Tamagotchi Playtest

December 6th, 2006, 00:40 Posted By: wraggster

Via IGN

With sixteen games launching simultaneously in Japan, there was bound to be a stinker in the bunch. Bandai Namco's latest adaptation of Tamagotchi has all the markings of a launch title that will soon be forgotten.

Tamagotchi Pika Pika Daitouryou (or Tamagotchi's Sparkling President, as the name translates to English) is a digital board game where you and up to three CPU or human controlled players attempt to become president. The player with the most popularity following a series of voting days wins.

Your popularity increases or decreases depending on how you perform on the board. Some spaces automatically take you through PR events, which serve to increase your popularity rating. One particular space, the "goal space," gives you a huge increases in popularity. The board also has shop spaces, where items can be purchased for decorating your office, also a good way to increase your popularity.

Some spaces require that you clear mini games in order to get popularity. The game has two types of mini games. A set of smaller "Gocchi Games," designed to mimic cheap LCD-based digital games, use the left, up and right buttons on the d-pad for controls. Full-fledged mini games make use of the Wiimote for direct control. The game has all the basics, including using the controller as a flashlight to search dark rooms and using it as a steering wheel. The minigames can be replayed separately from the main board game.

Each set of turns is considered one full day, with every seventh day set as voting day. The player with the most popularity on this day gets an emblem. Following all voting days, the player with the most emblems becomes president. You can set the number of voting days depending on how long you want the game to last. A seven day period takes about 30 minutes of play time.

Most of the time, Tamagotchi feels like only half a Wii game. The menus don't allow you to point and click to select options, something that feels strange after having played the Nintendo-designed Wii games. Almost everything is done in the old fashioned way -- selecting with the D-pad and pressing A to confirm. This is okay for some options, but there are times when direct pointer controls seem like an obvious choice.

Outside of the mini games, the Wiimote is used in only a few areas. In order to launch dice into the air for your next move, you slam the Wiimote down like a hammer. Bandai also managed one of the dumbest uses of the Wiimote I've seen so far. To switch to the statistics screen, you're required to strike the Wiimote down like a hammer. This has to be done with a surprising amount of force, or the game won't recognize the motion. In addition to just asking for an accident, this is inconsistent with the traditional controls found in the rest of the game.

Tamgotchi also has some presentation issues. You can't skip opponent turns, which means watching CPU-controlled players do even the most mundane tasks, like purchasing items in a shop. The only area of rival turns that you can skip is one you might want to watch: mini game play. Load times aren't much of an issue (I'll remind you of what happened the last time someone tried to launch a system with a board game), although there are a few awkward pauses here and there.

Visually, while the board is colorful and the Tamagotchi characters are as cute as ever, Bandai Namco clearly wasn't trying too hard. The game doesn't even offer progressive output.

In Japan, the Wii launched with six games that can be considered "mini game collections." Tamagotchi is probably the least interesting of the bunch. Japan made the first DS Tamagotchi game a platinum hit. That's unlikely to happen here.

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