promotion includes 15 percent off purchase of full games
30th June, 2015 – Starting tomorrow, Nintendo eShop is offering a promotion so that fans in Australia and New Zealand can play some of the hottest upcoming indie games on Wii U.
For a limited time only, the Nindies@Home programme – launched recently in the United States and Europe – lets people download* free preview versions of nine Nindie games from Nintendo eShop for Wii U. Three different titles will be available each week until 20th August 2015, and best of all, once the full games launch, players of the Nindies@Home preview versions can save 15 percent on the price of each respective full version for one month after their release**.
Games and developers participating in the Nindies@Home programme include:
31st July – 6th August
forma.8 from Mixed Bag: In a distant future, the small exploration probe forma.8 is stranded alone on the surface of an alien planet. Players must explore a huge open world to help the probe acquire 10 different power-ups and recover a powerful energy source deep under the surface. The game includes an area exclusive to the Wii U version.
Runbow from 13AM Games: Up to nine players can join in the colourful chaos in this Nintendo eShop exclusive. The world transforms before players’ eyes with each swipe of colour, so think fast to stay alive. Go head to head in Run, Arena and King of the Hill, or play as the ColorMaster and manipulate the environment on the Wii U GamePad controller. Players can take on challenges alone or with friends in Runbow’s Adventure Mode. The full game also features guest characters from other Nintendo eShop titles.
Extreme Exorcism from Ripstone: In this paranormal Wii U platformer, every move players make comes back to haunt them. After each round players survive, a ghost will appear to mimic their every move from the round before. The longer a player survives, the more extreme the game becomes. The game offers 20 ghostbusting weapons, 50 challenges and co-op or deathmatch battles for up to four friends.
7th August – 13th August
Lovely Planet from tinybuild and QUICKTEQUILA: This first-person shooter gun ballet for Wii U is set in a cutesy abstract world. Players jump and shoot their way through five worlds full of treacherous enemies with your trusty semi-automatic. The game offers a hundred levels to master and five worlds to discover, with multiple secrets hidden deep within each world.
RIVE from Two Tribes: This metal wrecking, robot hacking Wii U shooter combines old-school gaming values in a new-school execution. With intense 360-degree shooting and platforming action, players learn to alter the behaviour of their robotic enemies by collecting and uploading hacks.
Typoman from Headup Games: Change Words, Change Worlds! Typoman is a two-dimensional puzzle platformer distinguished by a unique game world. Be the HERO and set out on the journey to become whole and gain the powers you need to defeat the giant, evil demon that rules the world you are trapped in.
14th August – 20th August
Freedom Planet from GalaxyTrail Games: Players fight their way across the celestial world of Avalice, where cats are green, motorcycles drive up walls and monster girls do most of the butt kicking. This cartoony, combat-based platform Wii U adventure pits a spunky dragonoid and her friends against an alien attack force.
Mutant Mudds Super Challenge from Renegade Kid: This platformer picks up right where the original Mutant Mudds left off. The game, which is exclusive to Nintendo eShop on both Wii U and Nintendo 3DS, includes 40 new dimension-bending levels and epic boss fights designed for super players.
Soul Axiom from Wales Interactive: More than 40 unique locations await in this first-person sci-fi Wii U adventure. The game is a psychological thriller with exploration and puzzle elements. Players interact with cryptic logic puzzles, make psychological decisions and explore memories to unlock the secrets of their identity.
Clown phobia (coulrophobia) suffers beware! Point and click adventureDropsylaunches on September 10th. Billed as a hugventure by developer Jay Tholen and publisher Devolver Digital, Dropsy is told without a single line of dialogue by Dropsy the clown. Unfortunately our hero is mute, so clearing his name after being accused of causing a deadly circus fire will be a little tricky. To clear his name, players will need to communicate using visual icons and plenty of hugs.
Dropsy is a non-linear adventure, giving players a free reign to explore the world at their own pace. The game will be out on Linux, Mac, Windows, and iOS.
London, UK — July 29, 2015 — Today, Ubisoft announced that Toy Soldiers: War Chest will release worldwide on August 11, 2015 for Xbox One and PC and on August 12, 2015 for PS4. The third installment of the popular franchise, developed by Signal Studios, offers a hybrid blend of action strategy gameplay mixed with tower defense mechanics. Toy Soldiers: War Chest will be available digitally on Xbox One, PS4 and PC.
