Review for Little Town Hero. Game for Nintendo Switch, the video game was released on 17/10/2019
Presented last year during a Nintendo Direct with the provisional name of "Town", Little Town Hero it is nothing more than an ingenious RPG, born from those who have on their shoulders the heavy legacy and the undeniable experience guaranteed by one of the most known and appreciated videogame series both in Japan and in the West: Pokémon.
Behind Little Town Hero, in fact, there is the skilful hand of Game Freak, which has always been associated over the last few years with the various chapters of the pocket monsters brand: a weight as pleasant as it is complex to shake off; precisely for this reason a new IP can represent the breath of fresh air that allows you to take advantage of greater freedom, allowing experiments on different genres and mechanics which, at least this time, they don't necessarily have to go hand in hand with tradition.
Little Town Hero tells the story of Axe and his friends, inhabitants of a small remote village, dominated by an immense pearly castle where the most valiant warriors of the territory reside.
Following a pact made several years earlier - the reasons for which are mysterious - the warriors guarantee protection to the inhabitants from possible attacks by monsters, but on the other hand the inhabitants are forbidden to leave the village, connected to the outside world through a gate accessible only through the castle itself.
The inhabitants live in peace with this idea of constriction, while Ax does not accept that he cannot see what is hidden outside the narrow confines of the rural village and his greatest desire is precisely to explore the territories beyond the castle and find out what are the real reasons behind this "consensual imprisonment", especially because - at least at the beginning of the events narrated - monsters around the village do not they have never been seen and the protection of the inhabitants by the guards seems to be futile.
The particular combat mechanics showcased by Little Town Hero suggest what it is a substantially hybrid structure, which in the various rounds advances by proposing a type of choice usually reserved for card games. In fact, we will have to deal with "cards" - which in the game are called Izzit - which correspond to the moves made in that turn by the character and our opponent.
Each of the two contenders in the fight benefits from 3 lives and, trivially, the victory is obtained by the one who first manages to take them away from the other through direct hits: to do this, it is necessary to destroy in that same turn all the Izzits and Dazzits - names that take the active Izzits ready to be used in that turn - in the possession of the opponent. Each of these elements has an attack value and a defense value: in the collision between two Dazzit a calculation is made of the difference between the attack value of one and the defense value of the other and vice versa, with the consequent destruction of the Dazzit if the defense value drops to zero following the calculation.
A formula that may seem complex reported in writing but that, after a few battles, can be learned comprehensively by the player without too much difficulty. The strategic component emerges perfectly in such a structure, in which the Izzit that can be activated are limited by a number that increases every three turns: all this contributes to giving a growing rhythm to the fights, which in the early stages they live off a few and reasoned blows which must be dosed carefully. An attention that is often not enough, precisely because it can happen that in the first rounds you struggle because of the low expendable points which therefore limit the initial choice possibilities.
In fact, it emerges that, despite the strategic component being carefully thought out and often making every turn the subject of numerous calculations by the player, luck plays a role that is sometimes still too preponderant: conducting an (almost) perfect match will be useless if at least initially we are not helped by the Izzit in our possession. Of course, there is always the possibility of recovering during the game, but we will have to get used to a lot of time starting uphill.
All of this emphasizes even more what potentially would have made Little Town Hero even more fun and intriguing from a challenge standpoint: you miss the ability to control your deck right from the start, with the player who will be able to spend the points earned as a result of the fighting solely to enhance the effects and the attack and defense values of the Izzit in their possession, with the addition of new powers which, however, is a rare fact and at the discretion of the game and not of the player, who must do the best possible with the material in his possession.
A formula, that of Little Town Hero, which in any case does not tire and which lets itself be lived in an unexpectedly pleasant way even during the longest battles that drag on for several turns and for several minutes. However, the fact remains that making everything even more customizable would have greatly increased the longevity and replayability of the work.
When not in battle, you move through the streets of Ax's hometown, in what turns out to be a very linear title and in which the exploratory element really takes a back seat. Despite everything, this structure helps the plot of the work, devoid of any effective gimmicks but which, in its simplicity, can be pleasantly followed throughout the course of the adventure (lasting about 20 hours, a number that can increase or decrease very clearly based on the time taken by the player to master the various mechanics). Beware of localization lovers: the title only offers localization Japanese or English.
Despite the limited range of the field of view, the game suffers from several hiccups especially from a frame rate standpoint: although they manage to remain stable during the fights, in some exploratory phase the frames drop dramatically. A pity that, however, does not affect the artistic and particularly inspired vein of Little Town Hero, especially as regards the monsters to face.
Ax's long fights and walks are accompanied by excellent music: the wise hand behind the instrumental part, in this case, is none other than that of Toby Fox, author of Undertale who in this case contributed to the sound sector of the Game Freak title, with a very positive final result.
It is never easy to get out of your comfort zone, especially if it takes the heavy name of Pokémon. Game Freak brings to the shelves a pleasant and original adventure that - also considering the cover price - could surprise and entertain for several hours. Some defects limit the full success of the work, but in its gameplay Little Town Hero is able to succeed in its risky venture, not failing to amaze on more than one occasion. The first step taken is really good and we hope that any subsequent steps will follow the path traced by this progenitor.
► Little Town Hero is an RPG type game developed and published by Game Freak for Nintendo Switch, the video game was released on 17/10/2019
