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Title: The Denpa Men: They Came by Wave Publisher: Genius Sonority Developer: Genius Sonority Platform: 3DS eShop Release Date: September 27, 2012 Genre: RPG MSRP: $9.99 ESRB: E |
When it first debuted in Japan as Denpa Ningen no RPG, many gamers, myself included, assumed that this was another RPG doomed to stay forever in Japan. So imagine my surprise when developer Genius Sonority announced that it would be hitting the eShop in North America and Europe as The Denpa Men: They Came by Wave (it consisted of my jaw sitting on the floor for a few minutes…)
The premise for The Denpa Men is that there are little men that live in radio waves, and using your 3DS Camera and wireless capabilities, you can see and capture these men to help take down the King of Evil. This is where the game goes from being an average dungeon crawler to being a pretty awesome concept. After over 50 hours of playing, I still haven’t quite figured out how the system works, but that’s not really important – all you need to know is that as long as you have wireless turned on, you can catch different Denpa Men in different locations.
My first set of Denpa Men was caught at home in a dark room and nearly all of my Denpa Men were the black variety. The next day I sat in the backyard and caught several different shades of blue, green, and red – some even had stripes. By this time, I had narrowed down my selection to make sure that I had a balanced group that could heal or have certain elemental defense.
Each Denpa Man has an elemental defense (made visible by his color) and height and weight will determine various other attributes such as speed or HP. Finally, some characters have an antenna on their head, which grants them “AP” and the ability to use special attacks or moves (such as healing or reviving).
The art style of the game is as zany as the game itself. While it may not be the most technically impressive game on the eShop visually, the game’s charm comes from the many, many Denpa Men you collect, each having their own look and personality. The 3D effect works great, but those that don’t like using the feature, the game works fine without it. Another thing that fans of old-school RPGs will find amusing is the deliberate “Engrish” used by the shopkeeper and a few others inside each dungeon.
The music and sound effects are another equal part of the equation in this quirky RPG. While the dungeon music sounds typical of rougelikes during the SNES-PS1 era, the music on the menus and overworld are far more distinctive, and – dare I say it – catchy. I found the theme song stuck in my head long after putting the game down, which is definitely an achievement in my book.
Although the full game was relatively short (the story could probably be completed in 10-15 hours), finding an experimenting with new Denpa Men and finding all the hidden treasure drops is a guilty pleasure, and the ability to share Denpa Men via QR Code is a really cool feature (that I didn’t get to try out – that’s why more people need to buy this game!)
Overall
The Denpa Men: They Came by Wave is a fantastic RPG – arguably the best RPG currently available on the eShop. Knowing that there is already a sequel in Japan with a ton of new additions and improvements make me extremely excited and hopeful that this one sells well in America and Europe. It’s quirky, fun, and will be a blast for anyone that is a fan of Dragon Quest, Pokemon, or even strategy games like Pikmin.
Pros –
- Quirky, colorful, stylish, and fun
- Fast-paced RPG on the eShop
- Great value with a ton of depth packed into the game
Cons –
- You will need to grind to defeat the later bosses