Toy Soldiers: War Chest (standard edition) includes four armies and will be available as a digital-download only. Toy Soldiers: War Chest Hall of Fame edition includes an additional four licensed armies to those available in the standard edition and will also be digital-download only. These four licensed armies will be available as individual downloads or all together in the ‘Legendary Heroes’ Pack. More information on these licensed armies can be found below:
G.I. JOE
Marching into the toy box is a highly trained special mission force, codename: G.I. JOE. Led by brave field commander Duke and armed with an arsenal of weapons, this team works together on the front lines to stop evil in its tracks.
He-Man
Enabled by the power of Greyskull™ is the Masters of the Universe™ army led by He-Man™, The Most Powerful Man in the Universe™. Gifted with unimaginable strength and fearless courage, He-Man, Battle Cat™ and his Eternian warriors team up to protect the Eternia toy box from the forces of darkness.
Cobra Commander
Trained in explosives and martial arts, and backed by the support of a fanatical army comprised of a deeply loyal infantry, the Cobra Commander army will not hesitate to take on any opposing faction. With a mix of brute force, advanced technology and fierce tenacity, the Cobra Commander army is a force to be reckoned with on the ground and in the skies.
Ezio
Gifted with a prowess in parkour, stealth and charisma, Ezio and the Assassin’s brotherhood team up to create a fierce alliance of justice and protection. An ancestor of Desmond Miles, the charming Florentine Ezio Auditore da Firenze is a master with the hidden blade and the ladies.
For more information on Toy Soldiers: War Chest, please visit: toysoldiers.ubi.com.
For the latest on all of Ubisoft’s games, please visit: ubiblog.com
About Ubisoft
Ubisoft is a leading creator, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment and services, with a rich portfolio of world-renowned brands, including Assassin’s Creed, Just Dance, Tom Clancy’s video game series, Rayman and Far Cry. The teams throughout Ubisoft’s worldwide network of studios and business offices are committed to delivering original and memorable gaming experiences across all popular platforms, including consoles, mobile phones, tablets and PCs. For the 2014-15 fiscal year Ubisoft generated sales of €1,464 million. To learn more, please visit www.ubisoftgroup.com.
UBISOFT® LAUNCHES FREE JUST DANCE® 2016 DEMO ON NEW-GEN CONSOLES
Just Dance Controller App Turns Smartphones into The Controller on All New-Gen Consoles
London, UK – July 29, 2015 – Today, Ubisoft announced a free* Just Dance 2016 demo on new-gen consoles for players using the Just Dance Controller App. The one song demo is “Blame” by Calvin Harris Ft. John Newman and is now available to download on Nintendo’s Wii U™ system, Xbox One and PlayStation® 4 computer entertainment system. The latest installment in the best-selling** music game franchise will launch on October 23 in the UK.
The free Just Dance Controller App, now available for Apple and Android devices and soon to also be available for Windows Phone devices, enables players on new-gen consoles to play Just Dance 2016 without any peripherals or console cameras. The app transforms the player’s smartphone into a game controller that tracks the accuracy of their moves and allows them to navigate intuitively through the game’s menus. To play the demo using the Just Dance Controller App on smartphones, players can simply follow the steps below. On Xbox One, players also have the option to access the demo using Kinect for Xbox One.
Download the Just Dance Controller app to your Apple or Android smartphone.***
Download the Just Dance 2016 demo to your Wii U™, PlayStation®4 or Xbox One.
Connect your smartphone to the same wi-fi network as the console.
Select the song and dance holding the phone in your right hand!
With more than 40 new tracks, ranging from Billboard hits to classic throwback favourites, from artists like Mark Ronson Ft. Bruno Mars, Jason Derulo, Meghan Trainor, Calvin Harris Ft. John Newman and Lady Gaga, everyone in the entire family will have a favourite track to dance to in Just Dance 2016.
For the latest information on Just Dance 2016, and on the Just Dance Controller App, including information on the demo, please visit: www.justdancegame.com. Follow Just Dance on Twitter.com/JustDanceGame and use hashtag #JustDance2016.
*On Xbox One, Xbox Live membership required. Additional in-game content available and sold separately.
