The Mii’s are back! After proving successful in the hilariously addictive Tomadachi Life, they finally get their own fully fledged adult adventure game. Now I know what you are thinking, Why are Nintendo trying to make the Mii’s happen? Well guess what, they already have for many years now and they are here with a RPG adventure game that sounds tedious but is actually complex and interesting game for both adults and children alike.
Booting up my new blue 2DS XL this was one of the first games I played on this console. The Dark Lord has stolen the faces of all the Mii’s in Miitopia except for a select few and it is your job to travel throughout the land with your band of Mii tag alongs (mine were Iron Man, Donkey Kong and Bayonetta) you can make your own or use QR codes to use other people’s and find some great ones online. All of the Mii’s have different abilities like healer and fighter and do partake in solo and group attacks to take down enemies in your way and unlocking facial features to restore the stolen faces across the kingdom.
It sounds like a pretty simple premise but with character features to upgrade, food to give strength (which is distributed scarcely) it can be a bit of a challenge to get everything on track and there is a option for children (and impatient adults) called Auto-Fight where the Mii’s will automatically fight and get past the enemy in front of you which does seem like an easy way out (and it is!) The other option is actually quite challenging to set each Mii a certain role and help each other to fight the often increasingly difficult enemies that make this game a rewarding one.
There is a ton of colour and variance in this game and is quite a beautiful experience on the handheld console. While newer consoles like the Switch offer much higher resolution and advanced graphics capability, this is still a worthwhile experience and not to mention a great new title for quite an old system. The Mii’s do interact with each other and as you assign them to rooms at every Inn, they form and develop relationships and as you mix this up you can add some hilarious drama and soap opera moments of jealousy and love lost.
The game is however a little linear when it comes to exploration, there is a set path that you really can’t deviate from too much. At certain points you have a choice of left or right but once you go either way you still end up having to backtrack and do the other path anyway so it really feels quite pointless at times. That being said there is a lot of Miitopia to explore and while I was expecting maybe 4-5 hours of fun, it extended out to about 12 hours so far and I have seen all there is to see. Most games like Donkey Kong Country Returns and Mario have replay ability, however this one doesn’t really. I have no real desire to jump back in and play it again, that being said it was a great first run through and definitely worth the low price of these games.
In true Nintendo style the music and sound effects and production quality are top notch and help this title shine. It is a pity that the game play gets a little repetitive the further into the game you get, it is still however a charming and worthwhile experience on the 3DS/2DS console. If you are looking for a casual title to get you through until the next big game on the Switch then Miitopia will definitely fill that void. Miitopia is a beautiful and charming game with repetitive gameplay that will suit both adults and children to get a decent few hours out of. It may not be a classic but it is a great addition to the Nintendo original game library.
Review by Alaisdair Leith.
