Sorry guys, its time for you to slog through another whatever I feel like Switch game review.
Last time I "played"
8Doors: Arum's Afterlife Adventure for twenty minutes and declared it to be bland and boring, giving it a 1 out of 2. I still feel bad about it, so to help get me over this startling, Jim Sterling-esque lack of journalistic integrity I decided to try out a cozy game. And don't worry, this one will be a real review. Well, sort of, I didn't actually finish
My Time on Frog Island either, though I got pretty close. This title made a little name for itself a few years ago on PS4 as a pioneer in the lucrative cozy genre and did manage to garner a little excitement with its' Switch port. So lets dig into it and see if this frog has legs.
MtoFI, as I alone call it, tasks you to explore an isolated island and its frog village, free of constraining time-limits, combat or gameplay. The game's primary loop consists of villagers asking you for items, and you finding and giving those items to them. Villagers will often have items that other villagers want and a large portion of the game's cycle can best be described as the Link's Awakening trading quest. I hope you really like that trading sidequest because you'll have 4 to 6 hours of it if you want to complete the main quest. There are no skills to level up, other than general knowledge of the controls and island layout, and there is a sense of satisfaction slowly but surely memorizing the map layout. What isn't satisfying is soft-locking on a bush and having to exit out to the home screen to reset yourself. And really I can just end the review here. 0 out of 2, move on to Xenoblade X.
But wait, that’s unfair. There are plusses to the game. Its not awful. The music, despite being just one main song repeated on loop, is charming and does not get old. I'd describe it as being "not out of place with old skool Minecraft songs", which should be a plus to anyone else who played back in the day. And the character designs are, well, they're fun! Even if you can call it a little bit "CalArts" I can confirm that there are a grand total of zero beanmouths in the game. (I kept track.) The game does not hold your hand either, there is no map or quest log and it therefore expects you to explore and memorize the layout of the island, as well as what each frog wants. As hinted at above, that is a core gameplay mechanic and seemingly the whole point of the experience.
From a financial standpoint, physical copies of the game regularly go on sale and I got mine for between 12 and 15 dollars. Still more than double the dollar per hour ratio but not awful. And yet, I must be honest with you. 9 days into actively playing the game, I have not beaten it. It failed to grip me and I probably only have 5 hours in it since it struggled to convince me to pick up my controller, each and every day. I had high hopes that this game would have challenging and unique puzzles, as stated by its fans, and it really didn't. It’s a struggle between 0 and 1 for me, this really is one of those games that rides the edge. But honestly, I would have a hard time recommending this game to anyone, there's just nothing to do. It makes me wish I'd spent more time with Arum even.
0 out of 2 onto Xenoblade Chronicles X. Don't worry
@Buttigieg2020, I'll be sure to tell you what the ending is, I bet the MC fucks a whole harem of cute girls.