**Data from NPD Institute in NCSA and from GfK Institute in EMEA – April 2015
** The Controller App to use with the pre-launch demo is only available for Apple and Android smartphones.
About Ubisoft
Ubisoft is a leading creator, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment and services, with a rich portfolio of world-renowned brands, including Assassin’s Creed, Just Dance, Tom Clancy’s video game series, Rayman, Far Cry and Watch Dogs. The teams throughout Ubisoft’s worldwide network of studios and business offices are committed to delivering original and memorable gaming experiences across all popular platforms, including consoles, mobile phones, tablets and PCs. For the 2014-15 fiscal year Ubisoft generated sales of €1,464 million. To learn more, please visit www.ubisoftgroup.com.
DROPSY THE CLOWN TO DELIVER WARM, DAMP HUGS SEPTEMBER 10
– Hugs for Everyone, Even You –
Homeland, Florida – Independent developer Jay Tholen and noted balloon artists and game publisher Devolver Digital have announced the point and click hugventure Dropsy will release on PC, Mac, Linux, Android and iOS on September 10.
Dropsy is a non-traditional take on the classic point and click adventure formula starring the game’s perpetually carefree namesake clown as he explores a richly detailed world full of colorful characters and sinister secrets, doling out hugs along the way. Rather than lead players on a singular narrative path, players are free to choose which avenues of adventure they want to explore in an open world setting and can piece the puzzles and story together however they choose.
“…,” said Dropsy the Clown, as he is unable to speak.
During the quest to clear his name after a deadly circus fire, Dropsy will encounter a peculiar cast of folk to communicate with through visual icons rather than the traditional text dialog trees. Through these rudimentary conversations, Dropsy takes players on a self-aware journey of self-discovery with a story that harnesses powerful themes of love and redemption – Dropsy the character is an outsider, longing for a community to call his own. Along his adventure, players will find answers to geographically based puzzles, unravel dark and shameful secrets from his past, and collect fancy items to stuff in his elastic waistband for use along the way. Oh, and Dropsy can also talk to animals.
“The first one million gamers that purchase Dropsy will receive a certificate that entitles them to a free hug from developer Jay Tholen,” said Devolver Digital CFO, Fork Parker. “Nobody hug me though, I find gamers off-putting.”
Fans of oddly carefree clowns and Devolver Digital productions can visit HYPERLINK“http://www.dropsytheclown.com” www.dropsytheclown.com to learn more about the game or follow @DropsyTheClown on Twitter to keep up with development updates and other news.
GAMEMILL ENTERTAINMENT PARTNERS WITH UIG ENTERTAINMENT TO RELEASE ARCADE SIM EDITIONS OF UIG’S NEXT PROFESSIONAL SIMULATION GAMES
Professional Farmer SIM Arcade 2016 and Professional Lumberjack SIM Arcade 2016
Coming to Consoles and PC This Fall
MINNEAPOLIS – July 29, 2015 – GameMill Entertainment today announced a new partnership with UIG Entertainment to distribute two new video games – Professional Farmer SIM Arcade 2016 and Professional Lumberjack SIM Arcade 2016 – which will be available on consoles and Steam worldwide this fall. Based on UIG Entertainment’s far-reaching series of successful simulation titles, these new games emphasize a more streamlined, arcade-style approach to fun and achievement, with quicker missions and faster gameplay.
Professional Farmer SIM Arcade 2016 takes players to the countryside to plant crops, properly care for animals and grow the family farm from the ground up. There are over 80 vehicles to use across over 100 arcade-style missions, as well as one huge North American map to explore for new and exciting activities, including quick-hauling tractor races.
Professional Lumberjack SIM Arcade 2016 gives players control of over 100 of the highest quality woodcutting machines, from tractors and trucks to cranes and harvesters. There are a multitude of tree types to discover, chop down, transport and process. Expert tests of skill are rewarded with access to new forested lands, more powerful machines, and new buildings and equipment at the local sawmill.
Professional Farmer SIM Arcade 2016 and Professional Lumberjack SIM Arcade 2016 are expected to launch this fall on the PlayStation®4 and PlayStation®3 computer entertainment systems via the PlayStation®Network; Xbox One and Xbox 360 through the Xbox Games Store; and PC via retail and Steam. For more information as these titles near release, please visit www.uieg.de.
