Opoona

What would the world be like without small and loveable Japanese cartoon characters? Rubbish, that’s what. Boring and rubbish, with no bizarre Far Eastern fun to keep us all entertained and twist our minds in the wee small hours.

The latest lovable, if weirdly shaped, hero to reach our shores straight from the curious minds of our Japanese brothers is Opoona, and he is heading straight for the nearest Wii…

And it’s worth noting that there are some pretty exciting figures with impressive pedigrees involved behind the scenes  of this game (see box out).

So, onto the game itself, and the three key questions – what is Opoona, who is he and what’s he doing running riot on the Wii? Essentially, Opoona looks an egg with legs – a brave egg with legs, sure, but nevertheless a potential walking omlette – who is from the planet Tizia.

On an intergalactic family holiday to a planet called Landroll, the plucky little roundhead becomes separated from his kin after a mysterious accident, leaving him stranded and alone on a strange world. Waking up in hospital with memory loss, it’s the job of the player to guide Opoona round Landroll to track down his family and generally sort the whole mess out. Following so far? Excellent…

Alone on a strange world, Opoona must find a job, search for his family and, as an added bonus for the already confused and probably vulnerable little chap, defend Landroll from some suitably aggressive and nasty bad guys called Dark Rogues.

Fortunately enough for players and character alike, Opoona is a decendant of a long line of badass warriors called the Cosmo Guards and as such is well equipped to deal out a bit of old Father Pain to his enemies.

A novel use of the Wii nunchuck looks set to be a key selling point for the game, as it essentially makes it the easiest thing in the world to control. Only one hand is required, with players able to guide Opoona through the game as well as manipulate his ‘energy bonbons’ – his main weapon – in a variety of different ways.

By making the control system as simple as possible, and with the cartoonish graphics and family-centric themes, it’s clear that Opoona is aimed at the family market, and it successfully ticks all the boxes to keep casual players involved.

In all, Opoona is far from a hard hitting RPG; it’s not designed to provide crises that will plague players for days, and the emphasis is heavily on the fun side of things. Well suited to younger players or perhaps those new to the genre, it     should attract interest from intrigued youngsters, or parents looking for a safe, non-bloodthirsty addition to the family Wii stash.

With plenty of distractions littered throughout, and an easy to handle gameplay mechanic, Opoona is the sort of game that will resonate loudly in the minds of future generations.