Miitopia originally launched onto the Nintendo 3DS back in December 2016 in Japan. It made its way to a worldwide release a year later in July 2017 but this was still limited to the Nintendo 3DS handheld console. Now a few years later, Miitopia has finally made its way to the Nintendo Switch where it will most likely find quite a lot of success among younger gamers.
Miitopia’s premise is quite simple. Gamers will create a Mii which will be their main playable character and set off on an adventure to save the world from the Dark Lord. The Dark Lord, which is also a Mii character that you can create, steals the faces off everyone and uses their faces on otherwise peaceful creatures to do its bidding. Players will start their adventure in Greenhorne Town before leaving the town and venturing out into the rather large world.
The world map allows you to discover new locations and along the way, you’ll come across “Inns”. Players will rest at Inns and in-game events can take place in the Inns as the relationship between their party members develops. Speaking of party members, players will encounter new Miis along their journey to defeat the Dark Lord. These Miis can be imported or can be created using the in-game Mii creator. Eventually you’ll have a full-fledged party with Mii characters which will have specific roles assigned to them such as being a Cleric or a Warrior.
With your full party available, when you travel across the world in Miitopia, you’ll encounter various enemies and boss fights against some tough foes. Adventuring in Miitopia involves watching your Mii party run across the land in a specific area until they encounter enemies, an Inn, a detour or a treasure chest. It’s an on-rails-esque experience with players not really controlling their characters on the open field. Thankfully though players can fast-forward the adventuring gameplay somewhat and can auto-battle through fights. The enemy difficulty in Miitopia isn’t really a problem for your Miis if you’re paying attention to their health status and use the right attacks and abilities. At the Inns, players will be able to pair up Miis in rooms and enhance their relationship status with each other while building a friendship meter.
Cutscenes can be triggered based on their friendships and players can also feed their Miis in the Inn. Whether or not a Mii actually enjoys the food you choose to feed them though depends entirely on their own tastes. Some will enjoy most types of foods while others will be extremely picky eaters. Feeding your Miis buffs specific stats and if your Miis are friendly towards each other, they will get friendship buffs in battle too. These can really boost your damage output and players should try to keep their Miis on the best of terms with each other.
Combat in Miitopia is extremely simple with players selecting actions to perform in a turn-based manner. Mii units will take turns with enemy units and battles play out in a fairly standard JRPG way. There isn’t much variation here unfortunately and it really is extremely simple. Younger gamers will most likely find this enjoyable since they won’t struggle with battles too much.
Back at the Inn, players can also play a game of Rock, Paper, Scissors or spin a wheel which will give you a prize based on where the needle lands. Miitopia’s gameplay therefore splices adventuring with some varied gameplay elements that spice things up somewhat and keep it fresh. Being an RPG though, the game is pretty long and will take you around 35 hours or more to complete based on your play style. This is great news for Nintendo Switch gamers though because the game is split up quite well via the world map into smaller levels and areas which are perfect for bite-sized chunks of adventuring.
Graphically, Miitopia isn’t exactly mind-blowingly gorgeous. The visuals are cartoony but the environments still have an artistic flair to them that is eye-catching. Attack effects and other visuals are flashy and pulling off special attacks in combat is satisfying to watch. Enemy designs are also varied enough and the different regions are welcome throughout the game. Visually, it’s quite a step up over its 3DS counterpart.
The soundtrack of Miitopia is pretty solid with a few upbeat catchy tunes and some tracks that are quite orchestral and grander in nature. The Mii voices may start to annoy some gamers over time though, especially when they repeat a lot of the same generic sounds throughout the game.
Overall, if you’re looking for a fun JRPG that younger gamers can enjoy, Miitopia is a great choice. If you missed out on it in its 3DS days, now’s the perfect chance to pick it up. The visuals of the Nintendo Switch version are a lot cleaner and drastically improved over the 3DS version of the game. There’s a couple of newer features too such as more Mii customization options and the ability to use a horse in combat. Therefore if you’re looking for a solid, younger audience friendly JRPG, Miitopia ticks all the right boxes. That’s not to say older gamers won’t enjoy it either. The game is quite fun albeit easy and lacking in terms of story.
Grab this game on the Nintendo eShop for £49.99 here.
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