Japan sees PSP Monster Hunter pitted against Sim City DS
Can anyone remember who won in Godzilla?
Sim City DS is released tomorrow in Japan, which means that at last there will be a way for us to play outdoors a game that promises to be as good as the SNES version of Sim City (which has been re-released recently via the Wii's Virtual Console).
For the next few weeks, I'll be taking Sim City DS with me – no matter where I'm going.
The DS version has been developed by Electronic Arts, although it looks like a purely Japanese production – there's even a Manga-style Will Wright in here, referred to as Mr. Maxis. Can't ask for much more, really.
Historically, Japan hasn't been a particularly strong market for the Sim City games, but Weekly Famitsu awarded the game a very decent 31/40 score and praised its meticulous use of the DS' stylus.
I had the same positive experience when playing Sim City DS at last year's Nintendo World exhibition: the touchpen is almost as effective as a mouse. Almost! For a handheld version anyway, the stylus is a perfect solution.
The big PSP release of this week is Capcom's Monster Hunter Portable 2nd. It's being advertised in the breaks on Japanese TV more frequently than any other game, and Sony is releasing a PSP hardware-plus-game bundle to cash in on the series' huge popularity here.
It is a… monster!
Scared? There's no need to be. At heart, Capcom's game is really a loveable RPG. Weapons, potions, magicians, level-ups, inventories, and lots of monsters: it's 'just an RPG', but it's about the prettiest and deepest PSP example of the genre to date.
On handheld consoles, I have difficulty getting into such deep RPGs – or rather, difficulty in getting out of them – as I tend to play portable games in small time windows when outside, but fans' demands for new monsters is such that I suppose many players will be working through Monster Hunter 2nd indoors.
Fair play – and check out Pocket Gamer's review of the first Monster Hunter if you're wondering what all the fuss is about.
Until next week, then. (またらいしゅうね！Mata raishuu ne!)