Jun 15
Review: River King: Mystic Valley (Nintendo DS)
Developer Natsume is best-known for its farming sim franchise, Harvest Moon, but that doesn’t mean they don’t convert other mundane tasks into video games. Released in late April of this year, River King: Mystic Valley is a fishing game for the Nintendo DS that takes all the fun of sitting and waiting in real life and lets you do it in a game as well.
The fact that it’s taken me two months to muster up the stamina to finish this game does not bode well for it. That’s not to say that it’s a bad game, per se, it’s just remarkably boring. The title is based entirely around one mechanic. In River King, you play as a boy trying to wake your sister from a deep slumber by fishing your ass off and getting the scale of a magical fish with healing powers. That’s really the entire story. The developers get points for trying, but putting a story in a fishing game is about as pointless as a screen door on a submarine.
The fishing in the game requires the stylus, and fish are reeled in by drawing circles with the stylus while paying attention to string tension so as not to break it. The controls are rather imprecise though, and while the game touts being able to play completely with the stylus, I found myself using buttons to draw my rod and cast due too unresponsive controls. Having to perform the same mechanic over and over gets repetitive, and ultimately, I became completely apathetic towards playing the game. The game does have Wi-Fi multiplayer. Too bad no one was online besides me to try it out.
The game’s visual presentation is definitely it’s strong point with bright, saccharine colors and character designs. Yet while the visual presentation is easy on the eyes, there is an overall pointlessness to the entire thing. I never felt invested in the “story”, nor did I care enough about fishing to trade in my points for cards or buy the best rod and bait. The game even has morning, midday, and night cycles for every location, yet there was no apparent effect on how the game was played. There are also companion pets to help you out, but they seemed peripheral rather than essential. That said, if you’re a huge fish, plant, or bug trivia aficionado, you’ll enjoy this game.
I couldn’t bring myself to hate River King: Mystic Valley. It seems like it’s trying really hard to be enjoyable and engrossing. I just don’t enjoy fishing or learning about fish, nor do I care about a world where being asleep is the worst event possible. Nothing in the game is inherently broken, it’s just plain boring and I can’t foresee anyone besides an extremely niche audience enjoying this game.
2/5
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Thank you for solidifying my resolve to never buy this game.