About GameMill Entertainment
GameMill Entertainment, located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, is a third-party publisher of casual games for the mass market consumer. Development platforms include PC, Nintendo handhelds and consoles including Nintendo DS™ , Nintendo 3DS™ and Wii™, Microsoft consoles including Xbox 360®, Xbox One video game and entertainment system, XBLA, Microsoft Games On Demand and Kinect™ for Xbox 360®, and Sony handhelds and consoles including PlayStation®4, PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system and mobile devices. With development across the globe, GameMill is a source of entertaining and fun games for all ages. For more information, please visit: www.game-mill.com.
About UIG Entertainment
UIG was set up in 2005 by Managing Director Christoph Bayer and acts as an independent distributor and publisher in the international gaming market. Successful brands including the “Giant” brand, the Role-Playing Company, supported by high-quality developments and a wide selection of “simulator titles,” are published and marketed throughout the worldwide market. The extensive product catalog is completed by casual games the label “Red Rocks.” UIG is always searching for new business opportunities and products for worldwide distribution on all platforms. For more information, visit http://www.uieg.de.
Evoland 2: A Slight Case of Spacetime Contiuum Disorder is continuing the retro journey through video game history. Like its predecessor, Evoland 2 revisits some classic gameplay mechanics (and some more modern ones!) in both 2D and 3D. The new game is a standalone title starring a young man on an epic time travelling adventure in hopes of preventing catastrophe.
The story follows our hero Kuro, who in true stereotypical fashion, has woken up without a single memory of his previous existence. After being encouraged to go to the forest to possibly trigger some memories, Kuro and his friend get sucked into a time warp, beginning their grand adventure to save the world from impending doom. The writing is light-hearted, with plenty of pop culture and video game references sprinkled throughout. I really appreciate the fact that Evoland 2’s plot is completely self-contained. It makes it very easy to for new players to just jump into the game, without having to catch up to the previous game’s plot.
Evoland 2 at its core is an action-adventure game in the same vein as Legend of Zelda. Kuro can swing his sword at enemies on the screen and use charge attacks to deal some serious damage. These charge attacks change depending on the ally that is supporting him and have a short cooldown after use. But to call Evoland 2 just a Legend of Zelda clone would be completely wrong. The game features large sections of genre crossing mechanics, such as stealth and platforming. It feels like the developers went through all their favourite games and said I want to recreate this, this, and this… oh heck, let’s throw this in, too! There are a few surprising moments where the developers managed to sneak in some more obscure or unexpected genres, like the Diner Dash styled minigame. The preview build manages to mix all these different genres into the game quite well, with the sudden mechanic changes worked into the story in one way or another. The mechanics themselves have been executed rather well for the most part.
The game has a lot of puzzles. The quality hits both end of the spectrum, with some really brilliant puzzles and some pretty annoying ones, too. Luckily the really bad ones in general can be solved with sheer brute force and a little bit of patience.
The game is currently locked at the medium difficulty level. It will serve as a pretty good challenge for the average gamer. Save points are liberally spread throughout the game and there is little to no consequence for death, which also make the game accessible to all skill levels, no matter how good or bad the player may be at certain mechanics. This should come as a relief to those who are particularly awful with genres like stealth games or platformers.
Our preview contained the first half of the game. The developers warned that it would be the linear half of the game. The preview build lived up to the developer’s warning, which leaves me very curious on how Evoland 2’s non-linear half will work. The developers estimate that the first half has about 10-12 hours of content, which would place the full game at around 20-24 hours of gameplay, a very reasonable length.
The game is compatible with both a controller and the keyboard. The controls are quite simple. The controller layout sticks with tradition, which is perfect for a game like Evoland 2. Personally, I’m not a huge fan of the keyboard’s default bindings. They don’t really replicate the feeling of a controller layout very well and end up feeling a tad awkward, which makes me hope that the final game has customizable keyboard controls at the bare minimum.
Evoland 2’s graphics are absolutely gorgeous. The style is colourful and eye catching. There are plenty of art that will feel right at home in a JRPG. Shiro Games has so far managed to do a bang on job to replicate the respective styles of each gaming generation, while still maintaining its own distinctive look throughout.
The audio in Evoland 2 is enjoyable. Like its graphics, the music and the sound effects are period correct. I found the soundtrack to be excellent, providing the right accompaniment for the exact moment. I did find the default volume to be incredibly loud for some reason, with the music being the worst offender.
