Melon Journey

Something in me was moved when I saw the Melon Journey's title screen on the front page of RMN, so I decided to download and take a stab at the game.

The Story is simple enough: The previous night brings a rough storm that separates you from your camping partner. Now your character is on a manhunt through Melon World to find your lost friend. A cute and simple story that works for the confines of the game.

From the moment I turned on the game the retrofitted music and graphics wash over me in a wave of nostalgia. It's a very nice effect that lasts well through the first half of this short game. All of the original graphics used mesh perfectly, and the game conveys an old school style from the loading screen before the title down to water sprites. The soundtrack also work well to really seal in that vintage video game vibe.

You play a strange humanoid creature with rabbit ears on your head (boy or girl, your choice). You're not the only strange thing in town as there are plenty of eccentric animal residents all with something interesting to say. As you walk around through all of the different locations talking to each of the townees, you get a sense of their individual personalities, and a sense of direction towards your goal of helping these creatures in hopes that they'll give you another item to satisfy another resident or aid you in finding your friend. The town and it's inhabitants remind me much of an 8-bit slice of Animal Crossing, a GameCube game with a similar setting, but with much more melon paraphernalia.

The quests are pretty standard adventure quests, nothing too fancy, and it is a little fun seeing the effect of your help, such as with a certain musical canine (Related to K.K. Slider possibly?)

There are a few things that take away from this otherwise pleasant experience.
There is an instance where a quest-oriented graphic doesn't vary much from the other non quest-oriented graphics of the same type. This can be confusing when you're feeling a bit uncertain about whether to check something for clues or not. The walking speed of your character seems fine at first, but when you realize the size of Mango World and the amount of back and forth trekking you'll be doing to gather clues about what each resident wants or needs, you'll be wishing you had a sprint button. As intriguing and fresh as Melon Journey feels when you first start the game, the repetitive nature of the game's quests and the lack of variety in the game's soundtrack keep the game from being something really great and repayable. That being said, the in-game music is very solid and consistent. It really adds to the calm and cutesy nature of Melon Journey.

Overall, Melon Journey is a good single play through experience with a few minor problems that aren't going to make you put down the game. I highly recommend it to anyone looking to kill an hour or so relaxing and enjoying a jolly green adventure.