Tamagotchi Connection: Corner Shop 2 on DS sets out its stall
Where's Tesco when you need it?
Everyone loves a corner shop, right? Well, not us – and not just because our local only sells dodgy red wines from European countries we've never heard of, is open all hours except when we need it, and charges 65 pence for a pint of milk (expensive – look it up).
No, we've also an aversion to them because if there were no junction-based emporia, perhaps we wouldn't have had to endure the first Tamagotchi Connection: Corner Shop, a sickly sweet game that we gave four out of ten.
Not even kids deserved to play it.
Trust us though, we're professionals. On hearing Namco Bandai is set to release Tamagotchi Connection: Corner Shop 2 this winter, our first thought wasn't "Quick! Everybody destroy your DSs while there's still time!"
Quite the contrary, we hope the game will address the flaws of the original – that it was repetitive, boring, and basically rubbish.
The principle of the game wasn't a bad one, after all, and it's been retained. As a virtual shopkeeper, you open and manage various retail outlets to service the needs of over 100 different Tamagotchi customers by – perhaps uniquely in retailing – completing DS mini-games.
The big addition for Tamagotchi Connection: Corner Shop 2 is a happiness rating. You've got to keep your three Tamagotchi business partners happy by earning 'Gotchi points' through mini-game tasks.
As more points are collected, new types of shops such as a bowling alley and a sushi bar are unlocked. Just as importantly though, points can also be spent on clothing, feeding, and caring for your partners – and in this sequel that changes their moods accordingly. The five different levels of happiness your Tamagotchi cohorts will exhibit determines how you interact with them, and so how the game progresses.
We thought the lack of caring and sharing in the original was an odd omission, so back to Tamagotchi basics sounds a reasonable idea. Fingers crossed they read the rest of our review.