Witchs Wish
SCORE: 65
Witch’s Wish, from Natsume, brings us the story of a young girl whose dream is to be a witch. The only problem is that she is from the wrong part of town. In her town, only the rich can afford to send their children to Magic School. The young girl, Vicky, and her Grandmother live in the poor part of town, and therefore she may never be able to learn how to be a witch.
Playing as Vicky, the gamer must find items, talk with town people, help friends and much more to help save the town from a dark power. The dynamics of the town are very interesting in that a wall, creating the rich and poor sections, separates it. The poor area of town is located in the shadows of the wall, while the rich part of town is always in the sunlight with bright colors. There is much jealousy and discontent presented between the two classes of people in the town. Vicky must overcome these social barriers to achieve her dream of becoming a witch.
Vicky starts out with no magical spells or powers. As the gamer progresses through the game and helps people, spells will be added to the spell list and be available for use in various situations. The main idea of the game is to use the magical powers to help people, not just for self-pleasure.
The game controls are simple and effective. Vicky is controlled using the directional pad to walk around town and in her house. The touch screen is used to interact with people and objects. The stylist is also used in casting Vicky’s magical spells. This is easy in the beginning, as the spells are simple lines and shapes, to trace on the magic board, but they do become more difficult as the game progresses.
The story mode in Witch’s Wish is deep enough to keep gamers engaged, but the length of certain conversations with other characters can test your patience. There was one chapter in the story mode that was primarily talking with other characters and casting a spell. My fingers were tired of pressing the A button in order to make it through the conversations. Albeit testing at times, this should not take away from the game.
The graphics in the game are very good for a DS game. The environments are nicely presented, and the characters are interesting. My biggest issue with the game play and graphical presentation is seen in some of the parts of town. There are different street Vicky can access and some of them are presented as left to right /right to left, looking down at the streets from above. The problem occurs when the buildings or trees in the foreground are too high and cover the view of the streets – therefore obscuring your view of Vicky and the surroundings. There are several settings where you will either completely lose sight of Vicky, or only be able to see the top of her hat.
The game sound is adequate. Nothing will jump out as being spectacular, but in the same hand, there is nothing that takes away from the game experience. And speaking of game experience, the main thing to consider is the content of the game itself. The game is based on the main character learning how to use magic. Although the goal is to use magic to help people, the situations and issues in the game require much more than what magic could ever provide. Can magic be used to heal social issues? Can magic be used to heal broken relationships? Parents will have to address questions like this if Witch’s Wish is a game in which they are interested.
Witch’s Wish has good intentions of wanting to help people and save
the world from darkness, but I am not sold on the presentation of magic
as the end all for the town’s problems. Learning magic will not provide
the answers to such difficult, real-life issues presented in this game.
- Alan
Graphics: 62%
Sound: 78%
Replay/Extras: 70%
Gameplay: 63%
Family Friendly Factor: 58%
System: Nintendo DS
Publisher: Natsume
Rating: 'E' for Everyone
{Comic Mischief}
Want more info on this
product,
or the company that made this product?
Set web browser to:
Link
Got a question, comment,
or a concern regarding this
review?
Email them to:
GameReviews@familyfriendlygaming.com