I think I remarked last month how fast this year was flying by. I guess having set my own goal of picking a “game of the month” enhances this feeling of time running away from me. Normally we are prone to look back at the past year around the holidays in December, now I’m doing it every month 😀 So, where did my gaming take me? Like in March it was all very much about one game this month. On March 31st the successor to A New Beginning was released in the US. The game that couldn’t be called Harvest Moon anymore, but still has all the good things that the previous titles had, and so much more. I started playing Story of Seasons on day one, and haven’t stopped since. The game is all about farming and socializing in town of course, but they’ve included the building aspect again, which I love. And instead of the garden tours, that were quite annoying in ANB, you now get assignments to give certain areas in town a make-over. The traders coming into town are a nice touch, as is having your own stall to sell things. Aside from your normal farm animals you can now find animals in the Safari zone too.
I’m enjoying myself immensely, as the 70+ hours that I’ve put into it clearly show. The game succeeds very well in adding new stuff along the way. Even after having played such a long time, I still get nice surprising new developments. Small points of critique though: the safari zone has huge potential, but it’s very slow and expensive to actually get animals in there. I mean, I can now have them build a huge tree in there that should bring in some special animal, but I need loads of cash and a ridiculous amount of lumber and stone to do that! And my other beef with the game is that Streetpass is a disappointment. Thanks to the International Streetpass week I was able to get some hits, but other than seeing clones of my own character running around town and being able to see some of their stats it doesn’t do much more. Which is a pity, Streetpass can do so much more.
My game of the month is clear, and I’m trying very hard to remember what other games I tried. I made a review in Japanese gaming as a guest blog of the game Exstetra, and I bought Mario Kart 8 for the WiiU despite other virtual drivers imploring me not to endanger them by taking up the challenge. Though it’s still not like I feel it to be my mission to race every free moment, I do find it enjoyable. The graphics and the cool features they put into the racing tracks have really surprised me. What a sight to behold! I don’t even have to race myself, I can just sit back and watch my family members race and enjoy myself watching.