Evoland 2: A Slight Case of Spacetime Contiuum Disorder is shaping up to be the perfect follow up that will appeal to retro geeks and fans of the first title. The preview build showcased a great mix of different genres combined into an entertaining package, and the graphics and the audio are spot on. There are some minor hiccups that needed to be ironed out ahead of the August 25, 2015 release date, but Shiro Games seems to be on the right track with Evoland 2.
Gaijin Entertainment Announces British Tanks Will Enter the Fight in War Thunder Later This Year.
(MOSCOW, RUSSIAN FEDERATION) – July 29, 2015 — Gaijin Entertainment today announced that British tanks will be entering the fray in War Thunder towards the end of the year. Among the first armored units flying the Union Jack will be the Churchill Mk.III, Centurion Mk.III and A34 Comet.
“We think British Tanks will be a welcome addition to the growing ranks of available vehicles”, said Kirill Yudintsev, creative director of Gaijin Entertainment. “With the addition of US tanks earlier this year we have an incredible number of tanks in War Thunder, and now with British tanks joining the action we’ll increase that number to around 200 historically accurate armored ground vehicles playable in the game by the end of the year”.
Gaijin Entertainment creates War Thunder’s extensive catalogue of vehicles utilizing historical information from museums, engineers and highly detailed blueprints and technical manuals through its historian contacts. Historically, some tanks can have as many as 50 different versions of their designs in the course of their operational lifetimes, which presents the team with the monumental task of keeping vehicle designs historically accurate when they set about designing a specific version. Each tank can go through months of development to implement from sketch to final model in War Thunder. Searching for rare modifications by Churchill took the developers about three months and will result in a few different “Churchill’s” in the game, including some of the most interesting and rare designs. Today they are showing its most popular design – the Churchill Mk. III as well as the Centurion Mk.III and the A34 Comet.
The Tanks
The oldest of the three tanks – the Churchill III – was one of the main British heavy tanks of WWII. Churchill tanks were amongst the first armoured vehicles to land on the beaches of Normandy in support of the Allied invasion of France on 6 June 1944 and saw heavy action in North Africa and Normandy in the late summer months.
Centurion III is a brilliant representative of the post-war British tanks. Due to the massive supply of “Centurion” tanks to other countries, this tank was used in most of the wars the mid 20th century as well. Like the “Churchill”, the “Centurion” is also distinguished by good survival rates of the crew.
The A34 Comet is a British middleweight cruiser introduced in the final stage of World War II and was to be a continuation of the medium British tanks such as the “Cromwell”, but this tank was specifically designed for the destruction of the newest German tanks. According to some experts, the “Comet” was the best British tank of the Second World War. The Comet’s excellent gun and a good speed allowed the tank to maximize its ability to position itself and engage the enemy quickly.
The Comet will join rank 4 British tanks and will be a match for the latest Panthers and T-44’s.
Gaijin Entertainment will be introducing British tanks into the game at the end of the year, making Great Britain the fourth Nation added to the game, which already includes Soviet, German and American vehicles. War Thunder continues to grow its selection of combat vehicles. Check out more information regarding British tanks on the War Thunder Dev blog here: http://warthunder.com/en/devblog/current/803
About War Thunder
War Thunder is a free-to-play, cross-platform, massively multiplayer military masterpiece for PC, PS4, Mac, Linux and Android with more than ten million players worldwide, that allows players to fight their way across air and ground with access to almost 600 historically accurate planes and armored vehicles from WWII and Korean War. Fans can expect hundreds more added as Gaijin Entertainment commits to ongoing development via regular updates. For more information, please visithttp://www.warthunder.com
About Gaijin Entertainment
Gaijin Entertainment is the developer and publisher of the online games War Thunder and Star Conflict, as well as PC, Mac, Linux, PS4, PS3, Xbox 360, iOS and Android titles across several genres. The company’s diverse portfolio has received a range of mass media and game industry awards including such as KRI Awards, Gamescom Award and many more. Official website: http://gaijinent.com
When Nintendo described this game as having “streamlined controls”, it seemed like a warning. Making things easier can be a great way to attract new players to a video game, but unless the controls are tweaked in just the right way, the game will end up being boring or even annoying. Is this game suitable for the ardent Harvest Moon fan and the newcomer alike, or is it simply tedious and lacking in entertainment value?
