Opoona
Publisher: KOEI
Developer: Omega Force / ArtePiazza
Genre: RPG
Release Date: March 25, 2008
Platform: Wii
Reviewer: Eric
Lately the Wii has been trying real hard to pump out some
original games. A good amount of these titles end up becoming
mini games that cost way too much while others go that extra
mile. Opoona is one of those games that takes that extra step,
but not in the right direction when it comes to the RPG genre.
Players control a preschool looking toy (Opoona) that has a
floating ball over his head. After a disaster erupts the young
boy and his family have to stop their vacation plays in order
to save their lives. Opoona is now living a completely different
lifestyle, but to find his family again he must take up jobs
and quests to front the bill that’s owed.
At first glance Opoona looks like a RPG for preschoolers. The
character models are ridiculous cute, both in their human and
plastic looking people. Landroll, the world you are in, is too
damn perfect. The sun is always up and everybody, except one
child, is more than willing to help you out.
The game lacks voice acting and any real mind blowing cut
scenes. Opoona is taking a step back into the past when RPG’s
use to evolve simple gameplay. In today’s standards this is
uncalled for. If you want to get any personality from characters
or find some humor you have to read.
Opoona has a problem when it comes to the dialogue you read.
The game is full of typos, bad grammer and just about anything
else that you wouldn’t expect in a modern game. To make matters
worse the characters will say the same thing all the time so make
sure you set the text speed to the max. If you don’t then you
will literally waste a few minutes during some of these speeches.
There is only so much you can take whenever the big nose robot
tells you where to find some jobs.
What makes Opoona stick out even more is the elevators. You will
get sick of elevators for the rest of your life when playing
Opoona. There are times when you talk to one person and they’ll
tell you to take the elevators behind. Once taken, they’ll finish
their conversation with you. That part of the game isn’t the worst
either, there are so many damn floors it will start to get
confusing early on. Why does there have to be a F1 and B1 so close
together? What were they thinking?
One of the neatest parts of Opoona is how you can play the game.
It is able to play this game one handed. All you need to do is
stick a Nunchuk in your Wii Mote and you are set. Just sit the Wii
Mote aside and do everything with the Nunchuk. It feels so natural
playing an RPG this way. There are other ways to control the game,
but I am hooked on the Nunchuk so I haven’t tried the other ways.
Combat is simple and fun. Just flick the Nunchuk to attack, that’s
all. The longer you hold back, without reaching zero, the stronger
your attacks. You can move the stick on the Nunchuk in any way
possible, which is necessary during battles. Curve balls are a
great way to hit a big group of enemies; you may get lucky during
certain throws.
The games in game camera can become a real chore. One of the games
real missions has you finding eggs and it seems you will need to
move the camera a lot to try and find the chests. This sounds like
an easy task, but the camera never seems to turn the way you want.
To make things worse you will always seem to get into a battle at
the worst time possible. I wish the randomized battles in Opoona
were worked out a little better.
Final Verdict
Is Opoona the next big RPG on the market today? No, but it does
offer enough for Wii owners to take notice. The game looks pretty
good for a childish game. Opoona controls great and battles are a
real blast. Most of the games problems really occur in the crappy
elevator system and the camera. You can learn to deal with these
things, but at some point you will get frustrated with these problems.
Rating
7.50 out of 10
Opoona Trailer
