7 months ago
Rune Factory Frontier for the Nintendo Wii is an RPG. More over, it's an RPG that is also a farming sim, a dating sim, a dungeon-crawler, a cooking sim, a monster hunter, and seemingly any other kind of non-sports video game you can probably think of.
The series, which started off three years ago on the DS, makes its console debut and takes cues from the original two Rune Factory titles as well as Natsume's Harvest Moon. The combination makes for a nice presentation and a good polished look for the series' first attempt on a console. Players kick off the game as a young lad (I named him Burger for no other reason than I was having lunch when I started playing) who is searching for a friend of his named Mist. He finds her in a pleasant little hamlet and settles in himself due to her kindhearted insisting.
There is a lot of hard work to be done in Frontier amidst he adverturing and storyline. In fact, the work is what makes up the bulk of the game. You'll find that you have to till the land, cut the weeds, plant and cultivate seeds, harvest the crops...and that's just the farming sim part of it. If you've captured any monsters while adventuring, then you'll have to manage a barn, give the monster the appropriate amount of attention, and make sure that it has enough food to eat. The various responsibilities that make up a good portion of the game make Rune Factory Frontier feel like a chore to play.
One of the highlights of the game is the dungeon crawling. There are a number of dungeons to explore, including one on a floating island shaped like a whale. This is one of the areas where having a captured monster can be a big help since you can have them tag-along as you quest through an area, helping you defeat the various baddies that you'll encounter.
The game has a system of points that dictate how many activities you can do over the course of the 24-real-life-minute days. Every action you take takes away from the number of rune points that your character has. Once you're out of RP, the actions take away from your life total. If you let your life run out, you'll find yourself in the infirmary and will most likely come down with a cold which causes your RP to diminish even faster until cured. The ways to replenish your life and RP is by leveling-up, nomming on some food, or calling it a night and hitting the hay.
A few other highlights are the quality graphics that gamers get treated to as well as the good voice-acting and pleasant in-game music. The cut scenes, all of which are of high-quality animé, are enjoyable to watch but are all much too short.
The long and the short of this game is that there is really so much to do in that it is honestly overwhelming. Between the farming, the courting, the exploring, and everything else that there is to do...it's just too much for one game.
Rune Factory Frontier for the Nintendo Wii is rated E10+ by the ESRB, and the Game Guys are grading it a B-.
News10/KXTV