Story
A severe snowstorm causes you to become lost. A voice beckons you into a house, and you sleep there for the night. Upon waking up, you hear a voice calling for help. While attempting to locate the source of the voice, you enter the snow-covered farm and discover a Harvest Sprite. This Sprite, Rowan, tells you that you are in the Lost Valley and that it is stuck in a perpetual winter. The Harvest Goddess is the one who is supposed to control the seasons, but she lost the bracelet that gave her her power. Rowan just so happens to have this bracelet, and immediately entrusts the task of delivering it to the Harvest Goddess to you. Your goal now is to build a farm, grow and harvest all kinds of plants and raise animals.
Gameplay
If this game is any indication, Natsume has not yet made the distinction between ‘easy’ and ‘fun’. Streamlining a game does not automatically mean the same thing as producing an entertaining and engaging game. You cannot dig in or raise the block you are standing on, meaning that you often have to create a new platform to be able to dig or fill in a certain spot. Digging or filling in blocks is otherwise easy enough with the game’s simple controls, but the system should be less restrictive. Players with plenty of patience may not have a bad time working on their farm, but the developers made other poor decisions when working on the gameplay. When a block of land dries out, you have to water each individual block one at a time. In other games that feature farming, you do not have to press the ‘A’ button to water every single block, which is not fun when there are dozens of dry blocks that need to be watered.
As you make progress in the game, more and more Harvest Sprites will wake up and offer to help you with various tasks. One Sprite, Dewy, is supposed to water your fields for you. He does do that, but only about 10 blocks at a time. If you watch him, you will see a few blocks get watered only to see an equal or greater amount of blocks dry out in the time it took him to water those few blocks. This means that it is actually more efficient to water each block of land one at a time, a monotonous task that can take up an entire in-game day.
You can increase your friendship percentage with the people you meet by doing requests for them. There is almost no sense of fulfilment when doing these requests; completing them seems more like making a business transaction than making friends with people. It does not help that it takes hours for their dialogue options to change, and the random number generator has a tendency to pick the same line of dialogue several times in a row when you are talking to someone. There is a dating-sim element to this game, but there are only three archetypal characters to choose from as romantic partners. Furthermore, the interactions with them are extremely limited. There is apparently no same-sex dating option, giving less incentive for people to engage with the social features of the game.
There is another problem that can occur, to a certain extent, depending on how you play the game. Often, you will not have the items nor the means to grow or acquire the items that are requested. This means that requests might be left in your queue for many in-game weeks. Fortunately, if you already have the requested items in your bag, you can complete those requests in a matter of seconds.
Visuals and Audio
The 3D feature can only be turned on while the title screen is displayed. However, in this game, stereoscopic 3D would be a gimmick, not a genuinely useful or interesting feature. The tree textures are progressively rendered when the camera is panning across the farm during the opening scenes of the game, although this problem may not be present when the game is played using a New Nintendo 3DS. Either way, it really does not make for a good start to the game. Moving the camera into the right position is often a matter of precision, but this may vary for each player depending on the exact layout of your farm.
There are a few bugs that might entertain players for a few seconds. If you walk into a player from the right angle, you will walk straight through them. Your cow might get stuck and then go out of control as it walks to the troughs in your barn. Also, upon completing a quest, the hitboxes of NPCs often extend several blocks in front of them, meaning that you can talk to them even if you are four blocks away. There do not seem to be any glitches that can be exploited to make the game easier to finish, but one may still wonder whether or not there was some kind of selection bias when the QA team was selected.
The character designs are passable but nothing special. It is disappointing that you cannot customise your avatar at the very beginning of the game, but you can eventually buy a wardrobe that will allow you to wear different clothes. Unfortunately, the wardrobe requires you to have a few types of materials and a lot of money. If you are strapped for cash, weekends are a great time to go fishing; fish can be sold at a decent price.
The soundtrack features just a few pieces of music, but the songs are not bad and a couple of tracks are even pleasant to listen to. The songs all loop after just 30-60 seconds, though, so you are going to have a problem if you get sick of any of the songs. The sound effects are nothing to write home about, but some of them sound as if they are being played through several audio channels.
Overall
Harvest Moon: The Lost Valley has its moments, but playing it is a matter of patience. The challenge is not in defeating a boss several levels higher than you or completing a challenge in a limited time-frame, but in dealing with the boredom that will most likely creep up on you at some point and make you wonder what the point of doing anything in the game is. It does not offer anything that cannot be found anywhere else. This game may be suited only for those who can deal with dozens of hours of tedious and monotonous gameplay, and even then its appeal is extremely limited.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
