My children are absolutely in love with the weird and wonderful world of Tomodachi Life. A great way to keep up interest in Nintendo’s brilliant Mii avatars, which were first introduced to gamers way back with Wii Sports. Miitopia is a sort of sequel to Tomodachi Life, but rather being like The Sims, this game is based on a genre (currently growing in popularity) the role-playing-game.
Set against the back drop of a medieval kingdom, your Mii character plays a hero that must save the loyal subjects from an dark lord, who is stealing their faces and placing them on his evil followers.
The game has a unique concept, which if you’re the sort who enjoys creating Mii characters based on friends, family or your favourite celebrities, will provide hours of distraction. You can cast your Mii’s into any of the game’s characters. So if you have an annoying teacher or boss in your life, make them the villain of your story. Once you’ve chosen your Mii’s special trait (either Warrior, Mage, Cleric or Thief), you’ll need to choose 3 other characters to join you on your quest. It’s good to know at this point that the further you progress, you can unlock additional classes and change your Mii.
The set piece interactions between characters isn’t that deep, so it won’t be long until you start to repeat dialogue. On the other hand, the ‘relationship’ gauge between your foursome is fun and immersive. If you’ve ever played Tomodachi Life, you’ll be aware that Mii characters can form relationships and have offspring. In Miitopia, because of the RPG element, improving relationships will help you in battles. But beware, the game has the ability for relationships to turn bad, which can result in characters hiding behind other characters during boss fights.
If you’re a young gamer who’s never played an RPG before, this could be a great entry level that will hopefully direct your attention to a whole heap of similar games on the Nintendo 3DS. Titles such as Animal Crossing: New Leaf and Pokemon: Sun/Moon spring to mind. Don’t forget to break out those amiibo figures, as scanning them on your compatible 3DS will unlock outfits for your Mii character to wear on their next journey.
Miitopia is a special game that captures the essence of what makes Mii characters so appealing. Marrying this world to an RPG is a stroke of genius and should provide players with plenty of fun customisation. If the game succeeds, hopefully Nintendo will be persuaded to make more with the Mii franchise. If you’ve ever had a fantasy about taking your friends on an epic adventure (Lord of the Rings style!), this is the perfect handheld game to get your fill. Its also good in short bursts if don’t have too much time throughout the day.